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expatriotsailor
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December 7th, 2006 23:00
Memory Problem After Flashing BIOS
I salvaged an old Dimension L433c from work containing no memory or hard drive. I bought two used 256 meg sticks and a new Western Digital HD. The machine booted, but it was making strange noises and the clock was stuck (even if I changed it in the BIOS and left setup on screen, the clock didn't change), but aside from that the machine seemed to run fine. I downloaded the A05 BIOS (old one was A02) and flashed it and that's when the fun started.
The first time I rebooted, I got an error message saying "reduction in RAM." When I tried to reboot again, it only showed 4 meg, and that happened through several reboots. W2K obviously wouldn't start. After several reboots, it stopped even booting.
If I use only one stick, and it doesn't seem to matter which one or which slot I place it in, aside from several beeps, the machine boots and seems to run fine. Can someone suggest what the problem might be. I would like to use all 512 meg. For what it's worth, one is CL2 and the other is CL3.
Thanks for any help.
The first time I rebooted, I got an error message saying "reduction in RAM." When I tried to reboot again, it only showed 4 meg, and that happened through several reboots. W2K obviously wouldn't start. After several reboots, it stopped even booting.
If I use only one stick, and it doesn't seem to matter which one or which slot I place it in, aside from several beeps, the machine boots and seems to run fine. Can someone suggest what the problem might be. I would like to use all 512 meg. For what it's worth, one is CL2 and the other is CL3.
Thanks for any help.
expatriotsailor
3 Posts
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Posted December 8th, 2006 19:00
Thanks for your help. I replaced the battery as a first step, and did a hard reset, but still no go. Any other suggestions? Thank you.- You mentioned in your first posting that the system will emit several beeps when starting up. The beeps maybe an error code so take notice of them. If you're getting 1 to 3 beeps on start up then that would indicate a problem with the memory. You can click here for a full listing of the error codes from the on-line User Guide for the Dimension Lxxc.Other than what I mentioned above, my only other suggestion would be to try another set of memory modules in the system. The older Dell systems were a little finicky when it came to memory upgrades depending on the RAM manufacturer. That's why you will see Crucial memory being recommended so often in the various forums here as their product was guaranteed to work and it did.
Message Edited by Majestic on 12-09-200607:20 AM
expatriotsailor
3 Posts
187
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Posted December 10th, 2006 16:00
Thank you for your help. I have tested both sticks of memory using memtest and it reports no errors.
When I use the CL3 in slot 1 and CL2 in slot 2, the machine boots reports a memory reduction to either 12 meg (rare) or 4 meg (common) instead of 512 meg.
When I use the CL3 in slot 1 and CL2 in slot 2, the BIOS won't even load. I am going to try and trade my CL2 stick for another CL 3 stick, but I am not optimistic I can do it -- I bought them from a shop that strips out old machines and sells the parts.
Any other ideas?- Sorry, at this point the only thing I can suggest is swapping the CL2 for a stick of CL3 as you are intending to do. Also make sure the computer shop is giving you low density memory. The older Dell systems can not use high density modules.
Majestic
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9371 Posts
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Posted December 8th, 2006 11:00