getting a memory chip replacement for Gateway 450ROG Model notebook

On 1/24/2011 8:52 PM, Paul wrote:
g wrote:

Test #5), you can bump up the Vdimm voltage to make the error go away.

Just curious, how does bumping up Vdimm voltage makes the error go away?

CMOS gets faster with voltage, and slower with temperature. Increasing
the voltage sometimes corrects a timing failure. This is also where
enthusiast memory products come from - they're a byproduct of screening
(picking the best parts), then applying more than the normal voltage
to get as much speed as possible from them.

But you don't have to abuse a memory, to make it work. Sometimes, one
more unit in the BIOS (like changing from 2.6V to 2.7V), is sufficient
to make a marginal memory work. And that holds up, until some hot
summer's day, your AC has failed, you're sweating gumdrops, and you
notice the memory is making errors again. As long as it stays cool,
it'll probably remain fine.

Thanks for clarifying.

You don't have to accept bad memory. Some companies have excellent
warranty and retail support for what they sell. Something you might
not get, with an Ebay purchase. (I stopped purchasing cheesy memory,
after a couple lots of it failed around the 1.5 year mark. One lot
was from a local computer store, that went into bankrupcy. As for
"what is cheesy", check the reviews on Newegg, as even branded
memory can be bad stuff. If enough people see failures, it shows
up in the reviews, and really stands out.)


Another option that sometimes helps, is to set tRAS one unit higher.

Same, why does this help?

A lot of the modern advice, is ad-hoc, and based on experiments. tRAS
in particular is selected, because it has little effect on overall
memory performance (the memory doesn't become that much slower), but
at the same time, the memory seems to take a bit more clock as a result.
So if the memory was marginal at the current clock speed, the timing
change in the BIOS, by bumping that by one tick, may be enough to
fix it. You can also modify CAS, and get an improvement too, but
there, you might lose 1% of overall computer performance.

Thanks for explaining.


Are there any tools for checking motherboard for this notebook model?

I've seen, on occasion, hardware test software you can buy. But most
of that, is made up tests that will have little relevance to the real
world.
(And yes, I've bought some of that software, in particular because of
an adjustment function it had. And most of the tests in there were
contrived - added to the software to make it look like "$39.95 worth".)

For PCs, things like memory testers, or "stress test programs", are
a good way to get some idea how stable a computer is. Anything more than
that, probably isn't worth buying software for. For example, you can
download HDTune, and use the SMART tab, to monitor how healthy your
hard drive is (how close to death). And there are a number of programs
that will give you access to that info. If you were to buy some software,
about the only improvement it might have, is "balloon help" to explain
how to interpret the numbers.
I get it. The hard disk was fine when I checked it. I wish Gateway had
some utilities for this model like Dell has for checking the
motherboard, hard disk, RAM and so on.

Thanks again for your continued support, useful suggestions and time.

Paul

On 1/24/2011 10:23 AM, g wrote:

The manual http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/Mobile/9528975.pdf
mentions to use only memory modules designed for Gateway 450ROG or
450RGH on pgae 87


Just as an aside:
"We" had a whole bunch of Lame Cow 450 ROG laptops at wurk about 5(?)
years ago. The reliability was poor at best.

One of the worst problems was when wurk upgraded from Win 95 (yes,
slower than molasses is our IT department, and then it was to XP).
Most of the 450 ROGs came with 512 mb RAM., which was OK with Win 95
(and patched for the "larger-than-384mb-RAM" issue).

When wurk decided to UG from 95 to XP, the IT folks came around with
boxes of SODIMMs to boost the RAM to at least 1 gig, and all were on
Gateway's "good list". I suspect it was even bought thru Gateway, as
"wurk" was pretty much "Gateway" oriented by purchasing.

A) 2/3rds of the fleet wouldn't accept the new RAM, and they crapped
dead when the original RAM was re-inserted.

B) The 450 ROG I was issued had hard-drive corruption problems less than
a month after I got it. IT had to "re-image" it with the corporate stock
load about every two weeks.

Both the above tell me the 450 ROG has/had some memory controller
issues....

Our "on-site IT support person" had over 30 450 ROG craptops staked
along the wall waiting for salvage paperwork at one time.

Wurk dumped Gateway as a laptop vendor over this, and they lost the
desktop contact about a year later for some similar problems.

I ended up dragging my old "Original Series" Panasonic ToughBook
(166 mhz, the one you could drive a SnoCat over it (and I did) and just
scratch the case) , as I knew I could trust it.

Don't waste your time on a 450 ROG.









--
The black flies were coming.
(Alastair Mayer in "Small Penalties")

On 2/20/2011 6:26 AM, Nobody (Revisited) wrote:
On 1/24/2011 10:23 AM, g wrote:

The manual http://support.gateway.com/s/Manuals/Mobile/9528975.pdf
mentions to use only memory modules designed for Gateway 450ROG or
450RGH on pgae 87


Just as an aside:
"We" had a whole bunch of Lame Cow 450 ROG laptops at wurk about 5(?)
years ago. The reliability was poor at best.

One of the worst problems was when wurk upgraded from Win 95 (yes,
slower than molasses is our IT department, and then it was to XP).
Most of the 450 ROGs came with 512 mb RAM., which was OK with Win 95
(and patched for the "larger-than-384mb-RAM" issue).

When wurk decided to UG from 95 to XP, the IT folks came around with
boxes of SODIMMs to boost the RAM to at least 1 gig, and all were on
Gateway's "good list". I suspect it was even bought thru Gateway, as
"wurk" was pretty much "Gateway" oriented by purchasing.

A) 2/3rds of the fleet wouldn't accept the new RAM, and they crapped
dead when the original RAM was re-inserted.

B) The 450 ROG I was issued had hard-drive corruption problems less than
a month after I got it. IT had to "re-image" it with the corporate stock
load about every two weeks.

Both the above tell me the 450 ROG has/had some memory controller
issues....

Our "on-site IT support person" had over 30 450 ROG craptops staked
along the wall waiting for salvage paperwork at one time.

Wurk dumped Gateway as a laptop vendor over this, and they lost the
desktop contact about a year later for some similar problems.

I ended up dragging my old "Original Series" Panasonic ToughBook
(166 mhz, the one you could drive a SnoCat over it (and I did) and just
scratch the case) , as I knew I could trust it.

Don't waste your time on a 450 ROG.

Thanks for the suggestion. But, in this case we don't have a choice as
we cannot use it if its current memory is faulty and they were purchased
for some 1600(whoever got them before some 6 years) so we can't just
abandon them.