SODIMM identification guidance needed

[SouthernJim]

I am trying to upgrade an older laptop. The docs with it don't provide much info about the memory, only refering to them as "standard JEDEC DIMMs". Looking at what little I could find I determined that they are FastPage 72-pin SODIMMs. So I ordered a pair of 16MB 72-pin SODIMM 4Mx32 FPM 60ns. One problem when they got here, they don't fit. The problem is the NEW memory has a SMALL notch in one side. The OLD memory has a LARGE notch, twice as deep but the same width. This small notch prevents the chip from sliding into the slot. The ONLY difference between the old and new modules is the size of that notch.

Does anybody know what the notch size means?

It seems obvious that the small notch in the new SODIMMs are intended to prevent the module from being fitted into a laptop designed for some older type of memory. 5v versus 3.3v?

The laptop was from Royal Computers, long out of business. The parts are all labeled Toshiba.

I suppose I could take an X-acto and cut the DIMM socket so the new chips would fit, but seems like a drastic measure. That smaller notch must be telling me something, but what??

SouthernJim

[ranchdog]

Welcome Jim.... The only thing I've been able to find so far is the 5v stick had the notches offset more to one side. So they wouldn't be used mistakenly for a 3.3v. The notch on the end is so a guy will install the stick correctly, for polarity reasons.
Still looking. Luck.

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[kenja]

Yeah, lotsa luck. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif No help in the "Library" @ crucial.com. The book "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" mentions that some notebook manufacturers used to have proprietary form factors for the memory. These sounded like quite a different socket than SODIMM, though.

[SouthernJim]

Thanks,
But I sure hope these aren't some proprietary SODIMM type. Like I said, the new ones I got (that don't fit) are identical in every way EXCEPT for the depth of the notch on the end. Although maybe I shouldn't call it a notch, since its at the end instead of in the middle of the side inserted into the socket. I will keep trying to get some answer out of the vendor, this might be easier to answer if I had access to One Each of all the 72-pin SODIMMs in their inventory. But buying one of everything they have to offer is not my idea of a solution!

SouthernJim