trying to upgrade ram

[bigjohnsons34]

I have a Compaq 5003 us and wanted to upgrade the ram, I currently have 256 so I brought a 256 to replace my 128 to give me 384. when I power up the computer it counts up to 384ok but then it won't load windows. I upgraded the bios and it actually loaded windows once but after about a half hour it crashed, I've tried it again but no success...anyone have any ideas what I am doing wrong..thanks

[jlreich]

Check to make sure the ram is seated properly. Make sure the white tabs that hold the ram in are completely closed on the ram. Check the other stick of ram to make sure it is still seated properly as well.

Check all the cables to other components to make sure you didn't bump something loose when installing the ram.

If that doesn't help, does the system run normal if you put the old ram back in?

What brand is the ram and where did you get it?

Is the old ram single or double sided? Meaning are there chips on one side or both? And is the new ram single or double sided? This is not necessarily the problem, but some of those older machines can be picky about what kind of ram modules they like.

Also it wouldn't hurt to try the new ram by itself.

[bigjohnsons34]

It works great with the old ram back in so I'm rulling out the loose wires, also I tried it several times and the same result so I'm pretty sure it was seated properly. The new ram is double sided and the old ram is single sided and even when I tried it by itself I had no luck. I got the ram from a friend the name brand is spectek pc133 256 it was working good for him it was just on his old machine and he diden't need it anymore..thanks for your help

[jcnoernberg]

Here's an ISO for a program called MEMTEST. Burn it to a disc and boot up with the disc in the drive. follow the instructions on the screen and do a few tests on the memory to rule out bad hardware...

http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.2.iso.zip

[bigjohnsons34]

thanks for the info, i'll try it out later on tonight

[saphalline]

SDRAM is notorious for just not working sometimes. This is probably a case where the Compaq doesn't like that RAM, for whatever reason. I'm guessing the speed is fine (based on Google searches for "Compaq 5003") and the density of course is fine, but the timings may be off. Most OEM systems back in the days of SDRAM were designed for 3-3-3 timings. I've personally seen cases where 2-2-2 RAM won't boot in an HP or Gateway or whatever. And I've seen cases where a stick of SDRAM should work in an OEM system but it doesn't. It's just the luck of the draw with OEM systems...

[jlreich]

You never know with SDRAM sometimes. I have two sticks of 256MB PC133 that worked in two out of six machines that I have tried them in. I'm so glad DDR doesn't have near as many problems. :p