XP pro. Problems after installing RAM

[silverkaylah]

Hi

 

I'm not technical so please bear with me!!

 

I wanted to run MS Accounting express on my PC but my existing RAM was only 256 and it needed to be at least 512.

I bought a 1gb upgrade through crucial. I used their scanning tool to find the right one.

I installed it yesterday with no problems and then downloaded MS Accounting. I spent the rest of yesterday using the software.

This morning I have switched on the pc and once windows has booted after about 30 seconds the screen goes blue and I get the message

 

"a problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer

 

a process or thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly or terminated .........."

 

I have contacted crucial who asked me to move the new RAM from the second slot into the first and retry without the existing RAM, this did not work. I have now removed the new RAM and put back just the existing one and the problem still happens. I have never had this problem prior to the installation of the new RAM.

 

Crucial have said that they think it to be a software issue as I can run the pc in safe mode. Could this be the case or has the installation of the new RAM caused the problem?

 

Are there any sort of diag I can run whilst in safe mode?

 

I am running XP pro

 

Many thanks for your expected help, if you need any more info, please ask and I will (try and) let you know.

[maynardvdm]

Hi

 

Welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help

 

Can you get into safe mode? If yes is it with the old RAM, new RAM or both?

 

What is the make and model of the motherboard and both old and new RAM?

[silverkaylah]

Hi

I can get into safe mode with the old RAM and the new.

The motherboard is MS-7095 (P4MAM2-V) according to the scan.

[silverkaylah]

Sorry, forgot to add...

 

Old RAM is Elixir M1U25664DS88C3G-6K

 

New RAM is CT12864z335.16tfy (is that the right number?)

[maynardvdm]

Does it say anything like PC2700 or DDR266 on the sticks?

 

If i have it correct the old RAM is DDR266 and the new one is DDR333. So it is better to always get the same speeds.

 

Also is this your motherboard: MSI Computer Corp. - Product

[silverkaylah]

Yes, that is the motherboard.

 

Old RAM is 256MB-DDR-333MHz-CL2.5 PC2700U-25330

 

New RAM is 1GB DDR 333 CL2.5 PC2700U-25331-Z

 

hope that helps

[maynardvdm]

Ok sorry i thought the old one was DDR266.

 

Put the new RAM in the first slot (closest to the CPU) and the old one in the second one.

Now start the computer normally. Tell me if there is any error messages or if you hear a long beeb (one short beep is OK), also tell me what happens, do you get a blue screen and if yes what does it say.

 

The next step after this is to go into safe mode and uninstall the new software to see if it is that which is causing the problem.

[silverkaylah]

OK, I have installed the RAM as described. The system booted up fine with one short beep and I got to the windows home screen. After around 40 seconds the screen went blue. I have taken a picture of the screen

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y133/silverkaylah/2009-05-13094708.jpg

[maynardvdm]

Go in safe mode then

 

Go here:

 

C:\Windows\Minidump\ and attach the last two files here. Zip them if you can.

 

Should be something like this Mini042809-01.dmp <- mini dump file dated 28 April 2009

 

Copy those files to a flash disk and upload it from this pc you are using now.

[silverkaylah]

Right, hope i've done this right!!

 

[ATTACH]256.vB5-legacyid=533[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]257.vB5-legacyid=534[/ATTACH]

Mini051309-76.zip

Mini051309-77.zip

[danzil]

hi

a little gentle advice to you, when putting your hands inside your computer ALWAYS make sure you either use an anti static wrist strap or at least hold one hand on the power supply unit to earth yourself.

 

you MAY have damaged both ram chips by handling them.

 

the stop message you are recieving could be hard drive issues .

try booting into safe mode

then go to start>run type in "cmd" without ".

n the black dos screen type in "chkdsk /f /r" again without ".

the computer will ask you to press "y" do so.

now reboot your pc and power it back on as normal.

your pc will then scan your hard drive for errors and attempt to fix them.

 

might be worth getting a cold beer or a cup of tea, it could take a while depending on the size of the drive.

 

may also be worth going into your bios, tap f2 and delete one after each other, once in the bios choose "load setup defaults" (may differ but not greatly). restart and try again...

do the chkdsk part first.

regards

danzil