Alienware M15x mempory upgrade help please

Hi Everyone! I was wondering if someone can help me.

I have an Alienware M15x, i3 processor with 3gb ram.
I have ordered a new processor which i have not fitted yet as its not been delivered.
I have also ordered 8gb single ram stick.

I have upgraded the bios to A09 and have installed the 8gb memory stick (8gb 1333mhz DDR3). However the bios does not read there is any memory installed.
When i reboot the alienware it doesn't start up properly. It asks to restart normally or in recovery mode. When I choose either one it crashes and reboots.
I have re-installed the old memory and it works fine. Is an 8gb stick not compatible?:-S

I was hoping to install the new 8gb memory and then one of the old 2gb sticks i have giving a total of 10gb if possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

G

 

I think you have an i3-370. It is supposed to support up to 8 GB ram, and the m15x is also supposed to support up to 8 GB. I am not sure if you would be able to get away with more than 8 GB with the i3. However, quite a few of us with i7 processors (myself included) have gone as high as 16 GB in the m15x. One peculiarity is that, at least for me, the bios does not see the 16 GB ram at all - but Win 7 (and now Win 8) sees it all, and it runs in paired mode, just as it should (HWINFO64). I would try the 8 GB stick when you have your new processor and see if that works. It is also possible that you have an incompatible stick, so if it doesn't work, I would see if you can borrow another to try.
Let us know what happens,

Joe

Note - I saw in another thread (the one about 16 gb in an m15x) that 16 gb only works with i7 processors, so that may save you some time.