laptop memory incompartible?

Archangel

Archangel

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well.. I have a laptop, it's a Compaq V300.

500MHz Celeron, 64Mb RAM some Ati grafic's card, 6Gb HDD and thats about it. Its old, but it'll do (especially since i got it for free)
anyway.. I tried upgrading the RAM by putting in an extra 256Mb stick.
when i inserted the RAM, it booted,.. It indicated hat it had 320Mb RAM now,. but when it was supposed to show the windows 2000 logo with the loading bar, it restarted (over and over again)

when i tried booting the pc with only the new RAM.. the screen stood black, and the pc didnt do anything. and when i tried to boot without the RAM, it gave beebing error code (wich is a good thing i gues)

anyway.. I'd certainly like to use this laptop,.. I went back to the shop today,. and they said that it could be incompartible because Compaq wants you to buy their RAM. (its Toshiba RAM in it atm tough)
anyway.. anyone ever heard of something like this,. or could help me further (like in what brand ram would work etc? )

oh, the RAM I bought was Dane-Elec RAM,.. its pc 133 SD RAM, running at 66MHz (thats what currently is in the pc too )
 
I didn't think of that before. Did the shop give you the option to exchange the RAM for a different stick?

I have heard of certain PCs being picky about RAM, but everything I've seen for a V300 seems to suggest it'll take anything.
 
they only had this SDRAM (SODIMM i think it is, not sure) they gave me my money back.. I dont know weither the stick was damaged or it was jsut not compartible because of the brand. but they wouldnt exchange it, since they said its not compartible because of the brand :(
(but then.. we all know average pc shop's, no? I dont say they're wrong.. but people tend to dismiss problems quite easely.. and i havnt found anything so far about it either)
 
Archangel said:
they only had this SDRAM (SODIMM i think it is, not sure) they gave me my money back.. I dont know weither the stick was damaged or it was jsut not compartible because of the brand. but they wouldnt exchange it, since they said its not compartible because of the brand :(
(but then.. we all know average pc shop's, no? I dont say they're wrong.. but people tend to dismiss problems quite easely.. and i havnt found anything so far about it either)
Click to expand...

RAM shouldnt be incompatible becuz of brand. That should be the very least of the equation. Im thinking perhaps the bios settings may not be adjusted correctly for that ram, as maybe the timings are too low. What kind of stick did you buy?

Also, did you make sure that the laptops motherboard supports that much memory? It may only be able to support up to 64 or 128mb since its old.

Im betting the motherboard cant support that much ram.

EDIT: Hmmm, after looking up the specs on it it claims to be able to support up to 512mb.

This is a confusing one for sure.

Maybe this helps?

"Due to the non-industry standard nature of some third-party 256 MB Memory modules, we strongly recommend using only Compaq branded 256 MB Memory modules to ensure compatibility"

http://h18002.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10442_div/10442_div.HTML

Maybe try buying 2 128mb sticks instead.
 
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Well, at least you aren't stuck with a paper weight.

Hmm from the HP site:
(Due to the non-industry standard nature of some third-party 256 MB Memory modules, we strongly recommend using only Compaq branded 256 MB Memory modules to ensure compatibility.)
Click to expand...
Still, I'd expect that they all would work. I've never found compaqs to be overly picky on RAM.

This is the model of the RAM compaq sells (you can buy it here too but again shipping might be a bit of a kicker) http://www.memoryx.net/161554b21.html
 
It's a little more expensive at crucial. The price is more because it's uncommon now.

The thing that has me convinced it was a bad stick of RAM you got was that the BIOS recognized it as a 256MB stick and windows started to load but failed.
 
well.. it ran the white bar (where you get the option show'n to press F8 for alternative startup ways (safe mode etc)

but as soon at the icon should show up, it restarted.

but with only the 256Mb stick.. it basicly didnt do anything. (just a black screen )
 
Today i think ill get 2 128Mb Crucial RAM sticks (wich should work for sure, since i used their memory matching program.)
that would put 256Mb ram total in the laptop then, instead of the 320i planned at first :( this RAM would be 30 euro per stick, so 60 euro for 256Mb.. now, they sell crucial 256Mb stick's too.. but those cost 80 euro each :( (but they would work too, according to crucial)
 
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