W530 Ram Upgrade with i7-3520M Dual Core

[jetcity]

I bought the i7-3520M (dual) and I looked in the manual to see what slots to use for my memory upgrade and the instructions were completely off (where the dummy stick is supposed to be and where it actually was).

I purchased two 8GB (Kingston) sticks to replace the 4GB that came installed.  I took out the original 4GB under the keyboard and replaced it with the new 8GB Kingston.  Everything worked great and I've been using it that way for about a week.

Tonight I decided to go ahead and install the other 8GB.  I assumed it would go in the bottom slot where there's a dummy stick.  I pulled out the dummy and placed my 8GB there.  Turned the laptop on and... nothing.  It wouldn't power on at all.  I took my 8GB out and put the dummy back and it worked fine.  Just to make sure I didn't get a bad stick, I replaced the one under the keyboard with my other 8GB and it worked fine there.  My question is where is my second 8GB supposed to be installed and does that one dummy stick always stay where it is?  It does have a "do not remove" graphic on it, but I thought it was only because the laptop came with one stick and if you were putting two in you would replace it.

[sarbin]

your other two memory slots are beneath the access panel on the underside of the laptop.

hardware maintenance manual: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-manuals/detail.page?DocID=UM014941

pg69.

hope this helps.

[jetcity]

Thanks for the quick reply.  The dummy stick was under the maintenance panel and that's what I took out to put my second stick in and the laptop wouldn't power on.  In the manual (quoted below) it says for a dual core there's supposed to be two dummy sticks under the keyboard... but that wasn't the case.  One factory installed stick was under the keyboard.  Am I supposed to leave the one dummy stick under the maintenance panel and if so where do I install my second stick?

From Service manual:

"If your computer is a dual-core processor model, two dummy cards are preinstalled in the slots under the
keyboard. Do not replace the dummy cards with memory modules. You can add memory modules to
the slots at the bottom side."

[sarbin]

from the maintenance manual i linked, on pages 69 and 75, describing the underside and under-keyboard slots respectively, both have the following note: "Attention: For ThinkPad W530 models that come with two dummy cards installed, do not replace the dummy cards with memory module. Otherwise, the system might not function correctly."

i don't see where it says that both dummy cards are under the keyboard. please confirm in which Service manual you see that.

regards.

[ColonelONeill]

Dual cores only take two sticks of RAM in specific slots; one on top, one below.

[sarbin · Accepted solution]

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jetcity wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply.  The dummy stick was under the maintenance panel and that's what I took out to put my second stick in and the laptop wouldn't power on.  In the manual (quoted below) it says for a dual core there's supposed to be two dummy sticks under the keyboard... but that wasn't the case.  One factory installed stick was under the keyboard.  Am I supposed to leave the one dummy stick under the maintenance panel and if so where do I install my second stick?

From Service manual:

"If your computer is a dual-core processor model, two dummy cards are preinstalled in the slots under the
keyboard. Do not replace the dummy cards with memory modules. You can add memory modules to
the slots at the bottom side."

---

ok... i found where you see the statement about both dummy sticks being under the keyboard.

it's in the User Guide: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=UM014841

pg83. "Service manual" confused me.

let's regroup...

- two slots under the keyboard, one with one of your new 8gb sticks and the other with a dummy stick. correct?

- two slots under the lower access hatch, one empty and the other with a dummy stick. correct?

- please make sure the lower dummy stick is in it's original position and install your 2nd 8gb stick in the empty slot.

please report back if this works.

regards.

[jetcity]

Thank you Sarbin! I noticed that I said service manual rather than user guide, but couldn't edit my post... sorry for the confusion.

I installed the second stick under the maintenance panel in the empty dimm 4 slot and it booted up fine and showed 16GB installed in the bios. 

[sarbin]

You're quite welcome.

Happy computing!

[zahid310]

hi Can Anyone Guide , I got 4x8 GB RAM. I have Same issue , It works for 16 Gb , When i filled all slots , i won't come up ? any suggestions ?