380Z Memory Upgrade

[virge]

I think this is the first time I've run into something where I cant find an answer using the search feature... This board has been a great help. Thanks to all!

Well, I finally found a decently priced LCD to replace the cracked one on my 380Z. Since its working again, I've been thinking of upgrading the memory. Currently it has 32mb onboard and a 64mb chip in the sole memory slot.

This is the part I need help on: My understanding is that the onboard memory is EDO and therefore the additional memory chip must also be EDO. From this site, I know 600E owners have been able to disable the onboard memory in the bios and 240X owners can physically cut the onboard memory off the mainboard. Is there any way to do something similar on the 380Z? I would like to use a 256MB stick of PC100 memory if possible... what do ya'll think?

Andy

[whizkid]

Kahlon.com says if your 380Z machine type is 2635-JXX then you can use up to 64MB. But if you have a 2635-HXX then you can use 128MB. I'd try the 128MB if you can find one for cheap. (Kahlon charges $59 for theirs.)

PC100 will never work in a slot meant for EDO, even if you can somehow get it to fit.

While I like to work on my 750P now and then. I don't like that it's limited to 36MB of RAM, but neither am I about to cut off the soldered chips from the board.

As someone on #debian IRC wrote to me: "I'll send you $25 for a newer machine to work on." It questionable to spend time and money when what you get is product knowledge that's already a decade out of date.

[virge]

The PC100 and EDO SODIMMS are the same form factor so a PC100 stick will fit no problems. In terms of installation, there's no issue.

I know some desktop motherboards support either EDO or SDRAM, but not a combination. Heck some motherboards had both DIMM and SIMM slots even! Its not impossible, I just don't know if its possible to use PC100 in the 380Z if the onboard ram is disabled somehow.

Financially, it might be questionable to spend anymore money on this machine, but the knowledge is to satisfy my own curiosity. Its not for profit. This is probably the same reason people still tinker with the venerable 600 series machines. Also, with my limited abilities, it would be quite expensive to start tinkering with the wife's T41 and mess it up. Yikes! There would be repercussions!


Edit: Took a gamble and tried the same "Ctrl D" hex editing as in the 600E series. Was able to disable the onboard memory, but neither PC100 nor PC66 memory was recognized. There goes that idea. I guess I'll have to live with what I got.

[rkawakami]

A check of the twbook.pdf file says the 380Z can go up to 160MB (32MB on board + 128MB EDO SODIMM). However you may run into a physical problem since I believe that most of those 128MB EDO modules were double-height, or about 2" tall or of a stacked design (two chips mounted on top of each other). This seller:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0189862964

appears to have three such modules for sale but with reserves.

[virge]

Actually, it looks like the stacked chip might fit-- at worse, it would involve taking the systemboard out first. Kinda like the 770 I guess.

Thanks for the link.

[thinkpad adrian]

the 128 meg edo's are out thier. (they were never offered by ibm, but made by several memory companys). they were specific to the thinpad 380z's only. kingston sold one. they show up
on e-bay from time to time, even have 380z in the part number. expect to pay $35 to $50 for one.
make SHURE its edo, pc66/100 will not work, nor be recignized by the computer. you WILL need that memory module to run xp. dont bother without it. you can run me just fine with 96 megs, the
64 meg edo's are very plentifull, used on dells, and other thinkpads. good luck on your quest, adrian

[virge]

Adrian, thanks for the info. I think I'm going to stick with my 64 meg chip for now and run WinME. I know its sometimes referred to as "the worst operating system ever" but its been very staple on the 560 and 570 machines. Hopefully it will be just as good in the 380z. I have some older games that only work via IPX so sticking with ME is okay.

[thinkpad adrian]

when you put M.E. in, get a large hard drive (40 to 80 gigs)
make shure your bios is up to date (for the hard drive and xp support). partition the drive into 2 (you rally only have to partion 50% of the drive, leav the rest empty. load me on the first partition. when you finally get that
128 megs of memory, you can load xp on the 2nd partion. xp supports dual boots, and you will have it both ways. i did it, and it works GREAT. my 380z is a great little computer, my first thinkpad,
and i still use it whenever i go on trips. one other thing, its possible to swap out the built in cd rom with a cd burner, dvd rom,
or dvd combo drive. you have to take the computer appart to do it,
but i can now burn cd's, and watch dvd's with mine. adrian

[w3dbj]

How do you take a 380z apart? Is there a PDF or diagram somewhere? I don't have the thing in front of me yet, still waiting for it to be delivered. It's going to be used in my car on a mount for 2 way GPS tracking, so something that wouldn't hurt if it was stolen was the best idea, hence the older IBM.

If you have a recommendation for a cd-rw to fit, please let me know, it could be useful to dump data maps.

Thanks,
Darryl

[whizkid]

Please don't hijack the threads.

But see this site's FAQ. There is a pointer to a site where you can download the instructions.

[w3dbj]

Thank you - noted

[w3dbj]

On the topic - has anyone tried a 256 MB EDO DIMM in a 380Z? Did it boot?

Thank you,

[thinkpad adrian]

no such thing as a 256 meg edo sodimm the largest was 128,
and only avalable from after-market. (ibm never offered them)
i bought one that was a kingston, and actually had 380z as part of the part number. other memory makers sold them also.
a MUST HAVE to run xp. adrian

[w3dbj]

Thanks for the info. I plan to run a really stripped down version of XP that was made for the international market. The downside is it only allows 3 open windows at a time, but all I need is one for the APRS software. The only requirements for a laptop for this use is a USB port serial port and soundcard under XP. My newer laptop has no serial port, so I was fubared. I've always liked IBM's but when they were new I couldn't afford one so went with Toshiba and kinda stuck with them for 10 yrs.

I like old hardware and hacks, so I'm looking forward to getting the IBM here and playing with it more than I looked forward to my last brand new computer!

[thinkpad adrian]

regular xp really runs nice on the 380z, as long as you have the
additional 128 meg of edo, (its inposibly slow without it).
a newer 5400 rpm hard drive with 20 or 30 gigs helps a lot too.
as for taking the thing apart, down load the HWW (hareware maitenence manual). how i did it: to get the cd rom out, take out the battery,
and hard drive, remove a bunch of screws from the bottom of the lap top,
flip it back over, and pull keyboard forward and out, remove screws securing the hinge portion of the screen, along with supporting brakets, you can then remove the cd-rom/floopy assembly.
the cd rom comes out of the combo carrier. swap the adapter on the back of the old cd rom to the new burner/dvd/combo drive
and re-install. it is tricky work getting everything out and in,
so take your time. would suggest a large well lit table with a large white towel on it. makes it easyer to locate all those screws.
the drive i used was a gateway or dell that had a flat front cover,
and the same style plug on the back. the plastic door of the new combo drive
had to be shaved down in height about 1/32 of an inch so it would not hang up on opening and closing. used a razor blade, and just scraped it down. very happy with the results. one last thought,
the dvd will play, but without a external mpeg decoder (margi dvd to go) the picture is real jerky. with the margi, it works PERFECT!!
good luck, adrian

[w3dbj]

Thanks Adrian - would this drive fit? eBay 150214720387

[thinkpad adrian]

yes it will, but you will have to remove it from the caddy, and the front door will be a little funny (the front door on the 380z is totally flat, the 600's all have a bevel at the bottom). the drives from dell and gateway also were flat, but just a little taller, so they need to be trimmed down. you may be able to swap the door off of your old drive, if they were made by the same company.
also, try to get a combo drive (one that can burn cd's also)
the one you listed is just a dvd/cd rom drive. good luck, adrian

[w3dbj]

Thanks Arian, think I've found one from a T60 - the doors look pretty simmilar

[w3dbj]

Thanks for the tips - Kingston 128 MB RAM worked wonders, fit like a glove. Missed out on the DVD/CD-RW combo drive, but it seems like the 380 is tough to take apart, or at least, put back together after being taken apart, so I'm gonna leave that for a while. XP is on, and so is my radio software and GPS navigation software, so I'm almost on the air with it. Couldn't have done it without this board

[BillsR100]

regular xp really runs nice on the 380z, as long as you have the
additional 128 meg of edo, (its inposibly slow without it).

Adrian, I read this a while ago and cant stand it and have to disagree!
I'm running Windows XP on my 380z with 96MB Ram and I'm pretty happy. But (there's always a but) But I do wish I had more ram of course, but my point is, my little 380z is happy while I surf the net, write emails and even use MS Office (word, excel) I did use the guidelines found here to turn off many many unneeded XP services which without doing so would make XP impossibly slow. So, with a little tweaking, it can be done! If I may brag a little... at one point I had XP up and running on this 380z using only 54 MB Ram, thats gotta be a record of some kind! Since then I had to turn back on a few services and now it uses on average 92 MB Ram while surfing the net (just now checked using task manager)

[w3dbj]

W's the link to the post on xp services? I searched but can't find it.

Thanks

[BillsR100]

W's the link to the post on xp services? I searched but can't find it.

I'm so sorry w3dbj, I made a mistake in thinking I found what I needed concerning turning off unneeded Windows XP services in this web site. I just looked for the web page I used and now cant find it, (dang) What I can do is give you a list of web sites that are handy in figuring out what to turn off and whats needed.

This web site is what got me started in turning unneeded services off to make my 380z happier
http://www.nexle.dk/win2000-32mb/

This contains a complete list of services with notes
http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm

Another good one.
http://juntariman.wordpress.com/2008/01 ... -services/

This web site is the mother lode of services to turn off, Note the far left column "Bare Bones" in the chart in this page. (scroll down a bit)
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm


It took a lot of time to figure out what services are needed and whats not, If I may make a suggestion, be patient, turn off questionable things one at a time and see what happens. Maybe do this over several days. Slowly tweeking and turning stuff off.

Sorry I dont have a definitive list of what service to disable and what not to.

[thinkpad adrian]

well i never said its inpossible, but my experiance is as soon as xp
gobbles up all avalable memory (and it WILL with 64 to 96 megs)
it starts to use "page file" memory, constantly writing to the disk.
it then gets so slowwwwwwwwwwww!!!
just hit "control/alt/delete" to start the task manager, and see how much it uses. the longer you use the computer, the more memory gets allocated. im shure it can be done, (through tweeks),
but in this case, more memory is definatly better. one thing to think about is that microsoft said the MINIMUM memory to run xp is 64 megs, but to actually work well, you need at least double that.
they also say you can run xp with a 233mmx pentium cpu, but have you tried? i have. when i used the media player to play a audio cd, it used up 95% of the cpu resources. not much left over to do anything else. adrian