Help with a mem upgrade on a satellite

Hi,

I have a satellite a215-s7422. It's a cheapy but the specs pages says it has a 4 gb max. I got 2x2gb sticks and installed them.

The bios posted fine and said I had 4096 mb of ram, but the computer won't start. It won't boot of of LAN, CD/DVD, HD, USB or anything else.

All I get is a blinking cursor line on the top left. I've checked the ram and it works and is the right type. It's brand new too from newegg.

Anyone know what this is?

 

Does it POST without those two sticks? Even if the BIOS posts okay and it reads the RAM correctly, you might have a problem with the RAM that prevents the computer from fully booting. Look into downloading a copy of MemTest86 and giving your RAM the full workout to see if there are any problems with it.

Chances are, you'll probably need new RAM sticks.

 

MemTest86 finds no errors in the ram sticks.

Is there anything else that could be causing this?

 

I found out more things.

The toshiba will accept the 2 gig sticks as long as the 2 gig stick is not in the lower slot.

Is there something different about this slot. I remember something about a toshiba not taking more than 3 gigs.

Does anyone know this?

 

I don't know that but you may be thinking of the the OS, 32-bit MS OS's won't fully utilize 4.0GB only about 3.5GB

 

But that wouldn't stop it from booting would it?

This is just strange. I've never seen something like this before.

 

i have heard of this happening but only with desktops, and i do not know how to fix it, but i do want to know as I am planning on getting some 2 gig ram sticks to bump my laptop to 4 gigs also, to do that doesn't there have to be a 2 gig chip in the 2nd slot also?

dunno why toshiba would rate a board capable of doing 4 gigs if the hardware doesn't like it.

 

I have the same problem on my Toshiba s7422.... except I'm trying to use two 1GB sticks from Mushkin. Individually, they each work, so they are definitely okay, but if I place one of them in the bottom slot, the computer will not boot. So I'm currently stuck at 1.5GB.

Anyone solve this problem yet? I updated the bios, drivers, etc, but perhaps there's some memory controller or something that I need to update...

If there's no answer here, I'll try to get something out of Toshiba tech support.

Thanks a ton,
Chris

 

I am also having the same problem with my brand new a215-s7422 running 32bit vista.

I've got two g-skill 2gb DDR2 PC2 5300 667mhz. As with thinkdifferent, both sticks work when in the top slot, but unless the original samsung 512mb stick is in the bottom slot, I get a blank screen with a flashing cursor top left, and vista will not boot. Currently I'm running with 2.37gb ram, which is great, but I would like to use all (well... most) of the memory that I paid for.

Memory checks out fine, BIOS registers the memory, but I can't do anything in BIOS to affect it. I've heard that Toshiba only gives consumers access to a dumbed down BIOS, and that there is an advanced BIOS option, but I haven't found any way to access it.

I've seen several people state that they are running vista with 4gb of memory, thought it won't show all of it (generally 3-3.5gb), so it seems that Toshiba is the issue. I've checked the specs on the chipset (AMD M690V) and it is upgradeable to 4gb.

I would appreciate any help that you can provide, either access to the advanced BIOS or a fix for the entire problem.

Also, thinkdifferent, did you have any success, or are you still stuck?

 

Though I haven't contacted Toshiba about this yet, I did check out some of the forums (fora) on their support site. A couple seemingly knowledgeable people said that Toshiba has strict timing constraints on their RAM, and as such the only type that is supported is the KTT667D2 series from Kingston.

I haven't purchased this memory yet, so I don't know if it works or not... It is interesting that we have all tried different brands, and its always the bottom slot. Since it is repeatable enough, I'm tempted to believe them.

Good luck.

 

Well, mine didn't come with kingston. It came with samsung. I returned it and got a replacement and it came with another brand. HDs also changed from hitachi to toshiba. I don't believe it's the ram.

 

It could be the timing, but that should be adjustable under the BIOS settings, I think. I may be misunderstanding what we're talking about when we say "timing".

If the both sticks are verified as working with one of the original sticks, it makes no sense that both should not work together. I believe that both sticks are actually working, but something in Toshiba's settings (perhaps the timing, I have no clue) keep Vista from booting.

 

It doesn't just keep vista from booting, I can't get anything to boot from rescue discs to linux live cds.

 

I had not tested that, so thank you for the information. Well, it's nice to know that it breaks everything and not just vista (which does a pretty good job of breaking all by itself).

Has anyone heard anything on an advanced BIOS menu for Toshibas, or is that urban legend material? I tend to believe it, as the BIOS menu that I can gain access to is woefully limited in terms of options.