x220 with 16GB RAM

Message

king12345 · #1 Post by **king12345** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 3:22 pm

Hi there,

is here someone who successfully upgraded x220 to 16gb ram ?

I bought this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMSO16G ... B006DI9PG8 and it doesn't work.

It boots up, passes memtest86, but system is really unstable. For example memetster can kill it in few minutes.

Which model did you use ? How did you tested system reliability ?

Thanks

wolfman · #2 Post by **wolfman** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 6:22 pm

Hello,

I don't have an X220, however, I do have the T420 in my signature and I've used this RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820233217 - which I believe is identical to the RAM you linked to since March, 2012 with no issues. I left it run Memtest86 for about 6.5 hours and I haven't had any issues. If you have instability with that RAM, I'd RMA it for a replacement set as it may be a defective set you have. Good luck.

Steve

#3 Post by **ZaZ** » Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:13 pm

All Sandy Bridge ThinkPads should accept 16GB of memory. I would agree faulty memory seems the most likely option.

king12345 · #4 Post by **king12345** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 1:17 pm

Thanks guys,

I already RMA'd that memory. So I have tested two pairs of DIMMs in two laptops.
I tested it in x220 and t420, both of them behave exactly same. Laptop can run for month without any problem, and then it suddenly dies with Kernel panic.

It pass memtest86 many times without many problems, but memtester (http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-how- ... ry-faults/) can kill it in few minutes.
The problem is, that memtest86 runs in a single thread, but memtester can be executed multiple times + OS is using memory as well.

If you use these 16gb sticks, I highly recommend you test it with memtester, because your RAM can be unreliable which can result in corrupted files etc.
Just run 'memtester 4g 4' in 3 different consoles, which will allocate 3 x 4gb = 12gb of memory and will be hammering it in 3 threads + OS.
My laptop will die in 5 minutes when doing this with 16gb ram and pass it when using original 4gb stick.

P

wolfman · #5 Post by **wolfman** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 6:48 pm

OK, so using the machine in my signature, I closed my running applications and executed 'sudo memtester 4g 4' in three separate console windows. I monitored the system with system monitor applet that I have bound to my top bar. I ran the test for 25 minutes straight before I stopped (my wife wants to stream a TV show) and everything ran fine. System monitor showed CPU utilization of between 80-99% for the majority of the test loop.

The memtester shows instability, but it may not be RAM. In my case, I'm running the T420 in a Thinkpad Mini Dock Plus Series 3 for mobile workstations with a 135 watt power supply attached to the dock. This is in a room that is 68 degrees. Given the CPU load that was placed on the system and that the machine ran for 5 minutes pretty consistently before failing, are you certain that it's not a thermal issue since you already RMA'ed the RAM? Wondering if there is an environmental root cause... If not, while it would be bad luck to get two bad sets, I'd RMA again... Good luck.

king12345 · #6 Post by **king12345** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:06 pm

Thanks, do you have CMSO16GX3M2A1333C9 as well ?

This guy is experiencing exactly same issue, but on Windows. http://forum.corsair.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=629708
So it is not OS related.

Today I asked Corsair if is it possible that I received two broken modules and if they have some reliability issues with this model...

wolfman · #7 Post by **wolfman** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:40 pm

Yes, that's the RAM I have, here's the link to where I purchased it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820233217 to verify it's the same. It's been in this machine since March, 2012. I do a lot of work with multiple virtual machines running at the same time that are heavy weight VMs, so I was pretty confident the system is running stable under threaded load. The machine has been running Ubuntu Linux as the host OS the entire time, for the vast majority of that time Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

king12345 · #8 Post by **king12345** » Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:16 pm

I have good news, memory is definitely corrupt.

Just in case someone else have similar issues, Corsair CMSO16GX3M2A1333C9 is crap.

I have my second pair of DIMMs, I RMA'd the first one and both of them are broken.
Issue was confirmed in three laptops Thinkpad X220, T420 and T430s.

Memory is unstable when is under heavy multithreaded load and it looks as healthy when tested with memtest86+ because it runs only in single thread.
You can reproduce it by running memtester (Tested on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 13.03) in multiple threads. Basically run following commands in different shells in one time

Code: Select all

sudo memtester 4g 4
sudo memtester 4g 4
sudo memtester 4g 4
sudo memtester 1g 4

It allocates 13Gb of memory and starts hammering it. Your PC should crash (Kernel panic) or freeze if you are affected by this issue in less then 5 minutes.

You can see some errors like this http://i.imgur.com/LaFyrQM.png
Or memtester can crash, leaving message like this http://i.imgur.com/lwdc3a8.png in dmesg

BTW this guy have exactly same problems on windows http://forum.corsair.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=629708

I'm will definitely RMA even second pair

igtoth · #9 Post by **igtoth** » Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:44 pm

I am using 2x 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz.. at full speed using old bios version, if upgrade to latest bios version it drops to 1333mhz

king12345 · #10 Post by **king12345** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 3:41 am

Thanks, that is nice to hear. Which version exactly do you have ?

igtoth · #11 Post by **igtoth** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 6:31 am

king12345 wrote:Thanks, that is nice to hear. Which version exactly do you have ?

BIOS: Lenovo 8DET58WW (1.28), 14/02/2012 (I believe this is the latest one that supports 1833mhz, after that speed drops) I had to rollback to this version

Memory (bought these on ebay) ~ USD 150$

Summilux · #12 Post by **Summilux** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:45 pm

Running 2*8Gb Corsair ValueSelect 1333Mhz (PC3-10700) since day one, absolutely no issues related to memory.

RAM reference: CMSO8GX3M1A1333C9.
X220 BIOS: 8DET61WW (1.31).

igtoth · #13 Post by **igtoth** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:49 am

Summilux wrote:Running 2*8Gb Corsair ValueSelect 1333Mhz (PC3-10700) since day one, absolutely no issues related to memory.

RAM reference: CMSO8GX3M1A1333C9.
X220 BIOS: 8DET61WW (1.31).

Yeah, Lenovo X220 Thinkpad was designed to operate at 1333Mhz (max of 8Gb), all available documentation have that information. But it works with 1833Mhz and 16GB. Not sure why Lenovo had turned that down speed to 1333Mhz after 1.28 BIOS, but 16GB remains ok.

plympton · #14 Post by **plympton** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:32 pm

I get either Crucial or Kingston ram for the past few decades (except when out-of-band and it's crazy expensive), never an issue.

My daily dev machine is an X220 i7, 16 GB ram, never a problem.

Bánh mì · #15 Post by **Bánh mì** » Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:44 pm

Go with the Tier 1 brand like Crucial by Micron. Would you put Walmart house brand tires on a Porsche? I think not.

king12345 · #16 Post by **king12345** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 6:46 pm

New pair of DIMMs arrived and it seems fine.

Thanks to Corsair for sending me three replacements.

This is a lesson to other people, which may have problems with this memory. There may me more faulty modules floating around the globe, just dont hesitate and send it back to Corsair

wolfman · #17 Post by **wolfman** » Wed Dec 18, 2013 7:02 pm

Bánh mì wrote:Go with the Tier 1 brand like Crucial by Micron. Would you put Walmart house brand tires on a Porsche? I think not.

I guess the assumption there is that the Wal-Mart house brand tires are just re-branded tires made in the same facility... I've had no issues with the Corsair value RAM in the machine in my signature for nearly 2 years. DDR3 1333 RAM had been out for a while 2 years ago. Even the "house brands" have high yield and high quality when the process is not new (IMHO).

stel67 · #18 Post by **stel67** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:32 am

I installed yesterday this Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) and it worked fine.
My thinkpad is X220 4291GB6, latest bios installed (8DET70WW 1.40)

JPOESQ · #19 Post by **JPOESQ** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:27 pm

stel67 wrote:I installed yesterday this Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) and it worked fine.
My thinkpad is X220 4291GB6, latest bios installed (8DET70WW 1.40)

I installed the same kit in my X220 and it has been trouble-free.

igtoth · #20 Post by **igtoth** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:09 pm

JPOESQ wrote:
stel67 wrote:I installed yesterday this Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) and it worked fine.
My thinkpad is X220 4291GB6, latest bios installed (8DET70WW 1.40)
I installed the same kit in my X220 and it has been trouble-free.

Indeed it works fine.. but, if you run any tool to check the memory speed you will see at 1333mhz, not 1866Mhz..

thinkpadcollection · #21 Post by **thinkpadcollection** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:50 pm

Everyone who upgraded to 16GB no problems in their x220; how many chips per modules?

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

igtoth · #22 Post by **igtoth** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 2:25 pm

thinkpadcollection wrote:Everyone who upgraded to 16GB no problems in their x220; how many chips per modules?

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

Yes, it works fine for all BIOS versions.. but after BIOS v1.28 it drops memory speed to 1333.

thinkpadcollection · #23 Post by **thinkpadcollection** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 6:22 pm

Chips count per module? This is important question for my research and to others as well.

Thanks and cheers, thinkpadcollection

igtoth · #24 Post by **igtoth** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 6:52 pm

thinkpadcollection wrote:Chips count per module? This is important question for my research and to others as well.

Thanks and cheers, thinkpadcollection

Would you explain why?

8 chips per module:

http://s29.postimg.org/5ied36sxz/IMG_1481.jpg

thinkpadcollection · #25 Post by **thinkpadcollection** » Tue Dec 29, 2015 8:58 pm

igtoth, Yours is 16 chips per module, also like yours too, mine is corsair vengeance except DDR3-1600, CPU-Z will show your current fsb for memory (multiply by two, will be 667 or so comes out as 1333) and SPD datas will not be quite right per JEDEC standards yet works because timing programmed for last 3 clocks columns are exceeded by any fsb clocks used, but 4th column fsb is 1866.

Reason I ask for my research is poor info out there on internet. I need to know about memory about 16 chips per module or 8 chips per module especially 8GB modules whatever works on any 2nd generation i core series (Sandy Bridge microarchitecture); Also to know better, these processors have a digit in that i3/i5/i7-(2)xxx are sandy bridge microarchitecture.
By the way, rank is not a levels of quality; I refer to memory rank architectures. Usually 8 chips per module is 1Rx8 and 2Rx8 is 16 chips total per module. And note that on the package and on the branded like kingston, crucial, mushkin, corsair etc...which leads to my rant is will not mention rank design, just a picture of module on any websites is not a respective of right one is the trouble to know which you are actually getting one let alone not getting 1.35V or 1.5V or bi voltage or just 1.5V only or 1.35V only.

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

tagumcity · #26 Post by **tagumcity** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 8:53 am

The Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) 204-Pin SODIMM Notebook Memory CT2KIT102464BF160B / CT2CP102464BF160B set failed to boot. Then I installed the Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10) set and my x220 matched with Samsung evo 250GB sata and msata drives runs very well with Arch linux.

thinkpadcollection · #27 Post by **thinkpadcollection** » Fri Jan 01, 2016 9:23 am

tagumcity,

That crucial memory is 1.35V only, All sandy bridge uses 1.5V memory voltage and I could not figure out if it is a 1Rx8 or 2Rx8 by looking at chip count per module for crucial memory that failed to work. The one you have right now that works I bet that is actually 16 chips per module (2Rx*).

Cheers, thinkpadcollection

maedoc · #28 Post by **maedoc** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:08 am

I know this is a late reply, but in case it's useful for others looking to upgrade their aging x220, I've got one with a i7 2620M and just installed g.skill DDR3L 1.35V 2 x 8GB, and it's runs 4 memtester processes just fine.

igtoth · #29 Post by **igtoth** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:22 am

maedoc wrote:I know this is a late reply, but in case it's useful for others looking to upgrade their aging x220, I've got one with a i7 2620M and just installed g.skill DDR3L 1.35V 2 x 8GB, and it's runs 4 memtester processes just fine.

Speed???

jaspen-meyer · #30 Post by **jaspen-meyer** » Thu Mar 10, 2016 2:17 pm

thinkpadcollection wrote: I need to know about memory about 16 chips per module or 8 chips per module especially 8GB modules whatever works on any 2nd generation i core series (Sandy Bridge microarchitecture); Also to know better, these processors have a digit in that i3/i5/i7-(2)xxx are sandy bridge microarchitecture.

I run a i5-2410M with two 4gb modules. Each has 16modules per dimm.

*-bank:0
description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: HMT351S6CFR8C-H9
vendor: Hynix/Hyundai
physical id: 0
slot: ChannelA-DIMM0
size: 4GiB
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
*-bank:1
description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: RMT3020EC58E9F1333
vendor: Fujitsu
physical id: 1
slot: ChannelB-DIMM0
size: 4GiB
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
Incidently a slightly dated version of memtest says memory throughput is a meger 3.5gb/s.