Using faster RAM in older PC
My customers typically have Win7 PCs in their offices, from various manufacturers. Recently I ran into problems at two sites where they wanted to add 4GB RAM. They both already had a single 4GB stick of PC3-10600 RAM, but all I had with me was generic 4GB PC3-12800--and I could not get that to work. I believe it was an Acer that did BIOS error beeps and nothing else. And it was a Lenovo that did nothing, i.e. no beeps, no video, no nothing other than powering up. I am not absolutely sure, but I feel confident that both were capable of accepting 8GB total. In fact, with the Lenovo, when I finally found another PC3-10600 stick, I was able to boot it up like normal, showing the full 8GB.
I thought faster RAM was backward compatible, and should have worked--but clearly I was wrong. I'm hoping someone can explain "the rules" to me so I will know how to deal with such situations. TIA
I thought faster RAM was backward compatible, and should have worked--but clearly I was wrong. I'm hoping someone can explain "the rules" to me so I will know how to deal with such situations. TIA
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"... Can I tell if RAM is single or dual rank by looking at it? If so, how? " ==> Many modules will have 1R or 2R as part of the module's identifying number. If not, you can Google the exact part number and should be able to find out from the description. But the memory maker's don't always make it easy to pin down the exact specs of their modules (not sure why that is).
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