Crucial or Samsung or... what memory would you choose?

[DavidNZ]

davidspalding: Just did full scans with most up-to-date versions (and definitions) of MS Antispyware, Spybot and Ad-aware. Nothing, aside from a few tracking cookies that Ad-aware caught. I'm behind a hardware firewall and run PC-Cillin as a software firewall, so I've never been bitten (that I know of). I did install a few pieces of software just before the BSODs started: Sys Migration Asst, Skype and Access Connections 4.01.

StarTraveller: that's a good idea.

This is how I have it at present: original 256mb IBM-branded SODIMM installed, Sys Migration Asst has been uninstalled, and I'll leave it for a few days and see how I get on.

My plan was to do a full re-install of the OS toward the end of January (my reward for finishing a book I'm writing) so barring any hardware-related problems which might be responsible, that should fix it. More importantly, I want to figure out what is causing these BSODs, if only for those in future that have the same problems and search the forum for ideas.

[DavidNZ]

Update: it wasn't Sys Mig Asst as had another BSOD on shutdown after unintalling.

Next thing I did was uninstall AC4.01 and then restore my system to just before it was installed. Then, re-installed AC4.01. Hopefully this will do it. Testing over the next 12-16 hours or so. Update to follow.

[davidspalding]

Don't know about Skype (i'm wary of all these new, faddish utilities), but AC 4.01 is JUST OUT. Maybe you could find and try 4.00, or just go back to 3.8x?

[coolsilicon]

For whom it may be of interest: the 1 GB Crucial memory came today and works fine so far. What I did for testing as yet, was loading photos into Photo Impact until the memory was full to the brim - no problem.

[StarTraveller]

If you want to be on the safe side you could run Prime95 for a few hours in the memoryintensive mode. That should give you pretty good idea if you can expect problems.

[DavidNZ]

Hehe - prime95. I think my little X40 would break out a sweat if it knew I was downloading it.

An update: since performing the actions listed in my last post, all seems to be well. I've done two or three shutdowns in the past 24 hours, each time after using the machine intensely for hours and hours beforehand (which is when I was getting the BSODs on shutdown afterward). No BSODs yet. I'm *almost* convinced that it was an Access Connections install that didn't quite go right. A bit more regular use needed, just to make sure.

[BruisedQuasar]

For whatever it is worth, I have owned & used many desktop and lug-a-bout (laptop & notebook PCs) since Apple was a garage PC maker.

I have upgraded main memory in many PCs from Commodore to Dell & IBM.
I even fell for the Crucial hype. The fact is Crucial, as they are quick to tell you, is the world's largest maker of memory chips and modules.

You can save a lot of money by just buying and installing the lowest priced major brand memory memory. PNY, Kingston, Viking, etc. Not once have I had a single memory failure using these brands. PNY, Kingston & Viking generally get their chips from Crucial anyway & Crucial does not directly make all their chips. Crucial has plants in China, Taiwan, India, etc like everyone else does. America does not manufacture much anymore, except civil suit attorneys. In fact, both our Congress & Senate are 85% attorneys. We are without a doubt the world's leading manufacturer of attorneys. We have four times more in law school than the sum total of all working attorneys in the 25 nation EU, Japan, Russia and China.

Buy from Crucial and you buy factory direct. Buy factory direct and you pay factory suggested retail. All factories charge suggested retail for simple reasons. To some extext it is the law. More important, the direct customer of any factory is the reseller or retailer, the volume buyer.

The factory customers will be hot if they find their supplier significantly underselling them. How can the law be involved. The Fed Fraud laws include laws against fraudulent advertising, especially fradulent manufacturer "suggested retail price" and retailers who falsely advertise a suggested manufacturer retail price that the manufacturer routinely undersells. So, buy through Crucial and it is gauranteed you will always pay manufacturer suggested retail, or top dollar.

Other major brands link us to retailers with varying prices. Some significantly below manufacturer's suggested retail.

[DavidNZ]

Final update: all well. No more BSODs. My last actions (above) seem to have solved the problem completely). New generic 512MB SODIMM back in the X40 and running fine. Hope this thread helps someone someday.

[nephilim]

Hello everyone

I have just acquired a hand-me-down T21 and my first thought is '128MB - that's gonna need an upgrade!' so I guess this thread is as good as any to ask a few noob questions. I have built several desktop systems over the last few years but this is my first foray into the world of laptops and proprietary nature of the machine is a little confusing.

I have been reading this forum for about a week (in anticipation of getting the 'pad and I have read in the T21 section that they can be picky about RAM. Like Kingston, Crucial have both a generic (CT32M64S4W7E ) and a compatible part (CT484656) but unlike Kingston, they are the same price.
Here's what they have to say:

The two codes do refer to the same part. The part number with CT followed by six numbers is the part number specific to your machine, and the other number is our generic part. These parts are compatible with your machine.

If you look at the parts on Crucial's website you'll notice that they are PC133 not PC100 but Crucial guarantee that they will work. Does anyone have any experience of putting PC133 into a T21?

It further occurs to me to see if there is any way of benefitting from the improved speed of the PC133 RAM.
Has anyone had any success in overclocking the FSB to 133 on the T21? Would this allow the RAM to run at full spec? I know that if this can be done, it would also bump the CPU from 800 to roughly 1060 so is it possible to adjust the clock muliplier to underclock the CPU and bring it back down to 800/900 or so (to offset the increase in power drain and heat)?

Thanks to all in advance.