# RAM problems (urgent)



## scutofwump

To Begin:

Computer Specs 

Dell XPS 400
Specifications: (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps400/sm/specs.htm )
Radeon HD 4800


I am visiting a friend in west virginia and he purchased a 1gb stick of ram with the incorrect pins that could fit his mother board. I removed his elder ram stick ( as all of his 4 slots were full with 512 MB sticks ) and noticed it was the wrong size. I reinserted the original RAM . I loaded windows and windows no longer was showing 2 gigs of ram ( the starting point of RAM available ) and now only shows 1.5 GB , which indicates ( obviously ) that the computer is not detecting the RAM stick i removed and reinserted. I tripple checked that it is in right and I just cannot figure out why it is acting like this. I am in desperation to fix the issue because now I have slowed down the person I am visiting's computer ( as his Windows XP takes up 1600-1800 MB of ram in casual use ; so now it is freezing ). If someone could give me several routes to advice, please do so.  I will be checking the forum frequently as I am trying to fix this as soon as possible.


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## claptonman

Try switching the RAM around to different slots. Also might want to dust out the slots also.


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## scutofwump

*blue screen of death now!*

Well now the plot thickens. I decided to look at the BIOS out of curiosity and discovered that it was actually a RAM stick i didn't touch! So the person i am visiting decided they were going to remove the appropriate ram stick while the computer was on and I was sitting here looking at him do it in awe! Now the computer wont boot up at all I am getting the Blue Screen of Death. IT says...

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen restart your computer
(blahblahblah...::

Technical Information :
*** STOP: 0x00000050 ( 0xE19FC410, 0x00000000 , 0x8055159A, 0x00000001 )

Beginning dump of physical memory.

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Now heres the catch. I was going to insert the Operating System Disk and try to repair it that way, however, the CD -ROMS wont open as they are faulty. -.- . Any advice please


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## claptonman

Put the RAM in one at a time. Burn this to a CD:

http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-4.0a.iso.zip

And boot to it. It should pop up while booting asking which version to run.


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