BSoD with more than 4GB RAM

[BWSman]

I'm having a problem with my Windows 7 64bit installation.

First a bit of history:
I bought my computer 3 years ago with Vista64 installed. I wiped the HD and installed XP Home and had no problems with it. I recently purchased Win7 to have a dual boot system so I could run som 64 bit programs and take advantage of increased memory capabilities.

My first attempt a installing W7 failed until I removed all but 2 GB RAM. I now have Windows7 64 bit installed; but it won't start up if I have more than 3 GB RAM installed. As soon as the startup screen disappears I get a BSoD. This doesn't happen with 3GB or less RAM.

I've run the Drive Sweeper app and installed the latest drivers for the video card; I run the Windows Startup Repair tool but nothing seems to work. There's no sense in me using Windows7 if I'm limited to just 3GB of memory.

System specs:
Acer Aspire M1100
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4000+ dual core porcessor
3GB DDR2 PC5400 RAM (originally came with 2GB)
ATI Radeon HD 5570 with 1GB DDR3 memory. (came with onboard graphics only)
I've replaced the PSU with a 400W (factory installed was 250W).

I've run out of ideas on what to do (short of buying a new motherboard & CPU). Everything I've read about upgrading and my system specs says I should be able to install 8GB of RAM; but I can't.

Included are the Memory dump files and a picture of the BSoD.

 

[DarkXeno]

One thing I would do is goto Acers web site and see if they have a BIOS update for the mother board.

 

[BWSman]

One thing I would do is goto Acers web site and see if they have a BIOS update for the mother board.

No updates for the BIOS. When I asked if my system was capable of being upgraded to W7; their reply was that only Vista was supported for my system.

What's really bugging me is that I can run W7 with up to 6GB RAM if I use M$'s standard VGA video driver; but not with the onboard graphics or my graphics card.

 

[DarkXeno]

One thing I would do is goto Acers web site and see if they have a BIOS update for the mother board.

No updates for the BIOS. When I asked if my system was capable of being upgraded to W7; their reply was that only Vista was supported for my system.

What's really bugging me is that I can run W7 with up to 6GB RAM if I use M$'s standard VGA video driver; but not with the onboard graphics or my graphics card.

Have you tried the newest drivers for video from AMD website for the Radeons?

 

[BWSman]

One thing I would do is goto Acers web site and see if they have a BIOS update for the mother board.

No updates for the BIOS. When I asked if my system was capable of being upgraded to W7; their reply was that only Vista was supported for my system.

What's really bugging me is that I can run W7 with up to 6GB RAM if I use M$'s standard VGA video driver; but not with the onboard graphics or my graphics card.

Have you tried the newest drivers for video from AMD website for the Radeons?

I did that (mentioned it in my first post). No joy.

 

[DarkXeno]

I would try to run Memtest on the 2gb ram then power down and run another test on the other 2gb stick just to make sure that both sticks are good.

 

[BWSman]

I have run Memtest on all the RAM I have (2 x 2 Gig and 4 x 1 Gig) and everything checks out (forgot to mention that in the first post). I've also ran the test on a good stick in all the memory slots without anything showing up.

 

[DarkXeno]

Ok I have two more things for you to try.

1) go into BIOS and see if there is a way to reset it back to factory settings maybe something got changed in there that the system doesn't like with more the 3gig in.

2) if that does not work have you loaded Service Pack 1 for Windows 7?

 

[BWSman]

Ok I have two more things for you to try.

1) go into BIOS and see if there is a way to reset it back to factory settings maybe something got changed in there that the system doesn't like with more the 3gig in.

2) if that does not work have you loaded Service Pack 1 for Windows 7?

OK; I'll try the reset to factory default and see if that will work. I did initiate an update and there were a bunch that were installed; but I don't know for sure whether SP1 was installed specifically.

 

[BWSman]

I've reset the BIOS to the factory settings and managed to boot past the startup screen; but it was very slow, the video kept cutting out and it finally crashed with the same issues as before.

On top of that; resetting the BIOS has caused some problems. My system hangs on the BIOS startup screen (the "Press Delete to enter BIOS" screen) and the CPU fan will go into high speed. Pressing the DEL key or the F12 (for Boot Menu) doesn't do any thing. If i press the power button briefly; the fans will slow down and pressing the power button again allows a normal start-up.

I'm beginning to suspect that it might be a power issue and the various components aren't getting a proper voltage supply. Everything is nominal in the BIOS screen when I check it; but that isn't under a load situation.

I might say the h**l with it and buy a new MB & CPU combo.

 

[DarkXeno]

From the sounds of it I would suspect a bad mobo. It could also be the power supply most companies seem to skimp on the power supply to save money I would open the case and see how many watts it its, if its not over 300 watt for your setup then i would start there, since you can always use a new power supply in a different build.

 

[BWSman]

From the sounds of it I would suspect a bad mobo. It could also be the power supply most companies seem to skimp on the power supply to save money I would open the case and see how many watts it its, if its not over 300 watt for your setup then i would start there, since you can always use a new power supply in a different build.

The original PSU was 250W and I bought & installed a 400W unit. (ATI recommends a minimum of 400@ for their card to work properly).

This is really driving me nuts because XP still runs fine on the system.

 

[foxathome]

I am from the Netherlands, I've got the same computer AND the same problems :-(
Also I tried everything!!! BSOD if an ATI/AMD OR NVIDIA card is inserted...

 

[BWSman]

I think the problem is the CPU and it's inability to properly regulate the supply voltage to the memory modules when you try to put more than 3GB of memory in.