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'puter MB's requiring ddr2 memory

Hi,

Today I acquired my 2nd MB that requires ddr2 memory, from my usual source, the local scrapyard.

The computer-box is a Lenovo, made about 2008 and has a 160 Gb hdd and

2 sticks of 1 Gb memory - I'd assume that it is standard ddr2 memory except that it says in a one line description on each stick "1GB,DD2 DIMM,F", (marked as made by PNY). I have to wonder if it's counterfeit and the makers just couldn't spell ddr2; however, I was able to find a few references to dd2 memory by DAGS, which mostly referred to PC2-4200 memory.

So far, after disassembling, cleaning, replacing the cmos battery and reassembling the box, I've not had any luck starting it, not really surprising considering I paid a couple bucks for it. I've got five different ddr2 sticks now (actually 2 dd2 sticks and 3 ddr2 sticks) ,

3 different working power supplys, and just downloaded some tech info from the Lenovo site, but I don't know if that's gonna be enough to get it running. Anyway, just curious if anyone else is seeing ddr2 memory marked as dd2. (Okay, I guess I'm gloating a little bit too, but know I'm really not entitled to at this point.)

Thanks in advance for any info, Mike

Reply to
mike
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Aren't ddr ddr2 ddr3 incompatible? different notch placement???

IBM did some strange stuff in the old days. I had a computer that had simms with the same chips, but wouldn't boot. Legend had it that they changed the contents of the configuration chip to render them incompatible to keep all the upgrade $$$ to themselves.

Reply to
mike

ddr2 - I still suspect the dd2 sticks to be counterfeit, for one thing they don't work on a working MB - odd thing is though that with one or the other or both sticks installed, the cpu fan spins up but nothing else happens, the monitor stays in sleep mode. I thought I had another dead MB till I put in a couple of 512 Mb Corsair sticks, then it started right up.

However, it's not the Lenovo MB that's now running, it's an Asus that I guess is close enough to be able to use the hdd from the Lenovo, which comes with Vista installed. At least it's running so far...

My first impressions of Vista is WHAT A DOG of an OS.

Mike

Reply to
mike

Haven't seen any ddr3 yet, but I know that's true for the other two.

I guess I'll hang onto the dd2-ones and keep trying 'em on different boards, just in case :)

Reply to
mike

IMHO, win7 FEELS faster than Vista, but I think that's just sleight of hand. Vista takes forever to boot. Win7 makes the background screen come up faster, but you still can't do anything. The CPU is pegged at 100% for another minute or more. Follow some of the tutorials on shutting down processes you don't need.

The difference between tweaked vista and win7 is insufficient to make me pay for an upgrade. But I can say the same thing for XP. If you can get drivers, run XP.

One other thing. There's ECC "server memory" that's different. You sure you don't have a board pulled out of a server machine?

Reply to
mike

Good point!

Reply to
Bob_Villa

nd.

Yeah, pretty sure, I have the docs on that system that were available; 'spose it's possible that the previous owner tried upgrading with incompatible memory and then gave up in disgust - guess I'll try contacting PNY and see what they can tell me about the dd2 sticks.

As far as Vista's speed goes, it's a bit better now after defragging and freeing up some space on the hdd - still, it seems that there is continually 'background activity' going on (in task manager), gonna have to read up awhile before using the thing to go online and risk catching something.

Thanks for your thoughts, Mike

Reply to
mike

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