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    Aspire 5100 only works with one memory chip installed

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by jayson042, Sep 8, 2008.

  1. jayson042

    jayson042 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a acer 5100 that when ever I install both ram chips, it will either not boot (freezes at first bios option in page) or will crash in windows after some time. If I remove either chip doesnt matter what slot I use or single chip I use, it works great. Is this a common acer problem? Any known fixes? I updated to the latest bios, still no go.

    Thanks for any help,
    Jay
     
    jayson042, Sep 8, 2008
    #1
  2. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Run Memtest with both modules installed.
     
    Andy, Sep 8, 2008
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  3. Evolution

    Evolution Vox Sola

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    I agree...while it is a long shot it is possible that both of the modules are bad.
     
    Evolution, Sep 8, 2008
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  4. bigozone

    bigozone JellyRoll touring now

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    sounds like you have a BAD RAM MODULE,, or possibly a bad ram socket on the MB... i have seen sockets that didn't make proper connection with the RAM's connetors cause similuar problems
     
    bigozone, Sep 8, 2008
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  5. jayson042

    jayson042 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Even if both work independantly, it could still be a bad socket? I can use either RAM chip in either socket and it will always work as long as there is only one installed. I have other chips that I swapped out and always same problem if two were installed at same time.
     
    jayson042, Sep 16, 2008
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  6. Andy

    Andy Notebook Prophet

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    Are both modules identical ?
     
    Andy, Sep 16, 2008
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  7. kiriakost

    kiriakost Notebook Deity

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    I will move further than the ram .

    The Ram stability effected the most, from the supply ed voltage.
    Your motherboard its possible to be damaged , or ..... if you are lucky ... one fresh Bios update , could possibly solve the problem .
     
    kiriakost, Sep 16, 2008
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  8. jayson042

    jayson042 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I did update the bios and it didn't solve the problem. What part is the ed. voltage controlled with on the motherboard and how would I check it? Any ideas would be helpful.

    Thanks for reading and suggestions
     
    jayson042, Sep 16, 2008
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  9. EgoZum

    EgoZum Notebook Geek

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    Man, I have the same exact problem with jayson042, i thought before its only my os has a problem so i had to reinstall it but when i put the recovery disk or use the alt+fn10 function, i cannot install from either one, i took a long shot of taking one ram and use only one, viola its install, i thought the problem is only the ram so i just forget all about it, until now that i read this, so to cut the long story short, the bad ram is not only the culprit, there is another thing a possible bad motherboard, so now i'm worried that my motherboard is kaput, I also like to know if there is a fix on this or i will just wait to see the day that my MOBO will die. O my like a cancer on my MOBO.
     
    EgoZum, Sep 17, 2008
    #9