Thinkpads Forum

Hi!

Well my t61p WUXGA 2.4 C2D just arrived..

First impressions it looks different to my old 'IBM' t43p but overall i think i like the slightly different look now that its 'Lenovo'.

I had a quick question about ready boost tho. I just asumed it was internal, but it came with a 1GB JetFlash V30 usb stick. Mind you this was from ebay and the price was really good regardless of if it had readyboost or not.

It just seems silly to me to have this stick plugged into a usb slot all the time, when i move the laptop i'll probably break it.

It seems to have some sort of card reader at the front, can i get some kind of ready boost for that as well? I'm a little concearned about there being no cover over that slot.

One more question.. this is a US t61p but i'm in the UK. The wireless doesn't see channel 13.

Usually i change the locale to UK and it works, but doesnt seem to be on the t61, any ideas?

I've also got a T61p with 15.4" screen.

Vista supports both Intel ReadyBoost and Intel ReadyDrive. Readyboost expands system memory. ReadyDrive uses non-volatile cache to speed start-up.

To use ReadyBoost you can use a built in "Intel Turbo Memory" chip or an external ram such as a USB jump drive or a memory card slipped into the 4 in 1 slot on the front of your T61p.

To use ReadyDrive you need the "Intel Turbo Memory" which fits into an internal slot on the T61p motherboard. It was an option when the original purchaser bought it.

If the original purchaser bought the 1 GB "Intel Turbo Memory" option ($39 to $50 at time of purchase" then you could configure up to 512MB of ReadyDrive and up to 512MB of ReadyBoost on that 1GB area. Alternately, you could configure up to 512MB of ReadyDrive on that chip and much more ReadyBoost on jump drive or SD card.


Go to Start and then in the little search bar above, type in Intel Turbo and the Intel Turbo Memory Console should come up and show you your options.

I hope this helps.

Here's a link from Intel which might help.

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/i ... 026011.htm

kam_ wrote:One more question.. this is a US t61p but i'm in the UK. The wireless doesn't see channel 13.

US FCC certified Wi Fi cards are available for channels 1 through 11 only. You need a Euro certified WiFi card to acquire channels 1 through 13.

Cheers,

Bill B.

ahh that sucks. On every other device i've had i've been able to just change the region and it worked. For example the iphone.

Re the intel turbo, it doesnt show anything. There's no Intel Turbo console installed

Try this Intel link.
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/i ... 026012.htm

If you have ReadyBoost, but not ReadyDrive; don't worry too much. At this time ReadyDrive drivers have been more trouble than they're worth for many users.

Barry

yeah thats what i tried. i dont see it there. Search finds nothing

I havnt done any updates yet tho.. just removing nortons and the other rubish

I must say this laptop is sooo quiet i'm shocked. I feel likes its not even on. Not used to that at all.

I can't say i'm that impressed by the speed yet tho. I guess i'll do all the updates before i judge

kam_ wrote: I must say this laptop is sooo quiet i'm shocked. I feel likes its not even on. Not used to that at all.

Not surprised you'd have that reaction coming from a T43/p, which sounds like an eggbeater on crack

Hmm still doesnt seem very fast to me.. I got scores of:

5.3/4.8/5.9/5.4/5.4

not sure why its only 4.8 for memory since it has 4GB in it.

kam_ wrote: 5.3/4.8/5.9/5.4/5.4

That is normal. Mine are 5.2 / 4.8 / 5.9 / 5.5 /5.4

running Vista Ultimate x64, 4GB of 667 RAM, 2.4 GHZ core 2 duo and 7K200 Hitachi drive.

Barry

Hmm i don't seem to have the Intel Turbo memory console. I've tried installing the Intel package, which should have installed it, and now i have Intel Matrix Storage Console. But all i see in there is my Hard drive.

Any ideas?

If you don't have Intel flash cache logic chip (Turbo memory) then installing the mentioned package is pointless.

What you're looking for is the following:

Windows ReadyBoost.

Erm i know that already. I've checked on the Lenovo website and i DO have the controller as the driver is installed.
I have also checked on the Intel website and it refers to the same hardware which i see in my control pannel.

What you pointed me to is the windows Ready Boost which does indeed fire up when i plug in a USB stick.

I know that IF the system wasn't configured at purchase with the internal 1GB Intel Turbo memory then the console will show it as disabled. But this system should have it.

In any case i should be able to run the Intel Turbo Console, but its not there. This thinkpad did startup on a 'boot to safe mode' prompt and i saw a couple of files in the startup scripts fail, so perhaps thats the problem.

Now i have another problem tho. I went to create recovery media, and it started 'extracting'. Some other process rebooted the computer and now when i try to create the media again it says 'the resource you are trying to use is in use'

argh!

ok all fully restored, updated (both vista and system update), and still no turbo memory console.

The seller assures me Tubro memory is definatly in the system - and anyway the console should be there, just showing me turbo memory is inactive if its not installed.

What am i missing?

In order to be certain if you have turbo memory installed from lenovo is to do Parts Lookup.

Secondly go to the following thread and read the conditions I posted there for Turbo memory (under which it works):

My new X61s missing a part?.

Thirdly, I'm not sure if Intel turbo memory console is suppose to show you any details when you're using ReadyBoost through a SD card and not via NAND memory from Intel, I have no such thinkpad with 965 chipset to verify it.

thanks! that was a great help. I found the FRU and it wasn't on the list of parts for my serial number.

I've emailed the seller to sort it out. I guess he can just ship me one - its easy to install right?

So the seller offered to send me the Intel Turbo Memory module or take a $60 refund. I took the refund and ordered a module from the UK for £15

Anyway its all installed and up and running but i had another question.

Since the T61p doesnt have a sdcard cover, i'm going to put an old sdcard in there (i'll run through the ones i got to find the fastest) and may as run readyboost on it. So i deisabled readyboost on the Intel turbo memory consol and only run ready drive. But is it using all 1GB for readydrive now?
I've googled and so many people asked the same question but i've yet to see any answer.

Anyone know a way to verify one way or the other?

In my viewpoint the more significant question is, whether is it really useful?:

Investigating Intel's Turbo Memory: Does it really work?. (interesting detailed analysis, kindly read)

Might anyone know if it's possible to buy the ReadyBoost (Intel Turbo Memory) chip for a T61, the part number and if it's advanced-user installable?

Thanks!

You can order it from IBM parts, the system part number you require is 42T0907.

You can install it by yourself, please refer to HMM for that, the following thread has some related info on this:

Removing / installing Turbo Memory module on T61. How to?

The latest Intel Turbo Memory driver revision is 1.5.0.1013 (official Lenovo one is still at 1004).

Any side effects or instabilities noticed when using the latest driver?

thanks

Personally i found ReadyDrive to be quite useless. My (hybrid) harddrive tells me it has 387mb of NVRam already.

BUT, i have noticed a huge difference when using readyboost when i'm opening alot of instances of the same applications. I have noticed a significant speed improvment when i open a bunch of excel, Serial monitor, embeded development IDE and other program instances at the same time.

That would make sense sinse those programs would get paged out to the readyboost drive.

My personal opinion is rather than waste money on the intel turbo memory, spend it on more physical RAM or a better (faster) hard drive. Those times you will be running lots of instances of the same programs, plug in a USB flash stick. OR keep an SD card in your sd slot if you got a T61p like me.

ryengineer wrote:You can order it from IBM parts, the system part number you require is 42T0907.

This part is @ $150 from Lenovo, quite expensive. I have found a part online "INTEL NVCPEMWR001G110 INTEL TURBO MEMORY CARD (1GB)" that can be had for @ $32 shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Turbo-Memor ... B000Q82V1W

I see one review at Amazon from a Thinkpadder that said it worked in his/her machine, I may try it in my T61P, but I have a question about installing it as well. My machine came with the Verizon Sierra CDMA2000 WAN. Do I have to lose that card in order to install the Turbo card? Is there another slot for the turbo card so that I don't have to lose the WAN card? Anything else I need to be concerned about?

Harryc wrote:

ryengineer wrote:You can order it from IBM parts, the system part number you require is 42T0907.

This part is @ $150 from Lenovo, quite expensive. I have found a part online "INTEL NVCPEMWR001G110 INTEL TURBO MEMORY CARD (1GB)" that can be had for @ $32 shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Turbo-Memor ... B000Q82V1W

I see one review at Amazon from a Thinkpadder that said it worked in his/her machine, I may try it in my T61P, but I have a question about installing it as well. My machine came with the Verizon Sierra CDMA2000 WAN. Do I have to lose that card in order to install the Turbo card? Is there another slot for the turbo card so that I don't have to lose the WAN card? Anything else I need to be concerned about?

I believe it is either the WAN card or the Turbo Memory card but not both.

kam_ wrote:Personally i found ReadyDrive to be quite useless. My (hybrid) harddrive tells me it has 387mb of NVRam already.

BUT, i have noticed a huge difference when using readyboost
...
My personal opinion is rather than waste money on the intel turbo memory, spend it on more physical RAM or a better (faster) hard drive.

You nailed it. ReadyBoost only really helps on systems with limited RAM. You're FAR better of maxing the RAM in your system (3GB or 4GB, depending on model and O/S, see this thread) and then after that getting a nice fast hard drive.

with 4GB installed in my T61p i've never once noticed a difference using readyboost with a UDMA compactflash or class-6 SDHC card.   it's true; having more system memory is better.

I have 4GB in my t61p (3gb usable of course), and i did notice a difference with readyboost after a few hours of my normal use. Thats more because of the way i use my laptop and my habits. For example i usually have about 15 apps open at once - multiple instance of the same too. Especially while developing hardware i have a load of serial monitors, USB monitores, a couple of embedded IDE's running etc.

I think readyboost is cheap to test because everyone has an USB stick laying around. Try it, if it isnt working for you don't use it again!. The readydrive stuff tho, once u bought it you can't really re-use it for anything else. So i wouldnt bother.

Harryc wrote:

ryengineer wrote:You can order it from IBM parts, the system part number you require is 42T0907.

This part is @ $150 from Lenovo, quite expensive. I have found a part online "INTEL NVCPEMWR001G110 INTEL TURBO MEMORY CARD (1GB)" that can be had for @ $32 shipped.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Turbo-Memor ... B000Q82V1W

Thats exactly what i bought (from amazon but from a uk marketplace dealer) and it works fine. Its all intel branded (you can check with the seller if you're worried) so i beleive its all the same thing.

oh btw, i'm now using a SDcard for readyboost. I searched all over the place for vista redyboost event log speeds and the fastest one is the Lexar Premium 4GB 60x

Vista tells me its doing 8.9mb read and 9.3 write in my t61p integrated sdcard reader.

I thought someone might find that helpful

What are my options as far as ReadyBoost, ReadyDrive, and/or Turbo Memory for my T60p?

Thanks...