trouble with memory in Inspiron 5100

Question

Hello, I'm new here and I would appreciate any help anyone could give me. Here's my situation and series of events:

I have an Inspiron 5100 (BIOS A32). It has two 256 MB memory sticks. I wanted to upgrade. I bought a Kingston 512 MB 333 MHz DDR PC 2700 stick. I replaced one 256 stick with the new one. This did not upgrade my system b/c the two sticks were are different speeds. So then I just put only the 512 MB stick in the slot. After doing that my computer started acting really strange. Sometimes it would crash, sometime it would start like normal, and sometimes it would just freeze. So then I decided to put back the two original sticks. Now my computer is running normal, but when I checked the system to see how much memory I had (should be 512) it says I only have 256 MB. Can somebody help explain what's going on? What memory do I need in order to upgrade my system? Thank you so much.

dallascowboyswo · Answer

What you normally need is PC2100 memory. However PC2700 should work with bios A31 and above. Even if you get the 333 mhz memory your system will only run at 266 mhz because you are limited by your front side bus. Where did you buy your memory from, you may have just a bad stick of ram. You might try the 512 mb stick in the other slot and see if that makes a difference otherwise I would replace the ram and buy a differenct brand. By the way www.crucial.com is a good place to get your ram and they gaurantee it will work.

Inspiron 5100
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHZ
512 MB RAM
32 MB MOBILITY RADEON 7500C
40 GB Fujitsu HD
QSI CDRW/DVD SBW-242
Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated NIC
Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN Mini-PCI card
BCM V.92 56k Modem
SigmaTel C-Major Audio
Bios ver. A31
Win XP Home SP2
pur. Jan 2004
WRT54GS Linksys router
ZoneAlarm Pro ver 5.1.011.000
Norton SystemWorks Premier ver 9

Message Edited by dallascowboysworldchamps on 09-23-2006 09:53 AM

Old Driver · Answer

I had the same problem about a yr ago. I finally call tech support and they determined after I run several checks for them while they told me what to do,that the motherboard was going bad. I was still under warranty at the time and they sent a new motherboard out. once I got it installed(wasn't all that hard)everything was fine. My wife still uses the 5100 everyday and it just keep's on going. If your out of warranty there are several places to get a Dell replacement board. i don't remember them at the minute but try inquireing on this forum at the bottom of the page for them I'm sure you'll get what you need.

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trouble with memory in Inspiron 5100

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