Memory Upgrade

[Zaphod]

I just bought a 128mb pc 100 memory stick to upgrade my Compaq Deskpro.
When I booted up, the memory was recognised as installed and after saving changes, the machine tried to boot Windows.

And then a problem ocurred....

While initializing device VPICD
Windows Protection Error
You need to reboot

Can anyone suggest a fix?

(Please don't tell me I should have bought Compaq specific memory!)

Thanks in advance for help

Z

 

[MrGaribaldi]

:wave: Hello and Welcom to TechSpot :wave:

Just a couple of Q's first to try to get a better understand of the problem...

The Compaq uses PC100 ram, and not PC133 or PC66?

You didn't do anything else inside the machine when you installed the new memory? All the memory chips securely fastened in their slots?
How much memory do you now have in total?

What OS are you using? And what are the rest of your specs?

Does the system boot with only the original ram in it?
If yes, does it boot with only the new memory installed?
Can you try to switch the sticks around (try to have one stick in the first slot and one in the last)?

It might not have anything to do with the problem, but it doesn't hurt to test...

Oh, and you should've bought Compaq specific memory!
[size=small]Only kidding![/size]

 

[Didou]

Originally posted by MrGaribaldi
Oh, and you should've bought Compaq specific memory!
[size=small]Only kidding![/size]

There was a time, not so long ago when that was true. I know someone who has a deskpro ( P2 333 ) & it only accepts Compaq Ram.

Compaq probably doesn't produce it. It's probably some brand ram where they change the "presentation" a bit but somehow they found a way for the PC to only accept that Ram.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Make sure you use PC100 memory with CAS 2. The brand is unimportant but CAS 2.5 or higher is too slow (same goes for IBM machines)

 

[NoisySilence]

Compaq BIOSes ( or any brand PC ) sometimes don't even let you choose timings for your memory.

& it's not worth giving tips to squeeze performance out of the machine if it can't even work properly at stock speeds.

There's always the possibility that the memory you bought is faulty. Try to run a memtest ( memtest86 ) & see if you get errors.

 

[Greeno]

yeah... he won't be able to change the clock speeds, im pretty sure of that, Compaq is Compaq.. altough like Didou says, Compaq won't produce the RAM, companies like Kingston and Hypertec do.

"You need to reboot" is gonna be a re-install i'm pretty sad to say, I can't think of too many instances i've seen this error where this hasn't been the case :-\

Like NS says, there's a good chance your memory could be defective.

 

[Zaphod]

Thanks for hints..

Mr Garibaldi... answers to your questions..

I aready had two 128mb sticks installed.
I added a third and it did accept and recognise the upgrade on
initial boot up.

I pressed F1 to save new memory settings and the system then went to boot Windows 98 SE. This is when the problem occured.

I then removed the new memory stick and re-booted. The machine then recognised the new memory settings (back down to 256) and proceeded to boot Windows fine.

I've tried switching the sticks around. It somehow worked with the new stick in the middle. Windows booted up, but then allsort sorts of weird stuff started happening, the system crashed a couple of times. Then I got a message along the lines of - Fatal exception OD 0028:C000b28C in VXD VMM....

I figured my machine seriously has taken exception to this cheapo memory.

I removed the the thing and went back to how it was. Windows booted fine and all seems ok... hence I'm now back on-line.

Would I be able to get a refund on this memory? Bought on-line.


Rest of spec if it helps..

PIII 500Mhz
2 hards disks
Compaq DeskPro EN


Thanks again

Z

 

[Dantrag]

depends on where you got the ram. you should beable to

 

[MrGaribaldi]

Originally posted by Zaphod
Thanks for hints..

Mr Garibaldi... answers to your questions..

I aready had two 128mb sticks installed.
I added a third and it did accept and recognise the upgrade on
initial boot up.

I've tried switching the sticks around. It somehow worked with the new stick in the middle. Windows booted up, but then allsort sorts of weird stuff started happening, the system crashed a couple of times. Then I got a message along the lines of - Fatal exception OD 0028:C000b28C in VXD VMM....

Hm, ok...

This sounds a bit like the error Windows gives you when you have too much memory installed... It shouldn't start as soon as 384, but your system could've been tweaked a bit too much...
If you follow this (Q253912) solution from MS, you should be able to run with the chip in the middle...
(If I guessed the error message correctly....)


As for returning the stick... Where did you buy it? A reputable store? If so, and as long as you haven't had the chip too long in your posession, you shouldn't have any trouble returning it, though you might have to:
1. Pay a restocking fee
or
2 have to say, and know, that it is faulty...

Hope this helps