2x 4GB RAM for X200s

[doktorek]

Return them. They dont work. This is it. They don't serve their purpose.

I'll probably try it on Monday, but there are 2 main obstacles:
1. It's not USA and returns of used stuff are not THAT easy to do.
2. It was a company purchase, which simply means returns are possible if the seller has a good will. I'm not covered by the law as a regular consumer which is quite ironic, as I am only a 1-man company.

Anyway, as this seller has no other memory with these specs, it's quite possible I will have to file a warranty claim to get my money back, which could end up in back and forth with warranty service, as the memory is probably OK, but doesn't work in this particular configuration.

Also, if I recall correctly, Kingston RAM didn't work at all in x200 with 2.02 BIOS, which is quite big IMHO for such a widely accepted memory manufacturer. Not sure how big Corsair is, but maybe they got screwed this time? But still, that's not my fault, right?

[Frenchi]

Kingston recommend the KTL-TP1066/4G in all model of x200, 200s, or 201...
(check at kingston.com).
Description: 4GB 1066MHz Module
Mfgr's System P/N's: 51J0494 (Lenovo); 55Y3708 (Lenovo); OEM FRU 51J0493 (Lenovo); OEM FRU 55Y3714 (Lenovo)
Form Factor: Memory Module
Pieces/Unit: 1
Warranty: Lifetime

You are right...Memory recognition has been improved/corrected at bios 2.04. This is a lot (11) bioses behind!!!

This is not the value ram serie which start with KV..., The KTL-TP1066 cost more. I preferred to buy the samsung because they are recommended and cheaper (you save the middle man). Moreover, Lenovo recommend low halogen and the Samsung (I stated in a previous post) are Lead & Halogen free. They are fresh from the Samsung engineering dept. Please... update the bios to the most recent.

[doktorek]

This particular Samsung memory is not available here at all (no idea why) and importing it from abroad won't be any cheaper than simply buying Kingston in a local store... I actually use Kingston in T60 and it's OK, so I'll probably go for that stick. But first I need to get rid of this faulty Corsair

[Frenchi]

Good luck

[doktorek]

Good luck

Yeah, well. The seller told me that if I return it with a warranty claim and it will work (in other machine?), he will send it back and charge me additional money for diagnostics. In other words, if it doesn't work with x200, but works with other notebooks, then that's MY problem. Nice, eh? I've already contacted Lenovo and Corsair to see what the hell is going on here. We'll see. Looks to me I'll be forced to sell them on ebay etc.

[Frenchi]

It went pretty good for me on ebay. I sold my two crucial (2x2GB) for $75 + shipping of $5 in two days. I paid $95 six month ago...not so bad. Everything is so high these days on ebay...

[doktorek]

I could sell it, but there are just too many problems because it was a company purchase. Seller offered me a return, but for a 10-15% reduced price. Not a great deal, but just less trouble. Of course, if you want to return anything here, you have to be prepared for NO contact on the other end. When you buy stuff from them, you get instant replies...

Corsair is totally unhelpful - their tech support gives me meanigless replies, like the last one "we are sorry, but lenovo officially supports max 2x2GB on x200". I told him earlier that e.g. Samsung works perfectly fine and even Kingston on its site states that this system can run with 8GB with Win 64-bit. But I'm wasting my time. I thought that they may address the issue, but with each reply they just look for an excuse to close the case, no matter how ridiculous the "resolution".
Lenovo (local) didn't respond at all - can't say I'm surprised.

Next time I won't go cheap - good lesson

[Frenchi]

Kingston recommend it and you are right. Kingston sell memory and they are interested to know if it works with any system. They test and bring their conclusions. Some other memory company repeat to you what the database of the notebook manufacturer said...that's it. Some other don't even have database and accept returns unconditionaly. etc.
Lenovo do not base their bread and butter with memory. Furthermore, they do not anticipate to get a thousand phone call from people saying that their system do not see the memory.....and even,...return them to them...(because they do not know the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit). The x200 (mine) was ship with downgrade XP... The 8 GB world was nonexistant. Lenovo did not have the 8 GB chip. Does it means the notebook is not made and/or cannot support it? No...This is not the point. We are on our own. That is for sure. Kingston and Samsung won, in my book, professional respect. Other company got help and their profit increase from their base costomer feedback, facilitating exchange if cooperation oblige (like GSkills). I could go on and on on this one.

[doktorek]

How true...

Anyway, I think I found Samsung sticks (same as yours) in Germany and gonna order them next week. Still much cheaper than Kingston. Hopefully I won't get screwed this time

[Frenchi]

I am totally happy with them. 100% stability like the 4 GB of crucial or the 2 GB of Hynnix. Keep me posted.

[Eduard]

I have the Crucial 2x4GB memory (CT2KIT51264BC1339) in my X201 and it works well. As for the earlier question why all the RAM, Office 2010, Lightroom and Photoshop 64-bit versions take advantage of it. Outlook 2010 64-bit is actually snappy.

[Frenchi]

My knowledge are not at the level to explain how, but, to confirm your expression, every program are snappy. They all are ready to go in a couple second...like outlook. Lots of the speed is due to the ssd intel 80GB second generation. There is however something special that came from the experience index. For the ssd, the experience index always been at 7.6. Since I have 2x4GB, I tested twice and the experience index was both time at 7.7. Bizarre....Is there a relation between memory and Hard drive? coincidence or reality? I do not recall having see two different data changing for one upgrade. HD 5.9 to 6.0 and HD 7.6 to 7.7. after upgrading solely the memory.

[doktorek]

I received confirmation from Corsair to my RMA request (I actually wanted to only file a ticket to see what's going on), but I'm wondering if it would make any difference? I've never gone through RMA return - they simply replace the part with new one of the same type? Because if that's the case, it would simply mean a waste of my time & money (parts have to be sent to a different country), as it is very likely the new one will not work as well (haven't seen any positive report for this RAM and x200 thus far, only negative). Could anybody more familiar with RMA shed some light on this? Thanks.

[Frenchi]

RMA is a process we go through once in a while (I look like a father)...I am. I must have about 18 pages of invoice at newegg for the last 10 years. On a hundred fifty invoice (about), I can tell you that RMA is a process to follow where you have to be patient for a couple weeks before closing the subject of receive-refund-reorder. I ordered several (for others or myself) power supply from corsair. I have several usb drive and had memories in the past. I never had a problem with Corsair. However< I do not know how they stand behind their products. They give 5 years on their power supply and they last. I have two that still going still february 2006.

[doktorek]

I asked Corsair the same question and I got a reply: "This part does meet your system requirement". That's what I wanted to hear in the first please (clear yes/no). Maybe I will send it back to the seller and see what happens.
By the way, because of some problems with my x200 configuration, I have been sent a new ram stick - 2GB. It's corsair again (I didn't choose it), same model, just 2Gb instead of 4GB and it seems to work fine.

I'm running memtest86+ now and one thing strikes me - chipset info. It says "Chipset: Intel PM/GM45/47 [...] FSB: 266MHz - Type: DDR-II"
Is this OK? Looks kinda low. The same is reported by CPU-Z. I've already flashed to latest BIOS....

[doktorek]

OK, I've read about an FSB quad-pumping, so 266 MHz seems correct. But after reading it, I have to wonder - what's the point of running DDR3-1066 instead of DDR2-1066 in lenovo x200? The speed difference is probably hardly noticable (if any). And DDR3 price is much much higher....

EDIT: OK, it might be tricky to get a 4GB DDR2 (either 667 or 800 MHz) stick for a reasonable price - at least here they are even more expensive than 4GB DDR3. Strange...

[visionviper]

Because DDR3 is the new memory standard.

[doktorek]

Yes, but that's just a "cool factor" As far as I can see it won't make your x200 any faster than same amount of DDR2...

[visionviper]

Yes, but that's just a "cool factor" As far as I can see it won't make your x200 any faster than same amount of DDR2...

No, it's the "technology moving forward" factor.

Where would we be if computer manufacturers never moved to new technologies just because at the moment they were more expensive/same price/whatever? We would go nowhere. When DDR2 first came out it was more expensive then DDR, then prices eventually became about the same, then DDR2 became cheaper as DDR was phased out. Prices only come down as production ramps up.

Lenovo made the right decision going with DDR3. Call it preparing for the future.

[doktorek]

I think you misundertood me. I'm all for moving forward with DDR3. My only point was that because of FSB speed in x200, there is no actual benefit of going with ddr3 in THIS model. Maybe it benefits their engineering process etc., no idea.

[visionviper]

I think you misundertood me. I'm all for moving forward with DDR3. My only point was that because of FSB speed in x200, there is no actual benefit of going with ddr3 in THIS model. Maybe it benefits their engineering process etc., no idea.

No, I understood. My point is that just because there isn't a clear benefit it perforance/speed/etc doesn't mean they shouldn't have done it

[Frenchi]

The X series must represent freshness . DDR3 sounds in, DDR2 sounds out. The model is in or out of the bandwagon. Engineering and marketing dept live together.

[doktorek]

A quick update. Today I can confirm that the Corsair 4GB RAM CM3X4GSD1066 stick DOES work in Lenovo x200. I sent my sticks back to Corsair as RMA and today got replacements. Pretty good contact and they were quicker then I expected. So far so good.
Unfortunately, 2x4GB still does not work with these sticks, probably because one of the sticks is faulty.

One of the sticks when combined with 1 or 2 GB stick gives a few errors in memtest, or machine doesn't start at all. But in other cases it works. It seems to be a bit random, depends on the slot used and second stick. No beeps, machine just either powers off immediately, or hangs shortly after Think... logo

Fortunately, the second 4GB stick seems to be working fine with any combination and now I have 6GB RAM in my x200 (accidentally, my 2GB is also CORSAIR, same model). Not bad, but could be better. Gonna contact Corsair again...

[Frenchi]

You're good men. They realy make you work for what you got these Corsair. They lost my faith in their quality control.

[doktorek]

I wrote to tech support about my issues and got the following reply. I have to admit, I'm not sure if I understand what they're saying. Could anybody help? Thanks

It is NOT recommend to mix and match any modules together on this platform as it can cause many problems. My suggestion would be to add only what you currently have in your system to the exact part number. Sorry about that.

[Frenchi]

You isolated well the problem to 1 stick of ram. They try to wash their hand with the wrong soap. Their suggestion is irrelevant to your problem. Tell them that you are a bad guy (like they would like you to believe) but, nonetheless, you still have a bad stick of ram from them. Maybe they would understand better the maritime language. If you mix the big and the small Corsair, it is because they did half the job. They sent you another sunken ship.

[kellyzerx]

Corsair wouldn't work for me. The computer wouldn't even POST. I exchanged the Corsair for Mushkin 97664A and it's working with no problems.

[icantux]

Just wanted to add to this conversation.

The x200(s) is very finicky with Corsair and Crucial RAM. Tried both on my x200 CTO with P8700 and the machine wouldn't even post using either RAM (2x4GB or just 1x4GB). I pretty much gave up having more than 4GB RAM in my x200 until I recently tried Mushkin 976644A 2x4GB and works without a hiccup. The RAM is CAS7, but it's still plenty fast.

I did check my machine capabilities using PC Wizard, which showed that the slots are capable of only 3GB max each. But as I said, the Mushkin works -- both Win7-x64 and Linux (64) recognize the full 8GB of RAM. XP only recognizes 2.75GB (this was also the case when I had 2x2GB configuration). Running BIOS .... er, I believe it's 3.14 .... not the latest one in either case.

Cheers