Memory upgrade problems on my m7674n

[r_canton]

I purchased a used HP Pavilion m7674n and tried to install more memory before I started hooking up a tv signal and having fun with my Media Center.  I ordered some generic DDR2 PC2 6400 800mhz 2gb x 2 DIMM 800 240 pin.  The computer originally came with 2 gb of ram, but it currently only has one, and my thought was to simply replace it with the two new sticks of quicker ram and I'd be good to go.

No luck so far with what I thought would be a simple upgrade.  I tried the following steps:

1.  Shut the computer down and installed the new chips into two of the remaining three slots (closest to the occupied slot).  Turned the computer back on, monitor didn't respond, and I got a short beep followed by a long beep, over and over. No discernable boot up from the hard drive.

2.  Shut the computer down again and reseated everything.  Same result.

3.  Shut down and removed the old memory, replaced it with the two new chips.  No beeping, but no monitor response (monitor doesn't respond in any of these scenarios).  No boot up from hard drive (I hear it power up, spin for a sec,but no booting, no blinking hd light)

4.  Shut down and removed both chips, replaced with one at a time, trying to boot up with one of the 2g sticks at a time, resulting in the same issue as step 1.

5.  I tried all the steps above while attempting various CMOS resets by moving the jumper, unplugging, replugging, not unplugging, rejumpering, etc etc etc.  Same result with each step.

 Why can't I seem to make my simple upgrade work?  So frustrating...

[1badGuard]

Try just the original memory and see what happens. Sounds like the new memory is cheap and worthless. Even though the specs state PC2-6400 this site says you need to use PC2-5300

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Media%20Center%20m7674n

[c0rnel]

This computer supports DDR2 PC4200 memory not 5300 or 6400 so is why it's not booting up.

I'm going based off the technical information hp posted.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00787409&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_US...

So put back the original stick, take out the new ones (all of the 6400 ram) and try booting up, press F1 or F10 for BIOS and should tell you what kind of ram you have on that existing 1 of 2 GB the pc came with.

The motherboard will only boot with compatible ram and if it's faster than what it supports it won't work. Try newegg.com for good inexpensive PC 4200 ram.

[r_canton]

Thanks everybody... I did end up putting the old memory back in and see that it indeed has the PC4200 in there now.  I did find that info about memory on the Crucial.com site as well, I just must have found some other "compatibility" site that told me the 6400 would work too, but it obviously doesn't.  I'm going to get some 4200 and hope that does the trick.  Thanks all.