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    What's wrong with this ram?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by eh007h, Aug 8, 2007.

  1. eh007h

    eh007h Newbie

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    I recently bought a Thinkpad for my sister with only 512 megs of ram and then bought the Geil 2 x 1gb upgrade set from Newegg. The processor in the machine is a Core 2 Duo 7100 and both the original and upgrade ram are DDR2, PC5300. When I installed the ram in the Thinkpad, it started up, passed the mem test, then gave me a BSOD as soon as Vista started to load. I tried each chip individually and got the same result (albeit with a different BSOD error message).

    I then swapped the chips into my new Dell Vostro and it didn't even get past the Dell splash screen, with the progress indicator stopping only at about 10%.

    I've only installed laptop memory once before, but I can't imagine it's supposed to be this difficult. I'm about to contact Newegg for an RMA. Did I overlook anything?

    Thanks in advance...
     
    eh007h, Aug 8, 2007
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    No, it just sounds like the memory is bad. Especially since multiple computers refused to boot with it.
     
    Greg, Aug 8, 2007
    #2
  3. bravesdave

    bravesdave Notebook Guru

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    yea i think you should go out and buy more
    or try to get your money back from where you bought it
    they ripped you off
     
    bravesdave, Aug 8, 2007
    #3
  4. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Lol or maybe NEWEGG got a couple of duff sticks, it happens you know ;)
     
    Meaker@Sager, Aug 8, 2007
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  5. *Daystar*

    *Daystar* Seahawk Fan!

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    try to get your money back..you can also try tigerdirect.com. hey at newegg.com did you go through their memory selector help thing.?
     
    *Daystar*, Aug 8, 2007
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  6. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

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    You might have destroyed the RAM chips by Electrostatic Discharge.
     
    Lil Mayz, Aug 8, 2007
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  7. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    You would have to have been unlucky.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Aug 8, 2007
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  8. eh007h

    eh007h Newbie

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    Thanks guys... I think static discharge is highly unlikely, I didn't notice any static, have hardwood floors, and have never had a problem with static in years of building systems. I guess the ram is just bad then. I'm surprised that neither stick works individually, though. SAHM1, what I did at Newegg was just choose the cheapest ram by narrowing down the categories through dimm configuration and bus speed. There was a $20 rebate on this Geil.
     
    eh007h, Aug 8, 2007
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  9. adinu

    adinu I pwn teh n00bs.

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    Don't feel bad. I did the same thing with a pair of OCZ sticks a while back. Got them from Newegg, so the return/refund process was a breeze. Bought some Corsair ram and now there are no more problems.

    You just got some bad sticks, no biggie it happens. Hopefully you got them from a reputable store which allows returns.
     
    adinu, Aug 8, 2007
    #9