Ram Upgrade Issues On Laptop

I recently upgraded the RAM on my laptop and now my system periodically crashes with a stop error (blue screen) showing up right before it crashes. I later get a message from Windows Crash Analysis telling me it was caused by an unknown device driver. I am guessing it is the new RAM causing the problem considering this issue just began after installing the memory. BTW-the memory I installed is a PNY PC4200 DDR2 533MHz 512MB. I only had 256MB on my system. PLEASE HELP ME! because PNY won't return my calls.

 

run memtest to find problems.

 

so you changed your 256mb to a 512 mb ram right? You dont have them both in at the same time do you?
try taking the new ram out and put the only the 256 in and see if it works.
Then try taking the 256 out and see if the 512 works.
If those errors happened right after you installed the new ram, it has to be whats causing it.

 

Run memtest. You should be able to run them both at the same time, but Sirius has good advice for troubleshooting. And if you do run both of them at the same time, you have to use the speed settings for the slowest memory. That could easily be the problem.

 

Yea, I have both of them in at the same time. I tried swapping ports but the problem persisted. I also took the 256 out and only left the 512 and it still had the same issue. I'm gonna run the memtest and I'll post the results. Tiger- how do I go about changing the speed settings and what should I set the speed to. They are both 533MHz. Will decreasing the speed in settings make my computer slower to open programs and run simultaneous apps? Is it possible that I got a deffective piece? Is this a common issue?Thanks to everyone!

 

Sounds like a bad stick of RAM.
Unless you had the 256 in Slot A and the 512 in B and took the 256 out and still had the issue, in that case install the 256 in Slot B to rule out a bad slot.

Should be in the BIOS. 533 is the big one, but you might need to set CAS and Latency higher, etc.

Yes.

Sounds likely. Not common, but it happens.

 

I tested the slot and it had no problems. How do I access BIOS and make those speed changes because I have no idea how to do that. Thanks again for your help Tiger

 

Run memtest on the 512M Ram first, b/c it sound like it is bad, and changing speed settings won't help you if it is bad.

Let it run a long time (overnight) maybe, so it can write to all the sections multiple times and give you good results.

What model is the laptop, and are you sure it can run DDR2 - Just ruling out the obvious.

To get to the BIOS - there should be a message when it starts up - press XX to enter Setup - XX is usually F1, F8, F11, Delete, Space, etc. Otherwise, look on the laptop manufacturer's page or ask in the manufacturer's forums on here.

 

did you try leaving only the 256mb piece in? If that works then the 512mb one is probably defective. I cant say its very common but a lot of people dont handle it correctly - grounding and such - and it becomes defective. If the 256 only works, return the 512 for another.

 

I was able to exchange the RAM because PNY said it was probably defective and the new one seems to work just fine with no more issues. Thank you for all of your help everyone!

 

I know that if you get a bad ram chip this will happen, I purchased to Roswill (cheap brand from newegg) 1gb ram sticks for my desktop, and took me a while to figure out that one of them was defective, the computer showed the same symtpoms as yours. (random crashes)