D531 RAM upgrade (8GB)

Question

Hi,

I have found 2 x 4GB DDR2 RAM modules and according to unofficial sources the Dell D531 can accept up to 8 GB provided that the OS is 64bit (I run Win10 Pro x64 1809) and it works (but slowly) fitted with 2 x 2GB (4GB in total) and the built-in ATI x1200 display adapter also works fine in (1280 x 800).

When I install the new 2 x 4GB modules (8GB in total) the system BIOS reports : "4GB available/8GB installed) - I guess it was built when 32bit OS were 'state of the art' - because Windows correctly reports 8GB installed system memory - BUT the ATI driver (8.593.100) is stopped with the famous error 43 - and the system will not display above 1024x768. This does not happen when the machine is running with 4GB RAM only.

Any clues in order to fix this "veteran machine" would be appreciated.

(I know there is no ATI driver for Win7-10 and I know no one is gonna make one, but with 4GB everything works - so i thought - maybe a tweak somewhere could fix it - if not I will need to stay put with only 4GB in the system)

Best regards

Leif

LeiNie · Answer

I'm still looking for a solution to the above mentioned error 43 - ATI 8.593.100 - X1270.

In the meantime I have upgraded to Windows version 1903 - same problem

If I install Linux Mint with 8GB i have no problem running at 1280x800 as supposed.

Please! - Any experience will be greatly appreciated.

Leif

LeiNie · Answer

Hi again,

Since no one has responded to the topic i thought I'll give a small update - not a solution, but closer to the target.

I'm now in Wondows 1909 and "for the fun in trying" I equipped my Dell Latitude D531 with a 1 TB Crucial MX500 SSD and after the OS Migration i got a blazing speed increase so "high on my success" I retried putting in my 8GB in the system. Sadly the ATI 8.593.100 - X1270 driver still refused to kick in and left me with the native 1024x768 MS driver resolution.

OK "the trees don't grow into the heaven" - so I forgot about everything I learned about RAM blocks and exchanged the top 4GB RAM block (under the Keyboard) with the original 2GB block. This would ideally give me (2+4) 6GB if the chip-set would recognize two different ram blocks??....

Eureka!!! PC booted and Window 10 reported 6GB in total (5.87GB available) and guess what : The ATI 8.593.100 - X1270 kicked in and I'm back with the correct native LCD resolution 1280x800.

I know I'm running at less than the 8GB I hoped for, but at least I got +2GB at hand - I'm OK with that.

So the final wish would be if the veteran BIOS of the Latitude D531 would have included an option to allow AHCI as SATA mode. But I guess that would be two much to ask for and I will just have to see if my SSD will degrade in performance over time. 2020 might give me a hint on this.

Happy New Year to You all.

LeiNie

arey83 · Answer

How were you able to install windows 10 on the dell d531 laptop? Thanks.

LeiNie · Answer

Windows 10 can (could be) be installed on top of a legit Windows 7 x64. I read somewhere on the internet that this is still possible even though the deadline was "long ago" - You will have to google a solution for circumventing the Windows 10 upgrade deadline.

The windows 10 upgrade was done using M$ Windows Upgrade tool and was a straight forward standard upgrade process - except for the Video Driver - see earlier posts.

So the real trick was to get a legit Window 7 to run on the D531 before upgrading it to Windows 10

Regards..

arey83 · Answer

Ok great that does help me a lot to understand the upgrade process.   Also by chance can the video card be updated? Thanks again.

LeiNie · Answer

Sorry,

DELL D531 is a notebook where all chips including the video processor is mounted (soldered) on the the mainboard and the possibility to change the video chip does NOT exist. Yo will have to live with the existing video chip.

Regards..

Andreas34 · Answer

Which version of BIOS have you? I have the A10 version but i can't install A12.

LeiNie · Answer

Hi ,

I only got the notification mail the board this morning.

Anyway - I have the A12 BIOS and did not encounter any problems during the BIOS upgrade.

Note I did that at a time where Windows 7 was active on the machine.

Btw. The machine is still alive and working - not the fastest thing in the world but still OK.

Regards

LeiNie

Andreas34 · Answer

I tried to install A12 version of BIOS but i can't. It refers 0x0000504 error.

I tried 2x4gb ram and it worked without problems for the resolution.

But after some minutes it crashes.

I have the 8.342.3.1100 ati driver.

Andreas34 · Answer

How can i find the ATI 8.593.100 - X1270 driver?

LeiNie · Answer

https://www.amd.com/en/support/graphics/legacy-graphics/ati-radeon-x-series/ati-radeon-x1xxx-series

Select the VISTA x64 and download the file. You can try to install the driver directly by simply by running the install file, but sometimes it is better to remove all video drivers and then install the driver manually (have disk).

The problem is that Windows thinks it knows better and sets up its own driver. If you already have an older ATI driver running think you run the installer.

I can see that I have used 7-zip http://www.7-zip.org to extract all driver files to a folder. This folder can be used in a manual (have disk) install process - the driver selection should be something like ATI X1200..

You should be able to get 1280x800 without any crashes (in my setup only with 2+4 GB).

You might be lucky that your ATI hardware will accept to run on 8GB - mine accepts all 8 GB, but the video chipset cannot handle a 4 GB block below the keyboard - I have no idea why - It could be an older chip revision or an untested issue on the motherboard.

Regards

LeiNie

Latitude

D531 RAM upgrade (8GB)

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