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    Help with RAM issues on Acer Aspire 5601

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by willygee, May 8, 2009.

  1. willygee

    willygee Newbie

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    Hello, I am new to this forum and would appreciate any assistance on my issue. I recently purchased additional RAM to upgrade my Acer Aspire 5601. According to Acer website, crucial.com and other places I searched, my model can be upgraded to 4GB of RAM (2 per slot). Inserted the new RAM and booted up and it just hung at the splash screen. The RAM I purchased was PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) and I had understood that my system would still accept it and make the adjustment accordingly. I tried several different things:

    - I removed one RAM chip and system boots up and Windows recognizes 2GB (tried the other chip too so I know both are working)
    - Thinking the type of RAM was an issue I took 4GB of DDR2-533 from another laptop and tried with no luck.

    Again any thoughts or suggestions would be great appreciated. TIA!
     
    willygee, May 8, 2009
    #1
  2. hoggie

    hoggie old boy

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    HHHmmmm will have to google this one ;)
     
    hoggie, May 8, 2009
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  3. Full-English

    Full-English Notebook Deity

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    Full-English, May 8, 2009
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  4. willygee

    willygee Newbie

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    Yes i have seen this kind of conflicting information and not sure what to believe. What I dont understand is if it only takes up to 2GB then that usually means a max of 1GB per slot. BUT i have definitely put a 2GB module and in fact a 512GB module (this prior to the upgrade total 2.5 GB) and everything was fine. SO FRUSTRATING! Oh and BTW - zero support from Acer.
     
    willygee, May 8, 2009
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  5. willygee

    willygee Newbie

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    hummm - actually having researched more it says that the max RAM s/b DDR2-533 which is PC2-4200. When I had the 2.5GB, the 512 module was PC2-4200 so the computer adjusted to that. I think if I have two PC2-4200 (2x2GB) I think it may work. Any thoughts?
     
    willygee, May 8, 2009
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  6. willygee

    willygee Newbie

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    probably more confused than ever. came across this info:

    http://www.crucial.com/support/memory_speeds.aspx

    "PC2-6400 is backward-compatible for PC2-4200 and PC2-5300."

    so in theory the 6400 RAM I purchased should work with my computer. So maybe despite conflicting information, my computer only takes 1 GB per slot but I still dont understand why it boots up with a 2GB one in a slot and recognizes. this is driving me crazy - almost went out and bought PC2-4200 memory but dont think that would have fixed my issue. ANY BODY HELP!
     
    willygee, May 10, 2009
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  7. willygee

    willygee Newbie

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    willygee, May 11, 2009
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