Ok so I just bought some new memory for my computer and I seem to have messed up big time.
I own a Gateway FX510X that is about 18 months old. It came with 1 gb of ram and I recently decided to bump it up to 2 gigs. I went with 2X 1GB sticks from G.Skill, Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail.
Now, this could have all started by me making a rookie mistake and purchasing the wrong type of memory, but I think i got it right. The spec sheet that came with my computer says it came with 1024MB PC5300 Dual-Channel DDR2 667MHz SDRAM. And the memory that I replaced that with is 2GB DDR2 800 PC2 6200. Is it OK for me to replace the PC5300 with the 6200?
So when I installed the new memory and booted up, I got a message the read:
SERIAL PRESENCE DETECT(SPD) device data missing or inconclusive
Properly programmed SPD device data is required for reliable operation.
DDR2 533MHz memory assumed at slowest timings.
After this message I continued with the booting and made it all the way into a game. But suddenly, my computer shut down and a blue screen came up with an error message I don't remember. I tried rebooting several times, but each time my computer restarted itself in the various stages of booting up or at the desktop.
Next, I tried swapping the memory sticks around, and tried using the other two slots in my mobo, but to no avail.
After that didn't work, I snooped around in my BIOS, which I think is where I made a fatal error. I went into the "Advanced" tab, then down to "Memory Configuration" and looked at the timing info. I'm not 100% sure what all this stuff does, which is why I shouldn't have messed with it, but I couldn't help my self. The box my memory came in and Newegg said the CL is 5-5-5-15 for the memory and the part of the BIOS where you can switch these values was set at 5-5-5-15. However, at the bottom of the BIOS, where it shows the info for my memory, it says
Memory Channel A:
Slot 0:1024MB (DDR2 800) SPD: 5.0-4-4-14
Slot 1: Not installed
Memory Channel B:
Slot 0
same as above)
Slot 1:Not installed
so I tried setting my CL to match what my BIOS told me (5-4-4-14) and what the box told me(5-5-5-15) and nothing seemed to work. Pressing the "return to defaults" set things to a Memory Frequency of 533MHz and a CL of 4-4-4-13 and that didn't seem right at all.
After this, I can't even get my computer to boot at all. A black screen comes up that says an error has occurred with Windows and it asks me to select a method to boot. The different options yield the following results-
-"Load Windows Normally" sends me to the regular black Windows screen with the logo and the green loading bar for about a second. Then a blue error message flashes, and the computer restarts itself automatically, returning me to the black Windows boot failure message.
-"Use last known working configuration" does the same thing as the normal boot option
-"Safe Mode" sends a bunch of white command looking lines onto my screen, then the computer restarts itself, like the other options, but without the flashing blue error message.
I tried reverting to the the original setting for the CL, but that didn't work, and putting the old memory back into the computer didn't do anything either. The current CL setting is 5-4-4-14 with the new memory installed. This setup sends me to the black windows error message.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I've no clue what to do. Does this still sound like a hardware foul-up, or have a done something to my OS also? I'd really appreciate any feed-back or advice anyone can offer. Thanks a lot.
I own a Gateway FX510X that is about 18 months old. It came with 1 gb of ram and I recently decided to bump it up to 2 gigs. I went with 2X 1GB sticks from G.Skill, Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail.
Now, this could have all started by me making a rookie mistake and purchasing the wrong type of memory, but I think i got it right. The spec sheet that came with my computer says it came with 1024MB PC5300 Dual-Channel DDR2 667MHz SDRAM. And the memory that I replaced that with is 2GB DDR2 800 PC2 6200. Is it OK for me to replace the PC5300 with the 6200?
So when I installed the new memory and booted up, I got a message the read:
SERIAL PRESENCE DETECT(SPD) device data missing or inconclusive
Properly programmed SPD device data is required for reliable operation.
DDR2 533MHz memory assumed at slowest timings.
After this message I continued with the booting and made it all the way into a game. But suddenly, my computer shut down and a blue screen came up with an error message I don't remember. I tried rebooting several times, but each time my computer restarted itself in the various stages of booting up or at the desktop.
Next, I tried swapping the memory sticks around, and tried using the other two slots in my mobo, but to no avail.
After that didn't work, I snooped around in my BIOS, which I think is where I made a fatal error. I went into the "Advanced" tab, then down to "Memory Configuration" and looked at the timing info. I'm not 100% sure what all this stuff does, which is why I shouldn't have messed with it, but I couldn't help my self. The box my memory came in and Newegg said the CL is 5-5-5-15 for the memory and the part of the BIOS where you can switch these values was set at 5-5-5-15. However, at the bottom of the BIOS, where it shows the info for my memory, it says
Memory Channel A:
Slot 0:1024MB (DDR2 800) SPD: 5.0-4-4-14
Slot 1: Not installed
Memory Channel B:
Slot 0
same as above)Slot 1:Not installed
so I tried setting my CL to match what my BIOS told me (5-4-4-14) and what the box told me(5-5-5-15) and nothing seemed to work. Pressing the "return to defaults" set things to a Memory Frequency of 533MHz and a CL of 4-4-4-13 and that didn't seem right at all.
After this, I can't even get my computer to boot at all. A black screen comes up that says an error has occurred with Windows and it asks me to select a method to boot. The different options yield the following results-
-"Load Windows Normally" sends me to the regular black Windows screen with the logo and the green loading bar for about a second. Then a blue error message flashes, and the computer restarts itself automatically, returning me to the black Windows boot failure message.
-"Use last known working configuration" does the same thing as the normal boot option
-"Safe Mode" sends a bunch of white command looking lines onto my screen, then the computer restarts itself, like the other options, but without the flashing blue error message.
I tried reverting to the the original setting for the CL, but that didn't work, and putting the old memory back into the computer didn't do anything either. The current CL setting is 5-4-4-14 with the new memory installed. This setup sends me to the black windows error message.
Sorry for the lengthy post but I've no clue what to do. Does this still sound like a hardware foul-up, or have a done something to my OS also? I'd really appreciate any feed-back or advice anyone can offer. Thanks a lot.
