M17x R2 won't upgrade to 8GB's of memory!

This is completely baffling!

Within the last month I decided to attempt upgrading from my 4GB's to 16GB's of memory after hearing it was possible on the R2; going through two sets of brand new ram sticks and trying everything from a clean Windows install to re-flashing my Bios, I decided to give up as it is not officially supported and was giving me more headaches than I needed. My concession was to instead get an 8GB kit of Corsair Vengeance sticks instead and call it a day. According to the Corsair website, they are backwards compatible with my gen-1 i5 and not too expensive.

They aren't working. I'm getting the same problem where windows starts to boot, errors and then attempts to reboot. I just can't understand what could be the problem now. I'd love to look up my mobo specs to check supported RAM but detection programs seem to have no idea.

Can anyone help me in this time of need?

Current Specs
Bios Version: A10
Windows 8.1 Pro x64
Intel Core i5 M520
4GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM

 

Hi Silentreset,

According to Micron ( Crucial USA - scan results) your laptop should support 8 GBs. However, there are different "types" of RAM SODIMMs which are based on the size (in megabits) and number of DRAM chips installed. Some memory controllers are only able to support a certain number of chips between the SODIMMs, and when you exceed that, you get problems. However, it also just possible (and probably more likely) that you got some faulty Corsair sticks. That is the only company I have ever had to exchange memory for. I recommend you try each 4 GB SODIMM along with one of your original SODIMMs and see if you can get Windows to boot. That will point out which one (if any) is causing the issue. Once you identify it, you can try and exchange it, Corsair is normally pretty good about it. If neither one work, you either have a completely bum pair, or are bumping into the chip density issue I mentioned earlier. Give these things a try, and let us know

Rich S.

 

Thank you for the info and suggestion. I will try that out first thing in the morning and hopefully get some results!

 

Hi, the I5 in your machine only supports two sticks at once, get an I7 to activate all four memory slots.

 

@Meaker:
The M17x R2 only has 2 RAM slots on its Mobo. What I'm trying to do is replace my 2 x 2GB 1333Mhz sticks with 2 x 4GB 1600Mhz sticks (I'm aware these will be downclocked).

@LinkRS:
I tried your suggestion and here are the results (The slot closest to the Mobo is 05DOA and the other is 05DTA):

05DOA: 4GB Stick 1
05DTA: 2GB
Result: Reboots

05DOA: 2GB
05DTA: 4GB Stick 1
Result: Hangs on this Screen:


05DOA: 4GB Stick 2
05DTA: 2GB
Result: Reboots

05DOA: 2GB
05DTA: 4GB Stick 2
Result: Hangs on previous screen

The bios correctly identifies the amount of ram in the rebooting cases (cannot access it in the hanging ones). I have also posted a short youtube video ( M17x R2 RAM Troubles - YouTube) showing the rebooting behavior.

 

Just my opinion. I think your problem is the mhz. . Your CPU may not support 1600Mhz. You need something like this . http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-1...&sr=1-1&keywords=Crucial+8GB+Single+DDR3+1333

 

@1Coopgt
From my understanding, 1600Mhz that is listed is the MAX SPEED of the ram, but it contains all the necessary instructions/protocols for the speeds below it as well. Gen-1 i5 processors have a max frequency of 1333Mhz, but specifically the Vengeance brand of Corsair sticks boast support for these processors.

I have also seen posts of R2 owners having success with 1600Mhz 16GB kits; of which I tried the exact one mentioned by one of the posters: a Corsair Vengeance set to no avail. Originally I had tried a 16GB 1333Mhz Kingston ValueRam kit ( ValueRAM 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 1333MHz DDR3 PC3-10600 Non-ECC CL9 SODIMM Notebook Memory KVR13S9K2/16 at Amazon.com) which is the first set I was originally having this problem with.

 

Hi Silentreset,

You are correct, the faster speed won't cause an issue, as the system will only run them at the max it supports. Unless it means that it worked when you listed "reboots", it looks like you are having the chip density issue I mentioned. The reason it hangs versus rebooting is that the system initially uses the memory in the "first" slot (when you have the 2 GB stick in the "top" slot), it progresses to loading Windows, but Windows causes a panic when it hits the higher memory addresses (result reboot). With the more dense SODIMM, the system is failing before it can handoff to Windows, and thus hanging. Take a look at the physical stick, and count the number of DRAM packages I would contact Corsair and see if you can exchange that kit for one that is compatible with your laptop (density-wise, not speed). In the future, I recommend (particularly for "older" systems) to get your memory from Crucial (MIcron) Crucial.com - DRAM, solid state drive (SSD) memory upgrades for Dell, Mac, Apple, HP, Compaq, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, as they have a filter system where they can point to your SODIMMs that will work. This issue used to be much more common than now, as this is the first time I have seen it in a while. Good luck, and please let us know how it goes.

Rich S.

 

@LinkRS
Hmm, Its hard to tell with the Corsair since there is a big "VENGEANCE" sticker over both sides and I would rather not remove it if I am going to return them. I will try to take a look at my current ram soon and report back.

I also took your advice and looked at corsair's site but had a strange thing happen. I first input my model of alienware etc to see the ram they offered, but decided to also try their scan tool for the heck of it. The scan seems to be convinced I have an M17x instead of an M17x R2, and as such recommends different ram. I am 100% sure I have an R2 as my dell service tag as well as their scanners tell me so. Should I ignore this and just stick with the manual R2 results. This kind of stuff always makes me worry I have some bad drivers installed or something along those lines.

 

You have an M17x R2 , R1 use only C2D and C2Q cpu, not I5/I7.

 

Hi Silenreset,

Those online scanners are finicky. It shouldn't be a problem to use their manual selection. I agree, DON"T peel off the "VENGENCE" sticker to get a chip count The count was just for your information any way. Using their selection tool should yield compatible memory. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Rich S.

 

Thought I'd throw in some pics of my working ram stick for the heck of it(They aren't the clearest though sorry).


I couldn't see but feeling over the sticker on the vengeance sticks, there were only 4 chips per side while my working set has 8. So it definitely could be a high vs low density issue. Although i hear it is a little more complicated than just counting the chips (especially since the crucial recommended ones also have 4 chips per side in the pictures). Its surprising how little information there is on this sort of thing!

 

Hi Silentreset,

Yes it is both the number and size (looks like 16 per SODIMM, which equates to 2 Gb per package in your pictures) and size. If your working SODIMMS also have 16 packages then they would be 2 Gb per package too. The M17xR2 may not be able to handle 32 2 Gb packages (which is why both sticks don't work) and 32 mixed-size packages (which is why the 6 GB combo isn't working either). It looks like (on the Crucial pictures) that the SODIMMs they sell for the M17xR2 have 4 Gb packages, so a total of 8 per SODIMM, which means that it uses around half as many chip packages. This is all educated speculation on my part, but the logic fits the behavior It is also possible that the Crucial SODIMMS are single-sided and actually use 4 8 Gb packages vices 8 4 Gb packages (operative amount here is 32 Gb = 4 GB per SODIMM). Good luck!

Rich S.

 

[Update]

Just got my 2x 4GB crucial sticks in the mail. Upon looking at them they have the same number of chips per side(8) as my working set so I'm presuming similar ram density. Popped them in and everything is working geat!

Thanks for all the help in getting to the bottom of this LinkRS!

 

I'm glad you got it sorted.