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latitude E4300 memory extension
Windows7 is too slow on my latitude E4300 and expanding its main memory failed to work, even after optimizing all win7 applications.
Internet search mentions about upgrading BIOS and the DELL Web page is inconsistent because highest BIOS revision E4300A26.exe has older than than obsolete E4300A23.exe. None of them work to expand memory and it is strange that DELL hasn´t fixed this known inconsistency for years.
DELL user manual mentions support for DDR3 1066MHz memories but so slow memories don´t exist anymore in the market. Other users mention that DELL had to give individual codes to allow extended memory.
It is a pity that such an professional laptop fails to support standard DDR3. When the DDR3 standard was defined, memory timing should become irrelevant of the memory speed because the actual speed is defined by the host, as long as the DDR3 nominal frequency is faster than the minimum supported frequency by the host.
The new SO-DIMM are not broken, they work fine on other non-DELL laptops.
Adding memory to other DELL computers is very easy thanks to the DDR3 technology, except for this laptop.
Has anybody any hint what could be done to make memory expansion on a latitude E4300 to work?
I tried both BIOS versions but laptop fails to boot when a fast 4GB DRAMs is on any of the 2 memory slots, no matter which combination of 4GB/1GB memory is done.
DELL-Terry B
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March 5th, 2015 14:00
The only information that I have for system memory on the Latitude 4300 is as follows.
I haven't tested faster memory on the system, but it would be interesting to see if any other users have had any success.
TB
ejn63
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May 23rd, 2015 08:00
If you're looking for RAM guaranteed to work with the E4300,
< >
that's the place to go for it.
frank86899
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May 23rd, 2015 08:00
Hello, Terry,
I had that information from the user manual and found blogs of some DELL users for the same laptop but those blogs just disappeared.
It is quite stramge that the BIOS file for this laptop just missed to follow the standard revision control, impossible to know which BIOS file is the latest one.
Windows7 needs more and more memory over time and it gets imposible to work on such a good laptop.
ejn63
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May 23rd, 2015 10:00
Read Crucial's statement -- memory purchased using its memory configurator is money-back guaranteed to work.
If you find the RAM does not work, you'll then know you have a faulty mainboard.
frank86899
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May 23rd, 2015 10:00
Dear EJN63,
thanks for the link to that company.
However, even if I order those SRAMs and spend another month trying to make them to work, NOBODY will give me a guarantee that my laptop and those SRAM will work.
As soon as a SRAM module´s shipping box is open, it is 100% fully responsability of the user, I can never send those SRAMs back if they fail to work. Most manufacturers would claim that I didn´t have enough ESD protection and that I damaged those parts. I have other suppliers at hand but I have to be sure that the BIOS will handle the bigger SRAMs.
I found last year some blogs saying that other users got a kind of BIOS upgrade from DELL to make them work. My laptop just downloaded today BIOS version A24, mentioned as the latest one for my laptop.
The A24 release is never shown in the DELL E4300 web page:. it is mentioned that BIOS A23 is the latest one and its time stamp later than BIOS A26!! BOth releases are mentioned at the same time as the latest ones!!!
DELL should follow the industry standard revision control and update the E4300 web page, even if that laptop is obsolete for them.
frank86899
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May 23rd, 2015 15:00
Hello, EJN63,
thanks for the advice. DRAM selling conditions in Europe define the user as the one that damaged the not working SRAMs, mainly due to lack of ESD precautions: I have no ESD issues at all here.
The main issue is DELL willingness to update the E4300 web page. I updated the laptop first with A23 (fail with 4GB DRAM), then with BIOS A26 (still failing) and then back to A23. When going back to A23, many error messages appeared because A26 probably defines in a different way the whole mainboard. It was surprised the laptop said today I should ´upgrade´ to A24???
If DELL updates their web page, I will know which BIOS (A23, A26, A24) is the one I should use BEFORE trying any new 4GB DRAM. I have 2 E4300 of the same model and both behave in the same way. The mainboard drivers should be able to work with any DDR3 4GB DRAMs because the mainboard gives the clock. If the BIOS settings are wrong and timings are marginal, the Read Crucial DRAMs may work one day and fail the day after.
henkj
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August 27th, 2015 06:00
Hi i don't know what your problem is but my e4300 runs great with 4gb ive never looked at the release dates and "upgraded" my a24 with the a26 bios, it ran on w7 and it runs now on linux mint. perhaps theres an issue with your mainboard? here no problems with ddr3? did you try it one bank at the time?