Perplexing BSOD messages Compaq mini 311C

[oshin]

Hello,

I recently purchased a compaq mini 311c-1020SA with windows XP. Along with it I brought a 2 gig stick of ram to bring it up to 3gig total (1 gig is surface mounted on the motherboard.) My problem seems to lie with this additional stick of RAM. I`m getting a full gamut of BSOD stop codes intermittently. I could start the laptop one day and it would clearly be unstable, with services and processes dropping out, in somecases the windows themes service dies and the whole thing reverts back to the normal Windows XP theme. Usually it comes up with a bsod then and planks completely.

Other times I have used it without issue for hours. The one common element seems to be the ram, without it seems to be fine, but I`m currently proving this by using it for an extended period without the 3 gig. 1 gig of ram is no fun these days though.

The stop codes I have recieved are

0x10000050 Page Fault in non paged area
0x1000000A IRQL NOT LESS EQUAL
0x10000019 BAD POOL HEADER
0x1000008e KERNEL MODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
0x100000C2 BAD POOL CALLER

Google seems to be 50/50 on these being drivers or hardware. I`m having a hard time believing it being drivers as its a production laptop and I have seen no complaints on forums like this. I have updated everything possible except the bios, which I must do yet.

I have run memtest against the stick for about 18 hours now, not a single error has been found. My problem is, should I return the ram, or is this an issue caused by a faulty motherboard ? I have also ran the built in ram checker and some HDD testers, all seem fine.

I have also updated
I have attached the minidump files. Any help would be fantastic. Thanks

 

[Route44]

Two gigs of RAM for XP is the best for XP and since it is only a 32-bit operating system it can utilize no more than 3.25 max.

Probably the system does not like the memory configuration. Have you tried running it with just the two gig stick? What is the reason that you didn't just buy an additional one gig stick?

By the way, your minidump files with one exception only cite OS drivers and they are too general to be of much help. All error codes that were cited can have memory as a reason for crashes.

 

[oshin]

Thanks for looking through the logs, it really must be the memory, even though it sails through memtest without issue. It uses DDR3 sodimms.

I am aware that many other users are running with 3 gigs without issue, so I think in general the idea is fine. The reason for 2 gigs extra ? simple really why not, theres no disadvantage to it, cost difference isn`t huge, and as the graphics chipset uses shared memory it can make use of it. I cant swap dimms to see whats going on as the 1 gig is surface mounted on the motherboard and cannot be removed.

 

[oshin]

Memorys gone back, the laptop functions perfectly without it for the last week. Apart from the slow downs you suffer through with only 800 megs of ram. Question is, will the suppliers refund me if the memory appears initially to work fine, and can pass memtest.

 

[Route44]

Question is, will the suppliers refund me if the memory appears initially to work fine, and can pass memtest.

Not sure of this and it depends on the manufacture's policy. I do know if you purchased directly from NewEgg that they would charge you a 15% stocking fee.

Did you try running your system with just one additional stick?

 

[RichardB]

Compaq mini RAM

I did ask Compaq/HP about the amount of RAM this unit would support and the reply was 1Gb only with the N270 processor.
Richard