pc boots with one ram but not 2

[doehrli]

recently i started having blue scrren troubles.  it started off as every so often.  then it got to be multiple times thru out the day.  now i cant even bring the pc up to boot.  

i have a compaq presario pc desktop.  model sr5510F,  with window vista 32 bit installed on it

everything is original and no changes other than the normal updates u get.

i checked the ram and each slot using the memtest64+ i think it was called.  both 1 gb ram passed and so did the 2 slots.  but if i only put in 1 ram in one slot the pc boots.  i changed out the power supply but same troubles.  

please help

[erico]

Test your memory modules again with memtest and stress test the modules. Clearly if the PC boots up with a single stick in then one of the sticks is faulty or a slot is bad on the motherboard. You have  verified the cause already and stated both slots are good.. If both slots are working you need to buy a pair of guaranteed compatible memory from a  well known company like Crucial. Remember that only 2GB modules should be used

Best regards,
erico

[doehrli]

ok i did that already.  im not ruling out bad ram yet, i planning to get 2 new ram sticks this wkend.  but i have already done the ram test for both sticks 1 & 2 and tests those sticks in both memory slots a & b.  meaning i ran mem test for stick 1 in slot a for 8 hrs and it passed the test everytime, all 15 of them. and the pc booted with stick 1 in slot a.  did the same for these too:

stick 1 in slot a

stick 1 in slot b

stick 2 in slot a

stick 2 in slot b

every time the ram passed the mem test for 8 hrs, never failed one time.  also the pc booted up no problems with that i stick in after the test, all 4 times.

but when i stick ram 1 and ram 2 in at the same time, the computer doesnt boot.  if i do get lucky and it does normal boot and i get to a windows screen, the pc freezes up in about 5 min.  meaningthe mouse doesnt move or i cant type on the keyboard.  can only reboot the pc.  but morst of the times i cant even get to the normal windows.  normally it wont get passed the 1st screen with the bios spot where u can press esc, f10 or f11, and i cant even press those.  it just totally freezes.  thats the screen with the word compaq in big red letters.

ive also changed out the power supply with a brand new one that i know is good and i get the same problems.

[c0rnel]

Just wondering how do you have your ram positioned when you have both ram sticks inserted.

You have them as follows right?

ram slot 1a - ram stick                            or                          ram slot 1a -

ram slot 1b -                                                                           ram slot 1b - ram stick
ram slot 2a - ram stick                                                          ram slot 2a -

ram slot 2b -                                                                           ram slot 2b - ram stick

[Woodwood]

your motherboard supports dual channel architecture according to

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documentSubCategory?tmp_rule=50298&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=u...

> motherboard specs

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01237538

select memory upgrades on this page for more detailed info

There is some conflict of info from HP spec pages for this model (2 DIMM  slots) and the info you supply (4 DIMM slots)

as suggested earlier try stick 1 in slot 1 and stick 2 in slot 2

and stick 1 in slot 1 and stick 2 in slot 3  (the paired slots should be colour coded) 

From what you have said you have either tried this already or I do not expect it to work.

Also, I am surprised that things were working but they have deteriorated.  It's unlikely that all your DIMM slots have gone wonky, including the formerly unused ones. The most likely thing you have ruled out viz memory cards have worked themseleves loose.  It seems to be the presence of two memory cards.  The common thing upstream is the memory controller chip(s)....

woodwood

30.October.2011

[doehrli]

there is only 2 memory slots available on the mother board.  slot a and slot b.  what i said was the pc has the problem if i have a ram in each slot at the same time.  if 1 ram was used only and i doesnt matter what slot i put that ram in then i dont seem to have the problem.

[doehrli]

ti never stated i have 4 ram slots please reread my initial 2 postings.  it was cornol who posted i had 4 ram slots

[Woodwood]

OK I apologise if I have misinterpreted what anyone has said.

The descriptions of your pc are those given in the links to the HP specs which I have  posted earlier then.  Your PC is limited to a maximum of 4 GB of RAM.

You only get this problem with both RAM sticks place, not with just one.  and both RAM sticks work fine by themselves whichever DIMM slot they are in.  This would rule out the RAM sticks individually and the individual slots eelectricallly it would seem.

Further both RAM sticks are as originally supplied by HP, and the degradation of performance has occurred over time.

This must mean that is something common to both RAM sticks, eg the memory controller chip, processor, or software. has gone wrong.

Have a look at the temperature of your pc when its running with some software for that purpose I use MBM5 but  it's rather outdated and gets fan speed all wrong., but  it tells you temperatures in quasi real time without having  to stop what you are doing.  There must be others.  There could be dust build up in one or more of your heatsinks.  If there is it not necessary to remove the h/s in all situations, despite what anyone might tell  you, but that will certaiunly be the most thorough way..

how far does it get through boot routine ?    What does your bios say about installed memory when you have both cards in ?  On my pc the bios can be entered  by repeatedly pressing F1 during boot until the bios screen appears. it may be a different F button for your pc. if youu can do this you may check the apparent state of your memory as the bios sees it, and i think it will  also allow you to see the CPU temperature during boot up.

I know very little about hardware testing, but testing the various chips in your pc such as the memory controller with one memory stick in place could reveal faults that only show up when you have in place.

Finally, if you have no joy on this forum, look on the internet for similar problems and how they were solved and / or join another forum, eg majorgeeks, toms hardware etc, there are lots on the internet

I'm sorry not to be able to help more, as I have only restated your problem.

Woodwood

30.October.2011

[dutzone]

Hello there,

I am having exactly the same issue with the same sr5510F compaq.

It started few weeks ago, after 3 years of working flawlessly.

Did also change the HDD - still the same problem

Memtest86 shows noe errors when both rams are intalled, but the computer doesn't boot.

Just with one stick works fine, but is so slow (almost 0 free memory when I am writting now).

Reseting the BIOS wasn't a solution. 

When I googled the problem, most of them solved the issue by changing the RAM settings in BIOS (voltage, timing, speeds and so). The problem with our BIOS is that we don't see any options for RAM.

Other people says that the motherboard is gone.

The problem changing the motherboard: can we reinstall the OS from the Recovery CD??? Or it has to recognize the original MOBO???

It will be very appreciated if somebody can give any advice. I am considering also to change the motherboard, or to buy a combo MOBO/CPU. But the same question: can I install the OS from the recovery cds? Otherwise, I don't have any other OS.

For Doehrli: I ran CPU-Z and SiSoft Sandra. There are free on the net. You can do the same and maybe understand better why they show low memory speed on the chipset, and still recognize the memory as having 800MHz, on the memory chapter. Is this a sign that the MOBO is "tired" already and can not provide more speed to support both memories??

I have basic knowledge about computers, maybe you can understand better the details of those reports.

Thank you,

Dan.

[doehrli]

sounds exactly like my problem.  i even went out and got 2 new 2Mb ram chips and put it in.  seemed to work fine for a while but now getting the bsod on occassions.  i even recovered teh pc back to the normal settings that came with the pc from the factory, a factory reset as u may call it. then went thru all the updates and all.  honestly i didnt see and bsod until i go to the part on the updates and started updating to service pack 2 for vista.  not sure if thats a problem but since the updates took basically a whole day and i didnt spend to much time using the pc when p1 was only installed not sure if thats the problem. 

also changed the power supply too and still bsod.  hmmm lost and dont know what to do.  pc is 3-4 yrs old id say.  maybe its time to opt for purchasing a newer updated one.

anyone with ne more suggestions???