Laptop RAM

[Gurmeet]

Hi, 

I recently bought a 4GB RAM at 1333Mhz (Transcend) for my laptop which is a first gen. i5 (460M). I then installed it alongside the 2GB RAM (1333Mhz) that came originally with the laptop. After a week, the laptop refuse to start up. I removed both the cards and placed only the 4GB in the two available slots. Still, it wouldn't start. Then i tried with the 2GB ram and it booted up. What went wrong? Both the cards were at 1333Mhz and the guy who sold me this card said that the Kingston wouldn't work cause it has an 8 chip system. "Your laptop RAM has a 16 chip system and this Kingston wouldn't work". How far is this true and what can i do now to upgrade the ram on my system??? Is my 4GB card damaged? Haha.... Questions after questions. I don't really know much about this whole pc stuff. Really do appreciate the response.

System:
ASUS Notebook K42J Series
Intel core i5-460M @ 2.53GHz
2GB installed Memory
64-bit Operating System
 

[Fred Castellum]

Uhh your laptop wouldn't start up? How are you sure its the ram thats at fault? 16 chip system? What on earth is he talking about? 

[Guest]

The guy you talked to is either completely clueless (in which case, he should probably be fired from that company) or on a LOT of drugs.

 

Maybe the 4GB and 2GB memory DIMMs are of different timings? That might explain why they won't work together. But if you used it for a week and then it wouldn't work, then the memory most likely went bad. Put the 4GB and 2GB in an run a memtest if you can.

[Glenwing]

The board may not be able to handle DIMMs with density beyond 2GB per chip. If that's the case you could try a BIOS update. Or the 4GB stick might just be defective.

[Gurmeet]

Uhh your laptop wouldn't start up? How are you sure its the ram thats at fault? 16 chip system? What on earth is he talking about? 

IKR, when he said it was 16 chip i was like, WHurttt?? Pretty sure its the 4GB RAM i bought cause the very moment i took it out, it booted up normally with the 2GB. And the weird thing is, i got back like 7GB's of space in my hard drive.  

[Gurmeet]

The guy you talked to is either completely clueless (in which case, he should probably be fired from that company) or on a LOT of drugs.

 

Maybe the 4GB and 2GB memory DIMMs are of different timings? That might explain why they won't work together. But if you used it for a week and then it wouldn't work, then the memory most likely went bad. Put the 4GB and 2GB in an run a memtest if you can.

Haha. yea... How do you check the timings, cause it states it's 1333Mhz or is the timing thing something else?

Hmm, can't really do a memtest either cause when i place the 4GB card with the 2GB card together it wouldn't start yet alone by itself. 

 

The board may not be able to handle DIMMs with density beyond 2GB per chip. If that's the case you could try a BIOS update. Or the 4GB stick might just be defective.

Hmm, think this laptop can go up to 8GB. Ok, ill go back to the shop and check if the card is defective. LETs say it is defective. Could it be because i placed it with the 2GB and it wan't compatible which overloaded and shorted it out?

[harrynowl]

What he might mean is double sided/single sided RAM, or ranks. Maybe... I'm no RAM expert:P

 

Other than that... WAT.

 

I'd try without the 4GB RAM, if it POSTS (turns on and shops ASUS on screen). You'll want to send your RAM back as it sounded like it worked for a week from your OP.

[Gurmeet]

What he might mean is double sided/single sided RAM, or ranks. Maybe... I'm no RAM expert:P

 

Other than that... WAT.

 

I'd try without the 4GB RAM, if it POSTS (turns on and shops ASUS on screen). You'll want to send your RAM back as it sounded like it worked for a week from your OP.

Haha, ok, will give it a go. Ill send it back to check if it's faulty.

[Glenwing]

LETs say it is defective. Could it be because i placed it with the 2GB and it wan't compatible which overloaded and shorted it out?

 

No, that wouldn't do it.

[ictdude1]

one way to test it is to take out one stick of ram and try it...if no luck take the other stick out

[IronCross187]

It's either faulty and needs replacing or it wasn't in properly. I would discount the likeliness of compatibility issues if it initially worked, and I would also discount it not being in properly. Replace it.

[Gurmeet]

one way to test it is to take out one stick of ram and try it...if no luck take the other stick out

Yup have already tried it out. Wouldn't start with only the 4GB in.

 

It's either faulty and needs replacing or it wasn't in properly. I would discount the likeliness of compatibility issues if it initially worked, and I would also discount it not being in properly. Replace it.

Oh, ok, ill send it back and get a replacement. I've been going through some of Linus's videos about ram in the past, he said something about RAMs coming in kits of 2 or 4 cards where all the installed cards must be the same in order to get the best performance. Let's say in my case where one card is a 2GB card and a 4GB card, will it reduce the performance or does it only apply to desktops?

[IronCross187]

Yup have already tried it out. Wouldn't start with only the 4GB in.

 

Oh, ok, ill send it back and get a replacement. I've been going through some of Linus's videos about ram in the past, he said something about RAMs coming in kits of 2 or 4 cards where all the installed cards must be the same in order to get the best performance. Let's say in my case where one card is a 2GB card and a 4GB card, will it reduce the performance or does it only apply to desktops?

Whilst that rule is one that should mostly be followed it can be excluded here as the 4gb card didn't work when you tried it alone, right?

The only performance drop you should see is if one of the cards speed (ie. 1600mhz) is higher than the other, in which case both RAM cards speeds will drop to the lowest of the two cards (ie. 1033mhz). However two cards of different brands, speeds and size won't necessarily mean one of the cards won't run, though their is always the chance.

If you can replace it cheaply then go for it, and try to at least buy a new RAM card (of any size and preferably similar speed to the 2gb model) that is of the same manufacturer as the 2gb eg. Kingston, Crucial, Integral etc.

[ictdude1]

Yup have already tried it out. Wouldn't start with only the 4GB in.

 

Oh, ok, ill send it back and get a replacement. I've been going through some of Linus's videos about ram in the past, he said something about RAMs coming in kits of 2 or 4 cards where all the installed cards must be the same in order to get the best performance. Let's say in my case where one card is a 2GB card and a 4GB card, will it reduce the performance or does it only apply to desktops?

than it either is limited to only 3 gigs (i have has a few like this) or just bad ram