Extra Memory for my Desktop: Update

In an earlier post I explained how I installed extra memory for better computer performance, that was last August. Since then my computer started acting strangely. Don’t get me wrong, the performance gains were real and when the computer was running it worked beautifully. The problem was with the cold boot in the morning, it would not start until it warmed up a little, taking upwards of five minutes of “hand cranking” to start. Once it started, there was no ill effects. When I had lots of work to do, I began leaving it on all the time to save the trouble of restarting in the morning. It ran for weeks without any problems.

That, of course, was not an acceptable solution and I started investigating. First, I removed many external connections, USB drives, etc. That did not help. Then I removed the two new sticks of memory. Everything went back to normal. I could shut down in the evening and start it with no problems in the morning. When I swapped the old pair of sticks with the new set, problems started again. I made a couple of calls to Corsair, they guided me to testing the memory sticks using a freely available program. During these  tests, i determined that one of the sticks was not fully cooperating. During my conversations with Corsair tech support and additional reading on their Web site, I learned that running four sticks of memory may put more stress on the motherboard.

I contacted Corsair for an RMA for the new pair of memory sticks, within an hour I had all the instructions to send them back. I packaged the memory and mailed it back to Corsair. In a few days, I called and spoke with a customer service rep and asked if I could swap four 1GB sticks for two 2GB sticks. This, they call “advanced replacement”. She told me that they would do that but I had to send in the other two sticks of memory. Obviously that was not a solution as I would be without a computer for quite some time. Then she offered another solution, I could give my credit card number and if I did not return the two 1GB sticks they would charge my card for the new set they would send to me. No problem, I gave my card number.

Yesterday, I reeceived the pair of 2GB memory sticks, installed them and turned off the computer at night. This morning, I am very happy to report that my computer started with no problems at all. I am a happy camper. I will now pack the old pair and ship it back to Corsair to eliminate the charge. This has been a very pleasant support experience for me, thanks Corsair.

Related posts:

1. Extra Memory for my Desktop