FAQ: Memory Upgrade on eMachines M68(XX)/ Gateway 74(XX)GX, MX75(XX) - Page 5

This is what I used to upgrade my old Gateway 7405GX Notebook (inside under the keyboard memory upgrade) : http://emachines.fizi.ca/guides.php?ID=3

Regarding your post on the 7422GX memory upgrade. I bought 2 crucial 1GB pc3200 sticks and took the notebook apart according to Gateways repair manual. I now have a weird problem. Some keys on my keyboard don't work. p is a -, o=6, l=3and the number keys work good but when I shift and hit 7 the cursor jumps back to home position, shift + 0 = *, but other keys work fine. any ideas? I tried reinstalling the keyboard driver and the ribbon cable looks good into the connector . . . .

Yes, I actually found that answer in a similar posting. I had to hold down the function key and hit the scroll key and all was well. Thanks!

need some help

Hi need some help with a ram problem I have a Emachine M6809 with BIOS version 0f02.p00, now the problem is I have 2 sticks of 512 2700/333Mhz PNY brand ram and wanted to put it in to get 1Gb ram. Now I have 1 stick of the 512 in the internal ram slot and put the other in the external, then turned it on and it wont boot into winxp it gives me a black screen with options of Safe booting, start on known last config and boot normal but it always goes back to there. So i take the external 512 ram out and stick the 256 ram it came with in and it can boot normally for a good 768Mb of ram. So what is my problem?

I know there is a more updated bios atleast for this model but will updating the bios actually make it work with both 512 sticks in it? These were bought at tigerdirect also.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

The newer BIOS could help. The 0f02 BIOS was riddled with problems, most notably, ACPI problems. Are the sticks the same? What is the rated voltage on the sticks?

They are the same, as far as voltage not sure I don't see that anywhere on the package it came in.

It could be a faulty stick. Before blaming on that though, I would suggest going ahead and updating hte BIOS. The "safest" one to use is the one directly from the emachines website. http://downloads.emachines.com/drive..._Shadow-K8.exe

You could also use a tool like memtest to check the stick for errors. Obviously, it works fine without it, and always fails with it, memtest will likely show errors also. Chunk that BIOS update in first though. I know it says for the m6805, but it is for all of the m68xx series.

Guess I could try that bios update if nothing else that works, but the thing about the 512 sticks is that if I put the other 512 in the external slot and get into bios it will read 1048Mb of external memory, so it can read that stick somewhat.

I haven't tried anything with the M6805_Shadow-K8.exe bios yet but what do i do exactly? jsut run the exe on the laptop and let it do it's thing or it is something else i have to do with it? I hope this bios doesn't crap on my laptop

A quick question I have not found the answer here. I bought a Samsung PC3200 2.5volt cas3 1gb stick, and when I put it into the accessable slot the machine just beeps. My question is if I put it in the slot under the keyboard and run it by itself (nothing in the external slot) would it work, or would the cas 3 make it not work? Thanks in advance.
Dave

Not to beat a dead horse here, but I am still using my M6805 and have just tried upgrading the memory to 2GB. I am using 2 sticks of Crucial Rendition PC3200 DDR 400Mhz SODIMM (RM12864X40B). I believe that they are 2.5V and show timings in the CPUZ tables of 3-3-3-8 at 400 MHz.

Memory SPD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM #1

General
Memory typeDDR
Manufacturer (ID)Crucial Technology (7F7F7F7F7F9BFFFF)
Size1024 MBytes
Max bandwidthPC3200 (200 MHz)
Part number
Serial number4E0894FC
Manufacturing dateWeek 02/Year 03

Attributes
Number of banks2
Data width64 bits
CorrectionNone
Registeredno
Bufferedno
EPPno

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)166200
CAS#2.53.0
RAS# to CAS# delay33
RAS# Precharge33
TRAS78



DIMM #2

General
Memory typeDDR
Manufacturer (ID)Crucial Technology (7F7F7F7F7F9BFFFF)
Size1024 MBytes
Max bandwidthPC3200 (200 MHz)
Part number
Serial number4E089501
Manufacturing dateWeek 02/Year 03

Attributes
Number of banks2
Data width64 bits
CorrectionNone
Registeredno
Bufferedno
EPPno

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)166200
CAS#2.53.0
RAS# to CAS# delay33
RAS# Precharge33
TRAS78

------------------------------------

In this configuration the computer will recognize the full 2GB and boot into XP home, but freezes or restarts randomly while using certain applications and I've had one BSOD.

Both memory sticks test fine for 4+ passes using Memtest86+ when tested individually but will not pass test #8 when using both. Tests 1-7 run fine. If one is paired with the original 256Meg stick then I have no issues - it passes memtest and xp runs fine. It will run at PC2700 speed with 2.5-3-3-7 timings.

Is there anyway to force the system to run the PC3200 when using both sticks at the slower speed of 166MHz and the timings of 2.5-3-3-7. The bios 0F08-P00 does not have any options to set timings. A64 tweaker just freezes when trying to change any settings and I don't believe it would keep the settings anyway.

I can live with 1.25 GB, but getting 2GB to work would be better. Then I don't have to try to return the one stick or sell it.

Ok, I was able to get 2GB PC3200 to run stable if I use A64 Tweaker to reduce the memclock to 166 from 200. I found out that you cannot adjust CAS latency on these systems. With this memory it is fixed at 3 and locks if you change it to anything else.

However, the load on startup settings always lock up the system during login if I turn them on and reboot and then I have to go to safe mode to turn them off. Also I notice that sometimes A64 tweaker does not read the values properly instead it shows the bottom value in all the drop down boxes. I think this has something to do with my moving it to the program files directory from my documents. I tried deleting the HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\cpuz but it did not appear to rebuild the registry value.

When I go in safe mode, cpuz will not initialize and A64 tweaker always shows the values from the bottom of the dropdown list also.

So as it stands, I am back to 1.25 GB and have the second stick up for sale. Too much trouble to get them both running at 166Mhz for all users on the laptop.

I gave up on the PC3200 and installed two 1gb sticks of PC2700 and have had no problems of any kind.

Dave

Yeah, I've pretty much given up on getting the 2 Gig to run reliably easily.

Another question, does anyone know if any of the other bioses unlock the memory timings or voltages. If I could increase the voltage to 2.6V or permanently set the memclock to 166 and the timings to 2.5-3-3-7 think it would run stable. Basically turn the PC3200 in PC2700.

The only reason I went with this memory was because it was cheap. $65 CDN for 1GB which is almost as good as DDR2 pricing.

Update:

Now using A64info V0.62. By setting the memclk to 180MHz and the timings to 3-3-3-8 it runs fine. Weird that the rated 200MHz causes problems but not 180.

Have a shortcut in the startup folder to run with the settings file for all users.

"C:\Program Files\CPUz\A64Info-beta.exe" C:\Program Files\CPUz\start.set

Only problem now is the limited user account cannot run the program. Drivers can't be loaded. It works fine for my admin account at startup.

Hey everyone,
I'm new here, and thought I'd ask if these models are the ONLY Gateway/Emachines models that will support 2GB or if these are the only KNOWN models that will support it. I have a Gateway 7322GZ, and I'm upgrading the external RAM, which is the same RAM that the other models take. When I opened it up to fix the screen flicker (great posts/guides thanks to here!), I noticed that the internal RAM was easily accessible, not covered by a card reader. I just wasn't sure if this model could support the upgrade or not. Has anyone tried it with this model? Thanks!

ur specs
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/.../4429sp3.shtml

i would give it a shot, make sure that have latest windows updates and stick with pc2700 ram modules. But unless u want to migrate to vista, 1.5gigo is plenty for other windows

cheers ...

Thanks for your help! I found something interesting while looking at those specs on the site. I'm not sure if they are supposed to be the standard or not, but mine are a little different than the ones listed. If that's the case, I got the wrong end of the stick. My processor is 2.8GHz rather than 3.06GHz, and my external RAM slot is not empty (both combined still only totals 480 MB, talk about some % error), just to name a few. However, I do have a max res of 1280 x 800, so that's at least an upgrade. Anyway, if I end up upgrading the internal slot, I'll be sure to let everyone know what happened.

Disregard my last comment about the RAM. I didn't take into consideration the shared video memory. 512 - 32 = 480 MB. Whoops!