Monday, January 19, 2015

memory - ThinkPad T410 works fine with 4Gb RAM, freezes with 8Gb


I've a strange problem with my trusty T410 (2537-26G) which has been working great with the factory-standard 4Gb RAM stick in the machine's only slot. I've tried replacing the stick with various 8Gb sticks, but am getting consistent freezes no matter which brand etc. I am trying. I have gone through three different sticks now (all brand new, and from different brands and vendors over more than a year) and they all show the same behaviour:



  • When I boot the machine and let it run, it freezes within a few minutes.

  • When I boot the machine into a memory testing program, it will freeze within seconds.


Prior to freezing, I am able to verify that it does indeed report 8Gb of memory. I am 100% sure that the memory I have bought is correct in relation to clock speed, etc.


Putting in my old 4Gb stick immediately fixes all problems except my need for more memory. So I am wondering: could there be a hardware fault in the laptop itself? Might this be a known issue? I have been unable to dig up similar complaints on the 'net so that's why I now ask here. (Not that I think it's an OS issue, but I want to state that the behaviour is the same across three different Linux OS'es.)


single slot machine


Answer



The new RAM must be unsuitable for the ThinkPad T410.


RAM selection is very touchy, as the RAM must obey very strict limitations
imposed by the motherboard, and in addition some specs are never published.


The Lenovo page of
Detailed specifications - ThinkPad T410
says :


image


The specification of "1 GB, 2GB, or 4GB memory" is the most important,
as it seems to mean that the motherboard does not support one RAM stick
of more than 4 GB.


An important support for this understanding of the phrase comes from the
Crucial analyzer,
which does not offer any 8GB stick for your computer.
The only 8GB combination it offers is the
Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM,
which has two sticks of 4 GB.


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