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ASA5520 Memory Upgrade

kfolkman
Level 1
Level 1

Just bought an ASA5520, opened the box to upgrade the memory to 2 GB to support 8.3, and discovered that the unit only has 1 memory module connector.  I thought all the ASA5520 units came with 4 slots?  There are hole patterns for the other 3 slots, but nothing installed on the circuit board.  As it is, the most I can load the unit with is 1 GB (ASA5520-MEM-1GB), but there are not any suggested 2 GB modules.  If my console output didn't show ASA5520, I'd wonder if I didn't have a 5510 board installed in a 5520 chassis.  Any one else seen anything like this?  These are so hard to find right now, that I hate to have to return it to my reseller, as I don't think I can get a replacement for a couple of months.  Any possible 3rd party memory fixes for this?

36 Replies 36

Panos Kampanakis
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Only older 5510's had 4 slots.

The rest should have only 1 slot.

For memory replacement you will just need to load the new memory on the existing slot.

To be honest there was one more case that I heard a 5520 having 4 slots.

For the 3rd party memory...it is not officially recommended.

I hope it helps.

PK

skint
Level 1
Level 1

Hi,

Just verify that the RAM currently installed is STEC variety and then find the specs.  I assume that the 5520 and 5510 are using the same bus, so it probably needs PC2700 registered ECC non-buffered RAM CL 2.5. 

This is my bet on what's installed with ASA5520-MEM-1GB and this STEC RAM or equivalent should work as the ASA5520-MEM-2GB replacement:

http://www.stec-inc.com/products/industrial/data_sheets/61000-03730-104.pdf

Make your own call on the 3rd party components.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/prod_warranty09186a00800b5594.html

-skint

Well, it appears that the 5510 and 5520 have different buses.  From what I can see, the ASA5520 and ASA5540 share the same bus and memory requirements.  Got some approved Cisco memory in today, but the unit will still not boot.  Not sure where to go next.

Are you sure the 5520's take ECC RAM?  I looked up the model number of the RAM that I removed the 2 x 256MB RAM that was previously in my ASA5520 with 4 slots.  It was not ECC.  I read furthermore that the 5505's won't boot with ECC RAM; not sure if this holds for the 5520.

Upon further research, I found 2GB PC3200 RAM CL 2.5 actually exist, but only ECC.  I could not find non ECC 2GB DDR PC3200 CL 2.5 in one stick.

Anyways, our cisco certified partner claims to be able to source Cisco approved RAM that is 2GB in 1 stick.  This fascinates me because I couldn't find mention anywhere that a single stick of 2GB is a supported config for ASA 5520.  If the RAM comes in, and it works, I will post back the model number so that the rest of you may benefit.

Hello Eric,

Please note that the only certified ASA5520 memory upgrade kit configuration is two 1GB DIMMs (Cisco part number ASA5520-MEM-2GB). I strongly discourage you from using any third-party upgrade kits as we had seen them cause problems in production environments.

Andrew

Hey Kyle

How are you doing man ?

Long time not spoken to you..

We have this issue also .. have you found more information about this ?

Found this :

http://etherealmind.com/asa-5520-and-asa-5540-with-only-one-dimm-memory-socket-counterfeit-hardware/

But i check the serial number and ity comes up as a ASA5520-BUN-K9 and made in mexico so i cannot imagen it is counterfeit.

Hope i hear from you !

TTYL

kyle woodhouse
Level 1
Level 1

Has anyone else seen this?  I too have this problem.  I have a few ASA5520's here and it seems some of them have 4 memory slots and some have 1 memory slot.  All Cisco documentation says this unit has 4 memory slots and even 1 TAC engineer i talked to said the unit should have 4 slots.

I think its possible there is a new logic board design on some of these units and maybe TAC isnt aware of it yet or something.

Either way im not sure how im supposed to install the 2GB memory kit into this unit with only 1 memory slot as the kit is 2 sticks of 1GB.

kfolkman im in the same boat as you so if you figure it out please let me know.

Thanks,

Please open a TAC case to get it further investigated. Thanks.

Kyle,

We ended up returning the unit and getting another from a different vendor that had four slots, so the upgrade went without difficulty.  I have heard that any ASA5520 units shipped after the first of May this year should all have 4 slots, but there is still some inventory out there in sealed boxes that you won't know about until you open them.  Had a friend with a similar experience with ASA5505 units and memory upgrades, as well.  He couldn't get the memory upgrade to work there either, and he has since informed me that Cisco TAC confirmed a couple of bugs relating to memory issues in 8.3, but that nothing is yet described or confirmed by Cisco.

As halijenn suggested I believe this is worth opening a TAC case to get it further investigated.

PK

Do you have any news about this from the TAC?

Thanks,

Jerome

Since we got a replacement unit that had all four DIMM sockets, we have not contacted TAC, and probably will not about this issue.  I'd love to have the time to pursue this, but any ASA5520 units manufactured after April 1 of this year apparently do not have a problem as all DIMM slots have sockets for memory, so you can use the 512 MB modules and get to 2 GB that way.  That's what we finally ended up with, and it works fine now.  If for any reason yo have an older unit that hasn't yet been upgraded to the new revision OS, you should probably contact TAC after first determining if your unit has less than four DIMM sockets before the upgrade.

To close the loop on this, the only shipping configuration of all ASA5520 and ASA5540 units is with 4 DIMM slots (regardless of the manufacturing date). Only some ASA5510 units may have a single DIMM slot.

Andrew

Sorry but I have two ASA5520 with exactly that problem. There's the place and the pins for 4

slots but only one physical slot. Here's a picture ;

I'll open a TAC case asap.

Jerome

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