I have a dell m1730. I bought it with 2 gigs of ram about 3 months ago and its been working fine. I got a $200 giftcard with it that i don't really need, so i bought 4 gigs of ram and a flash drive....
Anyways, i've installed ram millions of times......5 min after installing it.....got a physical memory dump...comp rebooted.
Now a few min after it restarts "superfetch" fails and needs to shut down.....which also results in me getting kicked off the internet.
I'm told it deals with ram.....so i'm seeing an obvious correlation.
Windows welcome is recognizing the 4 gigs.....
although task manager looks like its only recognizing 3 gigs.
I took out the ram and actually switched them around....still getting same problem.
Update:Since i was buying from dell.....got dell to scan my system and bought the recommended ram.
Update 3:it was 2, 1 gig chips
I bought 2 , 2 gig chips
So the ram that came with teh system is gone.
Update 5:Task manager is saying i have
3261 mb of ram
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
32-bit versions of Vista theoretically can use up to 4 GB of RAM, but tend to crap out after 3 GB. If you didn't specifically ask for the 64-bit version, you probably have the 32-bit one. You'd think in the 5 years they spent developing Vista they would have had time to just make it 64-bit and 32-bit compatible.
Anyway, try taking 1 or 2 GB of RAM out and see if you're still having the same issues. It could also be that your RAM is DOA. Go to memtest86.com, download MemTest-86 and see if it gives you any errors.
1. The 2GB's that were in the system was it 1 or 2 chips? If 2, did you purchase (2) 2GB Memory Chips to = the 4 GB? And was it 667MHz DDR2?
2. When you say task manager shows only 3 gigs is it actually ~3 or is it under 4, but not quite 3? The reason I ask is because if your on-board video card, "shares" memory with the processor then on bootup it will count up to the 4, but window (system properties) may only show ~3840 - 3584 or 3.8 or 3.5 GB of memory.
3. Sometimes installing RAM can corrupt Windows which may be the reason behind your software glitches and the display problems you are having.
You might have got the wrong PC on your ram . If you have pc4300 you need the same or even pc5300 will work . Going down to say pc2700 won't go . Try Crucial.com , they'll ask for a few specs , run a scan and tell you what you need . A lot of times you'll upgrade to 4 gigs or whatever and your comp says it only recognizes 3 , that's not a problem because it is there .
it may be suited imo to reinstall Vista, you may nonetheless shop your information as long as you do not format thecontinual. afaik, living house windows structures have been made to artwork on the put in processor (or i think of motherboard) in elementary terms. so if u improve your motherboard or processor, there's a extreme danger it won't artwork. living house windows isn't that transportable.