HP 550 laptop: unable to have 4 GB of RAM in the machine without patterns on the screen and locks

Hi all

I recently bought a laptop HP 550 used that came with no RAM. According to the specifications, the laptop uses 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. So, I bought 2 sticks of 2 GB of RAM from Newegg, found here.

Ready with my MemTest86 + CD in the drive and the 2 sticks of RAM inserted, I booted up the machine. During the POST, it detected all of the 4 GB of memory. Everything seems fine at this point. MemTest86 + load, then, a few seconds pass and then... a weird pattern is displayed on the screen. The system is locked also up. You can see a screenshot of this in here.

I then tried to run the tester of memory in the BIOS, but the part passing through the test, he showed that there was an address of memory has failed. The system locked up here as well. After the reboot, I noticed a bunch of U in the upper part of the screen during the boot process that had never been there before. You can see a screenshot of this in here.

So now, at this point, thinking that one of the RAM sticks may be bad, I tested each stick individually testing a stick at a time in the first place, then a stick at a time in the second slot. MemTest86 + and tester of memory in the BIOS, past every time. Not once is there any model on the screen, not to mention that the U in the upper part of the screen that show during the startup process. And every time I swapped the 4 GB to 2 GB or 2 GB 4 GB, the system recognized during POST.

The laptop came with no OS. I thought, what the heck, let me see what happens when I leave the two sticks in and attempt to install XP Pro. Well, it was even more interesting. The "Welcome to setup" screen, I press ENTER to start the XP installation. The next screen that appeared is what is shown here. The system locked up as well. But, if I take a stick so that one stick is in the machine and then try to install XP again, it continues without any problem.

I found a second laptop make extra stable on who had a bar of 1 GB 667 MHz in it. I put two of my 2 GB sticks in the second laptop and ran the tester of memory in the BIOS as MemTest86 +. These tests. On the cell phone issue, I put 2 GB each key in first slot, individually, while leaving the key 1 GB from the second computer laptop into the second slot and past memory tests and installing XP ran fine.

So, basically, the system works perfectly with anywhere from 1 to 3 GB of RAM in it, but if I put 4 GB in there, patterns and blocks begin to appear.

Thanks for any help you can provide, it is much appreciated!

What is the Celeron or Core 2 Duo version? The specs say it must be able to handle 4 gigs, but I seem to remember that others have had problems with 4 gigs on Celeron systems. Actually a reference in said Quickspecs it can perform 4 concerts only if you have the 965 chipset, not the 960 chipset:

http://h18000.www1.HP.com/products/QuickSpecs/13091_na/13091_na.PDF

If you install XP Pro, you need not more 3 concerts in any case... the 4th concert is not used by a 32 bit OS. The memory that you have purchased is of high quality and is not the issue. I liked the screenshots... at least you have a colorful show.

Tags: Notebooks

Similar Questions

Maybe you are looking for

  • Gray screen when playing a purchased movie

    On my late 2009 iMac with latest OS X when I try to play a movie or TV show, I bought it opens on a gray screen and that's all I get. No sound, no control, the only thing I can do is press ESC to exit the player. I can read movies who did not buy thr

  • Unable to download apps

    Support team good day Help, please Again, I am unable to download any app on my iPhone this time 6. This has happened before on my ipad and I had to wipe my ipad and reload all to solve the problem. I was able to download apps without any problem unt

  • 'iPhone Messages' icon appearing in the Dock

    I experienced this with Yosemite as well.  Don't remember what level it is resolved, but things were fine until I upgraded to El Capitan.  The 'Message' icon won't stop appearing on the left side of the bar on my Dock.  I did the following on the adv

  • Please help: no sound on my desktop HP Pavilion Media Center Windows XP SP3 pm m7480n

    Hello to all on the forum... I was hoping I could get help with my situation... My original video card stopped working and I replaced it with a NVidia GeForce GT 610 graphics card... I was able to update the drivers for the card but I have no sound..

  • I installed Vista Service Pack 2 update...

    I installed an update to Vista Service Pack 2 and at the bottom right of my screen, it says Windows Vista (TM) evaluation copy. Build 6002.  My copy of windows Vista came with my RESUME!  Now when I turn on my computer it says my evaluation copy is o