alienware m5500i-r3 max ram?

the crucial auto system scanner said this system (now 6 years old) can take 4 gb of ram... i had bought it with 1 gb ram.
when i install the 2x2gb sticks, the system does not boot.
one stick at a time, it's fine, it boots.
one stick plus one old 500mb stick and i get 2.5 gb of ram showing...

the tech support at crucial believes that my system should be able to take 4 gb of ram, but just to check if there is a bios update which will allow this...?

or perhaps, i have to be running something OTHER than win xp sp3?

any help would be appreciated...
crucial said they would swap ram if there was no other option...

system:
Intel Core2 t5600 1.83 ghz
bios ver: alienware 2.03
mobo: alienware: m5500i-r3
vid card: ATI mobility radeon x1400, 512 mb

 

it probably can, if you had a 0mb video card...

 

thanks for the reply... i guess what i am asking is if updating the bios would resolve the issue?
OR ... does the OS matter?

otherwise... i think i can only go with the 2 gb mem max option...

 

Are you running a 64-bit OS, and does it POST?

 

no... xp sp3... not 64-bit...

POST? sorry... not up on my tech jargon...
but i am going to assume that i may have to have a 64 bit os to run the 4 gb of ram?

thanks again for the info!

 

Does the Alienware screen where it tells you to hit F whatever or Del to get to setup appear, or is it just a black screen? 64-bit is needed to take advantage of more than 3.25GB of RAM.

 

ah... i got it... that answers the original question... i need a 64 bit os...
but... no, no post... i get a black screen...

 

no... if the alien-head doesn't pop up, its a hardware problem...

 

Exactly. The 64-Bit OS would only be the limiter if it crashed loading Windows. Your stuck.

 

ah... hardware... but not the memory, right?
and IF there was an alienhead... but didn't finish loading windows... then we have a OS issue...

any thought to which piece of hardware would be affected by an increase in memory...?

 

The chipset most likely cannot handle it.