Hi,
I'll try to keep this thorough and to the point, I really need some help with this. It has been ongoing for a year, Alienware hadn't a clue as to how to fix it. System specs at the bottom of this post. The system I have is an Alienware laptop running with 1GB of RAM (DIMM PC2700) which is comprised of two 512MB sticks. All the errors I've been getting made me think it was the RAM because the errors are so random and never the same twice and there is no pattern. I've run mem testers in the past and they never found errors with my RAM... which makes sense. If it were a bad sector it would be more like a time-bomb, wouldn't it?
I opened up the laptop (warranty already expired) and removed one RAM stick, so I am now running on one 512MB stick. I have had the computer running for much longer than normal without any errors, bsod's, or anything related. Now Im not sure what the problem is exactly but here are my thoughts:
1. The stick I removed is bad (not likely).
2. Memory conflict/bottleneck (likely).
3. RAM slot malfunction (not likely).
A few of these things can be narrowed down and I plan to work on that very soon. The following are the symptoms on two different games with and without the extra stick.
World of Warcraft with the extra stick (1GB RAM):
- Occasional BSOD, BSOD error names are never the same.
- Game errors, all kinds and very random but frequent, maybe slightly more frequent around heavy load times.
World of Warcraft without the extra stick (512MB RAM):
- No BSOD.
- No game errors despite heavy load times.
Battlefield 1942 Original Demo with the extra stick (1GB RAM):
- Occasional BSOD, more frequent than the other game.
- No game errors, but very very bad choppy graphics lag with settings set ungodly low. Lag improves if sound is disabled and is somewhat manageable then.
Battlefield 1942 Original Demo without the extra stick (512MB RAM):
- No BSOD.
- No extra lag, aside from having the settings on high as opposed to low and with the sound on.
<edit>
And on the desktop for good measure (1GB RAM):
- No errors, occasional BSOD when running quite a few programs at once.
Desktop (512MB RAM):
- No problems.
</edt>
So, Im not great with RAM and Mobo issues and Im hoping that someone who is can help me pin down the problem and fix it. I will be posting the results of my further troubleshooting tests so I can narrow down which of the three problems it may be. If you have any ideas, links, resources, etc. PLEASE post them.
Thanks,
Praey
((One final semi-related question. My manual doesn't say which RAM slot is the one to use with a single stick of RAM. Can I test one RAM stick in the currently empty slot since I know this stick is good?))
General Related Specs:
Alienware Area-51m Laptop
ATI Radeon Mobility 9600
1GB PC-2700 RAM
Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz
I'll try to keep this thorough and to the point, I really need some help with this. It has been ongoing for a year, Alienware hadn't a clue as to how to fix it. System specs at the bottom of this post. The system I have is an Alienware laptop running with 1GB of RAM (DIMM PC2700) which is comprised of two 512MB sticks. All the errors I've been getting made me think it was the RAM because the errors are so random and never the same twice and there is no pattern. I've run mem testers in the past and they never found errors with my RAM... which makes sense. If it were a bad sector it would be more like a time-bomb, wouldn't it?
I opened up the laptop (warranty already expired) and removed one RAM stick, so I am now running on one 512MB stick. I have had the computer running for much longer than normal without any errors, bsod's, or anything related. Now Im not sure what the problem is exactly but here are my thoughts:
1. The stick I removed is bad (not likely).
2. Memory conflict/bottleneck (likely).
3. RAM slot malfunction (not likely).
A few of these things can be narrowed down and I plan to work on that very soon. The following are the symptoms on two different games with and without the extra stick.
World of Warcraft with the extra stick (1GB RAM):
- Occasional BSOD, BSOD error names are never the same.
- Game errors, all kinds and very random but frequent, maybe slightly more frequent around heavy load times.
World of Warcraft without the extra stick (512MB RAM):
- No BSOD.
- No game errors despite heavy load times.
Battlefield 1942 Original Demo with the extra stick (1GB RAM):
- Occasional BSOD, more frequent than the other game.
- No game errors, but very very bad choppy graphics lag with settings set ungodly low. Lag improves if sound is disabled and is somewhat manageable then.
Battlefield 1942 Original Demo without the extra stick (512MB RAM):
- No BSOD.
- No extra lag, aside from having the settings on high as opposed to low and with the sound on.
<edit>
And on the desktop for good measure (1GB RAM):
- No errors, occasional BSOD when running quite a few programs at once.
Desktop (512MB RAM):
- No problems.
</edt>
So, Im not great with RAM and Mobo issues and Im hoping that someone who is can help me pin down the problem and fix it. I will be posting the results of my further troubleshooting tests so I can narrow down which of the three problems it may be. If you have any ideas, links, resources, etc. PLEASE post them.
Thanks,
Praey
((One final semi-related question. My manual doesn't say which RAM slot is the one to use with a single stick of RAM. Can I test one RAM stick in the currently empty slot since I know this stick is good?))
General Related Specs:
Alienware Area-51m Laptop
ATI Radeon Mobility 9600
1GB PC-2700 RAM
Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz
Facebook
Twitter