Maximum PC

I just bought an IBM A22M laptop. 1Ghz, 30gb drive, DVD, 128MB RAM, Windows 2000 Pro. Working great, though one of the LEDs is always light-blue. Well, nothing I can do about that, no biggie.

Of course, more RAM is a must. Just sitting at idle with all the background utilities eats the RAM completely. Basically everything runs off the page file.

What I've seen so far leads me to believe that only IBM SODIMM PC100 chips wil be compatible with the RAM slots. Is this true, or can I pick up some generic laptp SODIMMs from the local laptop store? I need at least one 256MB stick, though I'd like to get a second and bump it right to its 512MB limit eventually.

Thanks.

PS: The computer came with Windows 2000 Pro SP3 preinstalled on FAT32. It's since been updated and converted of course. I also noticed that my dad's old Satelite 2800 had a (10GB) FAT32 drive as well before I reformatted it. Is there some reason manufacturers do this? I would think NTFS would be desireable on laptops for the security.

I'd go to the Crucial Website and fill out the stuff for your laptop - and they'll list if they have compatible RAM for ya... This link will take you to Step 2 of the IBM product search..

One thing to note - I'd check the number of overall slots you have (probably 2). Just remember you'll want to replace the 128MB stick - whether its with (1) 256MB stick, (2) 256MB sticks, etc...

Tuathal

Thanks, yeah I'm familiar with my slots. I have two, and one has a single stick of 128 already. Depending on the cost, I would probably supplement the existing one at first, then replace it later on.

Both a friend of mine and I have laptops from the same time period with similar specs. Mine being Clevo, and his being IBM, both using PC133 SODIMMs.

I would check the RAM itself the next time you get a chance because I don't think it's PC100 at all.

If you look at the actual chips on the RAM and they have anything that looks like:

-7.5
or
-7

It's PC133 SDRAM.

The documentation on the laptop and the IBM support site are pretty insistent that it's PC100. I'll have a look though.

EDIT: Yup, two stickers that say PC100 right on 'em.

The case has been opened! Now I must tinker! Damn you all!