[LB S7110] Core2duo t7400 with 4GB ram not possible?

[Dave O]

Hear what you say, over the first five months of this new computer I have read so much on this subject. half of which contradicts what other other half say, I've just stumbled onto a fix for mine, can't say I understand what is going on.

Memory remap resides in the Northbridge settings. My ASUS Commando is for overclockers, highend users and gamers; probably why it has this function. F/S usually use cut down boards probably why you can't find it.

My Dell Inspiron has 4gb installed, 4gb seen by the bios & Vista SP1, but under task management only 3.4gb is useable. Seems by what people say I can't expect any more

[amater]

I managed to test two more notebook if they support 4GB RAM. Here are the results:

1. FSC Amilo PRO V8210 (according to the datasheet it supports up to 4GB ram)

With BIOS A0V:

Only 3072MB detected in BIOS (even less than on S7110

With the latest B0G BIOS:

No changes

2. HP Pavilion 6500

Eureka!!!!!!!!!!!! It detects 4096MB ram!!!!!


Tomorrow I will also test the S7110 with Core 2 Duo CPU and we'll see if that does the trick. My bet is that it won't change everything, so FSC helpdesk if you're reading this, please start preparing an explanation as I will demand it.

Hmm... I wonder if I could trade in my S7110 for the Pavilion. For the price I paid I should get two of them

[amater]

So as promised here are the results of the test on S7110 with Core 2 Duo CPU and 4GB ram:


As you can see, it's still the same situation. It detects only 3328MB ram. So if I were to follow the helpdesk's advice I'd just throw away a lot of money.

I also had the chance to test the Lifebook E8310 with 4GB ram:


To my big surprise, this one actually recognized the whole 4GB ram, making it the first FSC notebook to do that.

[massi]

Hi,

as a consequence of this discussion I'm planning to upgrade my S7110 Supreme to only 3 GB.
Are there any known problems with mixing original RAM modules with external ones, for example like this http://www.compuram.de/arbeitsspeicher, ... alueVP.htm.

What about the warranty?

Many thanks.

[amater]

Hi Massi!

No it's not a problem to mix modules as long as you make sure that you use DDR2 667 modules.

[massi]

Thanks for your answer.
Which modules are recommendable? Kingston?

[amater]

Hi folks,
I'm back with more news to this issue:

1. I'm still waiting for FSC's technical support to give me their official feedback (it's more than a week now and no word from them).

2. I managed to get the information from another reliable source (who wishes to stay anonymous). The source told me that the S7110 will never be able to use the full 4GB ram! It doesn't matter if you have a x64 cpu and x64 os as this is the limitation of the Intel 945G chipset

I really trust this source and for me that's it. The only thing I can do now is to write an official complaint to the customer protection agency and let them decide if FSC was misleading customers with false data.

[Thibault]

The only thing I can do now is to write an official complaint to the customer protection agency

Please Do so (ie writing an official protestation letter)

mentionning the threads in this forum including mine with core duo T2500 :
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=29515

on top of that you may start an on line petition l have pointed this free online petition site in english for
worlwide customers to be able to sign :

http://www.petitiononline.com/

There are already petitions mentionning fujistsu siemens like one asking them to make again windows mobile devices.

French people may contact concurrence direction administration : DGCCRF for selling products not complying with data sheet.

This may be done also at the european union competition head quarter of the european commision
here is the email address :

InfoComp@ec.europa.eu

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/contact_en.html

I think it could interest the european commission in fo far as the selling by fujitsu siemens of products claiming to support 4GB ram and not able to meet the specification on the whole european market.

This is breaking fairness of competition on the european wide market !

[RadioRaiders]

Interesting thread. I've read it several times and spent alot of time searching the internet, and the one common thing I've seen is that it seems to be an issue with a combination of the Intel 945 with intergrated GMA950 graphics chip and a processor less than Centrino (Santa Rosa or "Core 2 Duo").

In all the BIOS screenshots in this thread, all the "Intel Core 2 Duo" machines showed 4GB RAM.. but I think they also don't have the 945 chip. But the Intel 945 does say it's 64 bit capable...altho doesn't say about 2GB modules:

Supports single-/dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM
• Maximum Memory supported: up to 4 GB at 400, 533 and 667 MHz
• 64-bit wide per channel
• Three Memory Channel Configurations supported:
— Single-Channel
— Dual-Channel Symmetric
— Dual-Channel Asymmetric
• One SO-DIMM connector per channel
• 256-Mb, 512-Mb and 1-Gb memory technologies supported

...but then says only 2GB system memory supported for Mobile Intel 945GM/945GME:

System Memory Support
• Supports single-channel DDR2 SDRAM only
• Maximum Memory supported 2 GB
• Memory Channel Topologies supported:
— Single-channel with 1 SO-DIMM only (up to 1 GB)
— Single-channel with 1 SO-DIMM (up to 1 GB) and Memory Down (up to 1 GB)
• Support for DDR2 at 400 MHz and 533 MHz

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/mo ... tation.htm
...buit then the chipset comparison says 2 SO-DIMMs can support 4GB RAM..

Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset

Processor Supported Intel® Core™2 Duo processor,
Intel® Core™ Duo processor,
Intel® Core™ Duo processor Low Voltage (LV),
Intel® Core™ Duo processor Ultra Low Voltage (ULV),
Intel® Core™ Solo processor,
Intel® Core™ Solo processor Ultra Low Voltage (ULV),
Intel® Celeron® M processor,
Intel® Celeron® M processor Ultra Low Voltage (ULV)

FSB Speed 667 MHz,533 MHz
#SO-DIMMs/Max Memory 2 SO-DIMMs / up to 4GB Max System Memory @ 533 MHz
Memory Type DDR2 667 MHz,DDR2 533 MHz
Memory Channels Dual/Single Channel

http://compare.intel.com/pcc/showchart. ... familyID=7

I will soon receive a Amilo pro V3525 laptop with a Core 2 Duo T5200 and 945 chip with GMA950 graphics and see if I can upgrade it to 4GB RAM...I'll post back after I try it. meanwhile, has anyone have a BIOS screen shot of a Core 2 Duo processor with a 945 graphics chipset and 4GB RAM installed?

PS- Here's an interesting read, seems Lenovo also has the same problem, altho they do admit to it being a fault of the 945 chip:

Maximum memory capacity may require the replacement of standard component with largest supported component available. On ThinkPad systems with an Intel 945GM, 945PM, GM965, or PM965 chipset, even though it is possible to physically install 4GB of memory, the actual amount of memory addressable by an operating system will be limited to 3GB. This limitation does not exist with the Intel GM965 and PM965 with the 64-bit operating systems Windows XP Professional 64-bit and Windows Vista 64-bit Editions.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=49703

[puff]

I have a FSC Amilo Pro V3505, I installed 4 GB ram, it seem like bios sees only 3GB, but Win XP, Win Vista, Ubuntu reeds all 4 GB.
I don't know what to belive:
1. The laptop uses only 3 gb aout of 4 gb ram?
2. Any of the operateing sistems i mentiond, use, all 4 gb ram?

[amater]

@puff
If you can please post pictures (like I did in my posts). This I really have to SEE

[duke9985]

Hello,

Did you have any answer for the support of 4gb on your lifebook s7110 ?

Thanks

BEst

loic

[amater]

FSC will never go public with this, but I have learned that S7110 will never support 4GB ram. Doesn't matter if you have a 64bit OS and a 64bit CPU, S7110 will still only see 3,3GB. No ammount of BIOS updates will solve this, as this is a hardware limitation of the 945GM chipset.

[flogazo]

Hi,
I recently (before finding this thread and becoming aware of the possible difficulties) bought two 2GB chips to upgrade my S7110 to 4GB RAM. My problem is that when I have both chips installed, randomly one of the following will happen:

a) No booting at all
before I even get to BIOS the rightmost symbol on the mini-display panel (a lock-symbol with an up and a down arrow in it) starts blinking and nothing else happens (except for the fan running).

b) Beeps
same as above with the additional effect of 4 beeps

c) Successful boot, only 3,xx GB, unstable
sometimes i get a normal boot (then I have the same issue with the 3.xx GB as everybody else here), but mostly after a few minutes of uptime the os (ubuntu) hangs (leaving weird artefacts on the screen)

I would already be happy if I could get a normally booting, stable system - even if it would just run on 3.xx GB. The RAM I bought is from Kingston (KVR667D2S5/2G). Just using one of my two chips (hence running on 2GB) works fine (on either of the two mem-banks).

Any ideas what could be the problem here?
greez flo

[Ann Ominous]

The problem is a limitation of the chipset and not the operating system. In my case, an Amilo Pro v3505 is limited to 3GB (3072MB), and then to add insult to injury further reduces this total for shared video memory.

The reason for the limit is that the chipset can only address 4GB of memory space in total. But memory space includes anything mapped to a memory address such as BIOS, device I/O (hard disk, network, wireless, bluetooth), and anything else that the manufacturer wants to add.

For some systems, you might get as much as 3.4GB. For these Fujitsu systems, you get 3.2GB or 3.0GB.

It's not a mistake - it's a feature.