Inspiron 6000 Will Not Boot After Memory Upgrade

Question

I decided to upgrade the memory on my Inspiron 6000 from 512 MB to 2GB and now the computer will not even turn on. Before doing anything, I upgraded the BIOS and confirmed that the machine booted after doing this. Then I unplugged everything and removed the battery before replacing the two 256 MB chips with the two 1 GB chips. Seating the chips  seemed very straightforward and as far as I could tell, I put them in just like the originals were installed. I put a chip into slot A before Slot B. Then I put the memory cover back on, replaced the battery and A/C connection and pushed the power button. When I do this, the power light comes on and blinks as well as the battery,HD indicator and cap letter lights - I can hear some appropriate whirring noise from inside the machine; there is no display- just the black screen. Then it shuts off after about 10 seconds with a bit of a whine. No beeps, nada. This happens the same way if I take the battery out trying to just boot with A/C and if I do a 'PSA alternate boot method'. I then read some more in my manual which seemed to suggest that I should have taken the optical and hard drives out before trying to place the new memory. So I did all this and it still did not work. Then I put the original memory pieces back in and it still doesn't work. I worked through some stuff on the Dell support site (that is how I found the PSA boot stuff) and I got to the point where I was directed to remove everything including keyboard, internal battery, etc. At this point, I got cold feet figuring that if I could not even replace memory without screwing up, that I should not be taking anything else apart. Questions:1.  Did I mess up by not removing the optical and hard drives before replacing the memory?2. Now what? Thanks in advance.

Hanspuppa · Answer

I would agree with Thereal-dbk4297. If you are certain the new memory is compatible with your system, you may not have seated it properly. The module needs to be pushed into the slot fully and then pushed downward at the latch. It is quite easy to not install memory in a Laptop correctly. I have done this incorrectly myself, only to realize it after a 'No Boot' condition, then check the installed module and found it not to be seated properly. Hope this helps.

Thereal-dbk4297 · Answer

No problem, Use the link I added, and make sure you hear a click.

MJ32 · Answer

Sorry for the text formatting issue - I copied from a message to a friend and I could not delete the underlining or change the color.

I have already replaced both the old memory chips (thinking that maybe the new ones were no good) and I have the same issue. I will try seating them again. Thanks for your help.

Thereal-dbk4297 · Answer

WOW,

That is VERY hard to read. Blue and underlined, please stop.

No, I don't think that removing the drives caused your problem.

If both the new and old memory do not work, I suggest that the chips are not fully seated for the old chips. Make sure you remove the battery and the AC adapter first or you could kill the system. Once to get the old memory working, remove one old chip and add one new chip.

MJ32 · Answer

You were quite correct. I had the click but I had not pushed them into the slot far enough - now working great. Thanks for your help. MJ

MJ32 · Answer

I had the click but I had not pushed them in enough - now working great. Thanks again for your help. MJ

exergy · Answer

Hi MJ & Hanspuppa,

Thanks a ton; I had the same problem after attempting to upgrade RAM on my Inspiron 6400 now. Did some google search, landed in this thread, followed MJ's last post (of seating not being proper). It worked fine !

Honestly, without your thread, I would have struggled a lot to fix my problem and myriad fears that it gave rise to.

Created a user ID only to post this 'Thank you' note !

Regards

spx band · Answer

Thanks to you both from me as well!! Just upgraded Inspiron 6000 to 2 gb, had the same problem,read your solution, tried it and heard the 'click'! Everything started right up, thanks again!

New to Dell Community

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