But the computer is happy to run with either of the sticks of new memory on there own. If the new memory was duff or the wrong spec this wouldn't be the case.

It sounds more like the new memory simply isn't compatible with the system.

"either of the sticks of new memory on there own"

By this i meant that i have run one of the new 1Gb sticks on its own, with no other memory in the computer, this booted fine. Then I took that stick out and did the same with the other idetical new 1Gb stick and it still booted fine.

or

aZ

bY

Befor you ask

Am I not being clear about the steps i have taken?

say we have slot a and slot b, we have the old ram W and X and the new ram Y and Z

I have tried

aW

bX

aY

bZ

aY

b

aZ

b

aY

bw

And some more conitations the only one no to work is

aY

bZ

Hi James,

Welcome to the Community. So going by the steps that you have already tried, it looks like an issue with the memory that you purchased, because the 2 matching 1 gb sticks to do not power on the system when together but will power on when you add a 512 mb. We can rule out the memory slot as the 512 mb ram gets detected in the same slot. So I would return the product, and look at purchasing one from Dell.

Thank you

Royan

Not necessarily - it may be that with one original module, the system senses and sets the speed correctly.  This can be the case if you run RAM faster than the system needs.

To make it a bit more clear. The ones in red are the only combinations not to work

Why don't you provide the specs of the 2 x 1Gb modules you bought?

You can't just install any type of memory. The Inspiron 6000 will take up to 2Gb (either as a single 2Gb module - contrary to what Dell says - or as a pair of 1Gb module) DDR2 RAM.

I run a single 2Gb 533 CL4 (PC2-4200S) SODIMM module in mine. Have a look at Crucial web site for what is supported. Bearing in mind that this laptop supports 400/533MHz FSB only, DDR2 667 or DDR2 800 are a bit of a waste as they'll never run at max speed. Stick to DDR2 533, unless you can't find it of course. No matter what supported module you use, whether DDR2-533, DDR2-667 or DDR2-800, your BIOs will only report 533MHz memory, not 667MHz or 800MHz. And if you mix modules, only the slowest speed is used.

Your specs are Ok, this should have worked. Out of curiosity, I tried the 2 x 1Go DDR2-667 modules of my Latitude D630 into my Inspiron 6000 and it worked Ok, albeit reported at 533MHz only, as expected.

Dell may only offer DDR2-800 simply because they've chosen to limit the types of RAM they want to sell. DDR2-533 is for old machines now and won't be readily available anymore. These days, it's DDR2-667 and DDR2-800 minimum. Ebay would be a good place for DDR2-533 though.