T42 Memory Upgrade Problem

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snabjab · #1 Post by **snabjab** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:33 pm

I originally added 512MB RAM to my T42 2373M1U from its base 512MB. I've now purchased a PNY 1GB PC2700 SODIMM and tried to replace the 512MB stick. With the new RAM in the machine nothing loads at startup - the screen stays blank. When I switch back to the 512MB stick everything is fine again. Any ideas? Is it likely that the RAM is bad or is there a more complex answer (ie my laptop is rejecting the RAM like a body sometimes rejects a transplanted organ)?

Many thanks in advance!

The Spirit of X21 · #2 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 2:40 pm

It's probably a bad stick. I'd return it for a new one.

mooingmooseman · #3 Post by **mooingmooseman** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:49 pm

run a few tests real fast

- switch the slots the 1gb memory goes in
- try to boot with only 1gb. then switch the slot
- try to boot with only the old 512 in that slot

narrow it down so you know for sure its the 1gb stick that's broken.

snabjab · #4 Post by **snabjab** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:34 am

Many thanks for the help. I ordered a new stick and it's running just fine. I wish I could say that the performance increase from 1GB to 1.5GB was dramatic, but so far it feels as underwhelming as my original upgrade from 512 to 1GB. Of course that was two years ago so I'd say I'm ready to restore this thing and start over fresh.

Thanks again for the help!

snabjab · #5 Post by **snabjab** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:20 pm

Well as it turns out the issue may not be resolved. The new module seemed to work fine but now I'm experiencing random freezing; once viewing photos in Picasa and another time simply browsing the web in Firefox. Is it possible that I have a second faulty SODIMM? Is there a diagnostic utility that can check the memory somehow? It hasn't frozen very often but I find it strange that this has started occurring right after the memory upgrade. I added the 1GB stick to the bottom of the machine and left the original 512 in the under-the-keyboard slot; should that make a difference?

The Spirit of X21 · #6 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:02 pm

Oh dear; I'm sorry to hear that. Go to http://www.memtest.org/ and download an ISO of memtest86+. When you burn the ISO, boot the computer from the CD and run memtest's diagnostics to test the RAM for errors. That should give you some information - good or bad.

snabjab · #7 Post by **snabjab** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:20 pm

Many thanks for the advice. I ran Memtest for over 4 hours and no errors were found.

Performance is only getting worse, really. It freezes randomly in Windows; there is no indication that any particular stress factor causes the freezing. I have my T42 set to hibernate after it's been in sleep mode for a while and with the new memory installed the machine almost always needs a hard restart to get out of hibernation (sometimes my desktop shows up frozen on the screen and sometimes nothing at all happens).

So taking the following into consideration:
1) The first 1GB PNY module was defective from the start
2) The second module is causing major problems
3) I'm leaving the country on Saturday

What would be your next move? Fry's seems to have pretty good customer service so I hope I wouldn't have trouble returning the memory. Would you try a third stick after all of this?

sugo · #8 Post by **sugo** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:29 pm

Is exchange for another brand a possibility? For non-OEM I only use Crucial and Kingston laptop memory. Both brands have been flawless on my T42.

al7kz · #9 Post by **al7kz** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:48 pm

delete

snabjab · #10 Post by **snabjab** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:22 am

Exchange is possible, just not at the low price of the PNY. Maybe it's just that I bought the cheapest memory possible, or that I haven't reformatted my T42 since I bought it two years ago, but the extra 512mb didn't seem to make a substantial difference. It's not quite a universal maxim but it does frequently happen that you get what you pay for. Still, I can't say I understand the logic behind endorsing a particular brand for one system but not for another.

I think I'll either go with a Kingston (non-value) module on sale at CC right now or just forgo the upgrade for the time being. I'm sure I'd have a bigger performance boost if I finally reformatted.

al7kz · #11 Post by **al7kz** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:05 am

delete

snabjab · #12 Post by **snabjab** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:15 pm

Thanks for your input. After two failed tries I think it's time to move on to another brand. It would be nice if we had reliable statistics that would allow us to move past anecdotal evidence and impressionistic analysis, but I suppose that would require the industries which manufacture and sell these products to be far too open about the real-world performance of their merchandise.

I didn't mean to posit a relationship between a newly formatted hard drive and memory performance, per se; I only meant that the performance benefits of additional RAM might be more easily observed on a system not suffering from the electronic detritus that inevitably hampers Windows performance over time.

Thanks again.

T42 Memory Upgrade Problem

T42 Memory Upgrade Problem

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