RAM upgrade causes display errors on super old Dell Latitude D505

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Brother_Hood

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Jan 10, 2012
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My neighbor has this extremely old laptop model with 2x 256 MB DDR RAM. I got her 2 x 512 MB DDR PC2700 @333 Mhz as per official specifications, and the laptop won't have it. First it showed an ominous error at startup:

"Memory write/read failure at [hexadecimal number]. read [hexadecimal number] expecting [hexadecimal number]. To resolve this issue, try to reseat the memory. Decreasing available memory"

I could enter the BIOS and the system memory was given as 256 MB @333 Mhz. I tried re-seating the RAM, changing positions and only booting with one stick at a time, all to no avail. The error wouldn't occur again after the second or third time, instead the display is acting crazy with so many artifacts that it's rendered unreadable. In between these errors the caps lock LED would flash 10 times upon startup, indicating a memory issue. After reinstalling the old memory, everything is back to normal (i.e. so slow I couldn't open a website in an hour on latest Firefox).

Before contacting the seller, I wanted to make sure that the issue isn't on my end. I experienced RAM incompatibility before, but the DELL specifications for this model clearly states that it should be supported.
 
Solution
Rogue Leader
Latency and timings are like the specific way the memory is configured. In a nutshell faster timings and lower latency is faster memory, but some boards don't support it. That said on desktops it can vary greatly, laptop memory is usually kept within a few ranges.

I looked up via Crucial that the correct original memory has a CAS of 2.5 which the memory you got has. So in theory this memory should work fine.

That tells me, your originally assessment is correct, the memory is bad.
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Brother_Hood

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Please excuse my late response, I didn't expect such a quick answer and wasn't in yesterday after posting.

I got the RAM off eBay, the seller listed it as new. He said he bought it only a week ago and then realized that it didn't fit with his model because of the higher frequency. That's why I checked the specs of my neighbor's laptop to make sure that the RAM will be compatible. The official spec sheet from Dell says:

Memory: Double Date Rate (DDR) SDRAM (shared) at 333MHz (PC2700); Standard - 128MB; Maximum - 2.0GB; Memory module capacities - 128, 256, 512MB and 1GB

This is the RAM model:

SAMSUNG 512MB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 333 (PC 2700) M470L6524BT0-CB3

Would you be so kind as to elaborate on the possible latency and timings issues? I'm not what you would call a computer novice but I'm not an expert either. For RAM upgrades, I only look at the DIMM type and frequency and thought that it would be enough, especially since those are the only specifics given even in the manual.
 
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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Latency and timings are like the specific way the memory is configured. In a nutshell faster timings and lower latency is faster memory, but some boards don't support it. That said on desktops it can vary greatly, laptop memory is usually kept within a few ranges.

I looked up via Crucial that the correct original memory has a CAS of 2.5 which the memory you got has. So in theory this memory should work fine.

That tells me, your originally assessment is correct, the memory is bad.
 
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