Added RAM to my Laptop and It Keeps Crashing. What Happened?

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Check your voltage and ram timings in your BIOS and make sure the new sticks you added are running at the same specs as your existing RAM.

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How would I do this?

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What are your laptop specs and which RAM did you buy?

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These are my laptop specs

This is the memory I purchased

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Does Windows recognize that you have 4 GB?

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When I checked using the Windows System Information app, it did.

Thanks for that link.

Question for you, though. Does that site run a scan on the original factory specs or the current memory stick in use? (I changed the original mem sticks out a while back).

Do you have an SSD hard drive? If not, it is the best way to make a computer fast.

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Does that site run a scan on the original factory specs or the current memory stick in use?

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I'm pretty sure the Crucial scanner tool scans your existing hardware, but doesn't provide enough specifics about what you're running. It'll know your PC model/brand, how many slots you have available, etc, but it'll only tell you what RAM/SSDs are compatible with your chipset, not based on what you have installed already. The tool is really meant for people who don't know the brand or model of their laptop.

Do you have a link to the product page of the other RAM stick that is currently in the system? Or you could download CPU-Z: LINK Run that program and click the SPD tab, which will tell you exactly what's running in each memory slot.

I don't know exactly what a laptop bios is going to do, but typically the bios will change the specs of all RAM to match the slowest stick. But it might not change the voltage, which can be problematic. DDR2 is particularly voltage sensitive.

To check the voltage, you should do what boXerrumble said and access your bios. Do this by shutting down or restarting the laptop. The instant the laptop powers on, rapidly and repeatedly tapping F2 on your keyboard until the bios screen show up, typically looking something like this:



Unfortunately, a laptop bios seldom lets you change much. Still, that's where you'd need to hunt for the information (navigating with arrow keys, check under the various tabs/settings in the bios).

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Had I bought 2 of the same memory sticks, might this have avoided this problem altogether?

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Yes, if incompatibility/mismatching is the problem rather than just defective hardware. You can usually get away with mismatched sticks running RAM in single-channel mode. That's probably how it's running anyway, but CPU-Z can verify.

Also, I second the SSD suggestion as a next-level, instantly noticeable upgrade, but I'd consider the 2GB -> 4GB RAM upgrade just as essential.