adding memory to my laptop causes subsequent f9a installs to fail

[Tom Brinkman]

On Thursday 21 February 2008 01:14:22 pm Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Feb 2008, Fulko Hew wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Robert P. J. Day <rpjday at crashcourse.ca> wrote:
> > >
> > >   until now, i've test installed f9a several times on a gateway laptop
> > >  with 512M of RAM.  after adding another 1G of DDR 400 RAM, every
> > >  install attempt ends up hanging somewhere -- checking SW dependencies,
> > >  formatting the root filesystem, and the latest 300+ packages into the
> > >  install.
> > >
> > >   is there something about extra memory that f9a just doesn't like?
> >
> > You may want to consider trying an install with only the 1G stick
> > installed replacing the existing 512M (if possible) instead of
> > simply adding the additional memory... and seeing what happens
> > during an install.
> 
> as a progress report, i returned the "A-data" brand DDR memory i had
> earlier, and got a more expensive "corsair" brand chip -- still 1G
> DDR1.  popped that in, tried an install of f9a (x86_64) on my gateway
> laptop, but it still hung (although it did at least get into the
> package installation phase, which is further than i got with the
> earlier memory most of the time.)
> 
> so i'm trying the same thing a second time to see if that's
> reproducible.  if this continues to fail, i guess i can try the most
> expensive "kingston" brand, but i'm starting to think it's not the
> quality of the memory -- there has to be something else happening
> here.
> 
> and i'm open to any debugging advice.
> 
> rday

    This from an old overclocker (no longer desirable or needed).  Several things alter ram performance. Most notably quality ('brand' means little) chips an the pcb they're on, mobo & chipset, an voltage (+), among many more.  The Corsair is probly OK, but have you consulted the laptop manufacturer?  IME (past) even the best mobo can't allow ram to perform. It's really all about the quality of the cpu/cache/chipset.... the mobo, the total system.

    Now I'll probly say somethin you don't wanna hear... the problem is most like your Gateway (an it's mobo).  If I can help at all, an Gateway is less than forthcommin, return the Corsair for a 512 stick an try bootin the original + 512.  mem= does nothin to fix the problem.  I've had homebuilt hw an the best mobo's/ram.  They rarely tolerate an odd number, eg, 3x512. Even after passin multiple cycles (overnite) of memtest86. There are NO software ram checkers.
-- 
    Tom Brinkman                       Corpus Christi, Texas
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