memory timing adjustments

[crzystng]

Well my laptop has had a serious lack in response times and I think I know why now. I used cpuz and found that dim 1 is running at 100 mhz @2-2-2-5 and dimm 2 is running at 133 @ 2.5-3-3-6. the origional ram that came with the dell is the 100mhz peice which was souposed to be a 133 but I guess not.

anyone know if there is a timing adjusting program that can be used from windows? I jsut flashed the bios and I can't do it form there like I usually would. THX

[RamonGTP]

Well that is pretty much impossible. You cannot have two ram stick running at two different speeds. CPUz may be reading the SPD settings on each individual module and reporting what each stick is rated at. That said, if your slowest stick is a 100mhz piece, then the faster stick will also be running at that slower speed. It is not uncommon for laptops to use a slower bus speed then their desktop counterparts to save battery life. The only way you can increase the bus speed is to get another 133MHz stick, and even then you may still be stuck at 100 depending on the chipset/bios limitations. There is nothing you can tweak in a laptop bios, generally it'll either work on its own or won't.

[JLK03F150]

Look at CPU-Z's Memory tab to find out the actual speed & timings the ram is running. It may be blank, my laptop doesn't report what speed it's ram is running, only the SPD tables. The SPD tab only tells you what is programed into the SPD Table of the piece of ram.

[crzystng]

K well maybe this is a miss interpertation of this program.
on the memory tab it reads
frequency 132.9mhz
fsb dram 3:4
cas 2.5
ras delay 3
ras pre 3
tras 6
dram idle timer 16

well if the memory isnt the prob then why is this thing so unresponsive?
it has a 2.4GHZ pent 4 and my other laptop has the 2.8 but is considerably faster. when you click ot open something it dosent hesitate to do so.

[ViciousXUSMC]

well besides being 400mhz faster, it might have more ram/better ram or even based on a new core technology.

other reasons might be harddrive fragmentation, defragment your harddrive to eliminate this.

and just ALOT of things running in the background, close all the processes and programs your not using, a nice clean install of windows can revive a old computer thats has been bogged down with files and downloads, it not only cleans up the fragmentation and processes but your registry and stuff also wich can lead to system performance issues.

another thing from how you worded it is you have 2 dimms on this one, ones rated pc133 the other pc100, they are both running at pc133 right now... so the slower one might be unstable and causing memory errors or leaks.

check the fsb and ram on the other machine it might be running a 200fsb and more ram wich will make quite a big diffrence.

[crzystng]

well the thing is that both laps are inspiron models one is the 1100 series and the other is the 5100 series. bought within a month of each other, so I believe that both cores are the same for the cpus.

I jsut finished formatting the hdd on the 1100 (the one with the issues) and redid windows thinking that was what was slowing it down. Then I picked up on the memory timings. I ahve also recently ran the defrag tool since the new install. but those didnt really help it out too much.

I have switched the memory chips around thinking that the 133 one was in the wrong slot making the 100 one run much faster than it possibly can. still havin gthe same issue.

one last thing to consider though is that the page file usage (found in task manager) is aprox 180ish while there is only 256 mb memory installed on the 1100. I have X2 256 chips on the 5100.

one thing that does surprise me a little is why neither seem to be running at the rated 266 mhz range?

[JLK03F150]

Originally Posted by crzystng

one thing that does surprise me a little is why neither seem to be running at the rated 266 mhz range?

Your ram is running at 133mhz according to your cpuz information. The Double Data Rate of 133 is 266. If your ram is PC133 like you said in a previous post, it will only run at 133mhz (EDIT: you didn't sau that, some one else did! lol). If it is PC2100 it will still only run at 133mhz, but process two commands per cycle for an effective rate of 266mhz.

More ram would help. I added 512mb to the 256mb of PC2100 in my laptop & it made quite a difference. I have over 30 processes running in task manager. If I took the time to lower that number it would probably even run a little faster.

[crzystng]

ok here is something else that I jsut found out about the inspiron 1100 vs my 5100.
the HDD for the 1100 is a 2mb cache, 4200 rpm, 30G and i recall now going through a big ordeal with dell when I got mine cause it didnt have the specificed one that I wanted (could afford at that time at least) which is a 60G, 54000 rpm, with 8 mb cache. I am jsut about willing to bet that between the smaller amount of ram and the hdd's these are what is slowing the 1100 down so much. any input on the hdd's??

[elroy]

Originally Posted by crzystng

the HDD for the 1100 is a 2mb cache, 4200 rpm, 30G and i recall now going through a big ordeal with dell when I got mine cause it didnt have the specificed one that I wanted (could afford at that time at least) which is a 60G, 54000 rpm, with 8 mb cache.

A 4200 rpm drive is a pig, a big fat slow pig.

[JLK03F150]

Originally Posted by elroy

A 4200 rpm drive is a pig, a big fat slow pig.

at least it has 2mb cache. I have an old one around here somewhere with only 512kb cache... Oink!