First I want to say thank you to Jephree...

I have been experiencing random blue screen crashes for quite a while now, and I suspected it was a memory issue, but only occassionally does the system fail when I run various memory diagnostic tools, so I couldn't be sure. Today I came accross a post here (thank you!) with links to the Debugging Tools for Windows and the debugwiz. Had I found these a month ago while my computer was still under warranty, I would have saved myself some money.

I generated a log for every dump file I could find and they all said that this:

Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MmZeroPageThread+130 )

I talked with Alienware today and confirmed that they are not going to help me as my waranty expired a couple weeks ago, so apparently I am now in the market for some RAM. I figure if I'm going to be spending money on this anyway, I may as well upgrade rather than staying at the same level. From what I've read, this system should be able to use two 1024MB sticks without a problem. Currently I'm using two APACER 512MB DDR PC3200 SO-DIMM 200-pin chips.

So now my question is this: Is it okay to put a 400MHz chip in a 200MHz slot? I have found a great price on a pair of 1GB chips, but they are 400MHz and currently I'm using 200MHz chips. Will these give me trouble?

If it helps, my system info is as follows:
Alienware Area-51m 766 Notebook
Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz 512K L2 cache 800MHz FSB

Any help or advice is appreciated. Thank you!

C

Looks like it will work:

Memory

PC-3200 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz, upgradeable up to 2 GB of PC3200 with 2 SO-DIMM slots.
Note: PC3200 memory supported since motherboard revision 2 (40Ax).

Various Area-51m 766 links:


http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

Thanks for the quick reply!

I had seen a couple of the links you posted, but the reason I was confused is that the pages there say my system should have had 400MHz RAM in the first place, unless I'm reading something wrong. Mine definitely has 200MHz chips right now, but I still don't see why this should matter. Even if my computer can only swap info with the chips at 200MHz, it doesn't seem like using RAM that is capable of 400 MHz should hurt anything.

The only reason I hesitated at all was because I had a chat with an Alienware tech support dude that went something like this:

Alienware Stooge: You realize that you are no longer under warranty, sir?
Me: Yes, I just wanted to upgrade my memory and I wanted to make sure I was choosing the right kind.
AS: You need PC3200 200Pin DDR SoDIMM SDRAM
Me: Cool, that's exactly what I found.
AS: As long as you buy a pair of them they should work fine.
Me: That's great news thanks.
AS: Is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?
Me: Oh yeah, just one more quick question... the RAM I have now is 200MHz, and the replacement sticks I found say they're 400MHz. This doesn't matter does it?
AS: Yes, sir. (This came immediately, without looking anything up, etc.)
Me: It does? You mean these won't work?
AS: No, sir.
Me: But they are exactly what you told me I needed.
AS: But they are 400MHz.

This is an abbreviated version of the conversation, but you get the picture. Since the only change in later motherboard revisions is that they support PC3200 RAM, and I know I have PC3200 RAM, there is nothing that points to the fact that this laptop can't handle 400MHz, anyway, but clearly nothing in their documentation telling me NOT to use it.

This post is getting very long, but my point is basically that I appreciate your input and taking the time to help me research this issue, and your conclusion matches mine and the conclusions of every computer geek friend I've asked. I think I will try this replacement. If it doesn't work I can try to return them or sell them on e-bay or something. I've never even bothered to check MHz speed when helping someone replace laptop RAM before, and I don't see why my computer should be the only one that can't handle a different speed.


Thanks!

C

In fact, Apacer, the company that made the chips that came in my system, don't even appear to offer PC3200 RAM that's not 400MHz...

http://www.apacer.com/en/products/No..._DDR_specs.htm

I guess it's time to open this thing up and see what's really inside.

C

The confusion appears to be 200 MHz FSB = (400MHz bus)

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1352

Originally Posted by jephree

The confusion appears to be 200 MHz FSB = (400MHz bus)

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1352

I guess I'm not savvy enough to figure out whether this means I should be more confident or less confident...

I simply can not find a single source for 1024MB PC3200 200MHz 200Pin SODIMMs... 400MHz chips are all over the place.

C

200 MHz FSB (400MHz bus) is the description of these sticks.

PC-3200 or DDR-400 200MHz 400 MHz

A 400MHz bus (RAM) runs with a 200 MHz FSB (motherboard).

PC-3200 requires a 200 MHz Memory bus = DDR400 (double-data-rate)

PC3200 (DDR 400) RAM runs at 400MHz, so the base motherboard FSB would have to run at 200MHz

I will move this to the hardware section and maybe one of our hardware pros will be better able to describe this.

Thanks again for your help jephree!

Okay, I think I'm starting to understand this... the only thing that still confuses me is whether things have always been expressed this way (when I use a program like Everest to tell me what's on this system I still see 200MHz PC3200 chips, but PC Wizard shows my current chips to be PC3200 (200MHz) [DDR400]).

It looks to me like PC3200 RAM is always 400MHz and the 200MHz is a function of my FSB... since my original post I found some 1GB 200-Pin DDR SO-DIMM DDR 400 (PC 3200) memory at newegg.com for a very fair price. Everything about it matches the specs PC Wizard is giving me for my current RAM, except that the capacity is 1024MB per chip rather than 512MB. It appears I am safe, not to mention the fact that I've dealt with them before and they're great to work with.

I appreciate your help researching the issue, and I'll post here with my results once I get the new chips and install them.

THANK YOU!

C

OK ... I can verify that with Everest. My FSB is 200 whereas my RAM is DDR (double) 400.

This little program will show the link between the FSB and the Bus Speed

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

My RAM was actualy 4 X the 200 FSB = 800