Hi everyone,
My 4 year old Dell Inspiron 8000 won't boot! I reinstalled Windows XP as I do semiannually and everything was fine. About 2 hours later I noticed that Windows was only recognizing 256Mb worth of Ram out of my 2 sticks of 512Mb for a total of 1024Mb; even in the BIOS it was showing 256Mb. I restarted windows a few times to no avail in restoring my Ram to 1024 but I did discover that it would only boot to the desktop in safe mode. I next opened the Ram door and checked the Ram, everything looked fine but I removed and reseated the Ram to be sure. Restart, nothing. I tried switching the Ram around in the 2 slots, nothing, still only 256Mb showing. I then tried running just 1 stick, and then the other stick, in both Ram slots, still only recognizing 256Mb, at this point I figured that maybe my Mobo had taken a dump so I slapped everything back together and let it sit for a few hours. I tried starting the Inspiron 8000 after 6 hours of sitting and now it wont boot at all; I get the led?s flashing for a second and the fan starts then it shuts off, did the Ram switch game again but nothing. Any of you smart people have an idea what I might be up against here; like I said I suspected a bad Mobo but now I'm thinking maybe it might be my CMOS battery. Would a bad CMOS battery cause these symptoms? Thanks in advance for your help.
My 4 year old Dell Inspiron 8000 won't boot! I reinstalled Windows XP as I do semiannually and everything was fine. About 2 hours later I noticed that Windows was only recognizing 256Mb worth of Ram out of my 2 sticks of 512Mb for a total of 1024Mb; even in the BIOS it was showing 256Mb. I restarted windows a few times to no avail in restoring my Ram to 1024 but I did discover that it would only boot to the desktop in safe mode. I next opened the Ram door and checked the Ram, everything looked fine but I removed and reseated the Ram to be sure. Restart, nothing. I tried switching the Ram around in the 2 slots, nothing, still only 256Mb showing. I then tried running just 1 stick, and then the other stick, in both Ram slots, still only recognizing 256Mb, at this point I figured that maybe my Mobo had taken a dump so I slapped everything back together and let it sit for a few hours. I tried starting the Inspiron 8000 after 6 hours of sitting and now it wont boot at all; I get the led?s flashing for a second and the fan starts then it shuts off, did the Ram switch game again but nothing. Any of you smart people have an idea what I might be up against here; like I said I suspected a bad Mobo but now I'm thinking maybe it might be my CMOS battery. Would a bad CMOS battery cause these symptoms? Thanks in advance for your help.
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