[TriLUG] Memory upgrade problems - brainstorming

Steve Holton sph0lt0n at gmail.com
Tue Mar 25 11:26:43 EDT 2014


Is there something about memory upgrades I'm missing?

I have a Dell Optiplex 780 with 4G of ram (2x2G) I'm trying to upgrade to
16Gb (4x4Gb)

I checked the specs of the installed memory, Dell specifications,
recommendations on the web,  etc. and determined  I needed:

DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-12800, DDR3 (non-ECC)

I purchased four DDR3 PC3-1600 -- 4Gb modules

This upgrade is for memory size, not performance (this isn't a gaming
system) so I'm not
looking to overclock or squeeze the last nanosecond off the CAS latency.

But I wasn't expecting BIOS failures on every module. The system boots as
before with the original modules in place, but adding any one (or pair) of
the upgrade modules into the mix (or using the larger modules alone) leaves
the system unable to get into BIOS setup, and with diagnostic lights
implicating memory.

One possibility is that I've somehow mis-interpreted the kind I need and
the memory modules i have are incompatible with this system.

The other possibility is that I managed to get 4 faulty modules.

Are there other likely explanations, or suggestions to try?
How likely are memory module failures?

-- 
Steve Holton
sph0lt0n at gmail.com


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