Laptop bootup issues

[Girevik]

Hello everyone,

I'm having a frustrating issue with my laptop that has me a bit stumped. I recently upgraded the memory from 1GB to 4GB and since I've done that it's been really flaky about booting up. Sometimes it will power up, the hard drive light will flash once, and after that nothing. Sometimes when it does that you can force it to power down and try again and it works, and sometimes it seems like taking the battery out or putting it back in helps.

I've run memtest on the new chips and it came up clean. I'm a little stumped on where to go or what to try next.

 

[Lexluethar]

Are you sure your laptop can support 4 gigs? Some laptops can only support 2 or 3 gig of memory. Check the specs on your laptop to ensure the system board can support 4 gig. My guess is it cannot and that is causing your boot issues (it shouldn't cause a problem as the system would only read what it can use, but sometimes it could cause boot issues).

Take the new stick out and see if you still have the same boot issue.

 

[Girevik]

I'm pretty sure it can, and the guy at the electronics store where I bought the memory looked it up to find the kind it needed and said it could. Also, when I check the system properites is seems to be recognizing the 4GB. Would Windows recognize it if the laptop couldn't suppport it?

 

[KSoD]

Windows would not report 4GB if it could not recognize it. Now if you are using a 32 Bit OS that is a fully different story.

It could be that the switch in hardware put Windows into a fit. I have seen it before with just a simple RAM change. I reinstall Windows when i upgraded from 1.5GB to 3GB. Only cause Windows was being a brat.

So it is possible that Windows just doesnt like the 4GB. Do you know which architecture you are using? 32 Bit or 64 Bit?

 

[Girevik]

I beleive it's just 32bit (Vista supports both, right)?, but I'm not real sure. Is there a way to check it?

 

[oldskool]

Right click My Computer, then left-click Properties. If it says x64 it's 64-bit, and if it says nothing or x32 then it's 32-bit.

 

[KSoD]

I beleive it's just 32bit (Vista supports both, right)?, but I'm not real sure. Is there a way to check it?

There is a 64 Bit XP out there as well. Start>Run>winver or Right click on Computer>Properties

 

[Girevik]

It's 32 bit. It booted up right up today, but I don't necissarily trust that to continue.

 

[oldskool]

Maybe you could try using Check Disk :

type: chkdsk /f at the command prompt. I am wonder about the state of the HDD. May be a memory issue, but until Mak gets a chance to respond, or someone else, I thought you could try my idea out. Just a thought.

 

[Girevik]

Ok, it's been a busy week and the wife has needed the laptop a lot so I just got a chance to try this. I don't think it got any errors...I stepped away from it for a bit and it finished while I wasn't watching it and when I got back windows was back up.