M50VM not working with 2GB Intel Turbo Memory.

Has anybody here tried to install 2GB intel turbo memory module into their M50VM laptop?

I have bought a 2GB intel turbo memory module, but M50VM does not recognize it.
It does not show up in the device manager.

The turbo memory driver also refuses to intall as it says that my system does not meet the minimum requirements to install the driver.

I have called the ASUS support and they said that it should normally work.
The support person put the blame on the memory module and said that it seems to be defective.
It could be that the new module is defective, but it can also be that ASUS has some bios problems on M50VM.
What I found funny was that the support person told me to search on google for problem reports between M50VM and new version 2 intel turbo memory.

If anybody else tried turbo memory with M50VM, please give me your feedback.

 

You are using 4GB of RAM right? I don't think that Turbo Memory will help much, if at all. Maybe the best solution is to return it and get a refund, if you can.

Sorry, I know this is not helping the actual problem too much.

 

The reason I wanted to use it was to enable the readydrive feature of the Vista.
I heard that this feature allows to cashe harddisk drive data onto turbo memory which will in effect allow the applications to launch faster and it also help to save some battery life.

 

AFAIK real-life experiments with Turbo Memory haven't shown significant gains. But I've not had this type of memory myself, so I can't say this with certainty. In all likelihood, though, it's not worth the trouble.

 

I wasn't even aware the M50VM had a slot to install turbo memory (I have a small recollection of 1.0 turbo memory being discussed with the M50sv), and I haven't seen it in the configuration pages of GenTechPC or XoticPC.

Are the drivers you're trying to install the V1.6.1.1004 ones dated 2008/06/24 on the Asus website?
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?install_nav=1&SLanguage=en-us

Are you trying to install the drivers before the hardware, or have you put the hardware in first and now trying to install the drivers?

From what I've read in a couple other spots people with that error have said they needed to install the right AHCI drivers and then enable AHCI in the BIOS. One said that the IntelMatrix Storage Manager is what you need to install.

Here is more on the issue:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/31446911/problem-enabling-ahci-und.aspx

As far as people saying you have to reinstall Windows to enable AHCI I don't believe that to be correct. I recall that there is a way to do it by editing parts of the registry along with copying and pasting files. I belive the method is listed in an old thread here in the Notebookreview.com forums.

I'll be interested to hear how it preforms once you get it working (recent user reviews of Turbo Memory 2.0 in other systems have shown noticable improvement in load speed using Pinning).

 

M50VM specs on Asus website mentions that they provide 2GB intel turbo memory as optional addon to this notebook: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=74&l3=616&l4=0&model=2383&modelmenu=2

My M50VM did not come with this option. I bought it separately.

I have downloaded the latest Turbo memory drivers from intel website.
I have the intel matrix storage manager already installed.
Of course the hardware is already installed properly when I tried to install the drivers.

The notebook is already set in bios to run AHCI mode before the vista was installed so this is also not a problem.

The problem is that M50VM does not recognize the 2GB turbo memory module.
Normally, it should be listed in the Device Manager, but it does not appear there at all.
That's why I am curious if the module is defective or this is some problem from M50VM.

 

When Asus lists TM as an available option, it means that the regional Asus global units can specify to have that put in for their orders and not necessarily that one can put them in later on. Aftermarket installs of this sort of thing (internal component options) have had variable levels of reported success over the past couple of years.

Perhaps the TM option might need to be part of the BIOS so that part of the MB is recognized as being accessible? I'm just guessing here.

In any event, I second EBE's comments about the utility of TM in performance. Multiple reports since TM's initial release, including from major manufacturers like HP and Dell have shown modest, if any, gains in performance and then mainly just on benchmarks. It appears that this might have been a bright idea on Intel's part that never made it when people attempted to implement it, but I haven't kept up with reports on TM v2. I would suggest returning the module if possible, as this may quickly become an extended academic exercise in how to get something to (maybe) work for questionable real gain.

 

You may be right, but I have called the ASUS support and they told me that the Turbo memory should work with this notebook, but they said as this notebook is very new they could not really confirm if there could be some problems with Turbo memory version 2 and M50VM.

 

If your TMemory is going to be inserted into express card slot, try this.
Set this piece in place, go to my computer/manage/disk management and if you are lucky, you may find this TM as unrecognized drive that has to be formatted

 

Justin of XoticPC has posted a walkthrough on how to install Turbo Memory on a system that didn't come factory installed with it (it includes patching the registy).

http://www.xoticpcforums.com/showthread.php?t=810

Give his method a try and see if it corrects your problem.

 

This might, possibly, be relevant. I found out tonight that on some MSI 1651s that the factory mistakenly mixed up the wireless and Turbo Memory cards, and as a result the wireless switch turns the Turbo Memory on and off instead of the wireless. If by some fluke you've managed to put the Turbo Memory card into the wireless card's slot, you could have this same situation. Not likely, I know, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.

 

Thanks tried this already, but it did not help.
I am comimg to think maybe the module is itself defective.

 

I have called ASUS support again concerning this issue.

The person I talked to had not many ideas how to make this work, but she took my details and telephone number and told me that a technical person will call me latter on and try to resolve this.

As far as the support person thought was that there should be a setting in the bios concerning enabling Turbo Memory.
She said normally this notebook is prepared to use Turbo memory as there is also a special PCIe port to intall Turbo memory in it.

So maybe ASUS has not added that feature until now in the bios of this new machine.

I have to wait and see what the technical person would have to say about it.
As usual even the support staff do not know much about a notebook when it is newly released to market.

 

So I got a reply from ASUS concerning the Turbo Memory module.

They said that this is an optional feature and the support for it is not yet included into the current system bios.

So for anybody else thinking to buy Turbo Memory to use with this laptop, I will advice not to buy one as it will not work on this system at all.

I will return mine today.

 

So it turns out I was correct after all......... Sorry to hear that.