Domestic RAM in foreign laptop?

[HardTech]

I installed a Kington ValueRam 256meg PC133 stick in my girlfriend's Japanese laptop, and it won't boot up into WinXP with the stick in. I tried different configurations (the Kingston stick vs. her stick) in different slots, and no matter what I do, it won't boot up with the stick in there.

Is this because the stick is bad or because the laptop is from Japan? I mean, it had the same number of pins and everything, so I figured everything would be ok.

 

[Nessal]

I don't think they make diff ram just because of the country your in.....I bought quite a lot of oversea computer hardware and never had problems with any....maybe its more of a compatibility issue soley with the computer.

 

[Lord Evermore]

RAM is RAM, there aren't any "language-specific" parts to it.

Either you got a bad stick, or they're two different kinds of RAM (not sure if the laptop may accept registered or ECC and one stick may be that, and the other not, something along those lines), or maybe something in the BIOS needs to be changed (or you may just need to go into the BIOS, save the settings without changing anything, and that might allow it to work with the new memory). Is it starting to boot at all?

It may also simply be a non-compatible brand. That's a very slight possibility I guess. Or being run at timings that won't work with it.

If you can't get it working at all with that one, either get it replaced, or try another brand if you have a spare.

 

[AndyHui]

Also the possibility that 256MB is simply too large for it to handle.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well, if it accepts PC133 (I assumed it was for a PC133 motherboard, not a PC66), then 256 can't possibly be too much. Even a low-end PC133 chip and board can accept that. (Though there problably is some lower-than-low-end machine somewhere to prove me wrong.)

 

[WobbleWobble]

Not all different types RAM work with some laptops. For example, my IBM ThinkPad needs a special type of PC100 SO-DIMM and will not work with normal PC100 SO-DIMMs. Even though the RAM looks the same, same number of pins and everything too.

Unfortunately, that special RAM is like more than twice the price for some reason.

So perhaps she needs a specialty SO-DIMM?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Also the possibility that 256MB is simply too large for it to handle.

Yes, definitely check into this. I had a laptop that would accept up to 192MB sticks of memory. I never even knew such a thing existed, but that was the max it would accept per stick.
What kind of laptop is this?

 

[Lord Evermore]

For some reason it didn't occur to me to think of a single stick limit being the issue. But I still think my original statement is valid, any newer board probably wouldn't have such a limit. Although "high density" chips may be an issue.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
For some reason it didn't occur to me to think of a single stick limit being the issue. But I still think my original statement is valid, any newer board probably wouldn't have such a limit. Although "high density" chips may be an issue.

Yes, quite possible. No idea how old it is though; I had to use PC100 in my 66MHz bus laptop - PC100 was almost all that was available; and it was cheaper than PC66.

 

[ai42]

I actually sold this stick of RAM to HardTech on the FS/FT forum (unless he got an identical stick elsewhere). I am confident that it isn't the stick, as it ran fine in my systems.

Two things however.
1. It is cas3 ram so there may compatability issues there, but it did run fine in my Compaq Persario 730
2. It is double density RAM as well, as in my Omnibook 500 (which is PC100), it only detects at 128mb.

HardTech if you have any more problems/questions PM me.

 

[HardTech]

my gf has a NEC something notebook. Can somebody explain to me double density chips?

Her other chip is a PC100 CL2.

and yes, it is your chip ai42

 

[Lord Evermore]

It's high-density, not double density. High density chips are just more bits per physical chip. Most modules have 16 chips on them (for normal DIMMs, I think SO-DIMMS usually only have 8). In order to make a 256MB module, each chip has to have twice as much capacity as a 128MB module's chips.

Older chipsets can't deal with higher density chips that are becoming common now. (It took awhile for density to reach a point that exceeded the capability of the chipsets.) A 128MB module might have 16 chips on it that are 64megabits each. 64Mb times 8 is 64megabytes, so 16 chips makes 128MB. A 256MB module would need to use 128megabit chips to reach full capacity (or use double stacks of 64Mb chips, which has been done).

 

[HardTech]

hm... her notebook is P3 450, so you think that could be the cause?

 

[AndyHui]

The system probably has the 440MX chipset.

The 440MX chipset supports up to 256MB of RAM, at a maximum density of 128 megabits.