Question about IBM Notebook memory

[Joonsup]

Hey guys Im wondering if anyone could help me out in regards to notebook RAM.

I have an older IBM thinkpad R51 series 2883 ELU. I got it free from a friend b/c my laptop has been acting up. Anyways, it came with 256mb of RAM and so I ordered a 1 gig RAM to add to it since it said there were 2 slots for RAM.

So it came in the mail yesterday and last night I opened up that little cover underneath to add the RAM i bought. However I only saw one slot with the existing 256mb of RAM in there. I didnt know where the second slot was so I just replaced it with the new RAM and booted up the computer.

I went to the systems information under control panel and it said i had about 1200mb of RAM, meaning it was recognizing the 1gig i put in PLUS the 256 that was in there. But i took out that 256 RAM! I am a little confused. Can someone explain to me why that is? And where is the second slot for the memory?

Any thinkpad users with any helpful advice/info is greatly appreciated. As you can tell I am not a computer person.

[MadDog]

There's usually two slots for memory - one internal and one external. Why it would show 1200MB after you took out 256, I have no idea, unless it really had 512 MB to start with.

Did you go to the IBM website and find the manual for the computer ??

Edit: Here's a link to the maintenance manual: manual

[Joonsup]

Originally Posted by MadDog

There's usually two slots for memory - one internal and one external. Why it would show 1200MB after you took out 256, I have no idea, unless it really had 512 MB to start with.

Did you go to the IBM website and find the manual for the computer ??

Edit: Here's a link to the maintenance manual: manual

yeah i got confused too. rigth after i put in the 1 gig RAM and had taken out the 256ram, it still showed around 1.2 RAM. When I checked teh specs of the laptop and also checkd the amount of ram before I put the new one in, it showed 256. I"m confused as hell. I'll check out the manual. Thanks!

[ren]

Originally Posted by joonsup

yeah i got confused too. rigth after i put in the 1 gig RAM and had taken out the 256ram, it still showed around 1.2 RAM. When I checked teh specs of the laptop and also checkd the amount of ram before I put the new one in, it showed 256. I"m confused as hell. I'll check out the manual. Thanks!

As maddog said there's another ram slot and it's under the keyboard. I think you still have a 256mb ram in that slot. You need to remove the keyboard if you want to take it out.
Check this out : http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-53166

[Joonsup]

Originally Posted by erensf

As maddog said there's another ram slot and it's under the keyboard. I think you still have a 256mb ram in that slot. You need to remove the keyboard if you want to take it out.
Check this out : http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/si...cid=MIGR-53166

hmm yeah when i checked out the manual taht maddog linked, i noticed that there's also another slot under the keyboard. however, if there's one under there that's 256mb, shouldnt the total have been 512 that it came with? According to the specs found online, my model only comes with 256. That's why I'm confused. haha

Here's the systems info from the ibm/lenovo website


Product: ThinkPad R51 2883-ELU [change]


Operating system: Windows XP [change]

Original description: P M 725, 256MB RAM, 30GB 4200rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, Intel Extreme, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, Intel 802.11b/g wireless(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 10/100 Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

[MadDog]

Originally Posted by joonsup

hmm yeah when i checked out the manual taht maddog linked, i noticed that there's also another slot under the keyboard. however, if there's one under there that's 256mb, shouldnt the total have been 512 that it came with? According to the specs found online, my model only comes with 256. That's why I'm confused. haha

Here's the systems info from the ibm/lenovo website


Product: ThinkPad R51 2883-ELU [change]


Operating system: Windows XP [change]

Original description: P M 725, 256MB RAM, 30GB 4200rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, Intel Extreme, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, Intel 802.11b/g wireless(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 10/100 Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

If you take out the 1GB stick and boot up, it reads 256MB ?? And when you put the old 256MB stick back in, it still reads 256MB ??

Sounds like something's wrong with the old 256MB stick. Or, possibly, it's using that extra 256MB for video memory, and not reporting it.

Hmmmmmm.......

[Joonsup]

Originally Posted by MadDog

If you take out the 1GB stick and boot up, it reads 256MB ?? And when you put the old 256MB stick back in, it still reads 256MB ??

Sounds like something's wrong with the old 256MB stick. Or, possibly, it's using that extra 256MB for video memory, and not reporting it.

Hmmmmmm.......

yes before i put in the 1gig ram in, it read 256mb ram when i did systems check. i took out the 256ram from the bottom of laptop, put in the 1gig stick, and it read 1.2mb ram. Weird huh.