SOLVED Set Maximum Memory to Zero

[Esderc1]

My son has (foolishly) gone into his system settings and checked the box to set the maximum system memory. Unfortunately, he didn't enter a value and so it has defaulted to zero and now the laptop won't boot up. Is there a way to reset the maximum system memory back to the default setting (or simply enter a non-zero value) from the repair facility?

Thanks.

 

[TrainableMan]

Have you tried booting to safe mode or can't you do that either? If you can get in with safe mode then you might be able to run msconfig there and fix it.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Did he do this from the BIOS settings on the motherboard or in Windows 7?

It should be a very easy fix in the BIOS settings. If in Windows 7 then what TM suggested should work.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Just curious; how would you do that in the BIOS.

 

[Shintaro]

Might be talking about the swap file?

 

[Esderc1]

Dear All,

He did it from within Windows 7, apparently. It now starts to boot up (the Windows logo appears) but then it flashes up a BSOD for less than a second before the screen goes black. I haven't been able to read anything from the BSOD in the time it gives you, so apologies for the lack of diagnostic information. I can get into the repair facility menu by booting up from the repair disk, but none of the options seem to do the job. For example, there is a command prompt, but I have no idea what to type and I have just enough computer knowledge to know to leave it well alone.

Part of our combined problem is that I'm not especially knowledgeable about computers and I don't have Windows 7 on my works laptop (my only computer since the home desktop died recently) and so I don't know what it is supposed to look like.

I have spoken to him further on the matter and, apparently, he also reset the number of processors from "1" to "2" in order to speed up the operation. Personally, I thought you actually needed to have the hardware installed, rather than just telling the system it was more powerful, but perhaps not. I'm not sure whether or not this will also affect things. I don't know how many processors it actually has installed, but I assume that the default setting was the right number.

Many Thanks.

 

[Shintaro]

Try getting in to Safe Mode to change the settings.
https://www.w7forums.com/safe-mode-t1497.html

 

[Esderc1]

I'll try it

Try getting in to Safe Mode to change the settings.
https://www.w7forums.com/safe-mode-t1497.html

Dear Shintaro,

I didn't get a safe mode option when using the repair disk, but the link you included suggests using the F8 key during boot up to get to a different set of options. I will give it a try when I get home tonight and will let you know if it works.

Many Thanks.

 

[TrainableMan]

If you have a dual core then setting number of processors to 2 (and to 4 for a quad core) would be fine and correct otherwise, on boot, the system only uses a single processor.
EDIT: I have been informed in another thread that this is not true, that if left blank, the computer will use all the cores automatically.

As for safe mode, yes you get there w/o repair disk in the DVD-Rom

 

[Esderc1]

Update

Dear All,

Apologies for the delay, but I have been off for a couple of days for a family wedding. I tried the Safe Mode option by hitting F8 on startup and it went into the right menu, but when I then selected any of the Safe Mode options and continued it then hit the same BSOD. About the only difference was that it ran slightly slower and so I got a glimpse at the text on the BSOD. Typically, I wrote the message down, but have left the paper at home today. It said something about memory, so I think that it is the setting memory problem rather than the number of processors. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Sounds like you may have to do a new clean install of the operating system to really clear things up.

You've been messing with this for several days now and no results. Either that or do a repair with the install DVD.

 

[Esderc1]

System Re-Install

Dear Nibiru,

If a system re-install is the only way to fix it, then so be it, but that then throws up the next problem. The laptop is a Dell and it came with the operating system pre-installed. I am not aware of ever having had any operating system disks with it, and so I am wondering how to do the re-installation.

It is a genuine copy of Windows 7, so there should be no problems if we had to prove ownership or anything like that in order to get a replacement copy, but without the disks I am not sure how to proceed. Presumably, there is a website or similar that you can go to to download the required files and put them onto a disk, but that would have to be via another laptop and I really don't know what to do in that respect.

Many Thanks.

 

[TrainableMan]

Typically, either the first time you turn on a laptop it asks you to create restore disks or it comes with a restore partition or it comes with the DVDs.

 

[Esderc1]

Dear TrainableMan,

I get the nasty sneaking suspicion that I missed out that stage. The laptop was a Christmas present and I was being pestered to make it work so that he could go and play with it. Hmm, I have a restore disk from my daughter's laptop, which is definitely the same make and model as they were bought at the same time, I will give that a try. Is there likely to be a conflict with using an equivalent restore disk, rather than one created specifically for the laptop in question? I don't know whether copies of Windows 7 are uniquely tagged in some way to prevent this kind of cross copying.

Many Thanks.

 

[TrainableMan]

If they are identical make and model you should be OK.

Before trying a complete reinstall, I would put in her DVD, boot up to it (so that the DVD is the boot device, not the hard drive) and see if there is a system repair option. Run system repair, then remove the DVD and try to boot again.

 

[Esderc1]

Dear All,

Thanks for your help and suggestions. After several weeks, we finally managed to get hold of a set of Windows 7 installation disks and were able to re-install the operating system. This allowed us to re-install everything else and the laptop is now operational once more.

Hopefully, my son will have learned the valuable life lesson of not poking around in things that he doesn't understand. Time will tell.

In accordance with forum protocol, I presume that I now need to close this thread down to save bandwidth on the site.

Regards,
Esderc1.

 

[TrainableMan]

Marking it solved doesn't actually save bandwidth but it let's us know you were successful.

Now that you have a good install it might be advisable to create a system repair disk for this computer. You will need a blank DVD and then you go to Control Panel > Backup and Restore. Select Create a system repair disk and keep it with the computer.

 

[Esderc1]

Dear TrainableMan,

He has created a backup disk now and, given the contrition shown, I am hoping that it is a life lesson learned.

Regards,
Esderc1.