T400 8GB memory issue

[bbai2011]

Hi,

I've a T400 used to having 4GB (a pair of 2GBs) memory installed and running no issue at all. 

Since the OS is Win7 64 so I bought a pair of 4GBs to upgrade memory to 8GB. If I install any one of the 4GBs the system is running OK. If install both of them, the system can recognise 8GB but after a couple of hours it would have black screen restart and then showing blue screen saying windows can't start and suggest  repair. After running through the repair scan, it says can't fix it. I can force the system restart again it would work for a while then same dead issue again. 

P.S. if I mix 2GB and 4GB it turns out exact same problem above.

Any idea?

Thanks.

BB

[zoltanthegypsy · Accepted solution]

Who is the manufacturer of your memory?   There's a discussion a little way down the forum about problems with 8G Corsair RAM in a T500.

According to one of the posters, Crucial worked: T500 8GB doesn't work

I'm thinking of bumping my T400 to 8G also, so this is important to me as well.

Z.

[onethinkpaduser]

Sounds like you have bad RAM. Maybe you should RMA it for a replacement (if you didnt buy from ebay or something).

[awshanks]

HI,

Try running the laptop with one of the 4GB.

Then swap it out with the other one and see if it runs okay.

If one doesnt work the RMA them if they came in a matched set.

I got the crucial 8GB kit and have no issues at all.

[arc-us]

I just upgraded 2 of my T400 4gb laptops to 8gb (4x2) (T400-T9600) and 6gb (mixed 4g and 2g) (T400-P8600) using Crucial simms yesterday; since the modules were priced the same I went from the existing DDR3 PC3-8500 to DDR3 PC3-10600. Works fine with no problems.

[bbai2011]

OK. Now I've 8GB installed without problem. I've done bit of experiment here.

1. I bought my T400 2 years ago with 2GB onboard

2. About a year ago I upgraded it to 4GB (added extra 2GB from Crucial),  no issues

3. Last month I bought 2 X 4GB from corsair (that time memory I wanted in Crucial UK was out of stock), didn't work

4. I sent one 4GB back and use the other one, works fine

5. I added the Crucial 2GB onbard i.e. one corsair 4GB + one Crucial 2GB, did't work

6. Then I ordered one Crucial 4GB, it works and also works for Crucial 6GB (4+2)

7. But it didn't work for one corsair 4GB + one Crucial 4GB

7. So finally I re-ordered a 4GB Crucial, now total 8GB (2x4GB Crucial) works great

PS, there's a hotfix http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-76910

not sure if related. I did see the same error message http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979903/

[Radlinsky]

I just ordered 2x4gb of Corsair memory from Amazon. I hope I don't have the same issue as everyone else, but it sure sounds like I will.

Has anyone successfully used 2x4gb of Corsair memory in their Thinkpad?

Has anyone tried the hotfix bbai2011 suggested above

I have a T500:

-64gb Corsair ssd in the main hdd bay.

-Waiting for my ordered 500 gb Western Digital 7200 rpm hdd in the Ultrabay (got the non-OEM ultrabay adaptor, which will hopefully work.)

[thefred]

I can confirm with 2x 4gb corsair ram working. I got the DDR3-1333 Mhz version. Working without any problems for now seven month

[nibs Guru]

I have a T400 that I ordered with 8GB memory in 9/09 and I have not had any issues. If the memory you purchased is causing issues, it is probably a memory problem.

You should note that adding more memory will mean that Windows wants more space on the harddrive for hibernate/ suspend to disk, so make sure you have a few extra GB free before installing or you may have issues with hibernating. This can become an issue on a machine with a 64GB SSD, as Windows likes to have ~6GB for the hibernation file + more space for swapfile.