Random reboots followed by screen flashes whenever I upgrade ram

Hi all,

I have been having this issue for a while. I have an ASUS UL20A-A1 laptop that came with a 1.3GHz Core2Duo, 2GB RAM, and Intel GMA4500MHD with Win7 64-bit. A while ago I bought a 2GB RAM upgrade to bring my laptop to a total of 4GB. When I bought the first RAM upgrade, I was pretty sure that it was the right type, but I was wrong, the first time I bought it. The first time I bought it, I bought 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400S-13-ZZ, when the laptop came with 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400S-12 RAM. Putting these two types together caused my system to randomly reboot, and then the screen would flash colored lines that would fill the whole screen and make the laptop unusable until I manually rebooted it. So, I thought, okay, the issue was caused by the two different types of memory put together, that makes sense. So, I went back to 2GB until my second 2GB memory upgrade came. While I only had 2GB, I never experienced any issues at all. Yesterday, my new 2GB RAM came. I made sure that this was the right type, and it was the exact same type, and I put the new memory in yesterday. From yesterday afternoon until now, everything was working fine, it was faster, stable, and no screen flashes. But, just a couple of minutes ago, I saw a blank screen, then the BIOS loading screen, and then realized that the system had rebooted. I logged into Windows, and about 5 minutes later, the entire screen was filled with flashing colored lines, and there was nothing I could do but force the computer off by the power button to get rid of them. Has anybody experienced these problems before? The random reboots and screen flashes only happen on Win7. Does anybody here know how to fix this?

Thanks, help is greatly appreciated!!

-McDougal

usasma said:

Run this free, bootable memory diagnostic on all 4 gB: Memory Diagnostics (read the details at the link)

If it still cuts out on you, send it in for a warranty repair.
If not under warranty, try a 1 gB stick (for a total of 3 gB).

Thanks, I'll try it out!! Do you mean send the laptop or the memory in for a repair? If the memory, then the memory is not on any type of warranty, unfortunately. If the memory diagnostics reports bad memory, I will try a 1GB to expand to 3GB, even though my laptop's max memory is 4GB.

UPDATE:

Which one should I download? Memtest86, or Memtest86+?

usasma said:

Most memory comes with a warranty - most brand name memory has a lifetime warranty.

I've seen this issue once or twice before - and the 1gB trick worked for them.
I suspect that it's something in the motherboard that restricts it to less than 4096 mB (maybe the CPU/mobo memory is counted in?).

But, if the system is under warranty (and as long as you're using memory from their approved list), then it's reasonable to send it in and have them fix it for you. But, you'll be without the system for a while - so it'll be your call.

It's Crucial memory, that I bought from Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Techno...bxgy_pc_text_b), not the Crucial website. I'd be surprised if the motherboard restricts it to less than 4096MB, because when I bought the computer, the description said that the computer was expandable to 4GB total. Either way, if this fails, then I will buy a 1GB stick, and test it out. All I care about is having more than the minimum amount for 64-bit Win7 (minimum 2GB). I'll run the first test with the memory that came with the laptop in + the memory I just got yesterday. If that works, then I will do another test with the memory I bought a while ago + the memory I got yesterday, and if I have time, I will report back with the results (hopefully good).

Thanks so much for the help, I haven't been able to find any help on this until now...

-McDougal

Okay, I ran the test with memory that came with the laptop + the memory that I got yesterday, and it ran through one pass with no errors, and I haven't experienced a single issue with the memory that came with the laptop + the memory that I got yesterday. Overnight tonight, I will do a test on the first memory that I bought with the memory I got yesterday, and see if any errors show up. My theory is, though, that it is the first memory that I bought that is the problem. If that's the case, then I will find out how to return the first memory that I bought (if possible) over a month ago.

Okay, I ran the test with the memory that came with the laptop + the memory that I just bought, and I went thorough 1 pass with no errors. And right now, my system is working fine, so I suspect that it is the first memory that I bought that is the problem. And I also wanted to correct myself from my first post, it is not PC2-6400S memory, it's PC2-6400. Also, another reason why I suspect that it's the memory I first bought is because of the sticker on it...the sticker on the first memory I bought has no Crucial label at all on it, and is completely different from the sticker on the memory that I got yesterday, which has the Crucial label (so I know that this wasn't a defective/miss placed memory), correct type, and is working properly. However, if I'm wrong, and in a couple of days I start to see problems again, I will run a memtest on the first memory I bought with the one I got yesterday, and I will also try Petey7's suggestion. If I find that it's a bad slot, then I will contact ASUS and ask for a replacement. If it's the memory, then I will try to find a way to get a refund on the first upgrade I bought (if possible).

Thanks everybody for your help!!

-McDougal