Laptop memory upgrade

Ark

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
872
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3 year old Dell laptop with 128 MB PC100 memory in Slot 1, Slot 2 empty.
Got Kingston 256 MB PC133CL3 DIMM.
Installed in slot 2 - no go
Installed in slot 1, removed old 128 - no go.
Installed in slot1, with old 128 in slot 2 - got BIOS screen, recognized 384MB, but boot in W2K crashes before first graphic screen.
Can't get safe mode.
Any ideas?
Bad memory, BIOS problem, PC133/PC100 conflict?
Will check memory on another laptop tomorow.

 

bacillus

Lifer
Jan 6, 2001
14,517
0
71
some dell laptop models are very particular & picky on which make of ram you use!
crucial ram has always worked for me.
 

Ark

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
872
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0
Dell's website as well as kingston shows, that it can accept 2 modules, up to 256 each.
This is Inspiron 5000 P3-500.

Both places having "dell" part number for memory, without giving details.

The problem is that dell memory is $75 on sale, the kingston I got from BB is only $31.

I did memory test in DOS with 256 in slot1 and 128 in slot 2.
Test recognised memory as 384, but fails 55AA test as well as all others at 128MB address (new module).
Could it be timing (I got PC133 instead of PC100)?
I will go later today and test on newer laptop if memory stic is OK. If yes, I'll have to buy dell's memory.