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Gol' dern computers!

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

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My Dell Latitude E6400 laptop has operated fine for many years with its two 2G ram cards, total 4 G ram. I got it used, with non-Dell ram cards.

Last week I ordered actual Dell ram cards (two at 4G each, total 8G). Got them from Dell - 200 pin, what Dell says my E6400 uses.

But the cards won't fit in the slots!ve
The "U" cut in the card to make sure the card is inserted correctly, is in a slightly different spot from the non-Dell cards. The non-Dell cards has U notches which fit the card slot studs perfectly.

The Dell cards are exactly the same length/width as the non-Dell cards, but the U notches are about 1/8" past the stud in the card slot.

I wondered if anyone has run in to this. Non-OEM card fits fine; OEM card doesn't.

Thanks.
Tom M.
 
NutmegCT said:
My Dell Latitude E6400 laptop has operated fine for many years with its two 2G ram cards, total 4 G ram. I got it used, with non-Dell ram cards.

Last week I ordered actual Dell ram cards (two at 4G each, total 8G). Got them from Dell - 200 pin, what Dell says my E6400 uses.

But the cards won't fit in the slots!ve
The "U" cut in the card to make sure the card is inserted correctly, is in a slightly different spot from the non-Dell cards. The non-Dell cards has U notches which fit the card slot studs perfectly.

The Dell cards are exactly the same length/width as the non-Dell cards, but the U notches are about 1/8" past the stud in the card slot.

I wondered if anyone has run in to this. Non-OEM card fits fine; OEM card doesn't.

Thanks.
Tom M.
Click to expand...

Maybe you have a newer (or older) E6400? You might try to call Dell support and talk to some guy in India and see if there are different versions of your Dell and what memory you need.
 
Thanks Basil. I actually ordered the cards directly from Dell, after giving them the Service Tag number off the laptop itself. Service Tag number identifies the hardware build.

Strange.
 
NutmegCT said:
Thanks Basil. I actually ordered the cards directly from Dell, after giving them the Service Tag number off the laptop itself. Service Tag number identifies the hardware build.

Strange.
Click to expand...

Well then it sounds like they sent you the wrong part.
 
Basil said:
Well then it sounds like they sent you the wrong part.
Click to expand...

It would seem so, but the ID on the cards matches the ID on the old cards that fit.

4gb ddr2 sdram sodimm 200 pin 800 mhz pc2-6400 non ecc
 
Basil said:
Maybe you have a newer (or older) E6400? You might try to call Dell support and talk to some guy in India and see if there are different versions of your Dell and what memory you need.
Click to expand...
He could call India but he would be in the Wrong Part of town.
 
Still sounds like the wrong part (perhaps with the wrong label). They move that slot on purpose so you can't mix the wrong type of memory. Maybe one is column refresh and the other isn't; or something like that.
 
Take the DDR2 stick that fits to the nearest Best Buy, match it with what they have in a display case with 4G sticks.

...I hate computers... :smirk:
 
I had a situation like that a while back, in fact I think I mentioned it on this site. I bought a pair of memory cards to upgrade one of our laptops. The new cards were identical to the old ones, numbers and all, but when plugged in the computer wouldn't boot up, put the original lower memory cards back in and it booted right up. So, I ordered another set of cards from another source, same numbers but different manufacture and they worked perfectly! Go figure. :rolleyes2:
 
Last week we got a new client's "dead" tower for diagnosis. He'd built it a decade ago, as a gaming machine. High-end components (for the time). Isolated the no-boot problem to a bad RAM stick, DDR3. Had to revert to flEaBay to find matching NOS RAM.

I say "new client" because as a result of the "fix" he decided to have us do more consulting, to set up and network a new branch office of his business. Word-of-mouth is the only advertising we have. :thumbsup:
 
Go figger. I checked the non-OEM cards again. They're 667Mhz. But the E6400 specs from Dell show 800Mhz ram. The cards that Dell sent are 800.

I'm betting that notch and stud placement in the card slots reflects ram speed. The stud in my card slot fits 667 perfectly, but won't accept 800. But why the heck my E6400 has 667Mhz cards that *fit* and work ok puzzles me; it won't accept 800Mhz cards! Ain't spoz'd to be this way!

So while I continue my slow (yeah, really slow) recovery from hernia repair surgery on Thursday, I think I'll start browsing for a new (used) laptop. Maybe a new car too.

Thanks gents. Anyone want to start a new topic on "Hernia Repair Recovery"?
Tom M.
 
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Problem with a new one (Computer), today it's the top of the line, tomorrow, way down on the list. You never really know how soon it will need an upgrade. I'm on the HP with a 17 inch screen and it has never gave me any problems. Microsoft has but Linux hasn't. I must have a 1,000 upgrades from MS (slightly exaggerated)and only 2 from Linux. So really it's a toss of the dice of what you get. I have 2 Dells, one desktop and one laptop, they are both slow machines, but a Toshiba I have is almost as fast as this HP and easier to repair if needed.
 
Obviously a conspiracy; the hardware makers are paying Microsoft to develop their bloatware so people will have to constantly upgrade to run the latest software.

I started my professional career working with a nice single-user system that ran in 64K. K mind you, not M, not G, not T (which is where we are headed). Had a decent multi-user system that ran on a single megabyte.
 
Randall - my first was 64K also.

800px-Osborne_1_open.jpg

Still have it, and use it for demo's for the young'ns.
 
Reminds me of my first portable phone, a bag phone, the battery in the bag must have weighed 10 pounds! :highly_amused: They've come a long way since these antiques.

View attachment 54334
 
2.33GC, with 12GB of RAM on this box.
Ubuntu machine is 7.7GB and 3.0 GC

The box parked in the corner has 1.43GB of RAM and is quite slow....and you cannot increase it.


Funny....I've been told 32 bit machines can do 4GB of RAM and 64 bit machines 8GB, but this box is XP-64 and shows 12.
Interweb shows max of 128GB.....never seen that before. Guess the limits are motherboard.
I think on last inspection there were open RAM ports...hmm.....
 
PAUL161 said:
Reminds me of my first portable phone, a bag phone, the battery in the bag must have weighed 10 pounds! :highly_amused: They've come a long way since these antiques.

View attachment 54334
Click to expand...

Sort of...depending on what you define as a "long way". What were those, five watts? Back when cell towers were 100 miles apart?
They closed down those networks several years ago because they want you limited in range...and it makes it far easier for the Feds to track you to a tower. And they were made before GPS, so no need to pull your battery to be incognito.... The FCC ordered all analog networks shut down in early 2008, not that there were many left by then anyway.
 
The other question being whether you want to hold a 5 watt (or whatever) transmitter to your ear for long periods of time.

My old analog phone would put out pulses big enough to make the image on my CRT computer monitor jump from a foot away. Tried two different brands of monitor (before realizing what the problem was), same result.

I think we've gotten spoiled by how fast electronics have progressed. I've got a computer in my hip pocket with many times more storage, and many times more CPU power, than the world class supercomputer I learned to program at Purdue (which took up an entire floor of a fairly large building, plus most of the roof for the cooling tower).

And I use it mostly for playing games!
 
:lol:
 
PAUL161 said:
Reminds me of my first portable phone, a bag phone, the battery in the bag must have weighed 10 pounds! :highly_amused: They've come a long way since these antiques.
Click to expand...

Used to work with a guy 30 years or so ago got one similar to that Used to love calling the work team and say "I'm on my phone, guess where I' calling from". Usually a bar or his car. At the time we all were yea, that's nice, that all you want Bruce??
 
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