ThinkStation S10 Memory Speed Requirement

[djmjduke]

Hi all.  I am in the midst of a memory upgrade of sorts.  I had started out with 4 x 2GB of Crucial DDR3 PC3-8500 and was trying to install 4 x 2GB of Crucial DDR3 PC3-10600.  These are both listed on the Crucial site as being "ok" for the S10:

http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/compatible-memory-for/Lenovo/ThinkStation+S10/list.html

I get a beep code 1 3 3 1.  I am going to try to put the modules in one at a time and see what happens.

Is DDR3 PC3-10600 CL9 Unbuffered ECC DDR3-1333 1.5v RAM ok for the S10 or only for the S20?

Plus I thought DDR3 was backward compatible... the Crucial site says, somewhat cryptically:

DDR3 memory with support for DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-8500 speeds.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.  If Crucial's site is wrong I'm going to ask them to swap these for PC3-8500.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

is your crucial ram all ECC.

[djmjduke]

Yes it's all ECC.  I tried to see if one of them was faulty.  I don't think the S10 can handle the faster RAM.

[erik Community SuperMod · Accepted solution]

given that the S10 is limited to 8GB total @ 1066MHz, what is the purpose of replacing your 4 x 2GB PC3-8500 modules with 4 x 2GB PC3-10600?   there's no gain to be had in this case.

return the modules to micron and stick with what you were using.

[djmjduke]

Thanks Erik, I had the opportunity to swap out for faster RAM so I thought I would.  I had a purpose for the older 4 sticks.  But apparently it is not compatible as Cruical's configurator says.

[djmjduke]

Just to follow up.  Apparently some newer ram from crucial is newer high-density 2GB sticks.  They have only 9 chips on one side.  These were PC3-8500 and did not work.  Beep code 1 3 3 1.  I have the latest bios.

I looked in my running machine at the 2GB sticks and they have 18 chips on (9 on each side of the stick).

Crucial indicated they can send me some "older" design sticks to replace what I ordered.

Back to the original question I supposed the faster memory would work -- if it had the older design, lower density memory chips.

[kalensk]

I am receiving the same error when replacing my RAM. My BIOS information is:

Boot Block Revision Level: 2W27A

BIOS Date: 09/08/09

RAM Information:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148149

Crucial 2GB 

240-PIN DIMM 256MX64

DDR3PC3-8500 UNBUFF

CT25664BA1067.M16FG
It has 8 chips on each side. That is, D0-D7 chips on one side and D8-D15 on the other.

I get the same beep error message as well: 1-3-3-1

So far I only tried replacing one stick of RAM to see if it would work (apparantly not), even though I bought 4 sticks.

[kalensk]

According to Crucial's tech support the S10 should only use ECC memory, even though it supposedly could use non-ECC memory as well.

Can the S10 6423 use non-ECC RAM?

[erik Community SuperMod]

the S10 is intended to use ECC memory.   while a few users here have installed non-ECC, it's neither suggested nor supported.

[lead_org Microsoft MVP Contributor]

i have tried to use non ECC ram in my S10, and they are not supported.