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T440p will not boot after new RAM installation

BigKhunaBurger
By BigKhunaBurger
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I think I figured out the problem. The T440p only supports DDR3L RAM, while the Patriot memory was a DDR3 stick. I'm returning the Patriot stick for a DDR3L stick and I'll see if that one will work

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I've been upgrading my grandma's Thinkpad T440p with some new components. I installed a 4GB 1600Mhz Patriot stick to complement the preinstalled Micron stick sporting the same capacity and speed. However, after booting it on, the laptop beeped a couple of times before showing this message: BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot. The problem goes away after I remove the Patriot stick and reboot the Thinkpad. Is there a problem with the new stick of RAM, or is there something in bios I need to configure prior to booting with new memory?

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29 minutes ago, BigKhunaBurger said:

I've been upgrading my grandma's Thinkpad T440p with some new components. I installed a 4GB 1600Mhz Patriot stick to complement the preinstalled Micron stick sporting the same capacity and speed. However, after booting it on, the laptop beeped a couple of times before showing this message: BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot. The problem goes away after I remove the Patriot stick and reboot the Thinkpad. Is there a problem with the new stick of RAM, or is there something in bios I need to configure prior to booting with new memory?

The problem is with a laptop it’s hard to know.  Laptops aren’t atx and manufacturers have done some weird things with them.  It’s possible that the answer would normally be “yes” but they didn’t implement it in bios or some other sort of evil.   If it’s a Lenovo thinkpad there’s a least a bare shot that there’s some sort of QVL around for it as Lenovo still exists. 

Not a pro, not even very good.  I’m just old and have time currently.  Assuming I know a lot about computers can be a mistake.

 

Life is like a bowl of chocolates: there are all these little crinkly paper cups everywhere.

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31 minutes ago, BigKhunaBurger said:

I've been upgrading my grandma's Thinkpad T440p with some new components. I installed a 4GB 1600Mhz Patriot stick to complement the preinstalled Micron stick sporting the same capacity and speed. However, after booting it on, the laptop beeped a couple of times before showing this message: BOOTMGR image is corrupt. The system cannot boot. The problem goes away after I remove the Patriot stick and reboot the Thinkpad. Is there a problem with the new stick of RAM, or is there something in bios I need to configure prior to booting with new memory?

A lot of machines limit their computers from running non specific ram. This is to stop people buying underspeced machines and upgrading them. The website may recommend a certain type of ram or they won't more likely and will tell you to upgrade the whole laptop ( A new ThinkPad of course ) This is not necessarily the case but generally if the ram fits into a slot it will work in the average use-case.

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16 minutes ago, PhatRATTY said:

A lot of machines limit their computers from running non specific ram. This is to stop people buying underspeced machines and upgrading them. The website may recommend a certain type of ram or they won't more likely and will tell you to upgrade the whole laptop ( A new ThinkPad of course ) This is not necessarily the case but generally if the ram fits into a slot it will work in the average use-case.

If you have it available, flash a coreboot bios to your laptop, that will get rid of the bs limitations the manufacturer set

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I think I figured out the problem. The T440p only supports DDR3L RAM, while the Patriot memory was a DDR3 stick. I'm returning the Patriot stick for a DDR3L stick and I'll see if that one will work

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