Sir, I have a DELL Latitude CPxJ650GT Laptop with BIOS Update Version of A16. (i tried upgrading and downgrading to all the bios versions right from A08 to A16 and the status remains the same). I have a strange problem. Though my RAM is physically 128 MB the Bios recognizes only 64 MB of RAM. I even took out the RAM and cleaned it and swapped them and tried. Still it doesnt work. What could be the problem. Please help me. When I Boot after the initial DELL Screen, I get the following message:-
"Memory Read-write failure at 04000000, read 00EF00EE, expeting 00EF00EF. Decreasing available memory"
After this message for a few seconds it continues to load Windows 2000 Pro NT. Will you please help me to solve the problem.
Thank you in advance.
Jagannathan Balaji

It appears you have bad memory. Since it is on last section the BIOS disabled it during boot up.

Yep thats bad memory, BIOS is disabling the bad sectors to keep your PC running. Just get a stick of PC3200 or lower type ram and replace it (I recommend you get a stick of 256mb or greater should be around $50)

worldspere this is a Laptop which takes SoDimm memory.......

J B http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?model=Latitude+CPx+Series&tabid=AM

Was the "Bad Ram" diagnosis made after another RAM was added? Sometimes a poorly chosen RAM stick is not an appropriate match for that system board.

So I guess my questions are: Does the computer see both 64 meg sticks individually (using only one at a time?

What did the computer originally come with?

Are the sticks identical? Not similar, identical from a major manufacturer?

If so, were they both purchased at the same time from the same location?

What does the BIOS recognize? (F2 on bootup - I have the same model, same BIOS version.) Sometimes that is different from what
Windows recognizes for other reasons.

If it is not recognized right it will not perform right as you know.

Please respond to these questions and we can go from here.

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Dear GXI Man
i tried swapping the RAM to DIMM A and both the RAMs work and the BIOS Recognizes 64 MB .. i think there is some major hardware problem with the DIMM B (the second slot). Both the RAMs individually work in DIMM A slot. no problem. Both the sticks are identical. the system originally came with 128 MB ram only bought alongwith. The BIOS recognizes only 64 MB RAM in whichever way you boot and whichever bios version u use. Have I answered your doubts. Please proceed further and try to help me.
Thanks in advance

If the slot is bad, you may be SOL. Have you tried memtest yet? How about belarc advisor (belarc.com) to see if anything unusual shows there?

You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

Dear GXI man

I hv tried Belarc it shows two slots as DIMM A and DIMM B but says only 64 MB Physical Memory present. By the way what is SOL. I tried DELL's Mem-Diag utility also and it doesnt report any errors. It just finishes cheking and reboots without showing any errors. Anything further ?
Thanks in advance

So the Dell utility checks the memory and says it's OK but only reports 64 meg? If so, are you positive these are really two 64 meg sticks? This is confusing to me.

SOL means S**t outta luck, by the way.

You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users