I Explain About Memory For Your 3000 Series Laptop

[Train500]

The Lenovo Forum has a "Time Restriction" on how long it will hold a window open. Not being the fastest typist in the world I will break this up into segments. To get the full story just read, or print, each segment. If the Lenovo Techies object to what I will mention feel free to remove from the forum.

I've noticed many complaintys on this forum about.."MEMORY"... usually it's..."I've bought new memory to upgrade my laptop and it does not work..... I re-install my original memory and now the laptop works...... WHAT'S UP ???  I thought this laptop was suppose to run at least 2 GB of memory (2 Modules). Must be defective...... next time I'll buy a different laptop".

No my friends.....good chance your laptop is not defective.... two scenarios present themselves...........

1) You received at least one (1) defective memory module..... plus.... maybe BOTH are defective

2) Even though you ordered the correct laptop module at the correct front-side-bus speed it may be .... "THE WRONG TYPE".

Here is the nitty gritty.........

I have a small business with four (4) different laptops. WHY FOUR DIFFERENT ONES???  I received an "EXCELLENT BUY" on each one, that's why. They are.......

1) Lenovo 3000 N100

2) Gateway

3) Toshiba

4) Sony Vaio

Each one arrived with two (2) DDR2 512MB Modules, which, of course, totals to 1 GB total. Let's face the facts here.... if your running Virus..... I mean Vista....you need "AT LEAST" 2 GB of memory to get any **DECENT** speed out of the beast, being the dog that it is and a piece of s**t. (My thoughts on Vista.... that's another story).

Let's go back to the laptops... I wanted to upgrade each one to at least 2 GB (Two Memory Modules).... here are the Memory ID's that I pulled out of each one.........

1) Lenovo 3000 N100 running at a front-side-bus of DDR2 533 MHZ.............. PC 4200S

2) Gateway running at a front-side-bus of DDR2 533 MHz...............................PC 5300S

3) Toshiba running at a front-side-bus of DDR2 667 MHZ................................ PC 5300S

4) Sony Vaio running at a front-side-bus of DDR2 667 MHz..............................PC 5300S

Have you noticed anything curious about the modules I mentioned????  Of course, each one ends with the letter.. "S". WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE LETTER.."S"... MEAN????  It means......

1) Low Density

2) Non ECC

3) Non Buffered

S.O.O.O.O. .... to work correctly in your laptop It... HAS TO MEET... the three requirements just mentioned. Now..... there is a fourth requirement......."VOLTAGE". It seems (done on purpose to confuse us and drive us crazy) that each memory manufacturer has a different.. "VOLTAGE REQUIREMENT" to run their particular brand of memory in your laptop. You may meet the first three requirements I talked about....."BUT STILL NOT WORK"... due to voltage issues. DUH !!.... why is this??

Beats the heck out of me.

[Train500]

Let's get to the bottom line here....... if you buy **NEW** memory that matches your front-side-bus speed and is advertised as "Laptop DDR2 PC 5300 Compatible (667 MHz)" it's almost a "FLIP OF THE COIN" on whether it will work. Let us fall on our knees and pray to God, Buddah, Allah, Jesus, Mohammed...or whatever....."THAT IT WILL WORK". Talk about confusion.

I just mentioned DDR2 PC 5300 (667 MHz).... how come I did not talk about DDR2 4200 (533 Mhz). Here is the very interesting fact about DDR2 5300 (667 MHZ)...... it is..."BACKWARD COMPATIBLE" to DDR2 PC 4200 (533 MHz) laptops. Will work like a champ in your 533 MHz machine. How doe's this affect the Lenovo 3000 Series Laptops??  I have a very early 3000 N100 Laptop, it runs at 533 MHZ..... the newer Lenovo 3000's run at a front-side-bus of 667 MHz. The fact is....A DDR2 PC 5300 Memory Module..."WILL WORK"... across the entire Lenovo 3000 Series line. Should also work in the "Thinkpad Series".

Not wanting to spend the entire day praying (I really do not have the time) I reached the following conclusion..... If I can locate memory that is advertised as "Laptop DDR2 5300S" it should match **ALL** the requirements I talked about...... PLUS.... work in all the laptops I mentioned earler. The four requirements (lets mention it again)...

1) Low Density

2) Non ECC

3) Non Buffered

4) Voltage

After searching "ALL OVER" the internet I finally located what I wanted (Also..at a great price) . Here is the web site you want to go to....   www.ebay.com

1) Choose "Computer and Networking"

2) Choose "PC Components"

3) Choose "For Laptops and Notebooks"

4) Choose "Memory"

5) Choose "DDR2"

6) At the top left hand corner is the "Ebay Search Function:... type in the following.......5300S

7) What appears is the DDR2 PC 5300S Memory Modules that are "For Sale" at that particular point in time.

YES... my friends.... They are "USED"... BUT, THE PRICE IS RIGHT. Make sure that they are advertised as "Removed From Working Machine"..... OR..... "Tested and Working". Remember...eBay is a "Bidding Process"..... fall on your knees for a few seconds and pray that you do not have a maniac bidding on the same memory..."You Want".  If so... pass on it... after all...another time and another place.

I wanted a total of 8 GB of memory.... 2 GB (two modules) for each laptop.

1) The lowest price I paid for Two 1 Gb PC 5300S Modules....... $20 plus shipping U.S.

2) The highest price I paid for Two 1 GB PC 5300S Modules...... $38.89 plus shipping U.S.

Obviously I DID NOT win all four pairs at the same time.... I believe it took 5 weeks of bidding (and passing) to win the four pairs of memory. Here is the results of each pair that arrived at my door and as I installed them........

1) Lenovo 3000 N100 running at front-side-bus of 533 MHz................. worked flawlessly

2) Gateway running at front-side-bus of 533 MHz................................. worked flawlessly

3) Toshiba runningv at front-side-bus of 667 MHz................................. worked flawlessly

4) Sony Vaio running at front-side-bus of 667 MHz................................ worked flawlessly

To this day I have had **ABSOLUTELY** no problems with the **USED** DDR2 PC5300S Modules I purchased.

Hope all this information helps you.

Keep the faith and carry on.

Regards

I DO NOT work for Lenovo..... just passing on my observations and results. Take what you may from them.

[rtoland]

The density issue you are pointing up in your post is likely to thoroughly confuse anyone who reads it.  Maybe I missed it but where is your “density” definition, high, low or otherwise?  By “density” I believe you mean the numbers of individual chips on a single 200 pin SO-DIMM memory module.

SUMMARY
If someone were to buy a 2gb upgrade kit for a Lenovo 3000, C200 [8922-xxx] online, from Crucial, OEMPCworld, or Kingston, the following would be recommended by the scanner tools available at all 3 sites:

2GB Upgrade: 1GBx2), 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory module.

* Specs: DDR2 PC2-5300, CL=5, Unbuffered, NON-ECC, DDR2-667, 1.8V, 128Meg x 64
 
Notice the “density” [definition above] of this module - 128Meg x 64... i.e. eight (8) 128Meg chips per module

There is no magic here. 

This "S” indicating “low density” that you talk to doesn't exist in any of the descriptions of memory modules that are compatible with the Lenovo 3000, C200 [8922-xxx] notebook - at least, not from Crucial, OEMworld or Kingston.  If you can find an technical indication of an “S” [anywhere other than ebay] that denotes “low density” or any “density” for a 200-pin SODIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 memory modules, please let me know.