12800 ram not working in my laptop

[kris_hm]

I have an hp pavilion dv7 that has 4gb ram in it already. the laptop maxes at 8 and i know a little bit about compatibility issues but not enough apparently. I know all the ram must be the same speed in order for it to work.
the ram i have in my laptop is 10600, i assume thats the speed. the ram i bought is 12800. when i put both sticks in at the same time, my laptop wouldn't boot. I figured 12800 is better than 10600, so i took the 10600 out and figured id just buy another 12800 stick and use the one i have for now. But the 12800 stick wouldn't boot either. I replaced the ram again with the original ram and it worked fine. So does that mean my laptop doesn't support 128000 at all? or do i need to set something in the bios? and if so, what and how? I need to understand how to tell whether ram is compatible with my laptop and how to make adjustments if necessary.

 

[i7Baby]

Mixing ram inevitably ends up not working. The only guarantee is to use a tested ram kit.

 

[rgd1101]

google the exact model. HP have manual/product spec on their laptop about what ram/cpu upgrade you can do.

 

[skit75]

All motherboards and laptops have an approved RAM compatibility list. It is very likely your laptop doesn't support 12800 RAM. Sometimes what you tried can work(the faster RAM runs at the slowest module's speed). In this case, I bet your laptop doesn't support that module.

 

[kris_hm]

Im asking about compatibility. I know the ram doesn't work together, but how do i know what ram my computer will support without buying all kinds of it and trying it out? there must be a way to know. and there must be a way to set motherboards to run different speeds. Ive read in forums on over clocking and thats been mentioned before. So i figure there are settings that need to be changed perhaps. My laptop isn't new but its new enough that i don't believe it won't support the ram i bought.

 

[i7Baby]

They are telling you "All motherboards and laptops have an approved RAM compatibility list"

 

[kris_hm]

google the exact model. HP have manual/product spec on their laptop about what ram/cpu upgrade you can do.

So if i just google the model the manual will tell me all the supported speeds?
And what if i need to change settings to support it? Do i even need to worry about that with laptops?

 

[rgd1101]

google the exact model. HP have manual/product spec on their laptop about what ram/cpu upgrade you can do.

So if i just google the model the manual will tell me all the supported speeds?
And what if i need to change settings to support it? Do i even need to worry about that with laptops?

one step at a time, if they said it compatible then we start looking for settings. but if it not even compatible why waste our time.

 

[i7Baby]

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03221579.pdf

 

[kris_hm]

google the exact model. HP have manual/product spec on their laptop about what ram/cpu upgrade you can do.

So if i just google the model the manual will tell me all the supported speeds?
And what if i need to change settings to support it? Do i even need to worry about that with laptops?

one step at a time, if they said it compatible then we start looking for settings. but if it not even compatible why waste our time.

Im just trying to understand how this works in general so if i have this issue again in the future i do not have to post a thread every time.
Ive located a manual online and found the replacing memory modules, but it doesn't specify the supported speed there. It only gives me serial numbers to order replacement ram from hp i assume. That is the only section in the manual I've found retaining to memory.

 

[skit75]

[strike]It isn't compatible no matter what setting you attempt to change. You need 800MHz PC2-6400 RAM. It is in the manual around page ~54[/strike]

Wrong Model #

 

[rgd1101]

how about you telling us the exact model?

 

[skit75]

google the exact model. HP have manual/product spec on their laptop about what ram/cpu upgrade you can do.

So if i just google the model the manual will tell me all the supported speeds?
And what if i need to change settings to support it? Do i even need to worry about that with laptops?

one step at a time, if they said it compatible then we start looking for settings. but if it not even compatible why waste our time.

Im just trying to understand how this works in general so if i have this issue again in the future i do not have to post a thread every time.
Ive located a manual online and found the replacing memory modules, but it doesn't specify the supported speed there. It only gives me serial numbers to order replacement ram from hp i assume. That is the only section in the manual I've found retaining to memory.

Most of the approval lists are better than this one, admittedly. The way to find out generally, is to browse the manual(best way). You can also find out what CPU+Chipset is being used. The type of memory is locked to those choices but the manufacturer of the laptop or motherboard doesn't have to support all RAM within that range. They sometimes exclude certain ram with lazy or too aggressive timings. Best way is to consult the manual.

I ended up googling the HP product ID number for the RAM since it doesn't actually give you the info you are looking for in the manual.

 

[kris_hm]

how about you telling us the exact model?

HP Pavilion DV7-4153CL

 

[rgd1101]

Yup 1333mhz(or PC3-10600) ddr3 only.
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02642701

 

[kris_hm]

Yup 1333mhz(or PC3-10600) ddr3 only.
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02642701

I dont understand, where did it specify that the only supported ram is 10600? I looked in specifications but i didn't see. What tells you that?

 

[skit75]

You need 10600 DDR3 @ 1333MHz RAM. 12800 DDR3 is 1600MHz RAM.

Chapter 1 page 3 in the table.

 

[kris_hm]

I would have expected information like that to be in specifications. So i assume that only the supported speeds are listed.
What about changing settings though? Lets just say i had a laptop that i needed to change a setting on so i could maximize performance and get the fastest speed out of the ram? would that setting be made obvious in the bios?

 

[rgd1101]

nope. the chipset itself only support 1333mhz. and it a prebuild lowend laptop, it won't allow overclocking.

 

[skit75]

The BIOS will be lacking in feature access. Laptops, being battery based, generally don't come loaded up with BIOS features to dramatically change performance settings.