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WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PC 100 and PC 133 RAM for NOTEBOOOKS ~ ARE THEY COMPATIBLE BOTH WAYS ? CAN IT CAUSE PROBLEMS?

I have a couple of older laptops and have been upgrading them with bigger hard drives and more ram, I am using pc133 ram on a laptop that says pc100 for the specs, I was under the impression that they were compatible either way? Any information would be appreciated, if I shouldn't use them one way or another I would like to know, more specifically on one of my laptops an hp omnibook 500, I have had some crash problems after instaling XP Pro on the hard drive from another machine hp omnibook 4150...I am wondering if it is due to the boost in ram with a pc 133 chip or some other problem is lingering in there waiting to pounce on my?

Callandor

PC133 is for the most part compatible with systems requiring PC100. If there is a problem, it is unlikely to manifest itself as a random crash - more likely, it would not work at all. There's probably another reason for the crashes, and it could be bad RAM, but not because it has a higher rating.

pjcrooks2000

I think this question is linked to another one on the smae board. yes agree with callandor. I feel however your problem may be due to XP system requirements as the ram if it was not compatible is likely to not start at all.

good luck

pjcrooks2000

OliWarner

Its always best to keep RAM running at the same speed although a 133 stick should be able to run at 100mhz - but its not what it was intended to do...

What could be happening is that the slower ram, or the FSB of the CPU are trying to match the fastest component (ie the faster ram) and they're falling over because of it...

You might be able to find some settings in the BIOS about the speeds of these things and limit them all to 100mhz if you find them...

Good luck!

Dynamic1

The only difference between PC100 and PC133 is the 33MHZ extra the pc133 is able to run. Look for a bios update it might make your laptop support 133. But sometimes the notebook just will not take the 133 unless the bios lets you downclock it and sometimes you cannot even do that. Laptor bioses are very limited compared to desktops.

Dynamic1

Also if you are mismatching sticks that will cause problems. Either all 133 or all 100.

ReynaldoAlbert

ASKER

Oh really, because I am mixing sticks as you say, at the moment I have 128 MB PC 100 and I have 256 MB PC 133 is this more than likely causing me a problem?

pjcrooks2000

reynaldo did you read the links I sent you?

pjcrooks2000

pjcrooks2000

They are in the other question by the way :)

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Dynamic1

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