T400 memory upgrade

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tonepaq · #1 Post by **tonepaq** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:26 pm

Trying to upgrade my t400 type 2768 to 2X4GB ram sticks. I bought from Crucial 2 sticks 4gb DDR3-1333 PC3 10600 that they advised and sold as "T400 memory upgrade kit".

When installed the machine will not boot at all, only a series of beeps. Beep-----beep beep beep----beep beep beep----beep

I updated the BIOS and now I have installed Bios version 3.23 7UET93WW 2011-12-15. Is this the latest version?

I also tried only using one stick in either slot and get the same problem????

LouG · #2 Post by **LouG** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:46 pm

Subscribed. I was looking at the same RAM upgrade for my wife's T400 this afternoon. Unfortunately I'm too green to know why the bios would need to be upgraded. Doesn't the machine just recognize the new RAM upon start-up?

emeraldgirl08 · #3 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:23 pm

tonepaq wrote:Trying to upgrade my t400 type 2768 to 2X4GB ram sticks. I bought from Crucial 2 sticks 4gb DDR3-1333 PC3 10600 that they advised and sold as "T400 memory upgrade kit".

When installed the machine will not boot at all, only a series of beeps. Beep-----beep beep beep----beep beep beep----beep

I updated the BIOS and now I have installed Bios version 3.23 7UET93WW 2011-12-15. Is this the latest version?

I also tried only using one stick in either slot and get the same problem????

@tonepaq.

I am fairly certain I have read about Crucial RAM not working well in one of the ThinkPad series. I am not certain which series but if you go to search on this forum and maybe enter "T400 Crucial" as keywords you might find the thread regarding Crucial brand RAM and ThinkPads. If you do not find it here then try going to Notebook Review Forums and entering the same keywords into their search and you may find the thread there.

I have a T400 and my BIOS is 3.23 which matches the latest from Lenovo's website. The last time I tried installing 2X2gb sticks I got a beep as also. I have 2X1 gb + 1X1gb in my T400 currently. I am going to take note of the CAS numbers on the 2gb RAM module and see if I can find one on fleabay that matches. The last time I tried a 2X2gb upgrade the numbers were mixed so that might be why it threw a fit in my case. In my experience with ThinkPads Hynix and Elpida have worked well for me in the past.

@LouG

If you have not upgraded the BIOS before I should mention that there are risks of bricking your wife's ThinkPad. That should be made explicitly clear. What version of BIOS does your wife's T400 have currently?

LouG · #4 Post by **LouG** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:53 pm

It appears my wife's T400 has BIOS version 2.16 with a date of 4/22/2009. It looks like Lenovo posted version 3.23/3.24 for W7 64 bit in December, 2011. Is it safe to update from where I am currently? I've never done a BIOS update before but have read some horror stories from some after having done so. Her warranty is up at the end of the month, so now might be a good time I suppose. Thoughts...???

tonepaq · #5 Post by **tonepaq** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:04 pm

Woo-Hoo

Got it running. The step i was missing is this, after updating the bios I followed these instructions from Lenovo.

Initializing the BIOS

Note:
After initialization you may need to reapply some settings that you had changed previously.

BIOS Initialization is suggested for some problems. To initialize the BIOS settings:
Turn off the computer.
Turn on the computer.
While the "To interrupt normal startup, press the blue ThinkVantage button" message is displayed at the lower-left area of the screen, press the F1 key. The BIOS Setup Utility menu will be displayed. If a password prompt appears, type the correct password.
Press the F9 key to load default configuration.
Select Yes.
Press the F10 key to save default configuration and exit.
Select Yes.
Restart the computer.

Now its running fine. I have 8GB ram installed, 3GB usable with Windows 7 32 bit. Now I'm going to find a copy of 64 bit Windows and use it all!

emeraldgirl08 · #6 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:09 pm

LouG wrote:My wife's T400 has a BIOS version date of 4/22/2009. How do I go about checking for an update?

1) Go here and

2) Go to "quickpath" on the right middle side of the page. Look under your T400 and take note of the model type your wife's T400 is. There should be 7 digits in this format XXXX-xxx.

3) Enter those 7 digits into "quickpath"

4) the details of the T400 your wife has will show up

5) look to the right of your screen and click on "Drivers and Software"

6) Click on BIOS

7) I would suggest using the bootable CD method if you are going to update the BIOS. There are quite a few threads about people who bricked their ThinkPads running a BIOS update within the Windows environment

8 ) If you are curious about what the updates to BIOS have fixed or added support for click on the "README for bios update" It will display information on past BIOS releases and also a list of what each BIOS update has added or fixed.

Good luck!

emeraldgirl08 · #7 Post by **emeraldgirl08** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:10 pm

tonepaq wrote:Woo-Hoo

Got it running. The step i was missing is this, after updating the bios I followed these instructions from Lenovo.

Now its running fine. I have 8GB ram installed, 3GB usable with Windows 7 32 bit. Now I'm going to find a copy of 64 bit Windows and use it all!

Congratulations! Maybe that is what I should have done in my case! Thanks for sharing!

tonepaq · #8 Post by **tonepaq** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:35 pm

I should also note that I did update my BIOS within Windows using Lenovo Bios flash tool and all was fine....