[Aggiebiker07]

In trying to help out my parents improve the speed of their 5 year old dell, I got stuck. They are currently running XP on 128 MB of ram and I ordered them another stick w/ 256 MB. I know it is compatible with the system and such but when I boot the system up it says that my system32\DRIVERS\PCI.sys file is either corrupt or missing. It then asks me to put the windows cd into the tray and reboot and press "r" at the windows setup screen to repair this installation of windows. I tried this and it asks for an administrator password, which I dont know. Next, I booted up windows as normal (without the new ram since it wont let me into windows with it) and ran a search on my harddrive for the file mentioned above. It was on my harddrive and was about 67kb in size.

So the moral of the story is I need to know if there is a way to install this new stick of ram without having to reformat/reinstall windows (which I'm not sure would help anyways).

Please Help!!
-Patrick

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Have you tried loading windows with the original stick of ram removed & just the new stick in?

[Samm]

Have you tried loading windows with the original stick of ram removed & just the new stick in?

[Aggiebiker07]

I tried that also but when i turned the PC on I heard a few beeps and the monitor wouldnt even turn on.

[Samm]

Ok. I know you said the new ram was compatible but can you give me the exact specs including manufacturers name, type of ram etc.
Also, the model of dell would be useful.

Its possible that the ram is just faulty but unless you can test it on another system, then can't be sure. Sounds more like a compatibilty issue at the moment

[Aggiebiker07]

Its a dell dimension xps t700r with a pentium 3. The 128 mb of ram currently in there is cheap Hyundai stuff, sdram, pc100.

The ram is sdram, 256mb, pc133, 168 pin.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820211005
Thats the link to the product.

The reason that I am pretty sure it is compatible is when I turned the machine off, took out the ram, and rebooted, the system recognized a drop in memory.

[Rockster2U]

Therein lies your problem. Your "cheap" hyundai stick is CAS 2 PC100 and your trying to throw in a CAS 3 PC133 stick that your machine doesn't like. In other words, its not compatable. Get yourself another stick of CAS 2 PC100 and your problems are over.

[Aggiebiker07]

Shouldnt it work then if I take the old stick out and replace it with the new stick?

[Rockster2U]

Although thats what Samm suggested and under most circumstances this would work because most memory is backwards compatable. Unfortunately, it sounds like your machine is particular in terms of its appetite for CAS 2 PC100. I also looked at your link on NewEgg and at least you didn't buy a high density stick but I think you've already answered your own question.

I tried that also but when i turned the PC on I heard a few beeps and the monitor wouldnt even turn on.

[Samm]

Shouldnt it work then if I take the old stick out and replace it with the new stick?

Normally yes, but Dells are fairly twitchy when it comes to RAM.
I looked on Crucials website (memory advisor) and it lists a few different ones which are compatible. It shouldn't matter about it being PC133 instead of PC100 but the CAS latency probably does matter. All the modules guaranteed compatible are CAS 2, there's no CAS 3 stuff listed at all.
I would also go for a better make than the one you bought. Good quality ram tends to be far more reliable & less problematic.