memory increase for Pavilion dv7-6175

[BPoppi]

Hello.  My computer is running REAL slow.  Considering buying more memory.  Can anyone help me with this?

[banhien]

@BPoppi

Your machine has 6GB of RAM right now

    https://support.hp.com/au-en/document/c02863117

I don't know why you upgraded to Windows 10 32 bit. Adding more RAM won't help because Windows 32 bit on your machine can't access to anything above 4GB.

For 64bit, please try the following good vendor:

   http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/HP---Compaq/pavilion-dv7-1245dx

Regards.

[Huffer]

@banhien is right if you have 32 bit Windows 10 you need to get rid of that but I suspect you just clicked the wrong choice and actually have 64 bit Windows 10. 

First thing is the laptop came with 6 gigs which is not a lot, but should be enough that it is not "real slow". You need to do a hardware/hard drive test in UEFI diagnostics (F2 as you power up) or in the BIOS (F10 as you power up) if F2 does not work. Post the results back. You can certainly upgrade to 8 gigs (or even 16 gigs) and it might help a bit but if the laptop is really slow there is something else going on not just low memory. Also let us know the country you live in so we can direct you to a good place to buy the memory. Installation is very easy on that model. Uses DDR3-1333:

Supports up to 8192 GB of system RAM

DDR3/1333-MHz

4 GB (DDR3, 10600, 1333-MHz) 621569-001

https://www.amazon.com/621569-001-4GB-1333MHz-PC3-10600-SODIMM/dp/B005UF674S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=...

Very easy to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXlg8bfYYZ8

Service manual

If this is "the Answer" please click "Accept as Solution" to help others find it. 

[BPoppi]

Hello and thanks for your response.  I am not sure if it's 32 bit or 64 bit.  As far as upgrading to Windows 10, I see that it was a HUGE mistake.  At the time (late last Summer), I was getting prompts telling me that Windows was no longer supporting Windows 8 (at some point, I had upgraded to 8).  There was a count down to a date where I was basically being forced to upgrade to Windows 10.  So, if having W10 on my laptop is part of the problem, how do I get rid of it and go back to Windows 8?

I should also mention that on this laptop, I also run Adobe Lightroom CC/Photoshop CC. 

[Huffer]

Go to This PC right click and select properties and it will tell you how much memory is available and whether it is 32 or 64 bit. I am betting 64 as you had 64 bit Windows 8 and it only could have upgraded to Windows 10 64 bit. You would have had to do a clean install to get 32 bit and you would definitely recall that. 

Windows 10 is not the problem it would be 32 bit is the problem if that is what you have. If you are running Adobe Photoshop CC you need all the RAM you can get which is 16 gigs. Also we want to check the hardware as I said and then we are going to check device manager and make sure all the drivers got installed when you upgraded to Windows 10. 

[BPoppi]

Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz

Installed memory (RAM) 6.00 GB

64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor.

[Huffer]

So I was correct in assuming it was 64 bit. Next step: run hardware diagnostics. Tap F2 as you power up and see if you can get into the diagnostics. If not tap F10 and get into the BIOS and find hard drive test. 

Does no good to upgrade a defective computer. Let's make sure the hardware is OK. 

[BPoppi]

Good evening!  It took a few hours, but I ran the hard drive test.  The results said, "Testing Drive: 1."  The SMART Check, Short DST, and Long DST all passed.

I also ran a "Run-In Test".  The Memory, SMART Check, Short DST, and Optimized Test all passed.

What should I do next?  Thank you in advance for your help with this.

[Huffer]

Then you have the green light to go ahead and increase the memory. We also need to check the device manager and be sure all the drivers are working right. Particularly check the display adapter and let us know what it is showing there. 

[BPoppi]

Good Morning!  Under the Device Manager, then Display adapters:

AMD Radeon HD 7400M Series - on the General tab, the device status reads "This device is working properly"

Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 - again, on the General tab, it says this device is working properly.

What else should I check for?