CF-29 Everyone told me not to do it!

Now! you think I'm that dumb

I just put a 512 stick in it and now it has 1.5. Looking now for my 1GB.

 

Well It's true Panasonic makes a cf-29 with 1GB on the board. I am looking at two of them. I just put 1 GB stick in the bottom and bois shows 2048

 

Perhaps TBTech29 can appear and clear this up for real... Right now... I'm thinking Mnementh has the answer.... Or question....

I'll withhold comment until then... As he would know above all else.

 

I'm thinking the same thing. It sure has 1GB on the board. Dam I bet that cost a chunk. Oil and Gas business has lots of money. That why it cost so much to fill are trucks

 

Yes there are special unpublished configurations like these made for the big corps. I have a bunch of MK1's that have 512MB onboard that came from a big gas company.

 

Now I have had several MK1s with 512 base RAM...... But I have yet to see (or hear of) a CF-29 with 1GB base RAM...... I have a PM into the knowledge base.....

 

I've seen hundreds of CF-29's come by my way... NONE of them have 1GB base RAM (IE, soldered on)... Unless someone de-soldered the 512mb chips and soldered on 1GB chips... now that would be COOL!!!

 

Now... shove in a 2gb and tell us if you see 3gb in the bios!

Wwoohooo!! we do learn something new everyday!

 

I believe this but I don't lol... Do you have pics?

 

The configure utility shows 1GB ram for that model
Unfortunately it does not say 512+512 , it just states 1GB on the bottom
Thats new info to me as I have only seen a max of 512MB on board
That model looks quite rare as this is the first time 1GB onboard has been reported



Alex

 

There's no obvious technical reason why a CF29 can't have 1GB soldered on to the board.

 

Read this whole thread and you will learn something tonight.
No chipset used in a CF-29 will address 3GB of RAM. :laugh:

 

TBTech29 Says that they did in fact make a few of them though they are very rare... He is going to confirm it today and let me know. He said if you look into the DIMM cover opening and see black epoxy over the chips... You have it.

Available (very rarely) on some MK5 models.

 

duh... point noted. I got carried away! Classic case of neural flatulence.

 

Azrial as your right about the chip set this is not your normal laptop

As you found, you never know till you try for sure being this is a special laptop I found the need to try it.

It is confirmed that the CF-29 with 1GB ONBOARD Will not take a 2GB stick.
So no 3GB ram for the cf-29

Best laptop to have looks to be one with 256GB onboard

TB as for the glue. It's there. Not what you would think. Looks as if the chips are glued down. Can't really tell I'm only at the Kidneys and need to get to the Heart There seems to be glue around the chips but very very little. There for sure not covered with it.

One for the Books. CF-29N Made Special order 1GB onboard 80Gig hard drive

TB2010

 

Oh, I don't blame you for trying! However while it is quite believable that a company special ordered a CF-29 with 1GB in place of the normal 512MB on-board RAM, I am pretty sure that they would not toolup for totally new design, with a new chipset, that Intel had not built yet. And that is what it would take for it to see 3GB.

I went to Intel's site and read the white papers on the two chipsets employed in the CF-29, before making my "jump." I was still unsure and a little confused, but reasonably confident that I was on the right track!

 

Not that I think you're dumb... it's easy to make those silly mistakes, especially when you're all excited over a new machine.

Well, it would appear you do indeed have a rare beastie there. I suspect it was built for some company that wanted soldered-on RAM for reliability...

I wonder if a 2GB DIMM would read a total of 2 GB, 2.5GB, or return some oddball number, or not boot at all like the 512MB base memory models...

mnem<~~~NOT OEM~~~<<<

 

SMART! I didn't even think to ask that! And I have been wondering how much "extra" RAM the two chipsets will deal with!

My guesstimate is that 2.25GB is the limit, and that is because of UAM. I mean Win7 sees it all, but my BIOs says 1.99GB. But I do not believe that the BIOS will show over 2GB, no matter how much is in there!

With a 1GB second stick, how much is available for System Usage, vs UAM (video)?

Also, I guess that the keeper of the FAQ could modify the FAQ to include TB2010's discovery!

 

Mnem it boots just acts like the cf-29 with 512 Memory error show 2048

 

It shows 2048<B in the BIOs or the OS?

With a 1GB second stick, how much is available for System Usage, vs UAM (video) in the Operating System? What OS are you running on it?

Thanks!

 

Apparently, this may be another rare 1gb cf-29. Ebay item 120541230698.
It's a Mk4, CF-29LASGZBM, that shows 1280mb in the bios. However, the configurator says "Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV (Centrino),13.3" Touch XGA,1GB,80GB, Intel 802.11a+b+g, WIN XP SP2, Emissive Backlit keyboard
, No Drive" and it has the S option for the hdd and ram which doesn't show in the configurator. On this one, I don't see any other way to get 1280mb than 1024mb onboard and 256mb added.

Glen

 

Glen -

I suppose it could have 256MB onboard and a 1GB DIMM... or 512MB with one defective bank and a 1GB DIMM.

:wink:

mnem<~~~Juggling Maybes~~~<<<

 

Maybe, but, that's the seller that had a Mk5 with 2gb ram and the same S option. And why would the configurator say 1gb ram? Just like the one Toughbook2010 has, except his is a Mk5.

Would a 512mb motherboard with 256mb bad ram even boot?

Glen

 

I've seen stranger stuff... and I have definitely seen RAM work fine with one dead bank... MANY TIMES.

Besides, I was only offering a "maybe"; you know the rest... YMMV, AFAIK, MAC&ATTAC, DILLIGAF, PEBKAC... :wink:

mnem<~~~AWOL from Reality~~~<<<

 

TBTech29 said MK5..... I'm thinking that MK4 had 512 + 512..... But go ahead and buy it and let us know!

Must be a but-load of hours as they convenently left that part out of the BIOS picture. Plus the top is WAY scarred up....

 

I guess they do have MK4's with 1GB on board. This company has two for sale

http://cgi.ebay.com/PANASONIC-TOUGH...iewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item1c10dbf5e8

 

Yeah, same company that had the MK4 the other day. There's another seller that has a few 1gb MK5's. Probably gonna see a lot more in the next few day/weeks/months.

Glen

 

As I said in this thread, "While there are very few Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 units with 1GB of on-board memory Panasonic did begin to introduce them starting in November of 2005 with the Mark 4 (specifically CF-29LTSGZBM). Only a hand-full of models were released in 2006 with that specification."

 

An so, I wonder if that model did specify in documentation that the unit would support a 1GB stick of auxiliary RAM thus showing Official Panasonic Support for 2GB on the CF-29.

Otherwise there seem very little reason to reconfigure the original design so that they came with 1GB mounted on the MoBo, if that was not the intent.

 

hi bros.

i intend to buy a MK5, it is CF-29NDLGFBM, 256mb on board. do you think it will be used with 2gb ram? thank you

 

It should as long as it has 256 Base RAM....

 

thanks bro.

i have another very good option which is one Cf-29 Mk4. The code is: Cf-29 L3VGZBM.

follow www.toughwiki.com, I know that it is 256mb base ram.

but i am not sure can this one be used with $2gb ram. Please give me your advice. thank you

 

According to a recent thread... MK4s and MK5s with base RAM of 256MB will both take the 2B RAM stick.

 

thank you so much bro.

i sent PM to you asking for GPS unit. if you have one, please tell me.

 

I would go with the the MK5 if it still has the Emissive keyboard on it . That will run you $100.00 anyways and trust me you will want one.

DESCRIPTION: "CF-29NDLGFBM"Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV (Centrino),13.3" NON Touch XGA,256MB,60GB, Intel 802.11a+b+g, Win XP SP2, HSDPA, Dual Pass Through, Emissive Backlit Keyboard, TPM1.2, No Optical


DESCRIPTION: "CF-29L3VGZBM"Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV (Centrino),13.3" NON Touch XGA,256MB,60GB, Intel 802.11a+b+g, WIN XP SP2, SmartCard
, No Drive

 

Sorry... No more OEM GPS units... That gravy train derailed... At least temporarily...

 

hi
the problem here is that, the Mk4 I am looking for it has Touch Screen, DVD-RW. While the Mk5 does not have Touch Screen and also it only has CD drive ( i don't need HSPDA though).

I will upgrade Rubber KB without any worry. Only the main thing here is, I try to see what is difference between Mk4 and Mk5, while they both use the same hardware?

could you tell me what is Dual pass through?

 

There are presently only two ways to get over 1.5GB on a CF-29.

To have 256MB base RAM permanently mounted on the motherboard and add a 2GB stick to the empty slot for a total of 2.25GB, with only 1.99 seen by the Operating System. At least 128MB of the remainder seems to be used by UAM.

Or, To have 1GB base RAM permanently mounted on the motherboard and add a 1GB stick to the empty slot for a total of 2GB, with only 1.99 seen by the Operating System.

No one has made either trick work with anything but a Mark 4 or 5, to date.

 

Wild guess......When you use a docking station like this one http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...75434&catGroupId=143022&surfModel=CF-WEB184AC you can hookup a external dual antenna

 

Yep, dual pass trough means that there are two antenna "connectors" on the backside of the laptop, one for wifi and another for WWAN or GPS

And indeed it is for use with a docking station.

 

thanks you bros, you are kind to reply fast. I appreciate that. I will enter Tough - family soon

But I think I will take one Mk4 which has 256mb base ram, Touch screen, and DVD-RW.

I even if ordered one mediabay battery before buying a Mk4 - LOL.

Mk5 is good and better as it is newer model, but on the marker now, I can not find out a good Mk5 which has Touch Screen function + 256mb base ram.

Just only TS with 512mb base ram, or NON TS with 256mb base ram.

I even if intend to buy a Mk5 and then buy another TS and swap for it, however, but I don't want to do that because it is not original for the one, and it costs time and high risks to deal with.

However, i still keep my plan to upgrade that mk4:

- upgrade a rubber KB for the standard one.
- upgrade GPS.
- upgrade another that I still don't know ...

 

For CF-29 MK4 and MK5, only NON-touch units had 256 MB base RAM

 

hi
please confirm to me, I am totally new for Tough.

If I follow the www.toughkiwi.com, the laptop above - which i intend to buy - is Mk4 with 256mb base ram and it also has TS working fine now.

why you said it does not have that? thank you.

 

Go to: http://config.toughbook.com/ and you will get this:

Intel Pentium M 778 1.6GHzLV (Centrino), 13.3" NON Touch XGA,256MB,60GB, Intel 802.11a+b+g, WIN XP SP2, SmartCard
, No Drive

The 29 you are considering may have a touchscreen, but it didn't come that way from Panasonic.

Glen

 

There is a seller on fleabay that (darring I think) that takes the touchscreen off the 512MB 29 and puts it in the 256MB 29 . Good idea because its the only way to have a CF-29 with 2.25GB Ram . The 512MB 29 can only be upgraded to 1.5GB Ram

 

Well so goes my dastardly plan to eliminate fingerprints on more CF-29s! :laugh:

My opinion remains that all the Mark 4 & 5 can be made to do this, as soon as someone figures out which trace to cut, to eliminate one bank of 256MB on the 512MB equipped Momboard...

 

So has anyone else tried 2GB memory other than the crucial one? In post #94 mattpayne mentioned he did. I'm not sure which memory it was as the link is now dead.
The flip-side to that question, and probably more important, has anyone tried the right spec memory that did not work?
I would think that pretty much any 2GB SODIMM PC2-5300/DD2-667 200-pin would work.

I'm about to order a stick for my 256MB MK4 and am curious.

 

I figured, "Why question (Azrial's) success" and went with the Crucial #CT2566AC667 M16FJ3 2Gb 200-Pin DDR2 SODIMM 256Mx64 PC2-5300 (quoting my Crucial Technology invoice ) memory upgrade on my CF-29NDLGFBM Mk5 Toughbook.

Works GREAT! :yes:

Go Crucial (and Buy Direct: cheaper than ebaY™ and insurance against Chinese Counterfeiters ).

 

I agree but want the memory today/tomorrow , and I have seen this spec memory on sale recently in a local store. However if I open it and it does not work I cannot return it.

 

" Haste makes waste." :cry:

Mine was ordered directly from Crucial Technology via their web site on the 2nd, shipped on the 3rd and received on the 6th.

Getting "The Right Stuff" is worth a four day wait, IMHO. :yes: