[SOLVED] Upgrade RAM on HP laptop to 4GB Vista 32-bit won't boot

I've done a lot of searching tonight so I know I'm not the first one

to have this issue, but I haven't found any kind of satisfactory

solution. Here is my situation:



I have an HP Pavilion 6716 laptop with Quanta 30CC 79.26 mother board

with a bus clock of 533 Mhz. I currently have two DDR2 PC2-5300 1 GB

sticks of RAM in the machine (from factory) and all is well. I

confirmed with HP that my machine can handle 4GB so I got two DDR2 667

2GB sticks of RAM (Kingston). If I put either one of the new sticks of

RAM in I have no problems (first or second slot, makes no difference).

But if i put both in I get the BSOD and first a PFN_LIST_CORRUPT

error, then a reboot and then a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error and

that's all she wrote. Put back the original RAM and all is well.



I've read all about the MS KB929777 and I've uninstalled the patch

then re-installed and it made no difference. Is there anything anyone

can tell me or am I just shafted at 2GB RAM?



Tks.

 

Unless you have 64-bit Vista, you won't be able to use more than 3.5 GB anyway. So, do what I do: use one of each. Since you can't use both 2GB sticks, that at least gets you 3GB -- better than 2.

 

I've tried that. One 2GB stick and one 1 GB stick - i get the same results, BSOD and same errors. It won't boot with anything more than 2 GB. Suggestions?

 

OK, given that each of the 2GB sticks works on its own, and that any attempt to use more than 2GB fails -- sound to me like 2GB is all that your laptop can handle. I tried to run down tech info on this laptop at the HP site, and without the specific model number, couldn't find much.



There are some instructions there for determining the specific memory that is compatible. It requires the serial number and other info to do that check. That would be worth checking out to see if your laptop really does support 4GB.



The other possibility, one that I have with my desktop, is that using more than 2GB of memory forces a change to memory timings. Since I have my BIOS set to "auto", that's not a problem. So, you can look in your BIOS at memory settings to see what's there. You will probably have to check the manual, or look at the detail guides on the HP site regarding tuning the BIOS-based memory settings.

 

I called HP with the model and serial number yesterday and they confirmed it can handle 4GB, so I'll check the bios and see what it's set to. Thanks for all you help and if you have any more idea, please - keep 'em coming.

 

Okay, here's an update. I contacted HP again and got a lovely woman who actually knew what she was talking about. I upgraded the BIOS from F.33 to F.33A and I was able to get it running with 3 GB of RAM. 4 still causes it to not boot, but at least I'm getting somewhere. In addition she went and talked to a higher tech and he's aware of a problem with the HP laptops and 4 GB of RAM and is going to try and track down a patch or fix for me. It'll take him a couple of days, but I really think he's going to. So, I'll update again once I hear from him.

 

the auto configure for memory timing did not work on my desktop using vista.....my ddr3 ram was supposed to be timed at 7-7-7-21 and auto had it timed at 5-5-5-15. i was having boot issues at post.

 

Your original post said the new RAM was DDR2 667, not DDR3. I would be VERY surprised if your machine supports DDR3 -- there's only a very small number of brand-new motherboards out there that support DDR3, and I think most of them are configured to use 1333 (1066) memory by default.

 

That is a different user WAW8.

 

Well here's the update - no one wants to tell me anything. What I mean is that I haven't heard back from HP, can't get the same rep I talked to before (all I have is a first name) and my ticket has been closed.



What I can tell you if you have an HP Pavilion laptop and get a blue screen when you try to run Vista 32-bit with more than 2 GB of RAM is to get the newest bios (in my case F.33A) and you will at least be able to run 3 GB of RAM. I was told the issue is with HP, not Microsoft so I doubt SP1 will help.



Maybe there will be a new update maybe I will get contacted. But at this stage of the game it looks like I'm as far as I'm going to get. That being said, things seem stable with 3 GB RAM and it's enough for me to run CS3 the way I want to so I won't complain too much.



Thanks to everyone for their assistance.