I have an Alienware m9700 that I bought back in 2006. I have updated all the drivers that Alienware has come out with yet still when I play heavy graphic games (Second Life, World of Warcraft, Medieval 2 Total War, Battlefield 2) the computer freezes up. When I look that the event manager it comes up with an “AmdK8 error” with an Event ID of 2. The message says “The Acpi 2.0 PCT object returned and invalid value of 7.” I was thinking of updating the driver but then I though “why not upgrade to Windows 7?” The reason I haven’t done so yet is because I don’t think the computer could handle it. Here is the current configuration: Processor: AMD Turion 64 mobile ML – 44 (1.59 GHz) Ram: 2 GB Dual channel DDR S0-DIMM @ 400MHz OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition Service pack 3 Hard Drive: NVIDIA Stripe 200 GB Video Card: Nvida GeForce GO 7900 GS X 2 Optic drive: Optiarc DVD RW AD-5540A Motherboard: Alienware NVIDA Moblie SLi chipset So what do you think, should I continue with what I have or upgrade to Windows 7?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=windows+7+system+requirements SC Tom -There's no such thing as TMI when asking for tech support.

Well, your machine should most certainly run Windows 7, although with only 2GB of RAM I'd stick with the 32-bit version. Two things bother me though: The error you're getting can be caused by several things - a buggy AMD Cool n'Quiet driver, out-of-date BIOS or faulty memory seem to be the main culprits. I'd go ahead and update the drivers for what you've got and see if the error disappears before trying to upgrade; if not, you could have faulty hardware and you'd be wasting your money buying Windows 7 for it. If everything works out and you fix what's causing the error, the nVidia Stripe (a RAID 0 device, not an actual disk drive BTW) could cause problems if you can't find a Windows 7 driver for it. You'll probably want to turn that feature off in you BIOS. But not until you're ready to install Windows 7, otherwise you'll break your XP.

Well, your machine should most certainly run Windows 7, although with only 2GB of RAM I'd stick with the 32-bit version. Two things bother me though: The error you're getting can be caused by several things - a buggy AMD Cool n'Quiet driver, out-of-date BIOS or faulty memory seem to be the main culprits. I'd go ahead and update the drivers for what you've got and see if the error disappears before trying to upgrade; if not, you could have faulty hardware and you'd be wasting your money buying Windows 7 for it. If everything works out and you fix what's causing the error, the nVidia Stripe (a RAID 0 device, not an actual disk drive BTW) could cause problems if you can't find a Windows 7 driver for it. You'll probably want to turn that feature off in you BIOS. But not until you're ready to install Windows 7, otherwise you'll break your XP. Hey thanks for answeing my question, yet a few more questions have risen. IF i was able to upgrade to win 7 would i be able to get more RAM? It is my understaning that XP will only let you run 2gb RAM and Win 7 you can use more, but wouldnt it also depend on the machine (motherboard, processor) because it is also my understanding that not all ram works with all motherboards. I did have one technician mention that my BIOS might be out-of-date, how can i check that and how can i fix that? Now you mention "faulty memory" now did you mean the RAM or the hard drive, physical or "logical" (for lack of a better word) I have often thought that the RAM might be faulty physicaly. Thanks again for your help.

Yes you need to run memtest on the ram, as for adding more ram, I think the M9700 max ram is 2 gig.

Yes you need to run memtest on the ram, as for adding more ram, I think the M9700 max ram is 2 gig. So even if i upgrade to windows 7 i am still stuck at 2gb ram, right?

Any 32-bit operating system has a 4GB memory address limit. Some of that will be reserved for devices such as your video adapter, network card and drive controllers so the entire amount of usable RAM will be less than the amount installed, if you have 4GB installed that is. This means that with 2GB (or even 3GB) you'll still have enough unused address space that you'll have the full installed amount available. 64-bit OSes can address much more RAM (up into the terrabyte range, IIRC) and your laptop is 64-bit capable. Now, it's important to remember that not all applications can run on a 64-bit OS, especially older games, so which OS you choose to run (32- or 64-bit) depends on many factors, not just what your PC is capable of. You'll need to do a bit of research before choosing. Mainboards and RAM. You are correct, not just any memory will work. You'll need to find the detailed specs of your model and see what kind (and how much) is supported. The 2GB you have may already be maxed out. Unlikely, but possible. BIOS version. It's usually displayed sometime during the POST process. It can probably also be found on one of the BIOS setup screens. Find out what version you have, go to Alienware's website and see if there's a newer version for your laptop's model. Updating a PC's BIOS isn't for the faint-of-heart though; one misstep and your computer is trashed. Permanently. If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, ask a friend who does. Or take it to a technician at a local computer repair shop and have them do it. Memory = RAM. Any disk errors would show as disk events in the event logs.

So even if i upgrade to windows 7 i am still stuck at 2gb ram, right? Not nessisarily. I have a Dell Inspiron 1501 I purchased July 2007. Dell claims the maximum DRAM is 2GB. I ran across a post on the internet where someone tried 2GB SIMS and the computer recognized all 4GB in the BIOS, but Win 7 (32-bit) told me I only had about 2.35GB available. The about 6 months ago I decided to see if Win 7 64-bit would run on the 1501. Well, it does and it tells me I have 4GB DRAM avaialble. So, sometimes you have to experiment to really find the truth about a system's capabilites!Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.