Memory Upgrade Problems on a Vista 64 bit OS

W

Win95

New Member
When I purchased my Dell XPS 420 computer I chose to have an option for 4gb of DDR2 PC-6400 800mhz memory installed, as I ordered the Vista 32 bit Home Premium OS and had read that there was a 4gb limitation as to what a 32 bit system would recognize.

I now have installed a Vista Ultimate 64bit OS and then I put in 2 each 4gb Kits (filling all four slots) of Crucial PC2-6400 CL6, (CT2CP25664AA800) 800 mhz, 240 pin, unbuffered, non ecc, kits onto the Intel X38 Express Chipset TP 406 motherboard. Initially, I first installed 1 each of the 4gb kits and the system ran fine, and the system recognized the new total of 4gb of 800 mhz that I had installed, filling two matched colored slots. Then I installed another 4gb kit giving me a total of 8gb of memory for my system.

When I started up the system with this new memory configuration it gave me a memory error code, as I remember it; Code 0123 or Msg 2000-0123?


Anyway, It would not boot up, period. I then took these two (4gb) kits out, and reinstalled the 4ea 1gb memory (filling all four slots) that came with my system back into the computer and it works just fine. The memory that came installed with my system is marked; 1GB1Rx8 PC2-6400U-666 manufactured by Elpida. I was wondering if this is actually 800mhz memory, referring to the -666 marking??

It is my understanging that this Dell TP 406 motherboard has a limit of 4gb of memory for a Vista 32bit OS, and allows for 8gb of memory for a 64bit OS.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I am doing incorrectly to install a total of 8gb of memory onto my computer?

Thank you for any comments.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450
    Motherboard
    Dell TP406
    Memory
    Crucial 4gb PC2-6400 800mhz
Hi win95,

Have you checked the spec as to how much RAM you can build in, I suspect 4gig is the limit.

Pooch
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self build
    CPU
    Phenom II x4 Black Edition 940-Arctic-Cooling Freezer Xtreme
    Motherboard
    Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gig Samsung PC800 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia 9600gt
    Sound Card
    AD1988b
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" TFT-MONITOR WIDESCREEN mit VGA/DVI 17" Video7 TFT
    Screen Resolution
    1680 : 1050 1280 : 1024
    Hard Drives
    Drive #1 - SAMSUNG HD252HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #2 - Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 (1000 GB)
    Drive #3 - SAMSUNG HD250HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #4 - SAMSUNG HD103UJ (1000 GB) External eSATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 750W
    Case
    Enermax Chakra
    Cooling
    2x 120mm Front and Back 1x 250mm Side
    Keyboard
    Standard
    Mouse
    Easy Line Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    16000
    Other Info
    I have also used Fedora, Suse, Ubuntu Linux
    And all other Windows from 95 to date except ME
I have been looking through the net and have found conflicting reports as to how much RAM you can actually use

In answer to your question about "1GB1Rx8 PC2-6400U-666 manufactured by Elpida"
yes this is 800mhz

Maybe someone else here can shed some light on your problem

Pooch
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self build
    CPU
    Phenom II x4 Black Edition 940-Arctic-Cooling Freezer Xtreme
    Motherboard
    Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe
    Memory
    8 gig Samsung PC800 RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVidia 9600gt
    Sound Card
    AD1988b
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" TFT-MONITOR WIDESCREEN mit VGA/DVI 17" Video7 TFT
    Screen Resolution
    1680 : 1050 1280 : 1024
    Hard Drives
    Drive #1 - SAMSUNG HD252HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #2 - Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 (1000 GB)
    Drive #3 - SAMSUNG HD250HJ (250 GB)
    Drive #4 - SAMSUNG HD103UJ (1000 GB) External eSATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 750W
    Case
    Enermax Chakra
    Cooling
    2x 120mm Front and Back 1x 250mm Side
    Keyboard
    Standard
    Mouse
    Easy Line Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    16000
    Other Info
    I have also used Fedora, Suse, Ubuntu Linux
    And all other Windows from 95 to date except ME
I have the exactly same system as yours and bought exactly the same sets of 2X2G memory from Frys.com. I installed all 8G memory and haven't got any problem ever since then. Did you test the memory with memtest? Maybe you have some bad memory.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600 OC 3.0GHz
    Motherboard
    X58
    Memory
    8G PC6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    visiontek HD4850
    Sound Card
    HT Omega striker 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Ultrasharp 2405
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    WD640AAKS
    Keyboard
    Logitech S510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2M Comcast
Win95 said:
It is my understanging that this Dell TP 406 motherboard has a limit of 4gb of memory for a Vista 32bit OS, and allows for 8gb of memory for a 64bit OS.

Click to expand...

I believe you have misunderstood the spec the company provided. It must have said that the motherboard has a limit of 4 gb, because the statement "4gb of memory for a Vista 32 Bit OS" is not true. In reality, 32 bit Vista only addresses 3 gb of rams. Here is the answer from MS. Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows)
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    E6850
    Motherboard
    EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 680i
    Memory
    4 x OCZ Platinum 1GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
    Sound Card
    SB X-Fi X Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 23" 5MS
    Screen Resolution
    2048 x 1152
    Hard Drives
    2 x Barracuda 7200.10 320GB RAID 0 / 1 x 500GB Maxtor
    PSU
    Seasonic 600W M12
    Case
    CM Centurion 5
    Cooling
    air
    Internet Speed
    100Mbps
I just noticed that you already installed each set of 4G memory separately. So the memory should be fine. I know inside XPS 420 the PSU is very closed to the memory slots, so you have to make sure all the memory are well seated. Make sure you hear the "click" when you installed each memory. If I were you, I would install one set first, then if everything goes well, I will install the second set.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600 OC 3.0GHz
    Motherboard
    X58
    Memory
    8G PC6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    visiontek HD4850
    Sound Card
    HT Omega striker 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Ultrasharp 2405
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    WD640AAKS
    Keyboard
    Logitech S510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2M Comcast
bruce2 said:
Win95 said:
It is my understanging that this Dell TP 406 motherboard has a limit of 4gb of memory for a Vista 32bit OS, and allows for 8gb of memory for a 64bit OS.
Click to expand...

I believe you have misunderstood the spec the company provided. It must have said that the motherboard has a limit of 4 gb, because the statement "4gb of memory for a Vista 32 Bit OS" is not true. In reality, 32 bit Vista only addresses 3 gb of rams. Here is the answer from MS. Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows)
Click to expand...


Nah....

XPS 420 has no problem supporting 8G PC-6400. I am using it right now.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600 OC 3.0GHz
    Motherboard
    X58
    Memory
    8G PC6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    visiontek HD4850
    Sound Card
    HT Omega striker 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Ultrasharp 2405
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    WD640AAKS
    Keyboard
    Logitech S510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2M Comcast
masama said:
bruce2 said:
Win95 said:
It is my understanging that this Dell TP 406 motherboard has a limit of 4gb of memory for a Vista 32bit OS, and allows for 8gb of memory for a 64bit OS.
Click to expand...

I believe you have misunderstood the spec the company provided. It must have said that the motherboard has a limit of 4 gb, because the statement "4gb of memory for a Vista 32 Bit OS" is not true. In reality, 32 bit Vista only addresses 3 gb of rams. Here is the answer from MS. Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows)
Click to expand...


Nah....

XPS 420 has no problem supporting 8G PC-6400. I am using it right now.
Click to expand...

Oh really; my bad. Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    E6850
    Motherboard
    EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 680i
    Memory
    4 x OCZ Platinum 1GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
    Sound Card
    SB X-Fi X Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 23" 5MS
    Screen Resolution
    2048 x 1152
    Hard Drives
    2 x Barracuda 7200.10 320GB RAID 0 / 1 x 500GB Maxtor
    PSU
    Seasonic 600W M12
    Case
    CM Centurion 5
    Cooling
    air
    Internet Speed
    100Mbps
masama said:
I have the exactly same system as yours and bought exactly the same sets of 2X2G memory from Frys.com. I installed all 8G memory and haven't got any problem ever since then. Did you test the memory with memtest? Maybe you have some bad memory.
Click to expand...


I also ran a diagnostics program, within the Vista screen options shown, and then saw the memory error 2000-0123. I have contacted Dell about this and they had no answers and are supposed to contact me via email about what their thoughts are about my situation.

No I have not ran the memtest. I did have another 4gb kit and tried different configurations in trying to get past the dos type screen when the computer starts up. It would not let me to the desktop. It, at first, sounded like the power was fluctuating up and down and I shut it off and then eventually put the original memory back in and it worked, and is still working fine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450
    Motherboard
    Dell TP406
    Memory
    Crucial 4gb PC2-6400 800mhz
Win95 said:
masama said:
I have the exactly same system as yours and bought exactly the same sets of 2X2G memory from Frys.com. I installed all 8G memory and haven't got any problem ever since then. Did you test the memory with memtest? Maybe you have some bad memory.
Click to expand...


I also ran a diagnostics program, within the Vista screen options shown, and then saw the memory error 2000-0123. I have contacted Dell about this and they had no answers and are supposed to contact me via email about what their thoughts are about my situation.

No I have not ran the memtest. I did have another 4gb kit and tried different configurations in trying to get past the dos type screen when the computer starts up. It would not let me to the desktop. It, at first, sounded like the power was fluctuating up and down and I shut it off and then eventually put the original memory back in and it worked, and is still working fine.
Click to expand...

memtest uses floppy or CD, you don't need to go into vista to test the memory.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600 OC 3.0GHz
    Motherboard
    X58
    Memory
    8G PC6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    visiontek HD4850
    Sound Card
    HT Omega striker 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Ultrasharp 2405
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    WD640AAKS
    Keyboard
    Logitech S510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2M Comcast
Win95, have you put the suspected rams in there alone to see if they are really defective?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    E6850
    Motherboard
    EVGA 122-CK-NF67-A1 680i
    Memory
    4 x OCZ Platinum 1GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
    Sound Card
    SB X-Fi X Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 23" 5MS
    Screen Resolution
    2048 x 1152
    Hard Drives
    2 x Barracuda 7200.10 320GB RAID 0 / 1 x 500GB Maxtor
    PSU
    Seasonic 600W M12
    Case
    CM Centurion 5
    Cooling
    air
    Internet Speed
    100Mbps
bruce2 said:
Win95, have you put the suspected rams in there alone to see if they are really defective?
Click to expand...

I did swap things around to try and isolate which, if any, DIMM may be defective. I thought that I had found a bad DIMM as I was swapping DIMMs around and a memory error came up with that specific DIMM installed in a specific slot.

I ordered more Crucial memory for a replacement for that DIMM.

I also thought that maybe the slot was bad, but with replacing all the 2gb DIMMs with 1gb DIMMs, and all worked ok, it would appear that the motherboard memory slot is good. I don't have the memory installed at this time. I will have to read up on the memtest program and see what happens from there. I guess that this may be one of those incidents that I read about and wonder how that could happen as I have the same configuration, or whatever. I want to thank all who have commented on this, and hopefully I can get this system up and running the way that I had planned on doing.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450
    Motherboard
    Dell TP406
    Memory
    Crucial 4gb PC2-6400 800mhz
I used a different method to install all 4 of the 2gb DIMMs and the Vista 64bit Ultimate system recognized all 8gb of memory installed and the Performance Experience rating is 5.9. I learned a few new things down this path; e.g.; for my system a DIMM that had the label, although with the correct slot alignment, showing different from the other DIMMs would not be accepted by the system. Why, I don't know, but that was my experience. Also I did one at a time and actually think that I found a bad DIMM. I guess when you have limited PC background and are knocking the screen door of 70!!! some things about this computer world are slow to take effect and ends up being an experience that is not forgotten ( I hope !). At this time all is working great and I am experimenting around with different software to see what works with 64bit vs 32 bit. :party:
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450
    Motherboard
    Dell TP406
    Memory
    Crucial 4gb PC2-6400 800mhz
Win95 said:
I used a different method to install all 4 of the 2gb DIMMs and the Vista 64bit Ultimate system recognized all 8gb of memory installed and the Performance Experience rating is 5.9. I learned a few new things down this path; e.g.; for my system a DIMM that had the label, although with the correct slot alignment, showing different from the other DIMMs would not be accepted by the system. Why, I don't know, but that was my experience. Also I did one at a time and actually think that I found a bad DIMM. I guess when you have limited PC background and are knocking the screen door of 70!!! some things about this computer world are slow to take effect and ends up being an experience that is not forgotten ( I hope !). At this time all is working great and I am experimenting around with different software to see what works with 64bit vs 32 bit. :party:
Click to expand...


Glad to know things are working out for you. So you got 5.9 for your memory? How come I only got 5.7 for these 6400 crucial memory while I got 5.9 for my old samsung 5300 memory coming with the system. Strange! Must be due to the cycle times.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q6600 OC 3.0GHz
    Motherboard
    X58
    Memory
    8G PC6400
    Graphics Card(s)
    visiontek HD4850
    Sound Card
    HT Omega striker 7.1
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Ultrasharp 2405
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1200
    Hard Drives
    WD640AAKS
    Keyboard
    Logitech S510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    2M Comcast
masama said:
Win95 said:
I used a different method to install all 4 of the 2gb DIMMs and the Vista 64bit Ultimate system recognized all 8gb of memory installed and the Performance Experience rating is 5.9. I learned a few new things down this path; e.g.; for my system a DIMM that had the label, although with the correct slot alignment, showing different from the other DIMMs would not be accepted by the system. Why, I don't know, but that was my experience. Also I did one at a time and actually think that I found a bad DIMM. I guess when you have limited PC background and are knocking the screen door of 70!!! some things about this computer world are slow to take effect and ends up being an experience that is not forgotten ( I hope !). At this time all is working great and I am experimenting around with different software to see what works with 64bit vs 32 bit. :party:
Click to expand...



Glad to know things are working out for you. So you got 5.9 for your memory? How come I only got 5.7 for these 6400 crucial memory while I got 5.9 for my old samsung 5300 memory coming with the system. Strange! Must be due to the cycle times.
Click to expand...


Yes I did receive a 5.9 rating for the memory. As I was installing each DIMM I checked to see what the system accepted and what the Performance Experience rating was (refreshing it each time), it went from a 5.2 (memory) to a 5.5 (memory), then eventually with all 8gb in it went to a 5.9 rating. The system is still working great.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450
    Motherboard
    Dell TP406
    Memory
    Crucial 4gb PC2-6400 800mhz
Yes, I did experiment with the slots while installing the memory in the 64bit 8gb configuration and that helped me to resolve a of couple things that seemed to be issues at that time. Since that time I decided to go back to the 32 bit 4gb configuration and the system seems to be quite perky. I will leave this alone for the time being as some other things have come forward that need some attention. Thanks to everyone for your comments and suggestions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Q9450
    Motherboard
    Dell TP406
    Memory
    Crucial 4gb PC2-6400 800mhz
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