[BL00DY_R0AR]

Just like the topic title says...

I havent seen the computer yet, Im going to see it this weekend. But it's a desktop that I installed RAM in, and my gf's mom said ever since then, the monitor would just go grey after the computer is on for a little while....power is still on, just the screen turns grey.

It's bugging me out...has anyone have any idea what may cause the monitor to do that? It's an LCD monitor, if that helps. And it was after I installed 1GB of RAM to the existing 256MB....is the system overloading or something from too much RAM? But wouldnt that create atleast an error message? Or, could it be bad/currupt RAM? I got the RAM from crucial.com, crucial brand.

Any ideas guys?

Edited by BL00DY_R0AR, 25 February 2009 - 07:08 PM.

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Are 1GB, and 256MB the very same kind of RAM?
What happens, if you remove 1GB?
On a side note, bad, brand new RAM happens, however in "crucial" case, I'd be surprised.

[Broni]

Are 1GB, and 256MB the very same kind of RAM?
What happens, if you remove 1GB?
On a side note, bad, brand new RAM happens, however in "crucial" case, I'd be surprised.

[BL00DY_R0AR]

So crucials RAM is a good brand Im guessing? Im asking cuz its the first time Im buying from them.

Im going to see about taking out the 1GB(2x512MB) of RAM this weekend. But would you have any idea on the possible cause? My gfs mom said she would have the computer running for a while and she would look at the computer and see the screen grey. And wouldnt a sign of bad RAM atleast give you an error msg atleast? Or not even show the RAM in the system?

[Broni]

Unfortunately, bad RAM will not always give you errors.
I also asked another question:

Are 1GB, and 256MB the very same kind of RAM?

You may also remove 256MB, and leave just 1GB.

...and yes, crucial is very trustworthy site.

[BL00DY_R0AR]

The 2x512MB chips are the same; Crucial. The 2x128MB Im not sure...Im guessing it's Dell's stock RAM. Does that effect it? The different brands? Or is it the specs of the chips itself that conflict?

[Broni]

It may, it may not.
To be on the safe side, it's always the best idea to have identical chips.
I'd forget about 256MB for now, remove it.
Install 2x512MB, and see how it goes.

XP with 1GB is perfectly fine.

[BL00DY_R0AR]

Yeah I agree completely. Im going to take out the 256MB like you said, and see how it goes. Thank you very much for the advice! I'll have updates on saterday

[Broni]

You're welcome

[Major Payne]

Excuse butt in, but I didn't see anything about whether you checked to make sure the RAMs are paired properly. Crucial should have indicated that on their computer scan for your memory. The slots may be paired differently than you think. You could check that the RAM is properly seated as you should hear a slight click as you insert and push gently forward to have the snaps engaged.

If Win XP is reporting the correct amount of RAM before screen problem appears, you may have a video card overheating. The monitor turning grey after you installed new RAM may just be a coincidence. There is a graphics test/troubleshooting that comes with Win XP which dynamically test the card.

Broni has some very important questions that need to be answered first. Hopefully, you'll come up with the solution Saturday.

[Broni]

Good points.
What is the Dell model, so we can take a look at RAM configuration?

[BL00DY_R0AR]

They were installed properly, Im sure of that. Felt them snap in and everything. And as far as pairing, Im pretty sure theyre paired properly. On the slots, 2 were colored grey, and they other 2 were colored black. I installed the 2 Crucial RAMs on the 2 black slots.

I dont have the Model number off hand....I'll get all of that info tomorro. Any other info I should get? Like specs and video card model and such?

I dont think its the video card, because she said that when she would try to turn it off by pressing the button on the face of the tower, nothing would happen. Its a very odd situation. I think she even said that she tried to hold it down to turn it off, and still nothing happened. She had to unplug it. But I will still test the video card like you said Payne. It wouldnt hurt.

This just hit me...could it be something else like the HDD over heating? I remember I opened up the computer last weekend to check if it needed to be cleaned, and it wasnt too dusty inside. But Im still going to take a can of air to everything. Another thing it couldve been was dust in the RAM slot....so maybe I'll remove the RAM and dust the slots.

I just want this PITA computer to work lol cuz my chicks mom is going to blame me if her computer doesnt work hahaha

[Broni]

But Im still going to take a can of air to everything

Always a good idea.

[PedroDaGR8]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned memtest. Memtest is a program you can use to test the ram. It takes some time, but if it shows ANY errors, then you have problems iwth the ram.

It is run from a bootable CD and tests all of the ram without the operating system loaded. This allows it to access every bit of the ram, whereas any tests done in Windows can't access protected areas.

[BL00DY_R0AR]

I've never heard of it....I'll look it up and see about making a boot disk with it. Thanks!

[PedroDaGR8]

If you look in my sig, you will find a link for it.

It will be d/l as an iso which you then burn to a disk.

If the disk is burned properly there will be only a txt file on the disk (everything else is hidden in the boot sector). If you see the iso file then you burned it wrong.

My favorite burning program is ImgBurn it is free and small (~2-3MB) and burns images (iso's) to disc properly.