dv4000 series - 4 GB maximum RAM?

Hello all,
I have what I am told is a DV4200. It has the 2.0 Ghz Pentium M, 1 GB of RAM, Radeon X700 graphics. From my searches, I determined that I probably have PC4200 DDR2 2x512 mb modules as a result of having the non-integrated graphics card.

I opened up the bottom, and sure enough, that is what I have. Now my question: the HP manual for the DV4200 series says that each slot can take a 256 mb, 512 mb, 1024 mb, or 2048 mb module. However, when you look at the pictures in the maintenance guides it shows only 1 slot available to change. Furthermore, extensive searches found no one ever mentioning they had a DV4000 with 4 GB of RAM.

Does that mean my maximum RAM cannot ever be 4 GB? Is there some other limitation, other than 32-bit OS not seeing it? Maybe motherboard, or memory voltage or something? I do not want to buy the 2x2GB kit only to have it not work.

Again, I know there is the 32-bit operating system limitation. My questions regard only the possibility of utilizing 2x2GB modules in my system.

Thank you all for your help.

DH

 

I looked up the product manual for this laptop on HP's website, and it appears that it has only one RAM slot.

Use CPU-Z ( http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz_145.zip) to determine if you have one or two RAM slots. (check SPD tab, it will allow selection of slots)

 

The chipset has the limitation, so even if you did have a 64bit OS you can't use all 4GB. You should have two RAM slots, but verify with CPU-Z.

 

I said I opened it up. I have two modules there. I can take out both of them. Therefore I have two slots. Below is the CPU-Z dump of the SPD section. I'm not going to bother taking pictures of it to prove. Looking up the model number doesn't help - it took a couple hours on tech support to figure out what model I have, and I'm still not sure they are correct on DV4200, so I looked myself at these things.

Again, I know there is a 32-bit OS limitation.

So the chipset is limited - to what? 2GB? Can I install 2x2GB for 4GB total and XP will see 3.3 GB or whatever it is in the 32-bit OS? Thats fine with me.

I appreciate the help.



Memory SPD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM #1

General
Memory type DDR2
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Nanya Technology (7F7F7F0B00000000)
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-4300 (266 MHz)
Part number NT512T64UH8A0FN-37
Serial number 66AC1E54
Manufacturing date Week 02/Year 06

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Nominal Voltage 1.80 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 200 266 266
CAS# 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 4 4
RAS# Precharge 3 4 4
TRAS 9 12 12
TRC 12 16 16

DIMM #2

General
Memory type DDR2
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Nanya Technology (7F7F7F0B00000000)
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC2-4300 (266 MHz)
Part number NT512T64UH8A0FN-37
Serial number 63AC1E51
Manufacturing date Week 02/Year 06

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Nominal Voltage 1.80 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 200 266 266
CAS# 3.0 4.0 5.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 3 4 4
RAS# Precharge 3 4 4
TRAS 9 12 12
TRC 12 16 16

 

The chipset has a 4GB limitation. You'll be able to see somewhere between 3.0GB and 3.5GB of RAM that you can use.

I figured you had two slots...only the ultraportables have one slot, and even then they come with some integrated RAM.

Anyway...

 

Sorry, this confused me

I thought you looked inside and there was one slot, kinda like how on the Dell Inspiron 152x series one slot is under the keyboard, one slot is accessible via a panel on the bottom. I misunderstood, I apologize.

 

Great guys, thanks a lot. Hopefully this will drag out its lifetime another year or so. Might be my last HP - dealing with these sorts of questions with them has been horrible, not to mention its 60 degree C constant idle temperature.

Cheers,
DH

 

HPs overheat all the time. They're like toasterovens.


but seriously, HPs are terrible when it comes to cooling.