Turbo Memory, Ready Drive, Ready boost, and Dashboard

[bojangles]

OK, so this has to be one of the biggest mysteries of the laptop world.
I dont even know why I am bothering, it has added nothing but frustration to my life, and There is no clear benefit to solving it.
Here is what I know:
My w500 came with a 2G turbo memory option from Lenovo.
My machine will not run without crashing every hour or so when Turbo Memory running.
Lenovo tells me to just remove it.
Intel tells me to talk to the system builder. they both dont want to make it work.

I have been through hundreds of crashes and re-starts to get to the following:

I see two Intel related programs on my machine,
Intel turbo memory console.
Intel matrix storage console. (seems to be related but not sure)
If I poke around in the intel folder I can find also ,
Intel turbo memory dashboard (with pinning)
So there is the TM console and dashboard as separate programs

There is a confusing connection to Vista's Ready boost and Ready drive.
Ready boost and ready drive are check boxes inside the turbo memory console. But they are actually Vista things.
Intel turbo memory is there to give the main processor an option of where to find stuff instead of the HDD.
Seems to me that Vista's Ready drive does the same thing? with a memory stick instead of the TM card.
Ready boost is there to add more to the RAM memory using a memory stick.

The three main programs that try to use memory (either on the turbo memory card, or on a memory stick) to either help the HDD or the RAM, the three programs are Vista, Turbo memory console and Turbo memory dashboard. I dont know where the matrix storage console fits in?
Intel (online) shows off the Dashboard program with demo vids etc, and only with a lot of hunting around, does it say somewhere that the dashboard is only automatically installed when you run the driver and software program and there is a 4G turbo memory card installed. It does not say what the 2G card is capable of doing. Dashboard is not available as a separate program, it is hidden inside the software package.
If I have the turbo console running, and only with both check boxes UNCHECKED, then when I put an SD card into my cardreader, then it allows me to choose how much of the SD card I can use for VISTA's ready boost. If the boxes are checked then it tells me that some other media is being used and ready boost is not available. I have yet to see where Vista’s Ready Drive is working.
If I have the checkboxes unchecked, then Intel's Turbo dashboard starts and tells me there is a problem with the turbo memory, and then shows 0 memory available for pinning. If I start turbo dashboard, with the boxes checked, then there is no error on starting. It shows just a few bytes of memory available for pinning, but not the 2G on the turbo memory card.
Keep in mind that if I check the check boxes on the turbo memory console then the ready boost on the SD card goes away.
If I could have an ideal set up, I could get the dashboard program working with my 2G turbo memory card to use as advertised with pinning. I would also like to use a high speed SD card in my card reader slot, and have ready boost use it as extra RAM, or add more space to the dashboard.
Does that make any sense? haha.

[bojangles]

BUMP.... someboday must know something.

Further to my last posting, I think that the checkboxes on the Turbo memory console for readyboost and ready drive are to select how to use the turbo memory cache. Seems obvious now but was not clear before.
Enabling ready boost on the console, uses some amount (what percentage) of the TM cache for ready boost.. I dont know how much of the cache is used for drive vs boost if both at checked.

I currently have only ready drive checked off on the console, hoping that most of the cache is used to help the hard drive, and have a 2G high speed SD card in my card reader set up for Ready Boost as extra Ram.

Still would like to get the pinning working so I know what applications are being cached..

[Marin85]

If I was you, I would simply remove the Turbo Memory card (I believe it is removable). Now as before, Intel Turbo Memory has always been well-known for causing more problems that it has ever solved if it has solved any... I understand you have paid for it, but unfortunately, as of now, there doesn´t exist any final solution to all the problems exhibited by Intel Turbo Cache. Believe me, by removing it you will not lose anything, but you will gain something - your peace of mind and a nice rock-solid ThinkPad

Hope this helps,

Marin

[bojangles]

I would like both Intel and Lenovo to support this......
I dont see ANY other people that have had issues with it.. I have googled turbo memory to death...
There are plenty of write ups on it that cant support the claims of Intel, but never someone whose machine becomes unuseable..

Lenovo reacts like I am the only person that has ever mentioned it to them.. and does everything short of saying "we dont believe what you are telling us"

I have taken one of the few turbo memory cards and installed it onto my brother's R500 (very similarly configured to my W500) and there is no problem whatsover with his machine. It just runs "rock solid" as we all want.

The very fact that there has been ZERO response to my post shows that there are not many others with problems.... so it seems to me.

[Marin85]

If you google for Intel Turbo Memory + BSOD, you will find tons of reports... Even on our forum, mainly in the T6x subforum, there are quite a few reports on problems with Intel Turbo Memory. Most folks on this forum recommend against Intel Turbo Memory, and there is a good reason for that... As to why the chip works in the R500 but it doesn´t in the W500, will IMO remain a mystery. I can understand your frustration, but there is a high chance that any attempts to make it work in your W500 are causa perduta.

Here a few things to consider:
1. Is your HD one of those Samsung hybrid drives?
2. Try out a different HD and see if that will work with the Intel Turbo Memory.

Marin

[ajkula66]

I've read a lot of posts regarding Turbo memory and BSODs on Lenovo's forum, as well as a few around here...personally, I'd never configure a system with it, although W500 that I'm typing this on came with it and hasn't misbehaved in that respect at all.

What version of Vista are you running?

[bojangles]

Just to clarify, I do not get a bsod on my machine.
It mostly happens when IE is open... ( but that is most of the time anyway )
The laptop stops responding first to the application that is being used, and for a brief moment, the mouse and task bar icons respond, and I can change programs.. but after that moment, the machine freezes, sometimes with the HDD light on, sometimes off.

At that point the machine will sit forever, frozen. even left overnight it will not do anything.

the only way to recover is to hold the power button, or pull the battery.

never a bsod.

[barrywohl]

Check out this thread on this forum:
http://www.thinkpads.com/forum/viewtopi ... 48&t=70647

I am using an Intel 4 GB Intel Turbo Memory card on my W700. I used the drivers specified in the thread mentioned above.

I've not had any problems attributable to this card and these drivers since I installed them about a month ago. The loading isn't any faster, but program launching is.

There's also instructions with the newest drivers on how to enable Dashboard when installing a 2 GB card. Dashboard is automatic with the 4 GB card, but not with the 2 GB card.

It is confusing. I agree.

[jbrower]

I realize the previous posts were from February/March 2009, but I'm just coming across them. In June I ordered a W500 with the 2GB Turbo Memory chip (wish I had read reviews on Turbo Memory prior) and Windows Vista, and have had nothing but problems very similar to what you describe. The difference is I do get the periodic BSOD to go along with the very regular system freezes. My system will often not shut down, forcing me to hard shut down. About half the time I turn the machine on, it runs through the CheckDisk protocol and finds a long list of file system errors and orphan files that it claims to fix. Interestingly, the system passes all hard drive and system diagnostic tests. Needless to say, I'm quite frustrated with what I lovingly refer to as my piece of sh!t computer.

Did you have any luck with fixing your problems? Lenovo is now saying I need to send the machine back to have them diagnose the problem. I think I'll pull the Turbo Memory chip first and see if I notice any instant improvements. If you have other advice, I'd definitely appreciate it!

I've also heard that the ThinkVantage software doesn't play nice with Vista. Can anyone corroborate these rumors?

[gpvillamil]

I had problems with Turbo Memory for a while, but since cleared up.

ReadyBoost basically uses flash memory as a cache to speed some types of disk access. ReadyDrive also uses flash memory to store aspects of the system state, to allow quicker suspend/resume and hibernation.

Both of these can use external flash (eg. SD card, thumb drive) or an internal flash memory, such as Turbo Memory.

The problem I had (which has also been alluded to in this thread) is that ReadyDrive is designed to work with hybrid hard disks, disks that include both a spinning platter and some flash. Apparently Vista can only use one device at once for ReadyDrive acceleration, so if you have Turbo Memory AND a hybrid hard disk, then you get all sorts of bizarre problems.

My problems went away by updating the Intel Turbo Memory console and the Intel Matrix Storage drivers to the latest versions, from Intel, and replacing the hard disk with a non-hybrid version. Before, I was seeing the lockups every few hours, like you. After swapping drives, no issues whatsoever, for months.