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I just upgraded my Windows 7 64 bit laptop to 8 GB of RAM (2x4GB). After installing the RAM it runs outrageously slow. It takes roughly 20 minutes to boot up and is completely unusable after it officially starts up.

I heard that I should mess with the RAM voltage in the BIOS. Unfortunately my BIOS doesn't have any visible settings for this. The BIOS is Insydeh20 and there is no 'advanced' option.

This is the RAM I bought...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148276

And here is my laptop...

http://www.Amazon.com/Acer-Timeline-AS4810TZ-4508-14-Inch-Aluminum/dp/B002P3KSKW

If I throw in the old RAM it runs just fine.

Any idea what is going on? Bad/incompatible RAM maybe?

UPDATE:

So I tried using one stick of the new RAM by itself and it worked fine.

I then tried using the other stick of the new RAM by itself and it also worked fine.

I even tried putting each one in the other slot, and they still worked fine when there was only one RAM stick installed.

Once I put in 2 RAM sticks it slows to a crawl.

I also tried putting one stick of the new RAM with one stick of the old RAM and it was still slow.

I also did a test with Memtest86 when both the new RAM sticks were installed. It took FOREVER. I'm not sure how long this test is supposed to take but I had to leave it on over night. But when it finally did finish it said there were not any errors.

I have no idea what is going on...

Another update Turns out I needed to upgrade my bios. Went to the acer webpage, downloaded and installed the latest bios version and now everything seems to be working great. Thanks everyone for their help and suggestions.

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    I don't see any particular reason it shouldn't work - I'm not familiar with the laptop but this is not exactly high-speed or high-voltage RAM. I'd guess one might be bad, or even just not properly seated. Try the sticks one at a time, at a minimum.
    – Shinrai
    Jan 18, 2012 at 21:35
  • How much RAM did you have before? Jan 19, 2012 at 1:57
  • "If I throw in the old RAM it runs just fine." you said. Does it run just fine with only the new RAM? If not, then that's another check in the defecting RAM list. If it still works just fine.... Once upon a long time ago, some motherboards/chipsets could only cache a certain amount of RAM. Installing more actually resulted in a slower computer rather than, as expected, faster. I don't want to believe that still happens, but perhaps it does or, as has been suggested, it's a Dual channel issue.
    – SuperMagic
    Jan 19, 2012 at 4:26
  • @DanH I had 4 GB before the upgrade to 8GB.
    – hanesjw
    Jan 19, 2012 at 16:10
  • I'm suspecting it's something like what SuperMagic suggests -- you can't really use more than 4G and have cache work. Jan 19, 2012 at 23:41

6 Answers 6

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Your RAM should be compatible with your laptop. Have you tried running Memtest86 to ensure that the RAM is not defective?

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    Hi, thanks for the response. I have not tried running Memtest86. With the new ram installed the computer really is completely unusable. How would I test my bad ram if good ram is required for a computer to boot up?
    – hanesjw
    Jan 18, 2012 at 21:52
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    @hanesjw Memtest86 is run off of a boot disk and uses a very tiny amount of ram, Windows never loads. This program was written to diagnose your exact situation, try burning it to a CD and run it and see if you get errors. If you do, RMA the ram. Jan 18, 2012 at 22:22
  • @hanesjw Is it Windows that's taking a long time to boot up or the system itself? Does the system to get to the first Windows boot screen in a normal time? Memtest86 doesn't require Windows, and problems booting Windows shouldn't stop you from using Memtest86. Jan 18, 2012 at 23:43
  • I did a test using Memtest86 and it completed successfully with no errors. But it took about 6-7 hours to complete.
    – hanesjw
    Jan 19, 2012 at 16:11
  • A full test does indeed take rather a long time. Jan 19, 2012 at 17:32
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It seems like your RAM is compatible with your laptop. Both are DDR 1066Mhz PC3-8500. So, here's my suggestion.

So, voltage wouldn't cause it to run that slow. At least, not in my experience.

So, you could run a Memtest, but also, a basic troubleshooting task is to simply take one stick of RAM out and try to boot. Then, take that one out, put the other one in, and boot. If one of them gives you a problem, you know which stick of RAM it is.

So there's a few ways to troubleshoot the issue that should yield results. As for BIOS, changing voltages is typically under 'POWER'.

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  • Thanks for the response. I did what you suggested and didn't run into any problems when using only 1 RAM stick.
    – hanesjw
    Jan 19, 2012 at 16:14
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Check to be sure you haven't actually accomplished a ram downgrade. IE; how much ram does your OS think it has now?

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  • It used to be 4GB. I upgraded to 8GB. The BIOS shows 8 so I think we are OK there. I'm going to do some more trouble shooting shortly. I'll report back once I find out what is going on.
    – hanesjw
    Jan 19, 2012 at 3:41
  • Although this was not useful in this specific situation, it certainly could have accounted for the problem. Hanesjw, may be worth checking inside of Windows (if you can stand the long bootup) just to be sure, but if the BIOS is showing it, Windows most likely will as well. Jan 19, 2012 at 15:20
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I upgraded my laptop memory today from 2x2=4GB to 2x4=8GB and had the same problem.

I solved my problem by doing the following:

  1. I started my laptop in Safe Mode.
  2. I deleted all the drivers of the devices that use a part of the RAM memory. So I deleted the Video card drivers, and the (wireless)network card drivers.

  3. Then reboot. and install the latest drivers from the web.

I read somewhere on the Web about this, and it helped!

Also I tried to update my BIOS as well, but I don't think that this helped, since during the process of this update I got an error, so I assume it didnt update it after all.

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I tried the suggestion below and after the second time my laptop will not open up: run=msconfig boot= advance option= click on Maximum Memmory then you see the memory status on it click ok then restart the pc again follow the same step one more time

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  • Welcome to Super User! Before answering an old question having other answers ensure your answer adds something new or is otherwise helpful in relation to them. Here is a guide on How to Answer. There is also tour for the site tour, and help center for the help center. You will be able to comment on any post when you have achieved more reputation. Dec 22, 2020 at 9:39
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8+8 gb 1600 ram is smoothly works.... you can try just follow the steps run=msconfig boot= advance option= click on Maximum Memmory then you see the memory status on it click ok then restart the pc again follow the same step one more time

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  • try this guys its works 100 % dam sure
    – vinuv
    Jun 17, 2019 at 9:37

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