HP Probook 6450b Memory upgrade issue

[FordPrefect]

Hi All,

I appear to be having a strange issue trying to upgrade the memory in a HP 6450b probook (i5-480m & ATI card). The laptop came with 2gb of p/n sps 598856-002 which is 1333mhz 1.5v ram with the manufacturer being ramaxel. I ordered and fitted a couple of 4gb kingston sticks

http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product/sku/10473659/mfg_partno/KTH-X3BS/4G

Fitted them and all seemed to be well as the OS (win 7 32bit pro) showed the stick as 8gb recognised and 3gb usable, the bios also reports 8gb as well. However the moment a 64 bit OS (Linux or Windows) is attempted to be run the laptop just crashes or hangs

I previously attempted this upgrade with two sticks of crucial memory but had exactly the same problem, so thinking the crucial memory was the issue I returned them to the supplier and ordered the kingstons instead.

I have seen very similar issue noted here:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/328016-30-memory-upgrade-probook

and

http://superuser.com/questions/580512/hp-probook-6450b-not-booting-after-memory-upgrade

My gut instinct suggests this laptop may be very fussy about the memory chips, it may have to be a 16 chip 4gb stick as opposed to 8 chip 4gb sticks.

Any thoughts and help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Yes, I agree with you. 

I believe the number of chips is relative to the memory density and HP notebooks need to run on low density memory.

The less # of black memory chips on the board, the higher the memory density.

I would definitely opt for 4 GB memory modules with 8 chips on each side of the board, such as this...

http://www.amazon.com/HP-DDR3-SDRAM-Memory-Module/dp/B0030L3B8E/ref=sr_1_18?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1397054...

[FordPrefect]

Hi Paul Grrr, Crucial and Kingston seem to insist that 8 chip 4gb sticks are ok on their memory compatibility checkers. Thought this might be the case. Would be nice if HP made this clear on their support docs. Thanks for the reply and help clearing up a frustrating situation.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

Yeah, I never, ever install any memory module in my HP notebooks that doesn't have 16 chips. 

All the chips I use -- 2 gigs and up, have 16 chips (8 on each side).

Never once had an issue.

[FordPrefect]

Hi

Just to clear this story up, I ordered some used geniune HP 2gb (8 chip low density) memory off ebay and it worked like a charm and very cheap. Decided to stick with 32bit OS as given the useage there won't be much benefit going to 64bit. Also it has an SSD so a 32bit will be kinder to it's lifespan. So advice to anyone upgrading to 8gb on the 64xx series make sure the 4gb sticks have 16 chips and not 8. Thanks Paul.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Glad the lower density memory worked for you, and now you know what to look for the next time you plan on upgrading the memory on any HP notebook made in the last 8 years or so.

[FordPrefect]

Just as an afterthought I wonder if anybody could give a technical explanation why high density memory doesn't work but low density does ? Is this down to the memory controller, eeprom on the memory stick or the BIOS.