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    T520 intermittent shutdowns after memory upgrade

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by epixie556, Sep 27, 2012.

  1. epixie556

    epixie556 Newbie

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    I just added a fresh 16gb module (2x8gb) on my T520 a week ago and it just shuts down without posting a BSOD - power simply goes out in a second. I've checked everything - memory speed, BIOS settings, software configuration, and it seems to completely elude me. So far I came up with two possible culprits - static electricity and cheapo Komputerbay memory (they were sent to me in hard plastic packaging, I was expecting that of the antistatic kind)

    Two things: I had a grounding strap attached to me when I did the memory upgrade; I ran memtest86+ 6 passes immediately after going through two unexpected shutdowns on my Windows 7 installation (32/64-bit dual boot partitions) on the same day I did the upgrade.

    However, memtest86 results seems to be fine (no failing addresses found)...for now.

    I'm pretty sure I have completely grounded myself before doing any hardware installs, thus it 'sort of' rules out the memory modules I ordered from Amazon.

    So, I'd like to hear your opinions before I RMA these modules to the seller and grab a new one.
     
    epixie556, Sep 27, 2012
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  2. gerryf19

    gerryf19 I am the walrus

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    Put the old ones back in and run it for several days....generally speaking, bad memory leads to crash/reboots, not shutdowns, but since that is all that changed....
     
    gerryf19, Sep 27, 2012
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  3. ThinkPadbrad

    ThinkPadbrad Notebook Enthusiast

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    When I added two memory modules on the bottom my W520 would shutdown like yours when I moved it. There is a long thread on the Lenovo ThinkPad forum regarding this issue.

    Lenovo repaired my W520 four times. Two motherboards, CPU, fan and video cable. Still had the issue. I tried other A/C adapters, batteries and hard drives. When I removed the memory on the bottom the issue disappeared. I was satisfied with 2 x 8Gb memory.

    I posted in that thread I mentioned. Mark from Lenovo responded that I should try to bend the tabs of the memory cover out. I didn't try that as I mentioned I was satisfied with 2 x 8Gb.


    Fast forward three months. I picked up another W520. This one built in May. I looked at the memory cover. The FRU was the same. I thought I would try this cover on my production W520 with the added bottom memory. Wouldn't you know no shutdowns.

    Brad
     
    ThinkPadbrad, Sep 27, 2012
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