T42 & T43 questions

[milokat]

Hi there,

I'm a current user of a T43 and T42 (both work and personal laptop), and i have some questions about upgrading the ram.

T43 - installed with 1 x 2GB PC2 5300 667MHz kingston SODIMM RAM (bought and upgraded it myself, from the original installed 512Mb). Balance slot = empty. Laptop's working well.

T42 - still installed with original PC 2700 333 MHZ SODIMM RAM

Qs:
(1) Is there any way to get the T43 to recognise more than 2GB? (i do know that the OS Winxp only recognise 3GB max (is that true?) and the thinkpad only recognises 2GB Max - i have a few extra ram lying around as spare, just a thought).

(2) As for the T42, i'm planning to insert 1 x 2GB RAM and wonder if this will work ?(documentation states that max mem per slot is 1GB, but may not be true coz i've successfully done this with my T43). Another concern i have - Can i buy a PC3200 400MHZ DDR instead of the PC2700 333 MHz for the T42?)

Your feedback and guidance is greatly appreciated, thanks!

[kajencik]

Hello, welcome to the forum!

1) Unfortunately - no way, this is a chipset limitation. see here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/PC2-4200
To the memory limitation - Maximum you can get under Windows XP/Vista 32bit is about 3.2GB RAM, (which however means installing 4GB and letting the 800MB alone) But 2GB can't be exceeded on a T43p, as stated above.

2) I doubt that 2GB DDR I module exist, I did a quick search and found nothig, and again, see thinkwiki: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/PC2700 where it states "DDR SO-DIMM modules exist at a maximum of 1GB. You cannot physically install more RAM than the official specs state. Chipset is limited to 2GB. " So you see... I also think that the PC3200 RAM will worik in your T42, but I'm not 100% sure.

[ajkula66]

On some T43/p units, you'll get BIOS to recognize 2.5GB, but the chipset won't be able to utilize more than 2GB.

One of these fine ThinkPads is T43p currently owned by...my dear friend kajencik, since I've tested that myself...

As kajencik stated, the largest DDR DIMM available is 1GB, which means that maximum RAM for any T42/p is 2GB. And yes, PC3200 should work in your machine, my T42 has 1GB PC3200 and works fine with it.

Hope this helps.

[milokat]

Hi kajencik and ajkula66,

Thank you for the good information

I guess i'll have to resort to fate that my T43 will have to settle for 2GB.

As for the T42, will go get 2 x 1GB for the upgrade.

Have a good day!