A problem with laptop RAMs

sarmodi

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4
Location
USA
I have bought a Compaq Presario CQ61 from someone and when I checked the ram capacity it was reading 4 GB (2GB unusable).
I opened the ram cover to check what kind of rams are there.
The 1st one is Corsair VS2GSD800D2 and the other one is 2GB DIMM DDR-2 800 MHz Micron Techronic.
I put them back together into my laptop, turned on my laptop, laptop is not turning on. I removed one of the two rams , turned on laptop, laptop is on again normally.
My question is there any conflict between the two RAMs that prevent laptop from operating normally. And why it was reading at first place (2GB usable) while there were two rams (2GB for each) .
 
There should not be conflict with the RAM even if they are different brands, as long as they are the same pin size then it is fine. Since your system is only picking up 2GB of the RAM then i am assuming it is a 32-bit operating system. the 32-bit OSs can only register 2GB of RAM while the newer 64-bit OSs can have unlimited or as much as your motherboard will support
 
There should not be conflict with the RAM even if they are different brands, as long as they are the same pin size then it is fine. Since your system is only picking up 2GB of the RAM then i am assuming it is a 32-bit operating system. the 32-bit OSs can only register 2GB of RAM while the newer 64-bit OSs can have unlimited or as much as your motherboard will support

Actually, 32-bit OSes recognize about 3 and a half, almost 4GB. But yeah, 64-bit OSes will recognize as much as the motherboard will.
 
I was researching the web for more info on ram limitations and found out that Windows starter (which is the one I have installed on my laptop) can use up to 2Gb. I guess this is the reason why it showed 4Gb available (2Gb usable) . Can somebody confirm that ?
 
No idea what Windows Starter is, but yeah, 32-Bit generally can use up to 3.46GB RAM (according to what Windows 7 32-Bit tells me, ATM), although only 3.25GB seems to show up in Windows XP.

Sorry, I don't have much else to add. :p

...except that it is generally recommended to use identical RAM for ultimate stability and performance. Also, the lowest speed RAM you have will be what all installed chips will run at.
 
I was researching the web for more info on ram limitations and found out that Windows starter (which is the one I have installed on my laptop) can use up to 2Gb. I guess this is the reason why it showed 4Gb available (2Gb usable) . Can somebody confirm that ?

Yes, that is true.
 
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