Dell Latitude E6400 BIOS mod request for CL4 SPD settings support (please help) Hi! I bought Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 SODIMM KHX6400S2ULK2/4G (2*2GB 4-4-4-12) to upgrade my Dell Latitude E6400 laptop. It was quite risky purchase because most of users can’t boot with this memory and unfortunately I have this issue as well now. I tried to find any compatibility info over the web before buying with no luck but decided to try anyway this RAM due to great timings. My symptoms are: system just can’t boot to BIOS with this HyperX no matter what I do. I tried installing both HyperX modules together, HyperX mixed with stock CL6 RAM, 1 HyperX module in different DIMMS and system just turns off automatically with Caps Lock flashing and BIOS has memory error in its log every time I try. As I understand BIOS doesn’t have correct SPD setting for this RAM so just blocks it. I tried extracting ROM file from Dell BIOS for editing with latest Phoenix Bios Editor Pro but it just gives No PCB’s found error because Dell uses modded Phoenix BIOS. I also tried some other software and nothing worked. Maybe Phoenix OEM Toolkit could help however by I’m afraid result will be the same. Tools like MemSet, SPDTool, Thaiphoon Burner etc allow changing modules SPD settings but in my case BIOS modding needed I suppose. Maybe there is simpler way however. I found that some users even had to cut KHX6400S2ULK2/4G with a knife to fit DIMM correctly because it has some sharp corners that cause problems sometimes. Mine sits just fine visually and I’m not sure whether cutting is necessary. According to user reviews KHX6400S2ULK2/4G runs with ok on ASUS Eee PC 1201N based on Nvidia ION chipset, Lenovo x100e based on AMD M780G chipset, Sager NP9262 based on Intel P965 chipset and some other systems. Many people complain about this memory however. I think it would be great to resolve this issue because HyperX is really fast and reliable but requires some modding in most cases. I don’t want to return it and give up so fast, there must be a way. Please share your thoughts and any advice; any experience would be much appreciated.
I wish you luck, but that might be a difficult task. Dell should release BIOS update if the hardware can support it (but will they bother...?) sebus
Thanks I hope PM45 based hardware should support CL4 timings; GM45 supports DDR2-800 5-5-5-12 and DDR2-667 4-4-4-12 but not sure about DDR2-800 4-4-4-12. The only one working configuration was mentioned on de.msi.com forums user has custom build PC based on MSI IM-GM45 Mini-ITX motherboard (GM45 chipset) with the same KHX6400S2ULK2/4G memory installed. I highly doubt that Dell get it fixed because they still haven’t provided TRIM enabled firmware for Dell-branded hi-end SSDs ignoring numerous complains. If PM45 based motherboard really can’t support CL4 DDR2-800 RAM please let me know as well (if anyone knows for sure of course).