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I recently did a RAM upgrade for a friend's Acer Aspire AST690. We have had a hell of a time getting the proper RAM, and we ended up getting several chipsets sent out that were incompatible. Finally, I purchased some RAM from 4allmemory.com that was guaranteed compatible with the system. While I don't spurt out all of the A+ lingo, I am certified and my strengths are mostly towards my CCNA/MSCE. I've upgraded the system to the maximum that the motherboard can handle, which is 2x 1GB DDR2-667 (PC2-5300) 240-pin, as the specifications from 4AllMemory gave me the following information:

System Information

* ECC: FALSE
* Form Factor: DIMM
* Maximum Memory: 2048
* Memory Comments: PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM DIMMs. Support Dual Channel DDR2.
* Module Type: PC2-5300
* Registered: NONE
* Standard Memory:
* System Type: Desktop/Server
* Total Memory Slots: 2

The Acer Aspire AST690 had 2x 512mb sticks in it, which I have on hand, and the upgrade appeared successful at first. I was so excited to get that RAM to actually boot that I went on to installing the new video card and did not check the specs further on the system. Apparently the RAM is only showing up as 1GB from the System info. I just wanted to know what could possibly be going wrong now, and below is a link to the exact RAM we upgraded with, as guaranteed by 4AllMemory.com:

http://www.4allmemory.com/memory/acer-aspire-t690-series/

After dealing with the worst types of users, the over-confidant ones, I am about sick of wasting my time going back to this persons house for every little issue that occurs, so I really need to get this working for them. I've flashed the BIOS with the most current version, which is no different than the one already on the motherboard, and I've reset the CMOS battery upon upgrade and everything. I have not went back to the house yet, but my first goal is to explore the BIOS to see if the RAM is not showing up there either. I assume there should be a feature under the BIOS on this system that needs to be tweaked, but knowing my luck there is something else wrong. I am running out of ideas and patience. If anyone could tell me what the hell to do, I would greatly appreciate it. If it were my computer I would take a hammer to it, and this is exactly why I build my own systems from newegg.com and frys rather than pay ACER to give me some garbage system that requires their proprietary RAM or whatever this issue could be...

Edited by Hexum311 because: n/a
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The solution for this was quite simple. I was thinking that the 32-bit OS may have had something to do with it, however simply removing the RAM and switching the slots did the trick. I just assumed the issue was more in depth than it actually was-- a good old case of the RAM not being in it's slot completely. Gosh, do I feel dumb! At least some old fashioned troubleshooting was a simple solution!

I will be back over the next few weeks as I have to do some work for a company that consists of the users I mentioned that I was doing support for when this issue arose! This case has been very frustrating but fun and easy to fix, however my next client is the "over-confidant user" I was talking about--- the ones who think they know it all and are a wealth of computer jargon, however when it comes down to implementation, they come up short! I take my hat off to the customer support/help desk workers! I would be pulling my hair out if I had that job!

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