I'm thinking bad ram on this lappy?!

[WolfgangCS]

Laptop has XP SP2 and was running updates, downloading AVG, Firefox, and did a crucial scan on ram to see what it had. Crucial had finished and so had Firefox. The AVG just finished and windows updates were still going. The system just shut off. The ram was super hot. She had a total of 288MB (256MB and 32MB). I am thinking the ram failed?! I tried to reboot and all I got was the bios boot screen, but couldn't get into BIOS nor was the HDD running (only for a split second right at power on). I had rebooted twice before this accrued. any ideas?


Is running updates on SP2 a bad idea?

 

[H4x3r]

no updates certainly shouldn't cause anything like that and arent related to post at all....it may be that the ram has gone from over heating.....do you get any beep codes from the motherboard when you turned it on>? is the system running now?

 

[Baez]

Remove the 32MB stick and try running with only the 256MB.

 

[NightSurge]

Does the hard drive make a clicking sound immediately upon turning the computer on? If so it is your hard drive that has encountered bad sectors and gone caput. Otherwise I would blame either stick of RAM, hopefully the 32mb stick.

 

[Asylum]

With only 256 mb of ram im suprised its runs at all..I think Xp requires atleast 1 gig to operate...

 

[NightSurge]

With only 256 mb of ram im suprised its runs at all..I think Xp requires atleast 1 gig to operate...

XP requires 256mb

 

[Baez]

Actually the required amount is 128. Recommended is 256MB.

 

[NightSurge]

Actually the required amount is 128. Recommended is 256MB.

Clarification is always good. I was about to amend my post because I thought I remembered having a laptop machine with 128mb.

 

[WolfgangCS]

I found that if I reset the battery it boots again. In windows it shows that it has 244MB and the ram slot is empty in the back. THe HDD does not back any scratching sounds nor does it rattle. It boots fine now. I was told by the user that if the battery is reset it will work fine as long as the system has had time to cool off. Any ideas why it might just all of a sudden shut off?


It also notes that the video ram is 32MB

I can tell the system has been dropped one good time.

PS- I don't know about you guys but I make sure I take nery extra care of my systems (maintenance and handling). What are some people thinking? also when it is a system that they use for work or has very vital info on it?! as if they just chuck it here and there (sorry, side note)

 

[Baez]

It very well sounds like an overheating problem. Take the back panel off and ensure that there is no dust and that the fan is running properly.