[RESOLVED] Breaking the Memory Barrier

[gsearle]

Has anybody found a way to get around a laptop's maximum memory limit? Mine is maxxed out at 128MB, but I need more!

[Hey, my original post went away!]

[exholt]

In most cases, the maximum amount of memory for a particular notebook is fixed. There is usually no way to get around it unless the manufacturer issues some kind of flash bios upgrade which is extremely rare. I have not heard of any notebook that has had any way to get around the limit.

Also, you might be better off buying a new notebook/desktop PC considering the age of your machine....

[JungleMan1]

How old is your machine, how many slots does it have..you can buy 128 meg sticks these days...that's surprising.

[gsearle]

It's a 1998 Twinhead Slimnote XL laptop with two SO DIMM slots. The documentation states that the maximum memory supported is 128 MB.

[JungleMan1]

Check some RAM websites, because RAM stick capacities have increased since 1998. I recommend Crucial memory, they gave me a 128 meg stick for my laptop for about $70.

[Triumph]

If you need more memory then you need a new laptop. I love my Toshiba Satellite 4010CDS but it maxes out at 160 mb. Nothing I can do except sell it, which I am

[exholt]

Make sure whatever 128 meg stick you buy is supported by your particular notebook. You do not want to buy something that is incompatable and becomes an expensive paperweight. Plus, considering the cost/performance boost you'd get from this, you'd probably be better off getting a new notebook. Memory for older notebooks tend to be ridiculously expensive (my 1998 era Toshiba Tecra 128 meg ram stick costs around 500 bucks!!)

[d0cman]

No known way to get around the memory max limit. It's a bios limitation.

[cyberhh]

Correct - the limitation is a BIOS limitation - I have never seen a bios upgrade defeat it - chances are your stuck.

[gsearle]

Well, Ok. I'll just have to keep the memory demands low. I just tweaked my Win2K environment to improve performance while conserving memory.

Anybody hear of a PCMCIA-based RAM disk (not flash) that could be used for a paging file?

[ibennetch]

I got some memory from Crucial, it didn't work. Called them up; they shipped me a replacement that day, no questions asked. Still didn't work. Got it shipped back, still no questions asked. The point here not being the busted memory (seems to be my computer, not their memory) but the excellent service. good prices, too.

[Triumph]

exholt, I bought 128 megs of Ram for my 1998 era Satellite from Crucial and it cost me 112.00 plus shipping. 66 mhz ram for laptops is still relatively cheap from them

[JungleMan1]

Originally posted by gsearle:
Well, Ok. I'll just have to keep the memory demands low. I just tweaked my Win2K environment to improve performance while conserving memory.

Anybody hear of a PCMCIA-based RAM disk (not flash) that could be used for a paging file?

How fast is your computer? I have an old 366mhz laptop with 96 MBs running Windows 2000 just fine.

You can get along fine with 128 megs if you just do a little spring cleaning. Check out your Startup menu, there's usually a ton of junk in there.

[gsearle]

This is a 266 MHz Pentium MMX (no "II" or "III). The speed of the processor is not a problem, but when Windows decides to page to disk, the whole system slows down. I've cleaned out my Startup folders and the Registry entries to make sure what is running is only what I want running.

The system uses about 90 MB without apps. (This includes little things like AIM, NAV, etc. that I always want running.) When I start up my office apps, this goes up to 140 MB. The response is tolerable, but I'd like to eliminate the disk-drive-bottleneck as much as possible to keep the system going at top speed.

I also wanted more memory to get more headroom for the future (XP), and to run more apps concurrently. I tend to push the system, and use multitasking to the max. Since I can't up the physical memory, I have to find other solutions. I might get a bigger, faster hard drive, for instance.

One tip: SunBelt's "AutoPilot" does great things for keeping a system at top speed. It keeps uneccessary paging to a minimum. Only when you really run out of physical memory does it have to let Windows swap.
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=222

[cyberhh]

There is a win2k regestry edit that forces windows to use your RAM more aggressively before going to the pageing file.

I am searching and willpost it when I find it.