T20/21 memory additions

[dwallace]

Are T machines supposed to automatically recognize the addition or substitution of memory?

Or do I need to reconfigure the start-up (and HOW please?) so the machine will know to look for additional memory?

I inserted a spare 128mb Kingston DIMM and wonder if it's bad or just misunderstood . . . .

Thanks
David

[elephant]

A little while ago I added and extra 128 meg card - which got easily recognised straightaway. I have now taken these out and replaced them with 2 256 cards - and that was fine too.

As far as I'm aware - there is no need for any software/ bios changes.

[JHEM]

David,

Added memory will be "seen" automatically at BOOT.

If the memory you added isn't being seen correctly then check the following:

1) Is it PC100 lo-density memory? Most PC133 memory will NOT work in the T21, nor will hi-density memory.

2) Is the memory properly seated in the slot?

3) Try installing just the new stick in each of the memory slots and see if it's recognized.

Report back.

Regards,

James

[dwallace]

Thanks for your advice.

Both were on-target and the Thinkpad version of RTFM would be Read the Fricking Thinkpad files in your computer (RTFTFC!)

IBM suggests taking out the battery and unplugging/powering off the system completely when installing memory to ensure that settings don't remain. Then on reboot, the machine "sees" the new memory for the first time and develops coping skills.

Now, I'm off to new find memories -- if 128 more was good, 256 must be better ;-]

_DW

[theblooms]

It is reused Crucial memory form my 600E. The part number is CT16M64S6W7E.8T Two sticks of 128 meg PC133. Just an FYI.
Michael

[Dave5049]

I bought a T23 a few weeks ago, it came with 384MB of ram, I took out the 256MB stick just to see how bad it slowed down, and it was quite a bit slower starting up and running programs, I reinstalled the 256MB stick and it detected it fine and ran a lot faster, but I noticed when looking at the "System Properties" that it's reporting MORE ram than is installed, it says 392,176 KB RAM, is this normal, or does a T23 have a little bit of RAM built in?

[theblooms]

No there is none built in. What you must remember is that it is based on the binary number system, not the decimal system. That is, when people refer to 1 gig of memory, it is actually 1028 megs. Another example is hard drives. When you buy a 40 gig hard drive and you look at the properties, it will usually read 40,000,000,000 bytes, but because of the binary counting system, it is actually closer to 37 gigs.

[Dave5049]

Yeah, I know that about harddrives, but every other computer that I've had seems to report the amount of installed RAM exactly, as in 64,128,256 etc. this is tha only time I've seen more listed than was actually installed.