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Win 7 Pro 64 bit & 4GB RAM problems
Hi
Sorry in advance for the longish description… here goes…
I have a Dell Latitude D631 laptop. I installed Windows 7 last year onto my laptop (previously running XP) with 4GB RAM (2 * 2GB arrays). At that time, when I tried to install 64bit W7 Pro, the install failed – I got weird display problems and black screens. I abandoned and installed Win 7 32 bit first time successfully. However..I decided that I wanted 64 bit so dropped down to 3GB RAM (1 * 2GB, 1 * 1GB array) and Win 7 64 bit then installed happily and successfully first time. So I left it at that. For the past 9 months I have run Win 7 Pro 64bit on 3GB and it’s run perfectly.
But today, some months later, I decided I want to try and get my full 4GB mem working. I replaced the 1GB array with a 2GB array. I now have 4GB. Booted laptop. BIOS recognises 4GB. Ran memory test – all OK no errors. Booted into Windows… first problem… ‘Starting Windows’ appears, then the display breaks up into a white background with hundreds of horizontal lines. I know at this point I need to type in my Windows login password even though I can’t see the screen, so I do. And my normal desktop appears OK. Next problem… no WLAN capability at all. The wireless icon in the system tray has a red X through it, no WLANs are detected. In Device Manager, the WLAN card (Dell 1505 draft-n) shows as working normally. Disabling & re-enabling does not fix it, neither does the Windows troubleshooter.
Shut down. Swap the 2 * 2GB arrays over. Exactly the same problems. Display weird & WLAN dead.
Revert to 3GB (1 * (of either) 2GB array, 1 * 1GB array) and all is OK again. And that’s where I am now. So I have a laptop that only runs with 3GB. Any combination of 2GB arrays to get me to 4GB results in display problems & no WLAN, even though the 2GB arrays are working fine when partnered with the 1GB array…
Any suggestions as to the cause of these problems? Thanks!