RAM questios?

[HIGHLANDER]

Hey I am fairly new to the forum so I'm not sure if this is where I ask this kind of thing. I have an Alienware M15x that is almost a year and a half old. It has the 2x2 ram in it now and a month ago I had tried to upgrade. If it got at all warm with the 8 gigs the screen would go blue and my machine would shut down. I switched it back to stock and sent the new ram back and have not had the problem since. Originally I was thinking I would never really need 8 gigs but I am an architecture student and as finals approach I have maxed out twice in the last day. Does anybody know why my computer acted so strange with the additional ram and are there any suggestions for upgrading? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Big V]

First off I would ask if you had the correct ram for that system. Research your mobo for what it will take. 2nd is your OS 32 bit or 64 bit if it a 32 bit you can only use 4gb because of OS restriction. Did you go into bios and reset the ram timing according to the ram you purchased. Next are you mixing your new ram with your old ram that could be an issue also. Also look at your mobo setup and make sure you have the ram placed in proper slots for your configuration and type of ram you are adding (like mine is in slot 1 & 3 for dual channel ram or slots 1 & 2 for single channel for example)

[gor17981]

Did you have the Ram voltage set to the manufactures reccomended setting in the bios, and not on Default?

[HIGHLANDER]

It is a 64 bit system and no I took two sticks out and put two sticks in. I have never done any mods so I just put the new sticks in the same spots as the originals. I didn't reset anything and this may sound stupid so I'm sorry but what are the mobo and bios?

[gor17981]

The mobo (short for mothorboard) is the big circuit board that everything else connects too, you cant miss it lol
and the bios, if you dont know what it is, dont mess with it lol
Sounds to me either the voltage was not set right, ie:too low, or the timings were out

[Harvey Sewdin]

BIOS gives the options to change settings of the computer (mostly hardware related, and also software). It stores these settings so you dont have to change them everytime you turn on your computer. The BIOS settings are really important, so better not mess it up if you dont know what the settings do.

I would check the RAM module first if your motherboard can support it, look at version, voltage, speed it can limit. If you dont know how check the internet for information. write down your mobo name and the ram, look if them can match each other.

good luck..:smile:

[Big V]

As gor stated it sound to me like a voltage issue and timing in the bios. If you don't know what your doing in bios you can brick your system very easily so be very cautious. If you are unsure of what your doing take it to someone that knows computers to have this done for you. And to answer your question what are the bios? That is what controls the motherboard and all of it settings to run your system and hardware

[HIGHLANDER]

Alright. Thank you all very much.

[designfjotten]

Hi bud, i just did a quick search on google too see if this is hard to find, and found this for ya :) took about 2 min :)

Hope it helps ya bud :)

http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/Alienware-memory/Alienware+Notebooks/M15x-upgrades.html
(http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/Alienware-memory/Alienware+Notebooks/M15x-upgrades.html)