windows 7 - Should we expect DDR3L RAM to work on the Intel first-gen Core i3 platform?

I have a 4 GiB DDR3 RAM, a 4 GiB DDR3L RAM, and a laptop with an Arrandale-based Intel Core i3 CPU and an Intel HM55 chipset. The DDR3 RAM works fine on both Linux (Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit) and Windows (Windows 7 64-bit). The DDR3L RAM works on Linux, and this is the hardware information detected by lshw:

  *-memory
       description: System Memory
       physical id: 1b
       slot: System board or motherboard
       size: 4GiB
     *-bank:0
          description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1067 MHz (0.9 ns) [empty]
          product: F3-1600C9-4GSL
          physical id: 0
          serial: 00000000
          slot: Bottom - Slot 1
          width: 64 bits
          clock: 1067MHz (0.9ns)

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On memtest86+, the laptop would reboot after running the test with my DDR3L RAM for a while.

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On Windows, the operating system would not boot with my DDR3L RAM at all. When I attempt to boot into safe mode, the last driver that Windows prints on the screen before BSOD is always "classpnp.sys". If the DDR3L RAM is in slot 1, the BSOD either shows a BAD_POOL_HEADER error:

STOP 0x19 BAD_POOL_HEADER
(0x22, 0xFFFFF8a000058000, 0x01, 0x00)

Or a KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED error:

STOP 0x1E KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0)

If the DDR3L RAM is in slot 2, the BSOD either shows a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error:

STOP 0x0A IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 
(0x00, 0x02, 0x01, 0xFFFFF80002C934FC)

Or the KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED error above. The memory addresses seems to be the same every time.

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Should we expect DDR3L RAM to work on the Intel 1st-gen Core platform? Are DDR3 and DDR3L RAM fundamentally incompatible? If no, is my issue caused by BIOS issues, faulty RAM, or something else?

Answer

While DDR3L memory should theoretically work on a system that accepts DDR3 memory, it may be incompatible with your processor.

• 
  

  Per JEDEC specifications, all DDR3-type memory must be capable of functioning at 1.5V. 1.35V DDR3L memory is simply designed to be capable of operation at lower voltage, just as a good CPU can be capable of functioning correctly at the stock clock rate when undervolted. As such, it should theoretically be possible to use DDR3L memory on a system that takes DDR3 memory.

  
  


• 
  

  However, the memory controller on your older processor may not play nice with the memory. Because the Westmere IMC is not DDR3L-aware (except for some server processors), the SPD information provided by the DDR3L memory could be causing the IMC to attempt to operate at 1.35V when it really can't, resulting in the crashes.

  
  


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  Alternatively, the BIOS may have trouble with the memory (unlikely), or the memory itself may be defective.