Spektyr

Okay, well the fiancee owns a Dell Laptop. Yeah, I know, she wouldn't own it if I'd known her when she was shopping for one.

Anyway, I'm trying to bring this thing into the 21st century for her so she'll stop stealing the desktop I built myself. The main problem with the Inspiron 2600 (aside from being a Dell) is the puny 128mb of system memory.

So I went out and purchased some upgrade memory to install.


And that's where the problems started. As soon as I popped the new memory in the computer refused to boot. It wouldn't even show the Dell BIOS screen or anything. It just sat there and beeped (one long, three short, three short, three short, etc.)

If I take out DIMM B (the bottom "user accessible" slot) it does the same thing, sans beeping. If I take out DIMM A but have DIMM B in, it displays the first problem. I've tried every possible combination with the new memory.

If I put the old memory in, everything works fine (well, as fine as it did originally).


I contacted Dell support, which was useful pretty much only for determining that the error beeps were about the memory. Go figure.

Here's the details:

Old memory sticker:
MT4LSDT864HG-133F2
PC133S-333-542
SG
CBNAZ54010
200221
64MB, SYNCH, 133MHz, CL3

The New memory sticker:
AVD6432U39A31330AVA*
122100-00000002039
256 SDR SODIMM 133
ACSO133X64/256

Brand name: AllComponents (Yes, I know it's cheap stuff.)


So what's the deal? I did my homework and I was sure this was the right kind of memory. Did I make a mistake on the memory type? It fits perfectly physically. Is the computer too stupid to recognize memory sticks with that much room?

Please help, my geek-hood is on the line here.

StaticInMyHead

Some motherboards are just picky about memory. It could be a bad connection...try using some compressed air to clean out the slots. If that doesn't work, RMA the memory. Be it a bad stick or not, get a different brand next time around. A new one might make better friends with the Dell's old motherboard.

Terrister

Might want to try Crucial.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...ries&submit=Go

Spektyr

Yeah, after this problem I might get her to green-light better funding, but I'm no different than most men: I'm the Master of my Domain - as long as it's okay with the (soon-to-be) wife.

I guess tomorrow I'll talk with Newegg about returning the memory and look into the Crucial. (If it were my computer and there were such a thing as "my money" these days, it would have been Crucial to begin with - that's what's in my desktop.)


Never trust a man who says he wears the pants in the family. You never know what else he might be lying about.

Spektyr

Well I found this memory on pricewatch.com...

Memory Link

It's not Crucial, but it costs half as much and has a 100% Compatibility guarantee (or at least that's what the text on the website says).

Anyone have any experience with this brand or, barring experience, opinions?

Spektyr

Well I didn't get any response so I decided to roll the dice.

Kahlon was a fully-competant online seller, did all the stuff you'd expect from a reputable shop, and so on.

The memory was a completely head-ache free install. Popped one in, booted to make sure it worked, shut down, popped the second in, and voila! The computer runs like it's the 21st century again.


It seems Kahlon specializes in laptop upgrades, so I thought the folks around here might appreciate getting a thumbs-up from a first-hand experience with a dealer. I wouldn't say my one experience makes them Grade-A or anything, but I got exactly what I wanted for a very good price... they're worth looking into.

ebackhus

It's good to hear someone's positive experience with an online retailer. Consumer confidence is easily shaken with companies like that so this type of news is always good.