Problems adding RAM to ML150 G2 w/ 2003 Standard Server.

[Tony Harder]

I have encountered a problem adding additional RAM to our Windows 2003 Standard server. I have upgraded from 2GB to 4GB. When I install all 4 x 1GB memory modules the system will hang at the boot screen with the progress bar. If I remove the ram and go back to 2GB the system boots perfectly. Any combination of 2 x 1GB memory modules works fine but try 4gb and no go. The bios correctly identifies that I have 4GB of memory.

I have tried adding the /3gb and the /PAE to my boot.ini file with no luck.

I was wondering if there was any possible firmware updates to the ML510 to make this work or anything I need to do in Windows 2003 first before I install the new RAM.

Any help would be appreciated.

Tony H.

[KarloChacon]

hi

- when you "hangs in boot screen"... you mean windows screen?


- this is the latest System ROM available

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=435422&prodNameId=3279685&swEnvOID=1005&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-e78cfdab21fb4eb1af9e9364b3

- also try cleaning NVRAM
pages 87-88
http://bizsupport.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00267894/c00267894.pdf

regards

[Tony Harder]

Yes, the Windows boot screen with the scrolling "progress bar" is where the server will hang with all 4GB of RAM installed.

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into the information you provided.

[rawdr]

I am having the exact same issue. I have the latest system BIOS (Jun 30, 06) and have tried changing the boot.ini, no luck. Did you find a solution Tony? What else can I do?

[rawdr]

Just posting back to this thread to add a possible solution in case someone else finds it through a search. A reinstallation of Win2k3 was successful in letting me use it with 4GB of memory. That is, up until I updated the storage driver, at which point Win2k3 would again remain at the boot screen forever loading. I didn't pull out two sticks of RAM to see for sure if it was the same issue - seems odd that the latest drivers for the storage card (Adaptec 2120s) would conflict with having 4GB of RAM.

But if it was, the fix was to update the controller's BIOS to the latest version of Adaptec's site, and then reinstall the latest storage drivers from HP's site. You can boot into the OS in safe mode to roll back the storage driver to Microsoft's default, for troubleshooting.