W510 sees 500 GB hard drive as 320 GB [& RAM upgrade]

[Economizer]

Happy Easter everyone.

I just opened two Advanced Format 500 GB hard drives (according to the labels). Every partitioning tool I've tried sees them as the correct model number (which denotes 500 GB) but 320 GB capacity. The tools I've tried are: parted, gdisk, and whatever FreeBSD 10.0 uses.

The only relevant BIOS setting seems to be AHCI (not "Compatibility"), which seems very reasonable given that these are modern SATA III drives manufactured June 2013.

Am I missing something obvious?

EDIT: I put one of the drives into a desktop computer: it also sees them as 320 GB. These are fairly standard HGST 7k500 drives.

Second question:
Also, it's a dual-core, so I presume I'm limited to only 2 memory slots. How can I tell whether the machine will accept 8 GB sticks or not?

[ideal-pc]

As far as the memory goes, if you look for the hardware maintenance manual on Lenovo's website it will have all the FRU's near the back & somewhere there will be all the compatable memory modules, a good way to see the max memory. With regard to the HDD's it sounds like something is wrong with them, especially as you have tried in a second machine! Do you have access to Acronis Disk Director boot cd or Paragon hard disk manager? You could try them or just get a free hard disk manager from a trusted online source & see if that helps.

[RealBlackStuff]

Those appear to be wrong labels/boxes.
Return them for a refund/replacement.
AFAIK the C2D version does not accept 8GB modules in a 2-slot machine, only 2x4GB.
The 4-slot with quad-core CPU can accept 4x8GB=32GB total.
See also this: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-75886

[Economizer]

Those appear to be wrong labels/boxes.

Looks like I'll need to return them (it's been a rather long time since I ordered them), but what's confusing is that HDD Diagnostic program in the BIOS (as well as the formatting tools) reports a 500 GB part number (HTS725050A: 320 GB would end in 32A). Has anyone seen this issue elsewhere?

AFAIK the C2D version does not accept 8GB modules in a 2-slot machine, only 2x4GB.
The 4-slot with quad-core CPU can accept 4x8GB=32GB total.
See also this: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail. ... MIGR-75886

I was thinking that maybe the 8GB was undocumented. My source was here:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:W510
"note that at least some 4 slot models accepts 32GB - confirmed with W510 4391-BB6 and 4x8GB Corsair Vengenance 1600MHz = 2x CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10, all detected and usable by Windows 7 64-bit. Perhaps 2 slot models will accept 16 GB?) "

[Adda]

The W510 with dual core does NOT have a Core2 Duo CPU, but uses first generation Core i5/i7 CPU's.

Officially it supports 8GB of ram max, but Intel states that dual core i5/i7 CPU's take 8GB sticks, so it should work fine with 2x8GB, as the dual core W510 only has two memory slots.

According to Lenovo, the W510 with quad core only supports 4x4GB, but again, Intel states that it works with 8GB sticks, and with four memory sockets that brings us up to a max of 32GB.

[Adda]

Hmm when researching the subject it's difficult to find a straight answer, as I said Intel states that all first generation Core i5/i7 CPU's support the same amount of ram, dual core or not.

But people around the web seem to think otherwise, at least when it comes to core i5 CPU's, that those are limited to 2x4GB.

Someone will have to test it and see, but I don't have any 8GB sticks.

The dual core W510 will most likely take the same memory sticks as the T510, but is there a difference in how large modules it will accept, depending on weather it has a i5 or i7 CPU?

[Adda]

Alright, the answer I'll settle for is that it seems that you can't get DDR3-1066 sticks of more then 4GB.

Since the first generation dual core i5/i7 CPU's don't support ram faster then that, I'll assume it can't make use of the higher capacity of faster ram modules (like DDR3-1333).

I wonder why Intel says all these CPU's support 8GB of ram!??!

Look at this:

Core i7 720QM:
http://ark.intel.com/products/43122/Int ... e-1_60-GHz

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 8 GB

Core i7 620m:
http://ark.intel.com/products/43560/Int ... e-2_66-GHz

Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 8 GB

Confused yet?

[Cigarguy]

Confused yet?

No not really because it's more than CPU + RAM. It's CPU + RAM + Chipset + implementation and keyboard design. This is nothing new and unique to Lenovo and is common on the desktop side too. Look at the T60 as an example, MB will take a T7200 with is a 64 bit CPU but this series can only take max 3 GB RAM due to chipset limitations which was a design choice.

[Adda]

No not really because it's more than CPU + RAM. It's CPU + RAM + Chipset + implementation and keyboard design. This is nothing new and unique to Lenovo and is common on the desktop side too. Look at the T60 as an example, MB will take a T7200 with is a 64 bit CPU but this series can only take max 3 GB RAM due to chipset limitations which was a design choice.

In this case, the chipset is on the CPU it self.
According to ThinkWiki, the T510 uses the QM57 chipset, same as the W510.

[Adda]

ThinkWiki may be wrong, other sources indicate that the quad core i7's use the HM55 chipset, while the dual core CPU's use the QM57 chipset.

Edit: my W510 has the QM57 chipset.

But all of this should be irrelevant since the memory controller, as it is located on the CPU.

The answer must be that if a memory controller, doesn't support anything faster then DDR3-1066, then it won't support sticks larger then 4GB each, since no 8GB DDR3-1066 sticks have been made (to my knowledge, at least they are not common).

[Economizer]

ThinkWiki may be wrong, other sources indicate that the quad core i7's use the HM55 chipset, while the dual core CPU's use the QM57 chipset.

Edit: my W510 has the QM57 chipset.

But all of this should be irrelevant since the memory controller, as it is located on the CPU.

The answer must be that if a memory controller, doesn't support anything faster then DDR3-1066, then it won't support sticks larger then 4GB each, since no 8GB DDR3-1066 sticks have been made (to my knowledge, at least they are not common).

And yet Crucial's Web site recommends 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800 modules.

The W510 in the ThinkWiki which took the 8GB chips is a 4391-BB6, which also supports only 8 GB according to this:
http://ark.intel.com/products/43122/Int ... Hz?q=720QM

[Adda]

And yet Crucial's Web site recommends 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800 modules.

It will work with memory faster then DDR3-1066 (PC3-8500), but it will be down clocked to PC8500 speeds.

But it seems that there are more differences between memory controllers that can handle 1066MHz and 1333MHz ram, then just the bandwidth.
There must be a reason why no 8GB PC3-8500 modules are available, the only reason I can come up with is that the support for large modules got introduced with PC3-10600 and the memory controllers that supported it.

But then, the quad core i7's are older then the dual core ones...

Sigh, test at your own economical risk, I'm sure 8GB modules won't break your W510, but they may not work at all, though any DDR3 module of 4GB or less will certainly work.

[Economizer]

A user who shall remain anonymous sent me a PM suggesting I use hdparm to look for HPA and DCO:

Code: Select all

# hdparm -N /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
 max sectors = 625142449/976773168, HPA is enabled

Multiplying that ratio by 500 yields 320, so this seems to be the culprit.

Code: Select all

hdparm --dco-identify /dev/sda

shows "real max sectors" corresponding to the denominator, and that HPA can be disabled.

[EarlWer]

Old topic but somewhat related:
I now have 4 x 8GB Corsair Vengenance 1600MHz = 2x CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10

That's 32GB in this old W510.

Lenovo 43192RU - i7 820QM
Bios ver: 6NET84WW (1.45) 10/03/2012
This was a high-end model when purchased.

Originally, I found 1 set (2 x 8GB) online. For dual-channel, I needed one under the keyboard (top slot) and the other in the bottom. Worked fine for a few months, but I wanted more...

When I installed the 2nd set ($70 on eBay), it seemed unhappy.
I removed the original pair, put the 2nd pair in that position and rebooted... OK.

Good luck on your upgrades

Then when I added the 2nd pair in the empty slots, no problems..

[bit_twiddler]

If it's any consolation, I have a W510 with an 820QM, and it runs with 32G of memory
just fine. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of DDR3 stick you put in there, it just works.

But the Intel page lists its max memory at 8GB: http://ark.intel.com/products/43124/Int ... e-1_73-GHz

So, I think you can safely disregard the ark.intel page. I'd be surprised if you couldn't stick 2 8GB sticks of DDR3 in your dual-core
to get 16GB - but I don't have a machine like that, so I can't definitively say that it is possible.

I'm sure, though, that someone has done that on a W510 or T510.