Dimension 9150 Memory Problem
in [Dell]
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From: Pat Conover on 7 Apr 2010 15:38 Hi, My Dimension 9150 died, won't boot, and I think it is a memory problem. According to lights on front and Dell manual it has a memory problem. Two sticks of OEM memory for 1GB total. Removed 1 stick of memory and it boots but runs slow, tested with second stick in one slot and also runs slow. Both sticks in either slots and won't boot. I downloaded Memtest, but can't even get to the BIOS boot menu to tell it to boot from CD first. That makes me think its a MB problem. 2GB of memory from Crucial is pretty cheap at least right now, but I don't know if I should take the plunge and try new memory or if the MB is bad, which would make it a former machine... Any suggestions? Thanks, Pat
From: William R. Walsh on 7 Apr 2010 17:52 Hi! > Any suggestions? Just on a whim...unplug the system completely from power. Wait for the light on the motherboard to go out. Then look inside and see if there is dust or something in the memory slots. I had a Dimension E521 that had been running for *months* decide that it was going to drop off into never-never land. Powered it up again and the LEDs said "memory error". Took out the memory modules. Reseated them and it was the same thing. Blew the (small amount of) dust out and reseated the modules--and it's been fine ever since. William
From: Pat Conover on 7 Apr 2010 21:14 "William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:0ba811ce-1300-4b9a-b110-2056dd0f3cef(a)g11g2000yqe.googlegroups.com... > Hi! > >> Any suggestions? > > Just on a whim...unplug the system completely from power. Wait for the > light on the motherboard to go out. Then look inside and see if there > is dust or something in the memory slots. > > I had a Dimension E521 that had been running for *months* decide that > it was going to drop off into never-never land. Powered it up again > and the LEDs said "memory error". > > Took out the memory modules. Reseated them and it was the same thing. > Blew the (small amount of) dust out and reseated the modules--and it's > been fine ever since. > > William Will give that a go. William, nice video by the way, throwing the old Dell into the dishwasher! I would not have believed it unless I saw it and knew you from the group. Thanks, Pat Conover
From: Christopher Muto on 7 Apr 2010 22:11 Pat Conover wrote: > "William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:0ba811ce-1300-4b9a-b110-2056dd0f3cef(a)g11g2000yqe.googlegroups.com... >> Hi! >> >>> Any suggestions? >> Just on a whim...unplug the system completely from power. Wait for the >> light on the motherboard to go out. Then look inside and see if there >> is dust or something in the memory slots. >> >> I had a Dimension E521 that had been running for *months* decide that >> it was going to drop off into never-never land. Powered it up again >> and the LEDs said "memory error". >> >> Took out the memory modules. Reseated them and it was the same thing. >> Blew the (small amount of) dust out and reseated the modules--and it's >> been fine ever since. >> >> William > > Will give that a go. William, nice video by the way, throwing the old Dell > into the dishwasher! I would not have believed it unless I saw it and knew > you from the group. > > Thanks, Pat Conover > > i have two suggestions for you to try. one is to power down the computer, unplug the power cord, then press and hold the power button as to quickly discharge the residual power from the system (indicated by the flea light on the motherboard being lit). next removed the coin battery from the motherboard and leave it out for 15 minutes. reinstall the battery and then power up to see if all behaves normally once again. this was a solution for the same problem that plagued the dimension 5150 and so i not so surprised to hear about it happing to a 9150 that is of the same vintage. my second suggestion is for you to try the other two memory module sockets. this computer has a total of four memory sockets. they are color coded for installing memory in like pairs. it sound like you have already learned that you really don't have to have memory installed in like pairs, singles work fine (though technically a little slower). there is also no requirement to use one pair of sockets or the other. so try the second pair of memory sockets and see if that helps... but i would hazard to guess that pulling (and later replacing) the coin battery from the motherboard will fix the problem so try that first. let us know how it works out.
From: Pat Conover on 7 Apr 2010 22:18
"Christopher Muto" <muto(a)worldnet.att.net> wrote in message news:mbCdnblzaJjLpiDWnZ2dnUVZ_j2dnZ2d(a)speakeasy.net... > Pat Conover wrote: >> "William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message >> news:0ba811ce-1300-4b9a-b110-2056dd0f3cef(a)g11g2000yqe.googlegroups.com... >>> Hi! >>> >>>> Any suggestions? >>> Just on a whim...unplug the system completely from power. Wait for the >>> light on the motherboard to go out. Then look inside and see if there >>> is dust or something in the memory slots. >>> >>> I had a Dimension E521 that had been running for *months* decide that >>> it was going to drop off into never-never land. Powered it up again >>> and the LEDs said "memory error". >>> >>> Took out the memory modules. Reseated them and it was the same thing. >>> Blew the (small amount of) dust out and reseated the modules--and it's >>> been fine ever since. >>> >>> William >> >> Will give that a go. William, nice video by the way, throwing the old >> Dell into the dishwasher! I would not have believed it unless I saw it >> and knew you from the group. >> >> Thanks, Pat Conover > > i have two suggestions for you to try. one is to power down the computer, > unplug the power cord, then press and hold the power button as to quickly > discharge the residual power from the system (indicated by the flea light > on the motherboard being lit). next removed the coin battery from the > motherboard and leave it out for 15 minutes. reinstall the battery and > then power up to see if all behaves normally once again. this was a > solution for the same problem that plagued the dimension 5150 and so i > not so surprised to hear about it happing to a 9150 that is of the same > vintage. my second suggestion is for you to try the other two memory > module sockets. this computer has a total of four memory sockets. they > are color coded for installing memory in like pairs. it sound like you > have already learned that you really don't have to have memory installed > in like pairs, singles work fine (though technically a little slower). > there is also no requirement to use one pair of sockets or the other. so > try the second pair of memory sockets and see if that helps... but i would > hazard to guess that pulling (and later replacing) the coin battery from > the motherboard will fix the problem so try that first. let us know how > it works out. Chris, never thought about the CR battery. I have had many computers over the years and never had to replace the CR batteries, but have read about replacing them on this group. The manual said the memory had to be in the 1st bank of two and wouldn't work without any memory in the 1st bank. But that doesn't mean it won't.... A new CR battery would be a very cheap fix. Thanks to both you and William for the help. I will post back with or without the solution. Thanks, Pat |