Hi,

How you handle the RAM before and during installation can cause issue with miss-handling. If you happen to touch the ram card edge you will likely transfer oil from your skin that can cause contact issue(s). If you insert with this contamination then the connector will need to be cleaned along with the RAM edge connector. You can use denatured alcohol to clean both. I use 20# paper cut to 1 inch wide by the length the RAM edge. Wipe in one direction only with the folded paper dampened and dispose after each wipe. You can use an old plastic credit card with the paper folded over the edge. One wipe per insert of dampened paper..Do not force the card insert and make sure that is vertical and not slanted as you could damage the connector.

Caution; Do not use any abrasive material to clean the RAM edge, some people will tell you to use a pink eraser. If you do then certain damage and contamination can occur.

I use a grounded wrist strip whenever handling any static sensitive devices.

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

Wow what a lot to get thru.
Found memtest on Lubuntu Live flashdrive, and ran it, with the 2 NEW (supposedly not used) sticks of 4Gb each.
Ran memtest twice, switching the ram from slot to slot between tests. Same result, both times, stalled after 2 seconds, screen shows these results. Pass 0% Test 53% Test #2 [Address test, own address parallel].
Then I installed one 2Gb and one 4Gb, 2 tests switching slots, these times the tests lasted to 66%, before stalling.
Then I install both 2Gb sticks, the test ran over 33 minutes before I quit the test.
I did check the Lenovo manual for the correct specs. The original ram is the same size but not the same speed.
The 2 new sticks are identical.
I don't have the option to test with another OS, but I do have a Debian Live CD and Lubuntu Bionic Beaver Live CD. I will try those.
The Machine is a Lenovo T410 with an Intel i5 processor.
Can anyone state that the Memtest proves the ram is bad, or just not compatible?

I
Would suggest install one 4g at a time and see what happens

i'm with this, but i would add what is the ram the laptops mobo rated for? what is the rating of your original ram? and what is the rating of the new ram?

with memtest86+ you will know if the memory fails

I did a quick startpage image search for memtest86 to find an example
https://s14-eu5.startpage.com/cgi-bi...ticache=104055
see the red line?

I've never seen it stall, was it completely frozen ? I've seen it do that before ( turned out to be CPU )


did the timings match?
in that example image they are 9-9-9-24 , to the right of the temperature
and just above that is the Frequency.
I would be surprised if they didn't, but worth exploring
Note, when mixing they will be capped to the 'slowest' one

I would try one stick at a time, if one is fine and the other not it is unlikely a compatibility issue.

It could be a bit of grime, inspect the contacts
but tbh, the contamination would need to be quite heavy.

also, you can install memtest86+ in Debian, it won't run *in* Debian, it populates grub so it is always available.

Thanks for all the responses.
I did memtest86+ from a Lubuntu Bionic Beaver Live CD.
With 8Gb installed, test lasted 2 seconds, then stalled, switched slots, retested, same result both times.
With 6Gb installed, test lasted about 2 seconds then stalled, switched slots, same results again.
With original 4Gb installed, test lasted over 30 minutes, then I quit the test. Should I test for longer?

Tried running Lubuntu Bionic Beaver, Grub loops, same as Debian.
Tried running Grub Super2 disk, same result, grub loops.

The ram I purchased, supposedly new, is labeled "4GB DDR3 PC3-10600 SODIMM/1333MHz
"1rx8 1.5v 88127"
and is branded A-TECH, memtest states "Kingston 9905469-144.A00LF", both sticks identical.
The original ram is 1 stick 2048MB DDR3 1066MHz and the other is 2048MB DDR3 1333MHz. (Lenovo recomends 1066MHz)
I am now thinking the ram is either Bad or Incompatible. Should I request identical replacements or order something different?

The timings and frequency match in memtest, and I don't understand the difference between "stalled" and "completely frozen", everything stopped, the progress meters, the time, and I did not get the last the last 3 lines, including the red line in your image.

so we know the 2 - 2 gig will boot normally as it has in the past, both running at 1066 which is the lowest speed of the 2 sticks. neither of the 4 gig even i at a time will get past grub, right? if so then i'm thinking comparability cause the odds of getting 2 bad sticks is extremely low. i'm thinking you need to replace but with 1066 as recommended.

1 members found this post helpful.

I'd try live USB boots to see if you can find a distro plus bootloader that works.

Are you trying 64-bit distros?

I concur with system001 on that logic

I quickly stuck Lenovo t410i in crucial's site

https://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compa...d-t410i-series

https://eu.crucial.com/eur/en/compat...d-t410i-series


about the only thing I see is the voltage,
the ones Crucial recommend are 1.35v , and that kingston seems to be 1.5v

I suppose the board could be struggling to supply that to the ram.
and laptops tend to be 'tighter' with things like that.

Its been years since I dealt with hardware. We hated so-dimms
as we didn't have many laptops ( like only one ) to test them,
PCs were easy as we had many testbeds setup.

I think memtest freezing indicates a problem

faulty ram? I'd rather see an error pop up before concluding that.

compatibility is most likely

i didn't think about the voltage but you have a good point. on a laptop the difference certainly could be enough to stop it in it's tracks.

Thanks for all your suggestions. Research I have done suggests the voltage is correct, but the speed needs to be 1066Mhz (the slower of the 2 originals), The BIOS wont set the speed, simply uses the slower.
I am currently trying to negotiate replacements from the supplier. When the new ram arrives I will hopefully be able to mark this thread as solved.

OP probably bought 1R DDR3L 4G RAM, while the 2010 QM57 chipset probably only supports 2R DDR3 @4G, or the lower density 4G DDR3L types with 8 chips per side. It happened to me. When I bought my Haswell I had to return the DDR3L I bought at the same time and buy DDR3. When I bought I didn't know DDR3L existed. How many chips per side on the old modules, and how many per side on the new? Check out https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=112899 for T410 RAM upgrade discussion.