Thinkpads Forum

Hi,
Is there any issue with Turbo mem and windows XP ? IBM web site displays this warning:
Turbo Memory is not compatible with Genuine Windows XP.
I found this configurtaion. Please advise !


Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5ghz/800mhz/6MB)
Operating System: Windows XP Pro 32 bit
14.1" SXGA+ TFT active matrix non-widescreen display (1400 x1050 pixels)
Total Memory: 4 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz Memory (2 DIMMs)
Graphics Card: Nvidia Quadro FX 570M workstation grade graphics card
Pointing Device: UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
Hard drive: 160GB 5400 RPM SATA Drive
Intel Turbo Memory: Yes - 1GB
Optical Device: DVD/RW +/- Dual Layer (Burns CD & DVD's)
Integrated Wireless Card: Intel wireless WiFi link Pro 4965
Bluetooth: Yes - Integrated
Battery: 9 Cell Extended

Windows XP does not support Turbo memory. Regarding your configuration, where did you find it? If it was on the Lenovo website it may be a fluke (I thought there were checks in place to prevent you from ordering an XP machine with turbo memory). If it is from somewhere else (e.g. Ebay) it may be suspect; also the 4 GB memory is pointless....but that's another thread.

I should say it is possible to have an XP machine with turbo memory on it, it just won't work. Example: You order a Vista machine with turbo memory but later decide to remove Vista and put XP on it. You still have the hardware for turbo memory, but XP doesn't support it, so you'll get warnings and/or BSODs (I think Lenovo even has a tool for disabling turbo memory specifically for this case).

Bottom line: XP and turbo memory aren't compatible.

I have turbo memory and run both Vista and XP on the TP and didn't have to do anything special for the XP to run with no problem.

Your machine will will just see it as a PCI device in device manager. There are drivers on Lenovo.com that'll basically make the device either invisible or just dumb for XP. There is noway for XP to use Turbo Memory because it has no support for it at all. The drivers were recently created to do what i mentioned above... this was probably in the last 2-3 months. Before that people that chose to install XP on their machines that came with it just had a device there and that's that. They basically just removed it and left it in the drawer (as some people with Vista do too)

Isn't a 1MB "turbo memory" card - for all intents and purposes - quite useless even in Vista? I understand if the thing was 4, or 8 or 16MB, but 1MB?

BTW, the link to the Lenovo "patch" to disable the Turbo Memory card for XP is here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-68244

Thanks a lot guys. The configuration I found it on ebay. I saw that on ibm website there is a warning message in case of a combination XP/Turbo mem. I raised the question to the vendor and he told me there is no problem !

icantux wrote:Isn't a 1MB "turbo memory" card - for all intents and purposes - quite useless even in Vista? I understand if the thing was 4, or 8 or 16MB, but 1MB?

BTW, the link to the Lenovo "patch" to disable the Turbo Memory card for XP is here:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-68244

what? 1MB? It's a 1GB Turbo Memory chip... where you saw 1MB?

it's Intel Turbo Memory 1GB !

sry. typo... busy day, mind elsewhere.