Windows 7: upgraded memory and now windows not starting up at all

As a little xmas treat i got my gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H mb some extra RAM. All had worked perfectly with OCZ 4Gb but when this was replaced with 8 Gb HMD (Crucial i think) i get nothing past the initial black screen loading windows files... not as far as the windows coloured logo. I dont get to safe mode or system repair. All activity stops.

I have swapped the slots the memory is in and swapped the memory in the slots so everything has been everywhere and still windows stalls before it starts at the black screen 'loading windows files' (or something very similar)

Bios reports 8Gb installed with the appropriate manufacturers specified timings etc

I have gone back to the original 4Gb memory and windows works fine after going through system repair and restoring to the last good setup.

If BIOS sees the memory OK should i expect window to as well? Any thoughts welcomed and gratefully received

Try This...

Start-> Type in 'msconfig' and click the top link.

Goto 'boot' tab

Click 'advanced options'

see if 'maximum memory' is checked, if so, uncheck it


report back

i had a look and max memory was not checked.

Just to be clear from the first post i am unable to get past the black screen whether trying from windows on the HDD or from the installation disk.

thanks

I sound like you have mismatched ram for your system.
Please post you specs completely. You will have to do this with only the original 4 gigs of ram installed.
System Info - See Your System Specs

Speccy - System Information - Free Download

Hello and welcome to the forums.

If it was me personally I don't trust the bios to automatically set everything, I don't know if you have entered all the values yourself or not, But I would give it a go, make sure all the timings are correct to what it says on the sticker on the ram and also make sure the speed and voltage are correct. Set this all yourself and F10 save and exit.

If that fails then yes perhaps the ram is incompatible with your motherboard but in my experience this is quite rare even if they are not on the list.

Paul

Yes paul that is rare, try the above as a few months ago this was the case with my friend, he bough new ram and the bios set it wrong and the pc wont boot, after my advice over the phone he managed to set it back to right

Layback Bear said 'mismatched memory for the system' but i have to admit i dont know exactly what that means, the BIOS reports its there and if i were using a DOS based OS feel sure it would work but ....

I checked the settings of both pairs of memory in BIOS
the original 2gb modules [OCZ3G1333L]timing is 9-9-9-20[Tras]......74[Trfc]
and the new 4gb modules 9-9-9-24[Tras].....174[Trfc]

and i'm thinking since the PC gets past the post check to the point of booting into windows these setting differences don't matter, but on the otherhand of course it might. Grateful for further advice

Welcome richarda,

Download CPU-Z

|MG| CPU-Z 1.62 Download

Then give us a screen snip of each of you memory slots/tabs

CPU-z screen grabs for the 2gb modules should be here as an attachment since windows wont start with the new 4gb memory i cant provide screen grabs for that but since the CPU-Z and BIOS agree the 4gb are as previously specified

try uploading screen shots again captured with screensnag.exe