Blue Screen Error - Memory Mismatch? Video Driver? HELP

Question

Recently I decided to give my Dell Inspiron 9100 laptop a second life with a memory upgrade. I used crucial.com and their memory matching program and found perfectly compatible RAM. I had 2x 256mb DDR SODIMMs (PC3200s, 400Mhz), and bought 1x 1gb DDR SODIMM (PC3200s, 400Mhz - perfectly matched spec, except the memory size). I then removed one of the 256mb sticks and replaced it with the 1gb stick. So I ended up with 1280mb RAM. I'm aware that the sizes are mismatched and I take a 10-15% efficiency drop with this combination, but the mismatch still meant I had over 1gb of RAM.   I used this combo for a few days with absolutely no issues.   Then I decided to revisit some old games. Before doing so, I upgraded my video card drivers.   Again, I ran my computer, played tons of games, and had a grand old time for a day or two, with no issues.   Then, all of a sudden, today I'm getting blue screen errors for no apparent reason. Some have occurred while just sitting on the desktop, while others happen when browsing the internet or launching a game.   There doesn't appear to be a true error code on the blue screen, just the usual 'a problem was a detected and windows has been shut down', etc. Then it states mismatched RAM as a possible problem, incompatible RAM as a possible problem (not likely, since my new RAM speed and type matches the factory-installed Dell RAM),  or, finally, a video adapter error being the problem.    What I've done so far is remove the 256mb stick of RAM, leaving only the 1gb I just bought. The problem still occurs, so I think we can scratch the 'mismatched RAM' possibility. And again, my RAM is completely compatible.    So that leaves the video card driver I installed, right?   Well... the blue screen then states:   'Technical information: *** STOP: 0x0000007f (0x0000000D, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)   Beginning dump of physical memory Physical memory dump complete.'   So... that leads me to believe its still the RAM. Which just doesn't seem right.   Any ideas?   And don't anyone try to scare me with a 'dying motherboard' reason. My computer may be 4 years old, but my motherboard is only 1 and 1/2 years old.   Thanks.

Sparechange49 · Answer

Well, thanks to... uh... no one, really... I fixed my issue.

If anyone comes across this who is curious, here's what I did:

I knew my 1gb stick of RAM was compatible - something just wasn't agreeing. So, to be sure, I took it out and put the original 2x 256mb sticks in. No problems; no blue screen.

Then I rolled-back my video card drivers. Again, no more problems.

That's when I realized that I had installed 3rd-party drivers for my video card. Not really sure how I downloaded non-official drivers, but I had. I re-updated my drivers with the very newest (one month old) drivers for my ancient video card.

So then I took a chance on my new 1gb stick of RAM again and re-installed it, leaving one of the 256mb sticks still in (again).

I now essentially have the same exact set-up as I did when I started having all the blue-screen problems. The only difference is that I now have proper video card drivers.

I've been playing fairly RAM-intensive game for the past two hours with absolutely no issues and couldn't be happier. This is a game that previously triggered the blue screen error every time I even tried to launch it.

So.... well, thanks to anyone who may have at least read my problem.

Windows General

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