HP Pavilion 6620 ACPI Error

Hi,

Apologies for a lengthy post, but it could be an interesting challenge for
those 'hardware bug detectives' among you...

Not sure if anyone has ever seen somthing like this/has any ideas...

I have a friend who has a HP Pavilion 6620 PC. It is a few years old, and
when purchased, came with Windows98. A few months ago, she had a severe
virus infestation which pretty much destroyed the entire contents of her
hard disk.

Another friend of hers re-formatted, installed WindowsXP for her and
re-installed her software, and all seemed to be sweet. Although slower than
with '98

This weekend, she had asked me to put some more memory in. On checking,
there were 3 memory slots: a 128M, a 64M and an empty one. I bought a new
128M and installed it.

On restarting, the BIOS checked the memory OK, but instantly Windows started
to load, I got a blue screen saying that 'The BIOS was not fully ACPI
compliant.' Unfortunatly, although I did write the message down, it is not
with me now, but the above was the main thrust of the message. And apart
from some HEX dump, did not say much else.

On removing the memory module, it was OK again. I tried various combination
of memory modules, with and without the new one, and everything was fine
except for when all 3 were installed when I got the ACPI bluescreen
consistantly.

Does anyone know (or could hazard a guess) why I should get this error ONLY
when all 3 memory slots are full (or maybe it's when more than a certain
amount of memory is installed?)

One other point that is probably relevent: HP do not support XP on this
machine, as it was built before XP and hence is not verified to work
correctly with it...

I did think about upgrading the BIOS, but couldn't find anything on the HP
website. Anyone know of a good resource where I might be able to find BIOS
upgrades?

Chipset: SIS 530/5595
Processor: AMD K6/2 500 MHz processor with 3DNow!

Full Spec:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...ph05289#N1000C

Any suggestions gratefully received ;-)

Thanks,

ChrisM

On Sun, 16 May 2004 22:23:09 +0100, "Chris Mayers"
wrote:

snip, snip

HP Pavilion 6620 PC. It is a few years old,

there were 3 memory slots: a 128M, a 64M and an empty one. I bought a new
128M and installed it.

On restarting, the BIOS checked the memory OK, but instantly Windows started
to load, I got a blue screen saying that 'The BIOS was not fully ACPI
compliant.' Unfortunatly, although I did write the message down, it is not
with me now, but the above was the main thrust of the message. And apart
from some HEX dump, did not say much else.

On removing the memory module, it was OK again. I tried various combination
of memory modules, with and without the new one, and everything was fine
except for when all 3 were installed when I got the ACPI bluescreen
consistantly.

Does anyone know (or could hazard a guess) why I should get this error ONLY
when all 3 memory slots are full (or maybe it's when more than a certain
amount of memory is installed?)

It should support at least 384MB, probably 512-768MB of memory. However
many motherboards aren't as stable with all memory slots filled. If the
bios provides settings to lower the memory timings (larger numbers) then
try changing those, but after making any memory changes (even now) be sure
to run http://www.memtest86.com for serveral hours.

The easiest solution may be to simply leave the 64MB module out of the
system.


One other point that is probably relevent: HP do not support XP on this
machine, as it was built before XP and hence is not verified to work
correctly with it...

Doesn't really matter, so long as XP provides or you found drivers for
all needed hardware functionality. Sometimes an old bios won't work with
ACPI, but that's a continual problem, not only when adding a memory
module. When that's a constant problem you'd just revert to non-ACPI
power management... a google search will find detail of how to reconfigure
XP but it seems most likley you don't need to do this. Frankly XP is a
bit much for that system, it'd be as well off with Win98.


I did think about upgrading the BIOS, but couldn't find anything on the HP
website. Anyone know of a good resource where I might be able to find BIOS
upgrades?

Chipset: SIS 530/5595
Processor: AMD K6/2 500 MHz processor with 3DNow!

The bios would be available from HP and typically not available anywhere
else.

Hi,

Thanks for you suggestions/recommendations.

Will have another bash at it sometime soon and see if I can get anywhere.

To be honest, leaving out the 64M module seems like the best option. It is
how I have left it for now anyway, and I can't believe that +/-64M is going
to make a huge difference on the performance anyway...


Cheers,

ChrisM.

"kony" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 May 2004 22:23:09 +0100, "Chris Mayers"
wrote:

snip, snip

HP Pavilion 6620 PC. It is a few years old,

there were 3 memory slots: a 128M, a 64M and an empty one. I bought a new
128M and installed it.

On restarting, the BIOS checked the memory OK, but instantly Windows
started
to load, I got a blue screen saying that 'The BIOS was not fully ACPI
compliant.' Unfortunatly, although I did write the message down, it is
not
with me now, but the above was the main thrust of the message. And apart
from some HEX dump, did not say much else.

On removing the memory module, it was OK again. I tried various
combination
of memory modules, with and without the new one, and everything was fine
except for when all 3 were installed when I got the ACPI bluescreen
consistantly.

Does anyone know (or could hazard a guess) why I should get this error
ONLY
when all 3 memory slots are full (or maybe it's when more than a certain
amount of memory is installed?)

It should support at least 384MB, probably 512-768MB of memory. However
many motherboards aren't as stable with all memory slots filled. If the
bios provides settings to lower the memory timings (larger numbers) then
try changing those, but after making any memory changes (even now) be sure
to run http://www.memtest86.com for serveral hours.

The easiest solution may be to simply leave the 64MB module out of the
system.


One other point that is probably relevent: HP do not support XP on this
machine, as it was built before XP and hence is not verified to work
correctly with it...

Doesn't really matter, so long as XP provides or you found drivers for
all needed hardware functionality. Sometimes an old bios won't work with
ACPI, but that's a continual problem, not only when adding a memory
module. When that's a constant problem you'd just revert to non-ACPI
power management... a google search will find detail of how to reconfigure
XP but it seems most likley you don't need to do this. Frankly XP is a
bit much for that system, it'd be as well off with Win98.


I did think about upgrading the BIOS, but couldn't find anything on the
HP
website. Anyone know of a good resource where I might be able to find
BIOS
upgrades?

Chipset: SIS 530/5595
Processor: AMD K6/2 500 MHz processor with 3DNow!

The bios would be available from HP and typically not available anywhere
else.