Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi memory upgrade and compatibility.

Hi,

This is my first post. So go easy on me.

For those who can't stand long posts: Where can I find Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi (and Ati Radeon xPress 1100) compatible memory resources so I can upgrade the notebook memory without pain?

And the long story:

I have purchased an Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi (AMD Turion64 x2 TL50 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD 4200 rpm, ATI Radeon xPress 1100, etc) from Circuit City while they have some good back to school deals (August 2006). I am a computer professional who constantly needs to run heavy app servers demanding memory and CPU speed. Sometimes I have to run disk intensive applications (DB2) as well.

After seeing and Performance Testing (SiSoft Sandra) the computer a friend of mine bought, I decided that waiting a second longer due to the slow HDD wouldn't matter for my applications, I bought one for myself as well.

I need to upgrade the memory and couldn't find any place to verify the compatibility of the memories with this notebook and the ATI 1100 graphics card as this card uses the shared memory. On ATI website I have found ATI 200m compatible memories. But that was all.

I have contacted Acer as well. No luck there. Circuit City. The same... Not so encouraging.

I would really appreciate if someone can direct me to the right resource so I can do this upgrade without so much pain?

Here are more facts: I have already checked the memory modules. The ones I got are 2 of Nanya NT512T64UH8A1FN-37B modules (details here).

Cheers,

 

It uses PC4200 memory.

 

Thanks Zaz...

I know that it uses PC4200 (PC2-4200 etc) memory. I can get that from the existing memory as I noted in the post. The issue here is that I cannot find any kind of "compatible memory list" or any resource that could direct me there...

Any more ideas?

 

If you are refering to brand any should work as look as it is the correct type. Using an off brand only slightly increases the chance it will not work as it is not tested as much before leaving the factory. Good Luck.

 

I think I cannot explain myself. Here it is again:

Where can I find Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi (and Ati Radeon xPress 1100 as it uses system memory for graphics card) compatible memory resources so I can upgrade the notebook memory without pain?

1. I stated in my post, I do know that my notebook uses PC4200 (or PC2-4200) DDR2 memory. I already have 2 of Nanya NT512T64UH8A1FN-37B modules.

2. Since the post I purchased DDR2 PC4200 533MHz memory and it failed miserably. It was PNY 1GB DDR2 PC4200 533MHz module. I had two. I also tried to use only one. Still the same FREEZING problem. I could not get past the issue.

I had also upgraded the BIOS.

Any solid ideas or references?

 

I thought I'd share the info I got from Acer Support about my memory upgrade question. I was asking specifically which modules they are supporting for Acer 5102 WLMi. But they sent me this reply (a week alter):

------

Below are the memory specifications for the Aspire 5100 notebook. I hope this is helpful.

Chip ATi SB460
Feature 256/512/1024MB + two 1.8V JEDEC standard 200-pin DDRII SODIMM memory module connectors
Adjustable 128MB UMA VGA memory share from system memory
Supports memory size per socket 1024MB
Supports maximum memory size 2G (by two 1024MB SO-DIMM module)
Supports DIMM package 200-pin soDIMM
Memory module combinations You can install memory modules in any combinations as long as they match the above specifications.


Regards,
Acer Online Support Team

 

It actually supports up to PC5300 (DDR2 667), max. memory supported 4 GB.

From what what I have read on the Internet, this laptop seems to very VERY PICKY about memory. However, I have read that some people had sucessfully upgraded with Crucial and Patriot memory chips.

I have tried 2x PQI 1GB PC5400. I experienced freeze ups, but it could be very possible it was because of the memory chip frequency (PC5400). Well, still the memory chip should be backward compatible...

Anyway, I guess I`ll get the 2x 1GB Crucial, which is a bit more expensive, but probably will solve the issue.

 

I think crucial have compatibility lists for this laptop on their site. Good luck!

 

Hope this helps:
http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator_new/modelsinfo.asp?SysID=32069&mfr=Acer&model=Aspire+5100+Series+5102&root=us&LinkBack=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kingston.com&Sys=32069-Acer-Aspire+5100+Series+5102&distributor=0&submit1=Search