DDR3 died after mixing with DDR3L

[lenovoddr3]

Hello, I have Lenovo y510p which came with preinstalled 4gb Ramaxell DDR3 1600Mhz CL11 ram running at 1.5v according to CPU-Z. I bought Kingston valueram 8gb stick same speed and timings but DDR3L which I read on their site is backwards compatible to 1.5v. So I put both sticks back in the laptop, 8gb stick now in the spot previously occupied by 4gb stick, and 4gb stick in 2nd slot. According to this article everything should be fine. When I booted in windows and ran CPU-Z I saw both sticks recognized, but only by Kingston it was shown the memory is 8gb, but for Ramaxell the memory amount was missing (where it should say 4gb it was blank) so I checked system info and it said I only have 8gb usable. I shut down the laptop, took both sticks out and put the original 4gb stick back to its original place and the computer wouldnt boot, it powered on for 2-3 sec and shuts down, no reboots, put in the 8gb stick only and laptop works without problems. Could I have somehow fried 4gb stick by running at lower voltage as needed? To me that sounds illogical. Does anyone have any info on this?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Try going into the BIOS, reset to default values and shut down. Reinstall the other module without the DDR3L module installed and reboot. It might or might not work. Running the 1.5v module at 1.35v should not harm it. It might not work, but it shouldn't damage it.

I do however think you may have missed the point of the article saying that if your SYSTEM doesn't support dual voltage, all modules will run at 1.5v. That is likely the case and probably the reason they wouldn't work together. The 1.5v module isn't going to run at the lower voltage, at least not well, since it's intended to be run at 1.5v. Plus, the 1.35v module needs to be of dual voltage type to run at the 1.5v, which I don't know about since you don't indicate a model number for the module.

 

[Pinhedd]

Hello, I have Lenovo y510p which came with preinstalled 4gb Ramaxell DDR3 1600Mhz CL11 ram running at 1.5v according to CPU-Z. I bought Kingston valueram 8gb stick same speed and timings but DDR3L which I read on their site is backwards compatible to 1.5v. So I put both sticks back in the laptop, 8gb stick now in the spot previously occupied by 4gb stick, and 4gb stick in 2nd slot. According to this article everything should be fine. When I booted in windows and ran CPU-Z I saw both sticks recognized, but only by Kingston it was shown the memory is 8gb, but for Ramaxell the memory amount was missing (where it should say 4gb it was blank) so I checked system info and it said I only have 8gb usable. I shut down the laptop, took both sticks out and put the original 4gb stick back to its original place and the computer wouldnt boot, it powered on for 2-3 sec and shuts down, no reboots, put in the 8gb stick only and laptop works without problems. Could I have somehow fried 4gb stick by running at lower voltage as needed? To me that sounds illogical. Does anyone have any info on this?

You haven't damaged the original memory. The supply tolerance for most DDR3 is in the range of -0.4 volts (yes, negative) through 1.975 volts.

The most likely explanation is what darkbreeze mentioned, a bug in the firmware which can usually be resolved by resetting it to default.

 

[lenovoddr3]

Try going into the BIOS, reset to default values and shut down. Reinstall the other module without the DDR3L module installed and reboot. It might or might not work. Running the 1.5v module at 1.35v should not harm it. It might not work, but it shouldn't damage it.

I do however think you may have missed the point of the article saying that if your SYSTEM doesn't support dual voltage, all modules will run at 1.5v. That is likely the case and probably the reason they wouldn't work together. The 1.5v module isn't going to run at the lower voltage, at least not well, since it's intended to be run at 1.5v. Plus, the 1.35v module needs to be of dual voltage type to run at the 1.5v, which I don't know about since you don't indicate a model number for the module.

Hello, thanks for the reply, I have bought this memory, it says it can run at 1.35v or at 1.5v, my original ram is this one.
Kingston ram I have installed in my y510p while I'm writing this reply runs at 1.35v, while Ramaxel ram in same slot ran at 1.5v until yesterday when I upgraded ram, and doesnt run anymore if i reinstall like it was originally, and according to this technical information pdf which I just found ramaxell stick should run at 1.35v but untill yesterday untill I installed new ram, it ran at 1.5v whole time.

As you said that all modules should run at 1.5v, I was thinking that too, thats why I installed them at the same time hoping to be able to use 12gb ram, even my ram socket says 1.5v, btw socket J18 is where Ramaxell was installed originally, and where I installed Kingston now.

Short summary:
-Ramaxell as originally installed ran at 1.5v.
-I buy Kingston DDR3L, put it in the slot (J18) Ramaxell was before, and put Ramaxell in 2nd slot (J20)
-Computer boots, CPU-Z recognizes both sticks, but shows module size only for Kingston, its blank for Ramaxell
-I take out Kingston, put Ramaxell to original slot (J18), computer powers up for 2-3 sec and shuts down
-Computer works now with Kingston ram at 1.35v in socket J18, doesnt start anymore with only Ramaxell installed in J18

 

[lenovoddr3]

Hello, I have Lenovo y510p which came with preinstalled 4gb Ramaxell DDR3 1600Mhz CL11 ram running at 1.5v according to CPU-Z. I bought Kingston valueram 8gb stick same speed and timings but DDR3L which I read on their site is backwards compatible to 1.5v. So I put both sticks back in the laptop, 8gb stick now in the spot previously occupied by 4gb stick, and 4gb stick in 2nd slot. According to this article everything should be fine. When I booted in windows and ran CPU-Z I saw both sticks recognized, but only by Kingston it was shown the memory is 8gb, but for Ramaxell the memory amount was missing (where it should say 4gb it was blank) so I checked system info and it said I only have 8gb usable. I shut down the laptop, took both sticks out and put the original 4gb stick back to its original place and the computer wouldnt boot, it powered on for 2-3 sec and shuts down, no reboots, put in the 8gb stick only and laptop works without problems. Could I have somehow fried 4gb stick by running at lower voltage as needed? To me that sounds illogical. Does anyone have any info on this?

You haven't damaged the original memory. The supply tolerance for most DDR3 is in the range of -0.4 volts (yes, negative) through 1.975 volts.

The most likely explanation is what darkbreeze mentioned, a bug in the firmware which can usually be resolved by resetting it to default.

Thanks for your reply, do you with firmware mean BIOS? If so, I did load default settings, didn't help, and if I try to remove battery to reset BIOS I might void warranty.

 

[Pinhedd]

Hello, I have Lenovo y510p which came with preinstalled 4gb Ramaxell DDR3 1600Mhz CL11 ram running at 1.5v according to CPU-Z. I bought Kingston valueram 8gb stick same speed and timings but DDR3L which I read on their site is backwards compatible to 1.5v. So I put both sticks back in the laptop, 8gb stick now in the spot previously occupied by 4gb stick, and 4gb stick in 2nd slot. According to this article everything should be fine. When I booted in windows and ran CPU-Z I saw both sticks recognized, but only by Kingston it was shown the memory is 8gb, but for Ramaxell the memory amount was missing (where it should say 4gb it was blank) so I checked system info and it said I only have 8gb usable. I shut down the laptop, took both sticks out and put the original 4gb stick back to its original place and the computer wouldnt boot, it powered on for 2-3 sec and shuts down, no reboots, put in the 8gb stick only and laptop works without problems. Could I have somehow fried 4gb stick by running at lower voltage as needed? To me that sounds illogical. Does anyone have any info on this?

You haven't damaged the original memory. The supply tolerance for most DDR3 is in the range of -0.4 volts (yes, negative) through 1.975 volts.

The most likely explanation is what darkbreeze mentioned, a bug in the firmware which can usually be resolved by resetting it to default.

Thanks for your reply, do you with firmware mean BIOS? If so, I did load default settings, didn't help, and if I try to remove battery to reset BIOS I might void warranty.

Yes, BIOS is the older of the two PC firmware standards. You can safely remove the battery without voiding your warranty as long as you don't have to break any seals in the process.