Old laptop memory upgrade black screens

[BodarkMan]

I have a alienware m11x r1 and I got some “new” crucial 4gb PC3L 12800 pair of modules for it as an upgrade. In any combination i try with just one new stick alone or new stick plus one of the old sticks, it boots to a black screen only. I suspect this is because the core 2 duo cpu can’t handle the 1600Mhz speed but I’m not sure. The current sticks it has are rated at 1333 and 1033 Mhz and are reduced to 800Mhz.

[da na]

The RAM is not compatible with that laptop, most likely because of the speed you mentioned.

[birdflyer]

3 minutes ago, BodarkMan said:

I have a alienware m11x r1 and I got some “new” crucial 4gb PC3L 12800 pair of modules for it as an upgrade. In any combination i try with just one new stick alone or new stick plus one of the old sticks, it boots to a black screen only. I suspect this is because the core 2 duo cpu can’t handle the 1600Mhz speed but I’m not sure. The current sticks it has are rated at 1333 and 1033 Mhz and are reduced to 800Mhz.

Are there any error code lights on the laptop? Most Dell (or at least older Dell) laptops have error/info code lights on the laptop.

[BodarkMan]

1 minute ago, birdflyer said:

Are there any error code lights on the laptop? Most Dell (or at least older Dell) laptops have error/info code lights on the laptop.

No, I don’t think this model has any

[birdflyer]

1 minute ago, BodarkMan said:

No, I don’t think this model has any

As @Mel0nMansaid, I also think it's probably incompatible RAM speed or even possibly more possible, the latency.

[BodarkMan]

7 minutes ago, Mel0nMan said:

The RAM is not compatible with that laptop, most likely because of the speed you mentioned.

I figured it might underclock it like the others but was skeptical because it is newer ddr3 than what was out at the time.

[birdflyer]

6 minutes ago, BodarkMan said:

I figured it might underclock it like the others but was skeptical because it is newer ddr3 than what was out at the time.

I am no expert on RAM but the older DDR3 standard I believe is far less "scalable" (I guess is how you would say it) than DDR4. More importantly if the motherboard doesn't automatically underclock the RAM, or just doesn't have that feature that is a major problem. A lot of pre-built manufacturers do not have variable latency timing in the bios. Ensure, at the very least, that the RAM is the same latency.

 

 

[BodarkMan]

1 minute ago, birdflyer said:

I am no expert on RAM but the older DDR3 standard is far less "scalable" (I guess is how you would say it) than DDR4. More importantly if the motherboard doesn't underclock the RAM or just doesn't have that feature that is a major problem. A lot of pre built manufacturers do not have variable latency timing in the bios. Ensure at the very least that the RAM is the same latency.

 

 

Yeah there are practically no memory settings in the bios

[birdflyer]

Another question that I should ask is: Is it even posting? Or is it just not booting into the OS?

[BodarkMan]

3 hours ago, birdflyer said:

Another question that I should ask is: Is it even posting? Or is it just not booting into the OS?

It doesn’t post at all. Also I checked and the CL is 9 on my other two and 11 on the new ones.

[birdflyer]

10 minutes ago, BodarkMan said:

It doesn’t post at all. Also I checked and the CL is 9 on my other two and 11 on the new ones.

My guess is that is your problem my friend . Try to get some different DIMMS with a matching Mhz rating and CL rating, mostly the latency the same though.