Pavillion 9710 Memory Upgrade Problem

[Patrick Liew]

PC came with 64MB RAM in one of two slots. I added one 256MB module some time ago to make 320MB. But when I replace 64MB with another 256MB today to make a max of 512MB, the PC kept starting up to the "start windows in safe/normal/etc mode" screen and kept returning to the same place regardless of selection. And SETUP screen recognises both 256MB module. Starting up with either module, ie with just 256MB, is fine. But not both together. Any advice is much appreciated.

[e4services]

Though this is not the p[lace for such a question, not Proliant, I will give you my experience since I am here and hope it helps and you can give me some points.
I checked your system specs from Crucial and you should be able to support 3-256MB DIMMs in the system, so that is OK. My experience tells me, if you are returning to the Boot Option Screen for SafeMode, you must be failing the Windows boot each time with all the memory, and this is probably happening so fast you do not notice, but the system is restarting again and returning.
I would first enter the system BIOS, with all the 256 DIMMS installed, and load the BIOS Defaults from BIOS, Save and Exit. From there I would try boot, again with all memory, from a test disk or CD like the Ultimate Boot CD or Symantic SystemWorks to test the systemboard with the memory. Latly I would attempt to do a Windows Setup form the CD, selecting Install, and then when the CD detects your current Installation, selecting Repair for the current installation. THis will reload all the system files and reset the registry.
Hope it helps!