Adding memory to a Dell Latitude D620

After adding a stick of RAM to a Dell Latitude D620 laptop and starting up, I saw this message:

The amount of system memory has changed.
If you did not change your memory...
To resolve this issue, try to reseat the memory

And it just hangs there. The solution: be patient. After a minute or so it will beep twice and let you enter setup or continue. Don't get all freaked out and start Googling around. Everything's fine.

In the meantime, contemplate the mystery contained in the elipsis above.

Comments

Thanks for the voice of reason. Everyone else says reseat the memory, bad system board, bad bios, etc.

You don't know how much you saved my life ... LOL.

I was just freaked out, thinking that MB got zabbed!

Big thank you!!!!!!

thanks man! that was a huge save of time for diagnosing other stuff!

Good call! I wouldn't have thought to just wait - thank you for posting this.

That stupid 'error message' made me think that guy somewhere via Ebay sent me a faulty memory module for upgrading my 'new old' D620. Now I have two channell mode, thanks to your wise advice 'Wait a few minutes'
Thank you from Germany!

Thank you!!

Old comment - still helping folks out. Fixing my bosses old D620, and had this exact set of circumstances occur. THANKS!!

Thanks for the answer. Saved me some head scratching.

I feel stupid.

Thanks man. I do a lot of work with Dells. Never had to wait THAT long. I was going crazy. Thanks again.

*FACEPALM*

Hi John,

Thanks SO MUCH for your good advice! You saved me a lot of grief.

I learned electronics, computers, etc. in the Navy back in the 1970-80's, then served in the Army as a commo sergeant for a few more years, but I'm largely self-taught on PC's, only a little on Apples (I know that some people LOVE them, but they're not my favorite). Anyway, I started at 19, & I'm 56 now, so I've been at this for a little while (although I also worked as a commercial diver, alternating between diving & electronics for ~25 years, so all that time wasn't spent with computers & electronics, but a lot of it was). I'm reasonably successful (for an old goat, anyway) with most computer &/or electronics troubleshooting & repair, but this thing was GETTING me!

I work for an electronics restoration co. in a southern city near the east coast; I'm the operations mgr & lead technician. Because I also have a lot of administrative duties, I mostly work on PC's: towers, laptops & peripherals, while our other techs cover the balance of electronic troubleshooting, repair & restoration.

My boss was about ready to kill me (he hadn't actually said so, not YET, anyway, but after years in the military, you get to where you can tell) because our project manager's laptop kept acting up. I'd just installed new software in it & it was DRAGGING, so I maxed out the RAM in two equal-sized sticks & BANG! It stopped working altogether! My boss owns the company & although the project mgr reports to both of us: the owner AND me, he wasn't getting his work done (some of which is INVOICING--big deal, right?) without his nice Dell laptop, and I was looking dumber & dumber as time went on because it was giving me such a hard time (this wasn't the only thing it was doing, just the worst). I was just about to throw it out the window when I realized that my office is on the ground floor, so I had determined to shoot it: the laptop would die in a withering fusillade of rifle fire {Ha-ha, just kidding . . . sort of}) until this afternoon, when {after having tried SIX--yes, I said "SIX"!--different sets of RAM--(they can't ALL be bad, CAN they?)--try not to fall on the floor laughing}) I came upon your blog. I took your advice & BANG! That was that: problem solved!

So thanks A LOT! (The laptop is grateful to you, too--it owes you its LIFE--& I'm NOT kidding). The project mgr is grateful, too, as is my boss, the co. owner, who now doesn't have to pay for a new laptop. You saved me some embarrassment in front of my guys & probably a butt-chewing from my boss! AND I got a refresher lesson from this: do your HOMEWORK, Mr. Genius, before tearing something apart! We'll get a laugh out of this & I'll remind my guys to do THEIR research first, too. Thanks again, John; your help & expertise are sincerely appreciated!

Respectfully,

Ray S.

Thank you very much!
I was about to disassemble everything again! ;)