Depending on the model of Toshiba, there are 4 possibilities.
a) The voltage of the RAM is too high. In this case, either just upgrade the RAM to 6gb. Or change both RAM chips to low voltage.
b) It simply may not support the amount of RAM. This is more of a design flaw than anything else. I've had a few i7s that had this issue. It locked at 6gb RAM max.
c) You may need to take out the RAM first, update to the latest BIOS, then install the new RAM. BIOS updates sometimes increases compatibility.
d) You may have bad or incompatible RAM. I've seen a lot of problems with mismatched sets, wrong speeds, mismatched speeds, etc. The best is to have a matching set of low voltage RAM. Check your CPU and BUS speed to see if you need for example DDR3 1333mhz or DDR3 1600mhz. Store bought RAM has lifetime warranty, so if you find out RAM is bad, you can just RMA for replacement RAM.
3 Comments
Hi @sossigns ,
Is there a memory "remapping" option in BIOS and is it enabled?
If no option then try going back to 4GB ram getting into Win 7 -64bit (assumed this works OK) then go to Start> type MSCONFIG in search box > Enter > select Boot > select Advanced Options > ensure that Max Mem is unchecked
by jayeff
Laptops are finicky which ram . Some older laptops need a bios upgrade to run more ram. I have tried everything to make a laptop run ram I was trying to sell , but trying a different manufacturer did the trick . It sounds like your ram may be faulty or one of the sticks. Booting to the start screen and lock up strange. Try one stick at a time in A slot, in the B or two slot. Will it run on one stick? If you have a friend with a desktop who will let you try your ram in to test. Swap your friends ram for your ram. It may be happy in his computer and his may be happy in your laptop.
Sure would like to hear back how you make out. One note as for the many laptops I have added ram to double, if the laptop hates your ram it usually beeps or wont boot past the fans coming on. As I have usually on hand lots of memory, I just set this ram aside and try another pair that works. I say pair because of the advantages of running dual channel.
Sorry for all this blab blab, totally interested in a solve.
AB
by altbell
Wow well there you are some small item and being finicky about the ram.
appreciate your posting what you found.
Alton
by altbell