Odd ball "bad memory"

[Staticfx]

ok.. let me just set this up...

Wife has an HP pavillion a6500f Intel based. 4GB (2GBx2)
Son has an HP Slimline AMD based (2GB)

All of a sudden the wifes pc, froze, then would not boot. after messing around.. running the diagnostics.. bad memory.
I took one stick out.. still no good. Swapped to the other stick... no good...?? hmmm both bad at once? not likely.

Went to my sons pc, swiped a meger 512 stick out of his.. stuck it in hers.. boots up (slowly thats for sure)
ok.. wow.. im thinking thats crazy! both sticks at once!

so, I order 2 new sticks (wintec pc6400 800mhz**) should be fine... Meanwhile I put my sons pny 2gb pc6400 800mhz stick in hers and make him suffer with 2 512 stock)


keeping up? lol

now.. new ram comes in... pull out sons stick.. and put the 2 new sticks in... nope.. wont boot!??? i put the 2 OLD stick in sons pc.. works fine!!!! damn wtf!! new sticks in mine.. they work fine!!

no matter what.. the only sticks I can get to work are the pny 2gb and a 512 stock stick in the wifes.


so now.. she doesnt know that she only has 2.5 GB's not sure she will ever know lol.. but my son now has 4GB (her old) and I dropped the new 4gb in mine (running 8GB now)

any ideas??

need any more info.. let me know


** WINTEC AMPX 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161182)

 

[canadian69]

Are the 2GB and 512MB modules that "DO" work in your wifes machine the same class of memory? PC2-4200 maybe?

 

[Scotteq]

Please ensure the 'bad' sticks are running at their maker's timings and voltage specs. Simply popping them into the slots sometimes isn't good enough; you may need to manually set it all

 

[Staticfx]

@ canadian

all the sticks are PC6400

i thought the one 2GB stick and the 2 new 2GB sticks were the same timings/volts... but will double check..

but if that were the case... why did her old 4GB stick fail and stop working in hers but work fine in my sons? I never adjusted any of her bios settings

i wonder if hair main board is crapping out...

But thanks for the idea.. I will check her settings and test again!