Kingston Value ram and DV8220ca?

I recently bought some Kingston Value ram (kvr333so/1gr) on Ebay.
It installed fine, is recognized by the computer, but I get nothing but crashing programs. I ran memtest for windows, and it came up with nothing but errors..

Should this ram work with this notebook (DV8220CA) or is the ram ready for the junk heap?

I emailed Kingston, but all they said was ...well

"Hello,

This part may work but it is not the part we tested for this system and it is not what we recommend. We do not test ValueRam on brand name systems. We recommend part number KTH-ZD7000/1G. You can find this part on our website.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to reply to this e-mail. Thank you for using Kingston on-line technical support."

I was like, What the Hell? I thought these people had lifetime warranty on their ram?!!

Sorry for the longish post, but I'm a little riled. I did write back to support asking that they check out the ram, and I'll pay shipping both ways if it's not bad. Do you think I'm being too nice?

 

The DV8220CA has the Turion processor right? It comes with 512 mb of DDR 333 MHZ ram.. the kingston value ram you got should work with it (its also a DDR 333 mhz pc 2700).

If memtest is getting nothing but errors, then the stick of ram is bad. I don't know if their lifetime warranty transfers past the original owner, but you should try to have them give you a replacement stick. If email isn't working, you should call them and demand a replacement. In my experience, emailing tech support only results in stupid replies that aren't helpful.

 

That's what I think as well.
I find HP's tech support just as bad. I requested an OS disk so I can do a fresh install. The online support guy was asking a bunch of irrelevant questions, and left me hanging for a good 20 mins while having a word with second level tech support. He finally gave in and was going to send me a disk.

I figured, that took a while, but whatever..
Anyway, today: I get a message on the answering machine. It was HP. The guy was explaining that I don't need a disk, and that i can restore it off a recovery partition...yaddayadda.. I just clicked it off, because he wanted me to phone so I guess he can lecture me some more. All that time wasted, you'd think they could send me , or burn me a disk. I mean, it's the license that's worth the money. If I knew someone that has XP home, i'd burn it off them.... Bittorrent I guess..

Sorry, more venting.

 

Actually, that's probably to be expected . I don't know about HP canada, but in the US, the OS disk costs an extra $10 dollars, you have to order it while configuring the laptop. Otherwise, your only option is the recovery partition.

So I guess in HP's eyes, you never ordered the disk and they can't send you something thats worth $10 for free. They aren't really obligated to send something that you didn't buy.

I agree that 10 dollars for a disk is really stupid when you already have the license but everybody does it these days (HP, Dell, etc.).

Anyway the Kingston situation is a bit different.. they're obligated to uphold their warranty. If the ram is broken, they should send you a replacement. Simple

 

Try removing the HP-provided memory and see if the Kingston memory passes MemTest. Sometimes two different brands of memory just won't play nice with each other. If it still fails, it's bad.

I tend not to trust memory with "Value" in the name. It appears to translate into "Testing is expensive so we didn't do any".

Crucial PC3200 memory is my standard recommendation for these machines. I have a pair of 1GB sticks in mine.

 

Hmm..was thinking of trying that. I suppose there's a slight chance that that might be an issue. I'll see what Kingston says by tomorrow, and if nothing, I'll try that. Right now I just know I'll mess something up.. Too much coffee, not enough sleep etc..

 

Anyway if it turns out to be bad ram, don't settle for anything less than a replacement stick. Just keep mentioning lifetime warranty to them if they seem hesitant about it.

 

Definitely.. I can be pretty pushy, and don't give up easy.

Thanks for the help and advice

 

Well..Kingston are RMA-ing it for me. I realize I should've dealt with the guy from ebay, but I figure this way I'll get free shipping and a new stick of ram.

 

Kingston replaced the ram, and all is now working splendiforous..

 

Go talk to HP again and state that that since you have the dv8000z version (AMD) and also you purchased it from store right?(Guessing since BTO's dont have that type of name). Since you never had that option, ask for it(nicely...hehe).