T60 with 2GB (2 x 1GB SODIMMs from Lenovo) Locks Up

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pukupi · #121 Post by **pukupi** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:06 am

My T60 has also been freezing since moving to two 1GB RAM modules.

I've re-seated the RAM and run both PC Doctor and memtest and both modules pass OK. I've also tried swapping the 1GB modules out of my Macbook but the T60 still freezes, often during start up.

It looks like this is not a problem of faulty RAM so you're probably wasting you time getting you RAM changed.

Removing one of the 1GB modules solves the problem and I'm now slumming it with 1.5GB until Lenovo fixes the problem.

jtlau · #122 Post by **jtlau** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:10 am

Ade wrote:Also can I run the 512MB alongside a 1Gb?

Yes you can - I was running my 2623-D7U on a 512MB (from Lenovo) and a 1GB stick (Patriot). Both ran fine. Until my laptop got stolen.

Reordered the same model from Lenovo yesterday and I'm looking to get 2x1GB Patriot sticks. Hopefully I won't have a problem. If not, gonna bum it 1.5 again. Sigh.

#123 Post by **BillMorrow** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:27 am

this problem seems to be related to certain memory parts added..

i had the same problem with a LONG TIME memory supplier..
replaced with another brand and VIOLA! it works just fine..

i don't remember now if my X60s had the same problem with the same parts..

however, my current situation is T60p and X60s both with 2gig each and both working fine..

when i WAS getting the error it seems that it was some sort of video driver that was crashing..

scillyisles · #124 Post by **scillyisles** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:26 am

I gave up trying to get Lenovo in the UK to do something about this - ordered two new 1gb memory chips (made by Samsung) and it's now working working fine with no crashes. Clearly there is some sort of slight incompatibility with certain memory chips when using dual channel which Lenovo (in the UK) seem to be ignorant of.
This issue and the nightmare I've had with Access Connections 4.12 will make me think hard about buying another Thinkpad.

rockefella · #125 Post by **rockefella** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:30 pm

I believe that Micron/Crucial-branded memory was causing my crashes. My T60p shipped with 1GB Micron memory. The T60p always crashed when I added another 1GB stick, no matter what brand. So then Lenovo replaced my Micron with Samsung memory. Then I ordered a Crucial 1GB stick and STILL got crashes.

I returned the Crucial and ordered a second 1GB stick from Lenovo. They shipped me Hynix-brand memory this time. I put it in and voila!

No more crashes. For me, it was Samsung 1GB + Hynix 1GB that did the trick. Getting rid of all Micron/Crucial brand memory was the key.

Cheers.

gigga · #126 Post by **gigga** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:33 pm

I got 2 Micron/Crucial 1GB memory. It locked up radomly...
I called the service, they said it should be the Micron/Crucial RAM problem and replace 2 Nanya RAM to me right away.
It works pretty fine so far.
Thanks you, rockefella, and this forum.
It does solves my problem.

Kamika007z · #127 Post by **Kamika007z** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:30 pm

rockefella wrote:I believe that Micron/Crucial-branded memory was causing my crashes. My T60p shipped with 1GB Micron memory. The T60p always crashed when I added another 1GB stick, no matter what brand. So then Lenovo replaced my Micron with Samsung memory. Then I ordered a Crucial 1GB stick and STILL got crashes.

I returned the Crucial and ordered a second 1GB stick from Lenovo. They shipped me Hynix-brand memory this time. I put it in and voila!

No more crashes. For me, it was Samsung 1GB + Hynix 1GB that did the trick. Getting rid of all Micron/Crucial brand memory was the key.

Cheers.

I believe this is true as well. The pre-installed Micron sticks of memory do not seem to mix well with other branded sticks.

Toe · #128 Post by **Toe** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:18 pm

Same issue.

1gb that shipped with it
1gb from Cruical

Random lockups

I went to:
1gb that shipped
512mb from cruical

Works fine

Not too important, but I'd like to have 2gbs of ram. (even if I don't use it)

-Toe

o1sowise · #129 Post by **o1sowise** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 2:36 pm

kimras wrote:Any news with this ? Have anyone managed to get it to work with 2 x 1gb ram modules while running graphics intensive apps such as games or 3Dmark ?

I tried mailing IBM/Lenovo's support a week ago, but I haven't heard anything from them at all

Forget the web/e-mail support. I still have problems open over 5 months ago and never even answered

.
Phone service works almost instantly

.

freddy418 · #130 Post by **freddy418** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 5:55 pm

new 2613EDU here with 2x1GB Nanya PC2-5300 Modules.

*knock on wood*, hopefully I don't come back with the same lockup issues people are having. So far so good though!

jpmnh · #131 Post by **jpmnh** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:52 pm

I found this thread when my lenovo t60p wouldnt boot (or stay booted). I suspected it was due to adding another 1GB stick (kingston FRU40R3389) two weeks ago; I read this thread and popped open the laptop... I had a stick of Lenovo with the VJ172 code.

I called lenovo and the gentleman I spoke to said "yes, this is a well known problem. Remove the kingston memory and your system will be just fine"... argh.... So I ordered another stick of ram to replace the lenovo... wasnt worth arguing with them about. I love the laptop other than this issue...

And just to concur with others, I'd been running memtest86 pc doctor; it always passed; I tried to guage when the laptop would freeze but could find no rhyme or reason. When it finally started complaining about corrupt crcs I started drilling down. This forum is great.
Thanx
-jim

stephenaron · #132 Post by **stephenaron** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:41 am

I too have had random lockups since i bought the machine months ago. It came with 1 GB of Samsung and i bought another 1GB of Samsung from Lenovo. Both chips had the same part number 40Y8403. Both chips were also dated a few days apart (March i think). IBM sent me 2 new chips lastnight. They arrived and they are the same part numbers, but with dated marked Sept 2006. So far no lock up. Sometimes i still get random system standby. Any ideas?

foodle · #133 Post by **foodle** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 10:28 am

Similar story here. The 1GB DIMM that shipped with my T60p is from Samsung with a FRU number of 40Y8403. I added another 1GB DIMM (Crucial) and was experiencing random lockups primarily when playing 3D intensive games, even though the system passed multiple runs of memory tests (memtestx86). If I removed one of the DIMMs the lockups stopped. Workable, but I wanted 2GB in the machine for actual work. I swapped out both DIMMs for a matched pair of OCZ 1GB DIMMs. All lockups went away.

I called IBM and they overnighted me out a new DIMM. Should be here sometime today. When I called, I simply mentioned that I swapped out the DIMM and my lockups went away. The tech immediately started the process of sending me out a new DIMM. Great service from IBM/Lenovo.

stephenaron · #134 Post by **stephenaron** » Wed Nov 01, 2006 2:02 pm

Well, my machien hasnt frozen again yet, but i got my 1st blue screen ever today. Was during a restart...error was 0X0000007E. Any advice?

Splaktar · #135 Post by **Splaktar** » Mon May 07, 2007 1:40 pm

I've got a T60p 2007-AD1 and I'm also seeing hangs where there is no blue screen, the machine just stops everything (mouse light goes off, hard drive stops, etc).

I was originally running two 1 GB chips of RAM. 1 is Micron, MT16HTF12864HY-667B3 200620 CBNC806004, Singapore lead free, 1 GB 2RX8 PC2-5300S-555-12-E0, 1 GB, DDR2, 667, CL5. FRU 40Y8403 DIMM 2006-05-26. *11S36P3366ZVJ17265T1NB*

I still need to take the other one out and take a look at it.

Anyhow, my machine would previously hang after only a few minutes of high load (with 2 GB of RAM). I took 1 SODIMM out and it seemed to improve (I made it through almost 24 hours without a hang). But I did experience a hang while running multiple applications and some Java builds in Eclipse with only 1 GB of RAM installed.

I'm not sure if this means that both DIMMs are bad or not (I imagine so). I just got this laptop a few weeks ago (April 2007). It's surprising that it would come with known-to-be-bad RAM.

As far as I can tell the FRU, date manufactured, and some of the other data matches up exactly with a number of these previous posts as 'known' defective.

I've run the memtest86 for about an hour so far, no failures. I guess I should try to run it overnight.

jbinto · #136 Post by **jbinto** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:46 pm

This thread worries me, particularly the bump after what, six months.

I've ordered my T60 (63716NU, comes with 1GB) and an extra 1GB which I'll have to install myself. They quoted a 3-4 week wait (of which one week has elapsed) since the laptop has to be built in China, however their Canadian outlet has the DIMM I ordered in stock. I'd hate to have RAM problems because of the DIMMs not matching factory/batch/even manufacturer. To wait another 3-4 weeks for any RAM issues to be fully addressed by Lenovo would be totally unacceptable.

Splaktar · #137 Post by **Splaktar** » Mon May 07, 2007 4:40 pm

I opened it up again and the 2nd SODIMM is the same serial # +1, *11S36P3366ZVJ17265T1NC*. Everything else is the same.

I can't seem to find the PC-Doctor (or PC-Dos) tests mentioned earlier in this thread. When I push the ThinkVantage button during boot, it only brings me to BIOS setup. The closest thing I can find is the HDD Diagnostics test (which ran successfully). I did turn on the extended memory test during boot (also successful).

I've run the Rightmark Memory Stablity and 'quick tests' and found no failures as well.

I downloaded Thinkpad Fan Controller and so far just running a 3D screen saver my GPU is getting up to 79 C.

Splaktar · #138 Post by **Splaktar** » Mon May 07, 2007 5:26 pm

Found PC-Doctor for DOS here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... 62911.html

This doesn't work for me though as my Thinkpad does not have a floppy disk drive. I don't see any .iso images to make a bootable CD either. You also can't extract those self extracting executables, so no way to just put all the files on a CD.

laundromatt · #139 Post by **laundromatt** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:56 pm

wow, not to make you all feel bad, but i have had ZERO problems with my two 1GB sticks in my T60. one is a patriot stick, and the other is a kingston stick, both bought at frys, but at different times, and i've had no problems.

hopefully people out there can see that having two 1GB won't automatically give you lockup problems.

Splaktar · #140 Post by **Splaktar** » Mon May 07, 2007 10:10 pm

As I posted in http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... &start=120, I think the RAM issue might just be something that exacerbates the FireGL overheating the GPU (100+ C). I was able to reproduce this lock up with only 1 GB of the 'bad' RAM installed, it's just easier with 2 GB.

Maybe if I just got some really slow RAM it would slow down the FireGL enough that it wouldn't overheat

Too bad that would most likely make using the machine painful.

I tried all kinds of settings and couldn't get adaquate performance at a decent temp. I guess I could try different drivers to see if some run 'cooler'.

Splaktar · #141 Post by **Splaktar** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:50 am

It doesn't look like this is an overheating issue afterall. I was able to observe my laptop operating just fine for extended periods of 86 C in CPU and 105 C in GPU. Also I've observed lock ups at much lower temperatures.

I can't get the RAM to fail any of the memory stability or other memory tests so I have no way to show that the RAM is defective.

I've tried almost every video driver (3 from Lenovo, 3 from ATI, 1 from Omega) available and they all run at about the same temperature and all lock up just the same. The best performance comes from the 7.4 Catalyst modded from ATI and also from the Lenovo 7.4 based drivers from Windows Update (Lenovo Software Installer does not find these drivers for me, 8.362.0.0).

I wish there was some way to prove that this RAM was bad other than buying different RAM and testing it.

Splaktar · #142 Post by **Splaktar** » Fri May 11, 2007 2:24 pm

I've got 2 new SODIMMs in the mail from Lenovo. Hopefully this will fix the problem. I'll update again when they arrive. Until then I'm limping along on 1 GB.

Rizo · #143 Post by **Rizo** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:11 am

I recently added a 1 gig crucial stick to my R60 and it works pretty good so far.

Only lockup I have is when playing UT 2K4 at full specs for a while. The laptop was rather hot underneath so I think it is just a cooling issue at this point.

Dodge DeBoulet · #144 Post by **Dodge DeBoulet** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:27 am

I've had 3 hard hangs (lockups) on my T60 since I got it just under 2 weeks ago, along with 4 BSODs and some intermittent and extremely brief video corruption. When I've had the hard hangs, they've been accompanied by some video artifacts (rectangular blank areas). And mine is using 2 1GB DIMMs . . . so this is somewhat coincidental. I have a service call in with Lenovo (opted for the on-site service).

My X1400 video card isn't getting hot, though.

Splaktar · #145 Post by **Splaktar** » Tue May 22, 2007 10:06 am

Received my new RAM yesterday and it's all installed now. Heat seems to be uneffected (still running GPU 75-78 C idle). Going to bang on it for a while today and see if the lock ups come back. Moved Powerplay setting back up to 'Optimal Performance' from 'Balanced'.

*crosses fingers*

Splaktar · #146 Post by **Splaktar** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:24 pm

Been running at max settings for a couple weeks now, no problems at all performance/lock up wise. Only issue is high heat (100-112 C on GPU). But that hasn't slowed anything down or crashed the machine yet so it's OK. I'm not going to mess with applying my own AS.

Truthfinder · #147 Post by **Truthfinder** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:35 pm

My T60 came from the factory with 512 x 2.

I picked up a pair of Kingston 1 gig sticks (2 Gigs) total.

I've had no problems with lock up or any other problems.

Your problem may be related to the company who makes your ram, or the pair just don't see eye to eye................

Request a replacement pair of sticks...........

#148 Post by **underclocker** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 11:04 am

This thread should be a sticky!

I picked up a used T60 and couldn't believe the freeze ups. Imagine how many people are dealing with this issue - and how many more will when these machines hit the secondary market in force, post lease.

T60 with 2GB (2 x 1GB SODIMMs from Lenovo) Locks Up

Lockup here with Kingston and VJ172 lenovo stick

T60 with 2 GB

T60 with 2 GB

T6- with 2gig Ram

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