RMA'd laptop coming back with less memory (rage)

Until I find out the facts, for which there had best be a damn good sob story, I won't name names...

...but suffice to say i sent my G73jh off for repair about a month ago and have only just noticed that my RAM is now 4GB instead of the 8GB it was before it was RMA'd.

I am furious about this as I have had to RMA this laptop 3 times already.

I'll be calling them first thing in the morning for answers and some kind of compensation.

Just a heads-up for those RMA'ing within the UK (or anywhere really); please check your specs when the laptop is returned.

Thanks.

 

Are you sure the other RAM slots aren't occupied? If they are, move the sticks around.

 

I've not checked to be honest, i was going off my DXDIAG & Steam reports.

It is safe to open her up and check? How would this be done safely?

Thanks.

 

You can yank off the bottom panel and check for the 3 sticks of RAM .. Its just 2 screws on the bottom and pull.. The 4th stick of RAM is on the other side of the motherboard so the only way to know that is still there is to take out 3 sticks and power it on ...

Take out the battery first and unplug it before doing any of this ..

 

i have just done this and there are 3 Kingston cards i can see. i didn't take them out but did push on them...no clicks sounded.

Ran the DXDIAG again and it returned the same results. 4GB.

 

Go into the bios by hitting F2 when you start the machine ..

What does it say there ?..

 

4GB, 1333mzh.

Time to call the repair shop and unleash hell?

 

Pretty much yeah... If you reseated the RAM i dont think there is much more you can do and the motherboard could possibly be borked ..

Maybe someone will chime in with a solution to resolve it in the meantime but i cant make any promises...

Good luck..

 

Thanks, and thanks very much for your help, rep added.

 

This is a scan from Crucial.com

2 slots are empty. i'm calling tomorrow and kicking off.

Maximum Memory Capacity: 16777216 MB
Currently Installed Memory: 4096 MB
Available Memory Slots: 2
Total Memory Slots: 4
Dual Channel Support: N.A.
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GHz Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 720 @ 1.60GH
CPU Speed: 1600 MHz

 

You could try removing all 3 sticks to see if its either the ports or the actual memory that is bad .. If its just the RAM maybe they could send some your way instead of having to RMA the whole machine...

 

I would still pull out the 3 sticks you can reach and see if the one on the other side is good. Once that one proves its good/bad, then put in 1 stick and test, then another, and another.
See if the ram is good/bad or just seated improperly/jolted loose just enough from shipping.

 

Thanks for the help on this, it is appreciated.

Turns out it is the fault of the main board change they did (so i'm glad i didn't name/shame, a wise move - although to be perfectly honest 8GB is slightly overkill and my current 4GB is not causing me any issues on Civ V or Battlefield BC2). The 4 x 2GB memory cards are attached securely but the board only picks up 8GB.

Have to point out that the repair shop in question were excellent in returning my call and sorting out the problem.

 

I think you mean to say it picks up only 4GB.

It could be that the memory slots on the new mainboard are defective.
I heard similar stories before. There were a few people here who had only half of the RAM working on their new out of the box notebooks and in most cases the problem was fixed by ASUS by changing the mainboard as it seems on those machines it was defective.