How far to upgrade laptop memory? - upgrade hits BSOD!

HereToday

edgex said:

How are they wrong?

Are they working?

Carrot007

Neil_Jones said:

3Gb isn't enough these days, 4Gb is an absolute minimum.  If you're able to afford it up the memory to 8Gb.  And add an SSD if you don't have one already.  That will keep you going for some time.

When the laptop does die, you can reuse the SSD and probably sell the memory on.

Or just hoard it in a box and take it to the tip 30 years later ;-) In need of any 30 pin simms? (I still have some, binned most though!)

I would say 16gb is a minimum these days myself. Juts bought a new laptop and not happy it was only 8! I guess 8 can be an absolute minimum!

And on the SSD, yes yes yes. Anyone not using one should. These tend to be people using under 100gb ofa 1tb drive so will see no loss from a smaller drive. An ssd makes old machines feel new. (I wonder If I can get something for my 386 sx 25 retro laptop! I guess an ide to CF (or SD) would be fine like on the amiga). Also put yer old drive in a £15 external bay and keep a backup!

unforeseen

edgex said:

How are they wrong?

Latency is different. You've bought CL7, you needed CL11. Throws the RAM access timings out. It needs the greater Latency to work properly. 

Neil_Jones

All very well saying 16Gb is a minimum but the laptop in question only supports 8.

For most everyday uses, 8Gb is enough.

edgex

unforeseen said:

edgex said:

How are they wrong?

Latency is different. You've bought CL7, you needed CL11. Throws the RAM access timings out. It needs the greater Latency to work properly. 

It says CL11 on Amazon, & CL11 on the stickers on the ram modules...

Carrot007

Neil_Jones said:

All very well saying 16Gb is a minimum but the laptop in question only supports 8.

For most everyday uses, 8Gb is enough.

But does it?

I mean it may, but official guidelines often come out at launch and are too conservative on the upper limits.

But I still stand by the point that 16gb is a minimum and only go under that if it cannot go higher!

edgex

HereToday said:

edgex said:

How are they wrong?

Are they working?

No, but if I don't know which part of the spec is wrong, how do I know what NOT to buy?

eg, these other 2 sites, the only difference on the specs is the speed, so it can't be that (?)
https://www.mrmemory.co.uk/memory-ram-upgrades/dell/inspiron-notebook/1564
https://www.memorycow.co.uk/laptop/dell/inspiron-1000-series/dell-inspiron-1564-laptop

HereToday

edgex said:

How are they wrong?

This is the advice that I offered at the time:

SSD + 1 x 4GB or SSD + 1 x 2GB

The SSD will make the biggest difference with performance. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0781VSXBP/ref=asc_df_B0781VSXBP1619164800000/

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Factor-Intelligent-Magician-Software/dp/B08PC3PGZM/ref=psdc_430505031_t2_B0781VSXBP

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224000001435

Spending nearly £50 on redundant RAM for an eleven year old device makes little sense.

A solid state drive with the existing 3GB of RAM will easily out perform a similar device with 8 GB of RAM and a slow eleven year old hard disk drive.

Take a look for yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6zxoh3oK4

edgex

These are the 'as installed' modules;



This is the BIOS with that 1GB module swapped for one of the new 4GB modules;


This is the BIOS with both new 4GB modules fitted;



So, the memory works, according to the BIOS.
However, Windows will not start up. It won't event start up from a bootable USB created with the Windows Media Creation Tool, it fails with  'KERNEL SECURITY CHECK FAILURE'
(on both 6GB & 8GB)


HereToday
If I bought exactly what you suggested, why would it not do the same?

[Deleted User]

I've come across compatibility problems with single rank / high density RAM on old Dell Laptops before now. Subtle difference but can be enough to cause a problem with the older laptops - note your existing RAM is dual rank - look for the 2Rx8 and 2Rx16 on the labels. All the online compatibility checkers for RAM for your laptop all provide dual rank (2R) ram as the compatible modules.

You bought CT51264BF160BJ which is 1Rx8 (Single rank, 8 chips - high density) - I can understand why, it is cheaper because it has fewer chips but it is the wrong type.

The recommended ram for your laptop is CT51264BF160B which is 2Rx16 (Dual rank, 16 chips - low density) - 8 chips each side - 16 see below. 



If you haven't already, try flashing the BIOS firmware with the latest version, if it still doesn't work, return and buy the exact recommended chips - that "J" on the end of the model number makes a difference in terms of what you are buying. 

Oh and get an SSD like HereToday suggested to get the best speed up for your money.