Going Over RAM Limit

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For awhile, I was under the impression that my PC had a limit of 2gb of RAM. I've been having problems with it over the past year. I could have sworn when I checked its specs online, it said "2gb", but I now see it says "1 gb" on HP's site.

I have two slots of RAM, one with 512mb and the other with 1gb. Does the PC just not recognize the extra RAM or would this be the source of the crashes I get on start up/return from standby? Also, does this mean that each slot can only hold 512mb or can I just use the 1gb stick?

Oh and I did try only using the 512mb stick, and instead of blue screens, my monitor would just not respond and the keyboard was disabled, leading me to believe it was still crashing.
 
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sounds to me like that 512mb stick has gone bad. go find a program called memtest86+ and let it test that stick, if you get errors chuck that stick and buy another.
 
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If your RAM matches the motherboard standard and is under 4GB for a 32-bit OS, it should recognize and use all of it. Try to diagnose it with memtest like Tsunami said.
 
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Yeah I let memtest do that overnight before. It said no errors were found. I always though it was the graphics card or the RAM giving me trouble.

But regarding what Spunky said...You mean if the specifications say that the PC has a 1bg max (I have now found other sources that say my PC has sa 2gb max), it does not matter as long as the OS can handle 4gb?

Edit: Yeah I may try that as well, Walmart.
 
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I'm pretty sure that you can put in as much ram as you want, long as the motherboard is supported.

Well, the catch is if you have that much ram, if you don't have other hardware to compliment it, it'll be wasted ram because you won't be able to use the ram to it's maximum potential if you don't have a good processor.
 
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Chakra-X said:
But regarding what Spunky said...You mean if the specifications say that the PC has a 1bg max (I have now found other sources that say my PC has sa 2gb max), it does not matter as long as the OS can handle 4gb?
It shouldn't say "1GB max" or anything like that. It should tell you the number of DIM slots you have for RAM modules. If you run a 32-bit OS, you can use anywhere up to 4GB of memory (this also includes your video card's built-in VRAM). If you have 2 slots and run a 32-bit OS, you should easily be able to pop in a two 2GB sticks. Just make sure to check the specs of your mobo and the specs of the RAM to make sure they're compatible with each other.
 
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Ah, I think I see now. The manufacture's specifications say "1gb", but the mobo specifications says "2gb". Thanks for the help so far, but I am curious to why the mobo and manufacturer maximums differ...And if this new RAM I am getting does not stop the blue screens, that may point to the graphics card. I hope it's that simple.

Manufacturer
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00070262&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=405440&lang=

Motherboard
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=405440&lang=&docname=c00069442#c00069442_doc
 

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