Memory upgrade issues

Hey guys,

Recently got the 512, 8g ssd version of the Aspire one and love it. I decided to upgrade to 1.5 gigs of memory, and thanks to the guides here I was able to get the ram installed without an issue. fired it up and I have 1.5 gigs. However now things are just running dirt slow. I am wondering if I installed a bad dimm, or if I installed an incompatible dimm... or heaven forbid I actually damaged the motherboard. I'm going to remove the memory today at lunch and see if that helps. I guess in normal usage it's normal speed, but I am running gentoo linux and was compiling kde. Normally I can leave it overnight and I come back with a fresh build, however this time I came back and it was still building, not even half way though.

new ram module:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0239619

 

well running slow is sort of subjective to the observer..
I would suggest you stress test your memory with something like memtest to see if it is ok.
also, if you install a diag tool like Everest, does it recognise the modules correctly ? (including their speed?)

N

 

Thank you for the response. I installed the memtest86 kernel and thats running right now, anything in particular I should be looking for? I generally am not up to speed on hardware etc. but I can build a mean linux system

visible data:
memtest-86 v3.3
1596Mhz
l1 cache: 32k 6514 MB/s
l2 cache: unknown
Memory: 1524M 3669 MB/s
chipset: <blank>

 

the longer it runs the better it is, so let it go..
if all is ok after that, your memory is more then likely ok, however, I suggest you check with a utility that reports SPD data to see if reports the correct timings.

 

so I decided to just go back through and make sure everything was seated properly... Put everything back together and performance was MUCH faster. timed build of the links browser was 40% faster. 4 mins 34 seconds vs 6 minutes and 7 seconds, this is both with a cleared portage cache and temp files. I am thinking it could have been a bad connection with the SSD. Thanks for the help nmesisca!

 

no problem. glad you sorted it out.

enjoy.
N