Problem Upgrading RAM on Toshiba Satellite A205

[pitchperfect]

My wife's laptop has been running way too slow (might have something to do with Vista on it), so I suggested that we go get her some more RAM.  Her computer was only registering 1014MB, so we decided to upgrade to two sticks totaling 2GB.  However, when I switched in the new sticks not only did the computer still only register 1014MB, but the old RAM I took out says that it is 1 GB each as well!  Experimenting around, I discovered that the computer will run with a stick in the bottom slot (registering 1014 MB!) but with one only on the top it will not turn on.  Does this mean that I have some horrible hardware issue with the top slot that renders any stick put in it unusable, or is there something else that I am missing? 

Hardware-savvy techs, please help!

The computer is a Toshiba Satellite A205 -A4607 running Windows Vista with an Intel Centrino Core2 Duo processor

[H-kon]

Hi Pitchperfect. Welcome to H-kon.net

What kind of memory did you buy for your laptop? Could you post both the new and old one? It should be a small sticker on them.

According to the specifications: http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/product/pdf_files/detailed_specs/satellite_A205-S6808.pdf it needs PC5300 DDR2. It's technically not the exact same laptop, but it does sound like you have integrated graphics with your laptop sounds like the culprit for your missing 12mb of system memory.

This is specified in the BIOS, how much system memory you will let the graphics card use.

The PDF i linked to above specify that it supports 4gb of memory. I have experienced that some laptops does not like all brands of memory (depending on how the ram is stacked etc)

[pitchperfect]

Hi H-Kon, thanks for answering my reply.

Both the old and the new sticks were PC2-5300 (DDR2).  I actually took the new sticks back to the store since they didn't seem any different than the old.  For now I bought a 2MB stick of PC2-5300 and stuck it in the slot that is working and kept a 1MB in the other (just in case), that upped the memory to 2038 MB. 

The guy at micro center said it is probably just a bad slot and I will need to send the computer in to the manufacturer and probably get a new motherboard (since everything in a laptop is connected to it directly).  He said I could try re-imaging the drive, that sometimes works wonders.  (I haven't done that yet.)

In looking up this computer online, yeah I heard that the graphics shares its memory with everything else, which slows it down.  I don't know much more than that.  I did try to download any new drivers I could find to try and see if it did anything, including a new BIOS version http://askiris.toshiba.com/ToshibaSupportSite/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1846925xml&sliceId=&dialogID=30198246&stateId=0%200%2037712110.  (Maybe I shouldn't have done that, but it didn't seem to make any difference.)

What do you think?

[H-kon]

I think you did the smart move in exchanging the RAM for a 2gb one.

Based on your description, it does sound like the RAM slot is bad.  so you should send it in.
As for re-imaging the drive, unless you're experiencing other problems, thats not going to do it in my opinion as it is not a software problem.
It might be a good idea to do a full backup though if you're sending it in as they might change your drive too while at it just for laughs.
If you don't have a backup solution, try DriveImage XML V1.21 at www.runtime.org which is a free as in beer