Thinkpads Forum

1) Per copious but aged Lenovo docs, T60 takes max 2x2GB RAM, recognizes only 3GB RAM

-I know consensus has been the above regardless of OS; has anything changed on this, with new OS, with new BIOS?

-Will 2x2GB cause any instabilities if, say, you got a special on 2GB sticks, or only had 2GB sticks? Does this depend on OS?

-Which slot should the 1Gb and the 2GB go in if it matters?

-Would a single, 4GB SODIMM work?
e.g., http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20 ... 0DDR2S4GB/
I know someone tested 4 + 1 and it didn't POST

2) I forget but ISTR that people have stuck 8GB 2x4GB in a T61. Is that okay, will it be seen, will there be instabilities? I know 2x2GB is fine. How about 1x4GB?

I do have $ riding on this (at least on #1) so please do answer ASAP if you can. PM is fine or whatever.

Sorry, I tried to waste as little of your time as possible.

1) This is true, it's a limitation of the motherboard chipset, so OS and BIOS can't change the chipset.

2x2GB work OK most of the time, but some recommend 1GB + 2GB because of rare parity errors with 2x2.

2) T61 has different chipset and can use up to 2x4GB for 8GB total.

nichevo wrote:has anything changed on this

No... it is a HARD limitation in the T60 system platform

Cheers,

Bill B.

Thanks, Bill! Remaining Qs:

Does which SODIMM in which slot matter, with 2gb+1gb?

Will a single 4gb work?

And...any way of telling/predicting/diagnosing the instabilities in a 2x2gb config?

No, no and no.

Hey Nichevo,

nice to see you back on the Forum.

Have you been answering those Craigslist ads again? What happened now ?
Did you get stuck with a pickup truckload of T60/T61's ?

(Just kidding, sort of).

Daniel.

Thinkpad Lover wrote:Hey Nichevo,

nice to see you back on the Forum again.

Have you been answering those Craigslist ads again? What happened now ?
Did you get stuck with a pickup truck load of T60/T61's ?

(Just kidding, sort of).

Daniel.

LOL I wish. T61 in particular, I wish ;> No, but I do have a request for 2x T60 I'm trying to fulfill and want her kids to be happy. I trust there will be no issue with 500GB HDDs. Guess I'll just build from the restore discs if there is no upside to 64-bit or, of course, Vista in general LOL. If they want 7 they can pay for it, or I could drop the 8 beta on 'em if I wouldn't just eat that fix later one way or the other.

Correct me if I am wrong, but so far as I know T60 machines were not 64-bit, and so cannot use more than 3Gb.

My Thinkpad T61p is 64-bit and does support more memory (I have 8Gb). .... JDH

jdhurst wrote:Correct me if I am wrong, but so far as I know T60 machines were not 64-bit, and so cannot use more than 3Gb.

My Thinkpad T61p is 64-bit and does support more memory (I have 8Gb). .... JDH

No, as above we're all agreed on that. I was just hashing out refinements on the T60 limits:

Could you use a single 4gb SODIMM.

Will 2x2gb SODIMM cause flakiness, can this be predicted, diagnosed, avoided, cured.

With recommended 2+1GB should 2GB go in Slot 0 or Slot 1 (still not answered).

Would it be happy with PC6400 or should you stick with PC5300. (Pity you couldn't put in DDR3, so much cheaper.)

Must it have low density SODIMM or will high density work.


Most of these have been answered but not all.

BTW don't suppose anyone has 1gb and/or 2gb sticks they want to dump?

I have some 1GB and 2GB PC2-5300 RAM sticks available. Email me (see signature below) if interested.

Daniel.

jdhurst wrote:Correct me if I am wrong, but so far as I know T60 machines were not 64-bit, and so cannot use more than 3Gb.

If you put in a Core 2 Duo CPU (as from the Intel T5000 series, and T7200/T7400/T7600), the machine will become 64-bit.
But you are still chipset-limited to ~3GB usable RAM.

@nichevo:
I answered your questions already! No, no and no.

RealBlackStuff wrote:...
If you put in a Core 2 Duo CPU (as from the Intel T5000 series, and T7200/T7400/T7600), the machine will become 64-bit.
But you are still chipset-limited to ~3GB usable RAM.

@nichevo:
I answered your questions already! No, no and no.

Dude! I didn't ignore you. I was catching up the other guy. Didn't cost nuthin' for me to type, that's all, since I guess he didn't RTWT. And if you notice I snuck in a couple of questions I didn't ask before.


Now lay off the Caf-Pow, Abby!

nichevo wrote:Thanks, Bill! Remaining Qs:

Does which SODIMM in which slot matter, with 2gb+1gb?

Will a single 4gb work?

And...any way of telling/predicting/diagnosing the instabilities in a 2x2gb config?

FWIW. When I got my T60p back in 2006 I bought 2x2GB from Crucial to replace the 2x1GB it came with, not really realizing that the T60p could only use 3GB. After getting schooled around here I replaced one of the 2GB DIMM's with a 1GB DIMM and (anecdotally) it actually seems to run a little faster.

Thanks, ElderGeek. Adds to the consensus that it certainly sounds worth while going 2+1 even if the 2GB weren't at a $premium.

T60/T60p are defintiely capable of 64bit with a proper 64bit CPU. They came equipped with merom core2duo cpus and I've run Windows 7 x64 on my T60p with T7600 with no issues at all. There are also Core2 solo, celeron and pentium dual core CPUs that will work in this platform and support 64bit OS, but some of the Core2 options are so cheap that installing a lesser cpu would be foolish.

Anyone wanting a 1gb ram chip for one of these I can offer them for $8 each. They can be shipped very cheap within the usa, send me a PM for details. I can also get 2gb chips for a reasonable price. I don't know if you can install a 4gb chip in one of these or not. I've read that it will work, but only if it's the only chip installed, but doing so would be foolish as they are quite expensive. For the cost of one 4gb chip, I could install 10gb in five different computers, or 3gb two computers and have enough left over to buy lunch.

1x4Gb issue still not resoved.
I have tried it with 2 sticks separately on 2007-93u with 2.26 official BIOS but hear typical 1-3-3-1.

T60/R60/X60/Z61 can NOT take anything larger than 2GB RAM modules, what is so hard to understand?