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why cant i install 4gig+ ?

i have Acer desktop aspire AM5100-u5201a black tower with neon blue light near power button.

stock spec: x2 4400+ / 320gb hdd / 1gb pc2 5300 / x1250 integrant graphic

i have 64bit os and i can only install 3gig ram and not 4gig and up. yes even 4gig i cant install. whenever i try installing more than 3gig.. when i boot up the screen will blackout.

installing 2x 2gb corsair dhx will blackout. installing 2x 1gb corsair dhx + 2x stock 512mb works flawless. installing 1x 2gb corsair dhx + 2x stock 512mb works flawless. all ram works 100% as i tried installing one by one. the corsair dhx rams are pc2 6400.

so i thought it may be that i need to update my bio so i did. now it still wont let me install more than 3gig. whats the problem? i cant think of way out!

does anyone having trouble installing 4gig+ on this acer computer as well? please help.







what do i do now? updating bios still wont let me install more than 3gig. do i raise the volt of ram or something like that? but how?








tried list:
- update bios
- when installing 64bit os.. put less than 4gig installed first
- install each module one by one all is working fine
- install each module 1 by 1.. install 1 module then reboot then install another ect.. till get 4gig+ but still blackout
- pull out graphic card

your motherboard sounds like it may just be bad with a bad memory controller or something like that

stopthekilling77 wrote:your motherboard sounds like it may just be bad with a bad memory controller or something like that

is there a solution? and also what about raising volt in ram? will it fix it?

*if* that is the case, then there's nothing you can do. if you absolutely need 4+ gigs of ram then i'd recommend purchasing a new motherboard/system around that need

seems like a lot of people are having the same issue (when i googled your model)..The thing I'm thinking of that might be causing it (i dont know this for sure though) is that maybe the voltage is not enough for 4GB but is enough for 3GB..if the ram works fine one by one and works with 4 sticks totaling 3GB but not 4GB(2x2GB), I would say either low voltage (in the bios) or it could be a bad controller like stopthekilling said

InspectahACE wrote:seems like a lot of people are having the same issue (when i googled your model)..The thing I'm thinking of that might be causing it (i dont know this for sure though) is that maybe the voltage is not enough for 4GB but is enough for 3GB..if the ram works fine one by one and works with 4 sticks totaling 3GB but not 4GB(2x2GB), I would say either low voltage (in the bios) or it could be a bad controller like stopthekilling said

say it was really low voltage in the bios..... is there a way to fix it? crank it up higher right? to be able to do that i must go to bios? last time i went to bios and i dont see any options to raise the volt memory. please help.

i'm personally wondering if the problem is just that board does not support 2GB sticks, will it take a 2GB and a 1GB at the same time?

skierkid450 wrote:i'm personally wondering if the problem is just that board does not support 2GB sticks, will it take a 2GB and a 1GB at the same time?

yeah it take it. i tried all the modules on my disposal and install it one by one alone and all works fine.

rams on disposal:
- two sticks of 2gb corsair dhx
- two sticks of 1gb corsair dhx
- two stick of stock 512mb transcend

but i cant install more than 3gig. whenever i install 4gig or more my screen blackout. it jus doesnt make sense... it should atleast take 4gig.

oh yes it does take 2gb plus 1gb at the same time. i tried every combonation of 3gig and all work and running. but jus not exceed 3gig or else it will blackout.

hey i found several people having corsair ram that cant install 4gig on 64bit os. http://www.asktheramguy.com/v3/showthread.php?t=64199

could it be corsair? corsair is to blame? their ram is corsair and my ram is also corsair and having similar issue. cant install 4gig on 64bit.

yea i read that same thign which is why i mentioned the voltage..it would be in the bios..not sure what tab it would be in though..if it takes each stick one at a time, to me it sounds like voltage..like said, i dont know what tab it's under in the bios..usually under the "advanced"..its either that or the board don't like 4GB..it's isn't the brand of Ram.. Corsair is one of the top if not the top brand to get so its more or less your motherboard dude..i remember i had to up the voltage on my older pc when i used 4x1GB sticks and it worked fine afterwards..either way in your case, it's the motherboard limiting you somehow. it's quite possible the motherboard you have may not even let you change the voltage since it's OEM basically..hell I know Dell makes it so if you buy a pc(not all i believe) from them with Vista on it, you can't install XP on it if you didn't like Vista..I don't know alot but I know when I used more than 2GB in my older system, voltage came into play

InspectahACE wrote:yea i read that same thign which is why i mentioned the voltage..it would be in the bios..not sure what tab it would be in though..if it takes each stick one at a time, to me it sounds like voltage..like said, i dont know what tab it's under in the bios..usually under the "advanced"..its either that or the board don't like 4GB..it's isn't the brand of Ram.. Corsair is one of the top if not the top brand to get so its more or less your motherboard dude..i remember i had to up the voltage on my older pc when i used 4x1GB sticks and it worked fine afterwards..either way in your case, it's the motherboard limiting you somehow. it's quite possible the motherboard you have may not even let you change the voltage since it's OEM basically..hell I know Dell makes it so if you buy a pc(not all i believe) from them with Vista on it, you can't install XP on it if you didn't like Vista..I don't know alot but I know when I used more than 2GB in my older system, voltage came into play

ahh ok so my main priorty now is to find a way to raise the voltage. i went to the bios spinning more than 30min on it looking for an option to raise the volt but dont see any.

taking screenshot of the bios window would be easy to explain but cant.

does anyone know how to go to the raising memory voltage in bios in an Acer m5100 desktop?


if theres a scenerio where Acer dont really have ram voltage mod avalible.... is there a 3rd party program that let it raise the voltage?

Check the MB's max memory.
I recently upgraded some ram for my friend.
He bought one of the cheap-o laptops some black friday ago.
We bought 2 x 2GB of ram, but the computer would not boot with 4.
1 2GB stick was fine.
I tried 1 2GB with 1 512MB and no boot.
I later looked it up on HP's website, and the specific laptop only supported 2GB max, and they were serious about the maximum :/

UpskirtHeaven wrote:ahh ok so my main priorty now is to find a way to raise the voltage. i went to the bios spinning more than 30min on it looking for an option to raise the volt but dont see any.

taking screenshot of the bios window would be easy to explain but cant.

does anyone know how to go to the raising memory voltage in bios in an Acer m5100 desktop?


if theres a scenerio where Acer dont really have ram voltage mod avalible.... is there a 3rd party program that let it raise the voltage?

You won't find it there. You have an OEM BIOS and they remove all those options. EIther try new RAM or buy a new motherboard. That is the only 2 options that I know of. If you were able to install the RAM and need to play with the timings then that's a different story. There are several programs that allow you to do that in Windows.