New RAM in Dell XPS 410, having issues

[Argus9]

Hey everybody,

I bought two sticks of Kingston DIMM RAM (1 GB each, for 2 GB total) for my Dell XPS 410 desktop. After installing them, however, my computer makes a series of beeps upon starting up - 1 long, then 3 short, then after a pause, another 2 short. I did not buy this RAM through Dell (since buying it elsewhere was much cheaper), so I'm not sure if Dell put something in the BIOS to prevent non-dell RAM from being used.

We tried putting the RAM sticks into my friend's computer (one he built himself) and it worked fine. Is my above theory possible, or is it that this RAM is incompatible with my motherboard?

Thanks.

 

[aford10]

Check the mobo in your dell machine. Look up the supported memory for it.

It's likely either not supported, or the voltages need tweaked in the bios.

 

[Argus9]

I checked that. It should be compatible, however since it's a Dell machine there really aren't many changes that can be made to the BIOS. The memory options certainly can't be changed, unless there's some way to modify them to be able to.