Thinkpads Forum

Hi there

I've recently decided to upgrade my T510 from the single 4gb stick it came with, to 8gb (2x4gb).

On loading the second stick (from Crucial), my computer now fails to boot. It simply stays on a black screen at power-up (no bios, no windows, no bsod).

I assumed it was a problem with the new RAM, so switched sticks round. My computer is now booting fine with the new Crucial 4gb stick on its own, but when I add the old stick in the new slot, it no longer boots. So I figure its something to do with either a) running two sticks/8gb of RAM, or b) the second dimm slot

My original stick is in the keyboard dimm slot, and the new stick is in the dimm slot on the bottom of the laptop.

Both are 4gb DDR3 1333 10600. I've got the most up to date bios as far as I know.

EDIT: I'm running Windows 7 64-bit

Any ideas?

any suggestions?

Well, did you try just one stick in the second slot?

It can be some strange compatibility issue between the two RAM sticks.

If both sticks are not the same specification you can run into issues (1066 mixed with 1333, different timings/voltages, etc). Always use RAM of the same specification, in fact I would just buy an 8GB kit and stick that in there since it will most likely be faster than the stock RAM.

He said the frequencies are the same. I would indeed compare the other specs (timings and voltages), although I haven't ever seen these spec differ among laptop RAM as they do among desktop RAM. In any case, CPU-Z can easily show one this information.

I am not sure about the advantages of buying an 8GB kit. Even if it is faster than stock RAM (why would it be?), differences in RAM speed (1066 vs 1333 vs 1600) is one thing nobody will ever notice in real life work outside of benchmarking.

I have this guy that I always buy ram from eBay great RAM I havnt had no issues, I tried another so called good brand for DDR3 and it kept crashing my T500 until I tried RAM from an ebay store. Low density and great compatibility.

Thanks for the suggestions.

So I tried both RAM in just the second slot (i.e. under the latop). No luck with either.

So it seems like a problem with the second dimm slot? (or at least if their are compatibility issues with the two sticks, I can't identify that yet, until I get both slots working).

I've records via CPU-Z the info on both sticks, if this information means anything to you.


What should I do? Is there anything diagnosis-wise to try or is this a return to factory problem?



Stick 1:

Memory SPD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM # 1
SMBus address 0x50
Memory type DDR3
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Samsung (CE00000000000000)
Size 4096 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz)
Part number M471B5273CH0-CH9
Serial number 7713A998
Manufacturing date Week 20/Year 10
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 5.0-5-5-14-19 @ 380 MHz
JEDEC #2 6.0-6-6-17-23 @ 457 MHz
JEDEC #3 7.0-7-7-20-27 @ 533 MHz
JEDEC #4 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 609 MHz
JEDEC #5 9.0-9-9-25-34 @ 685 MHz


And the new RAM:

Memory SPD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM # 1
SMBus address 0x50
Memory type DDR3
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Micron Technology (2C00000000000000)
Size 4096 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz)
Part number 16JTF51264HZ-1G4H1
Serial number 323C3802
Manufacturing date Week 27/Year 11
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no
JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
JEDEC #1 5.0-5-5-14-19 @ 380 MHz
JEDEC #2 6.0-6-6-17-23 @ 457 MHz
JEDEC #3 7.0-7-7-20-27 @ 533 MHz
JEDEC #4 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 609 MHz
JEDEC #5 9.0-9-9-25-34 @ 685 MHz
JEDEC #6 10.0-10-10-28-38 @ 761 MHz

jimbobb wrote:So it seems like a problem with the second dimm slot?

Indeed so it seems (as both sticks refuse to work there), unless there is some piece of documentation saying that you are not supposed to use ONLY the second slot (I am not aware of any such instructions).

Thanks.
Any recommended course of action? Should I be getting in touch with lenovo at this point?

I would.