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    Not seeing memory

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by miffin, May 11, 2008.

  1. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have a Inspiron 3800. It had 128mb memory. I bought another 128mb and it accepted it and I had 256mb which was fine. I noticed the computer had got slower however, When I checked it was only seeing 128mb again. I have tried each memory individually and they both work fine. When I put both in I sometimes notice an error that reads something like 0000000 expected 0000000 so reducing memory. They are not the figures it comes up with but they disappear so quickly I can't get them down. CAn anyone help with this please at it is really pedestrian on 128.
    Thanks
    Brian
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  2. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  3. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks. Am trying that. It has been running over an hour now with no faults showing. I have the feeling though that the memory is alright. It seems to be some setting in my laptop not allowing it to be seen.
    Bri
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  4. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Is the full 256 mb seen in the bios?
     
    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  5. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    No. It's only seeing 128.

    Bri
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  6. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Ok, that helps a lot. What i would do is remove both memory sticks and place them back in the computer.

    If this does not work, try one stick, then remove it and try the other stick (in the same slot) and see if they both work. If they both do, then try them both again in the other slot.
     
    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  7. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

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    Have you updated your BIOS?
     
    flipfire, May 11, 2008
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  8. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    OK thanks. Have done that. Both work fine individually. Have swapped them around. I pressed F2 to get set up. That warning showed again with "expected this but got that so reducing available memory" then all the same. Just showing the 128.
    Bri
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  9. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  10. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  11. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  12. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  13. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes i did take your advice. However, when I tried to instal it, it then wanted me to burn it onto a floppy. Well I could not do that.
    Bri
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  14. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Thats strange...i ran the hard drive installation on my computer and acted like the other dell bios hard drive updates.
     
    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  15. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    Perhaps I misread it. I will go and have another look at it.
    Bri
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  16. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Yeah, otherwise i dont know what to tell you :/ unless you have another computer you can burn it on.
     
    nizzy1115, May 11, 2008
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  17. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    Just tried again. It states that my existing bios will not allow me to update but that it will make some floppys for me. So, once again I am stuck.
    Bri
     
    miffin, May 11, 2008
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  18. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    Problem solved. It turned out to be the seat for one of the memory sticks. I have it wedged in with tissue at the moment. But it is seeing all 256m now. Thanks to everyone.
    Brian
     
    miffin, May 12, 2008
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  19. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

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    Hope it doesnt catch fire! Ram can get toasty hot!
     
    nizzy1115, May 12, 2008
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  20. miffin

    miffin Notebook Enthusiast

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    Oh heck. On to plan B then.
    Bri
     
    miffin, May 12, 2008
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