Crashing after having more RAM installed

Before I go into my problem, I'm somewhat computer literate but I'm
completely uncomfortable with doing anything hardware related myself
cause I tend to screw it up.

So what happens is that I recently went to a shop and they installed
an extra Kingston 2x512 into my Gateway computer. My computer has an
AMD X2 3800. Anyways, so now my total was 2gb of memory, however
after I got back, my computer crashes. A lot. I notice that it
crashes a lot when I have more then one thing open, although sometimes
it crashes when I don't. The reason I upgraded to 2gb was because I
wanted more RAM for my music software - of course, now my music
programs are useless because they keep crashing themselves or else the
computer crashes.

Anyways, when i say crash, basically what happens is that the screen
goes blank and reboots, with the Windows message "recovered from
serious error". Other then that it's what would happen if I
normally rebooted. Sometimes before the actual crash for a second or
two the sound will suddenly start repeating, kind of like on a broken
CD or something.

Anyways, I tried to get the computer shop to help me out since it was
only after the RAM install that my computer started crashing. I
verified that it wasn't a case of bad RAM (I booted both the memtest
and Windows diagnostic, and they both passed the actual RAM itself).
The computer guys won't accept that it's a problem with the RAM, they
think I just got a virus and am too stupid to know it. I tried system
restore anyways, since no harm could come from it and of course the
crashing still persists.

I know it is in some way connected to the RAM because it only
exchibits this behaviour after having the RAM installed.

Any ideas?

Theowne wrote:
> Before I go into my problem, I'm somewhat computer literate but I'm
> completely uncomfortable with doing anything hardware related myself
> cause I tend to screw it up.
>
> So what happens is that I recently went to a shop and they installed
> an extra Kingston 2x512 into my Gateway computer. My computer has an
> AMD X2 3800. Anyways, so now my total was 2gb of memory, however
> after I got back, my computer crashes. A lot. I notice that it
> crashes a lot when I have more then one thing open, although sometimes
> it crashes when I don't. The reason I upgraded to 2gb was because I
> wanted more RAM for my music software - of course, now my music
> programs are useless because they keep crashing themselves or else the
> computer crashes.
>
> Anyways, when i say crash, basically what happens is that the screen
> goes blank and reboots, with the Windows message "recovered from
> serious error". Other then that it's what would happen if I
> normally rebooted. Sometimes before the actual crash for a second or
> two the sound will suddenly start repeating, kind of like on a broken
> CD or something.
>
> Anyways, I tried to get the computer shop to help me out since it was
> only after the RAM install that my computer started crashing. I
> verified that it wasn't a case of bad RAM (I booted both the memtest
> and Windows diagnostic, and they both passed the actual RAM itself).
> The computer guys won't accept that it's a problem with the RAM, they
> think I just got a virus and am too stupid to know it. I tried system
> restore anyways, since no harm could come from it and of course the
> crashing still persists.
>
> I know it is in some way connected to the RAM because it only
> exchibits this behaviour after having the RAM installed.
>
> Any ideas?

Can you put the new RAM into the old slots (leave out the old RAM) and test
the stability?

Download and run MEMTEST-86, the best memory diagnostic available and at the
very best price, namely free. If MEMTEST-86 shows ANY errors at all with the
new memory installed, there are only a few possibilities as to the cause:

1. Defective memory
2. Memory that does not meet specifications required by motherboard
3. Incorrect installation of memory
4. Defective motherboard

Other things to do to isolate the cause:

1. Check system specs on Gateway web site, especially placement of memory
modules in sockets and detailed memory specifications
2. Run MEMTEST-86 with only the new memory installed.

.... Ben Myers

On Mon, 01 Jan 2007 01:56:03 -0000, lid (Theowne) wrote:

>Before I go into my problem, I'm somewhat computer literate but I'm
>completely uncomfortable with doing anything hardware related myself
>cause I tend to screw it up.
>
>So what happens is that I recently went to a shop and they installed
>an extra Kingston 2x512 into my Gateway computer. My computer has an
>AMD X2 3800. Anyways, so now my total was 2gb of memory, however
>after I got back, my computer crashes. A lot. I notice that it
>crashes a lot when I have more then one thing open, although sometimes
>it crashes when I don't. The reason I upgraded to 2gb was because I
>wanted more RAM for my music software - of course, now my music
>programs are useless because they keep crashing themselves or else the
>computer crashes.
>
>Anyways, when i say crash, basically what happens is that the screen
>goes blank and reboots, with the Windows message "recovered from
>serious error". Other then that it's what would happen if I
>normally rebooted. Sometimes before the actual crash for a second or
>two the sound will suddenly start repeating, kind of like on a broken
>CD or something.
>
>Anyways, I tried to get the computer shop to help me out since it was
>only after the RAM install that my computer started crashing. I
>verified that it wasn't a case of bad RAM (I booted both the memtest
>and Windows diagnostic, and they both passed the actual RAM itself).
>The computer guys won't accept that it's a problem with the RAM, they
>think I just got a virus and am too stupid to know it. I tried system
>restore anyways, since no harm could come from it and of course the
>crashing still persists.
>
>I know it is in some way connected to the RAM because it only
>exchibits this behaviour after having the RAM installed.
>
>Any ideas?