"Insufficient Memory" message

babeman123

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Jul 13, 2008
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I have 1.2gb of ram in my machine, they are DDR, one is 1gb PC3200 and the other is 256mb PC2100. I was talking to my friend and he said my computer would operate faster if I took out the PC2100 because that speed is benchmarking my 1gb from reaching its top speed. So I took out my 256 and now I get this error on my boot screen that says "Insufficient Memory". I put it back in and everything was fine. I also upgraded my ram a while ago, it was at 512mb before, so how could it have insufficient memory? I have an IBM Netvista Desktop computer, 2.4ghz, nvidia e-geforce 2600. Anyone have any suggestions?
 
When does it say it? windows get to load?

Check the bios, some IBM's have a feature that tells you when something is removed until you go and tell it ok.

As for performance(2100[266] vs 3200[400]), it would depend on the cpu you have.
 

bobbknight

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Well as you have a p4 2.4 Ghz cpu I would say get another 1GB of ram at PC3200, and take out the PC2100 stick.
Did you make any change to your page file settings?
 

babeman123

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Ok well I checked the bios and it said nothing about ram or memory that I could find actually. Maybe it was well hidden or something. So I thought I might aswell give it another shot at taking the one ram stick out, so I did then it showed the boot process and then it said Memory Size error. Then it said press enter to continue, pressed enter. Showed a black screen with a "Mac Address" with a line of random numbers after it, showed a loading icon, then said no operating system detected. So i put the ram back, and everything was fine.
 

rockyjohn

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The one chip of PC3200 should run faster than the 2 chips together. You said you upgraded from 512MB before. Does that mean you only have two memory slots and and took out the other 256 MB before?

Are you putting the one stick in the first slot when you try it alone? If not, try other slot as suggested above.

Are the timings and voltage requirements for both chips the same? What are they? Does the second - 1 GB chip come off the mobo suggested list?
I am wondering if you mobo supports the faster memory or will only run it when the other chip slows it down (although normally I think the mobo would just run it slower on its own if necessary). Will mobo support the size, timings, and voltage of the larger chip?

If still having problems, I suggest you download CPUz and run it and see what it reports for each configuration.
 

babeman123

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Yea thats right, I had two 256's before, so I took one out and put in a 1gb. Yes I tried both slots with the 1gb, same result. Yea timings and volatage requirements are the same. I've also checked on crucial, my mobo supports both sticks.
 

babeman123

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Ok so I did what you said this is what the "Start up" Tab looked like

Primary Start up:
First Start up: Device Removable
Second Start up: Hard Drive 1
Third Start up: CD/DVD Rom
Fourth Start up: Network

Automatic Start up Sequence: Enabled
First Start up: Network
Second Start up: Hard Drive
Third Start up: [Disabled]
Fourth Start up: [Disabled]

Error Start up Sequence: [Network]
 

babeman123

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I couldn't find anything in the security tab related to memory or anything, I forgot to record what is on it, so i'll go write it down.
 

rockyjohn

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I am wondering if your pc is just not recognizing the 1 GB stick - maybe its faulty - althought I would think you would have noticed the slower performance if this were true.
Go to start/programs/accessories/system tools/system information and it will open a small screen with infor about your PC. How much physical memory does it say you have with both sticks in?

Or maybe the big stick just gets lonely when it is alone.