Dimension 9150 Memory Problem

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

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

"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
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

Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
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.

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
t...
Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
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

Pat Conover wrote:
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
t...
Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...
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


i doubt you will need a replacement battery, you just need to
temporarily remove it to completely clear the system memory. i think
the board is just plain confused about what is installed in the memory
sockets and that is why it stalls... try removing it as described and
report back. it may be all that is required to solve the problem.

On 4/7/2010 11:30 PM, Christopher Muto wrote:
Pat Conover wrote:
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
t...
Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...

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

i doubt you will need a replacement battery, you just need to
temporarily remove it to completely clear the system memory. i think the
board is just plain confused about what is installed in the memory
sockets and that is why it stalls... try removing it as described and
report back. it may be all that is required to solve the problem.

Well, the "confusion" could be caused by CMOS getting messed up by a
CR2032 battery running out of juice. Maybe not. Maybe so. Don't rule
it out. And a change of battery may be right for a system now around 3
or 4 years old. Inexpensive, and can't hurt... Ben Myers

"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
On 4/7/2010 11:30 PM, Christopher Muto wrote:
Pat Conover wrote:
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
t...
Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...

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

i doubt you will need a replacement battery, you just need to
temporarily remove it to completely clear the system memory. i think the
board is just plain confused about what is installed in the memory
sockets and that is why it stalls... try removing it as described and
report back. it may be all that is required to solve the problem.

Well, the "confusion" could be caused by CMOS getting messed up by a
CR2032 battery running out of juice. Maybe not. Maybe so. Don't rule it
out. And a change of battery may be right for a system now around 3 or 4
years old. Inexpensive, and can't hurt... Ben Myers

Chris and Ben, I pulled the battery last night, waited a while, reinstalled
and the machine booted to a confused BIOS. BIOS reported low system
power/voltage. I reset the clock and other settings and booted to the
desktop. Proceeded to update AVG and crashed to the BSOD. Pulled the
battery again and will get a new CR2032. Will any battery brand do okay?
Any to avoid, like the OEM no-name one. First CMOS battery I ever had go
bad! Thanks for the tips, a $5 battery is much cheaper and less headaches
than new memory in this economy.

Thanks, Pat

Pat Conover wrote:
"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
On 4/7/2010 11:30 PM, Christopher Muto wrote:
Pat Conover wrote:
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
t...
Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...

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
i doubt you will need a replacement battery, you just need to
temporarily remove it to completely clear the system memory. i think the
board is just plain confused about what is installed in the memory
sockets and that is why it stalls... try removing it as described and
report back. it may be all that is required to solve the problem.
Well, the "confusion" could be caused by CMOS getting messed up by a
CR2032 battery running out of juice. Maybe not. Maybe so. Don't rule it
out. And a change of battery may be right for a system now around 3 or 4
years old. Inexpensive, and can't hurt... Ben Myers

Chris and Ben, I pulled the battery last night, waited a while, reinstalled
and the machine booted to a confused BIOS. BIOS reported low system
power/voltage. I reset the clock and other settings and booted to the
desktop. Proceeded to update AVG and crashed to the BSOD. Pulled the
battery again and will get a new CR2032. Will any battery brand do okay?
Any to avoid, like the OEM no-name one. First CMOS battery I ever had go
bad! Thanks for the tips, a $5 battery is much cheaper and less headaches
than new memory in this economy.

Thanks, Pat


this is a bit perplexing. removing the battery should clear the system
cmos memory and possibly resolve the problem with it failing to properly
recognize the memory.... but having pulled it it should either boot
cleanly or complain about the battery and tell you to enter the bios to
update lost settings... it should not cause a bsod after the system
boots up sucessfully. so i am thinking something deeper is going on
with this system. but to answer your question any battery will do.
radio shack has them (over priced but fresh) and even
target/kmart/wallmart has them (at the camera/electronics counter). you
can order a dozen no name ones on ebay from china for the price of one
at radio shack and though they many not be the freshest they seem to
work. if you get the bsod again note what module is reported as the
cause of the problem and note the status of the led diagnostic lights
when it happens.

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
...
Pat Conover wrote:
"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
On 4/7/2010 11:30 PM, Christopher Muto wrote:
Pat Conover wrote:
"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
t...
Pat Conover wrote:
"William R. Walsh" wrote in message
...

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
i doubt you will need a replacement battery, you just need to
temporarily remove it to completely clear the system memory. i think
the
board is just plain confused about what is installed in the memory
sockets and that is why it stalls... try removing it as described and
report back. it may be all that is required to solve the problem.
Well, the "confusion" could be caused by CMOS getting messed up by a
CR2032 battery running out of juice. Maybe not. Maybe so. Don't rule
it out. And a change of battery may be right for a system now around 3
or 4 years old. Inexpensive, and can't hurt... Ben Myers

Chris and Ben, I pulled the battery last night, waited a while,
reinstalled and the machine booted to a confused BIOS. BIOS reported low
system power/voltage. I reset the clock and other settings and booted to
the desktop. Proceeded to update AVG and crashed to the BSOD. Pulled
the battery again and will get a new CR2032. Will any battery brand do
okay? Any to avoid, like the OEM no-name one. First CMOS battery I ever
had go bad! Thanks for the tips, a $5 battery is much cheaper and less
headaches than new memory in this economy.

Thanks, Pat

this is a bit perplexing. removing the battery should clear the system
cmos memory and possibly resolve the problem with it failing to properly
recognize the memory.... but having pulled it it should either boot
cleanly or complain about the battery and tell you to enter the bios to
update lost settings... it should not cause a bsod after the system boots
up sucessfully. so i am thinking something deeper is going on with this
system. but to answer your question any battery will do. radio shack has
them (over priced but fresh) and even target/kmart/wallmart has them (at
the camera/electronics counter). you can order a dozen no name ones on
ebay from china for the price of one at radio shack and though they many
not be the freshest they seem to work. if you get the bsod again note
what module is reported as the cause of the problem and note the status of
the led diagnostic lights when it happens.

Chris, I had recently replaced the C drive with a new 250GB Sata drive, the
old one failed the Dell diagnostics. I had reinstalled XP Home, chipsets
first, video, then other drivers, seemed to be working okay for about a
month. Then this issue came up. It did tell me to enter BIOS and reset the
settings that were lost. It had previously booted once before about a week
ago, ran for a couple of hours and then BSOD and shut windows down.

I thought the battery was the culprit so I didn't write down the faults or
led lights. I will get a new battery and post back with any BSOD and
faults.

Thanks, Pat