Sony Vaio Z VGN-591U w/ 8GB RAM

Has anyone tried this? I have bios R2169M3.

Before someone asks, I was sick of dual booting and bought a VMWare Workstation license to accommodate personal and work need. 4GB works but I believe I would get more speed (and less disk access) by increasing memory capacity.

Cheers,

Der Doppelgänger

 

What do you mean? I doubt anyone understands your thread and the reason why you made it.

 

VGN-Z5xx does not officially support 8GB RAM...but I think someone made it to work.

 

My apologies to you if I wasn't clear.

I have a Vaio Z VGN-591U with 4GB RAM. I want to upgrade it to 8GB RAM. I want to know if anyone has successfully done it before. That's it. Clear enough now?

 

...I understood what the OP was on about from his first post...

Anyway, that Z59 is the American 1st gen Z, correct?
The firmware that you stated is the VM enabling firmware for the BIOS, and you can get the R2170M3 and R2171M3 versions now. I own a Z26, the 2nd gen Oceania version of the older Z.

I understand that there are absolutely NO hardware differences between the 1st and 5th gen older Zs, with only slight config changes (eg SSDs, optics RAM, GOBI card etc etc). Alas, with the newer firmware you SHOULD be fine with an 8GB RAM upgrade (should being in capitals because I cannot fully confirm; I'm trying to find out whether my 2nd gen Z is capable of an 8GB RAM mod too)

Now, the problem is with the brand of RAM you go for. I cannot confirm this, but all older Zs that come with 8GB of RAM from the store have 2x MICRON 4GB cards (also known as Crucial I think). 4GB and lower and your older Z comes with Elpida RAM sticks. If I remember correctly MICRON RAMs used chips that consumed less power, and if you were to stick on the Z any other RAM (with chips that consume more power), the machine won't boot.

I've seen some 2010 versions of 4GB Samsung SODIMM DDR3 RAM sticks for about US$150 in Korea, being sold as bulk. The MICRON RAMs that have been confirmed working on the older Z (from 3rd gen upwards so far), each costs about US$180. I'm expecting the new 2010 SAMSUNG RAM would have the lower-power consumption chips and would buy them now once I have confirmation my Z is 8GB capable...

Basically I too would like to know whether any older Z owners have gotten 8GB RAM working on their machines and any steps that it involved... And maybe the brand of RAM as well?

ehosey2, who is a member here and owns a 3rd gen Z has 8GB working sweet.

 

Yep, it works perfectly with my Z820. The link below is what I got and where I got it.

Newegg.com - Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT51264BC1067

 

5ushiMonster, ehosey2: Thank you so much for your replies. I have all information I need now to take the plunge (or not). I suspected that, just like virtualization, that any RAM size limitations would be something correlated to the BIOS version you're using on your computer. And you are right, I believe that my Z is 1st gen. Interesting info on the power consumption as well.

Cheers,

Der Doppelgänger

 

Yes you can upgrade to 8GB as long as you don't flash your BIOS to R30??M3 version by mistake. (Either R2, R4 or R5 should do.)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...support-8gb-working-solution.html#post5362435

(Note that as long as you don't run with R3 BIOS, you don't even need to touch the BIOS, i.e. you don't need to download and flash anything.)

 

Hi,

I was able to flash R4043M3 to my VGN-Z590 (probably not a good idea but it works for now) with the advanced menu. I disabled DRAM Timing (read about in another thread.) I was able to boot with 8GB RAM but Win 7 64bit still only recognizes 6GB. Any thoughts on other BIOS settings to change?

Thanks!

 

I had 8gb in my z5xx via 2 crucial DDR3 4GB sodimms working just fine across several different bios versions. I've since shifted that dram into my new vpc-z and also works with no issues.

 

Interesting. Previously, mine would not boot at all with 8GB RAM. Had to change the DRAM Timing in order to get machine to boot. Now that it is booted, only seeing 6GB RAM. Which BIOS would you recommend with the z590 to support 8GB RAM?

 

Hmm... Having the 2nd gen older Z, I would prefer to use the BIOS firmware that Sony has set out for my machine rather than ones intended for the 3rd gen and higher models. I understand now that there is R2171M3 available for 1st and 2nd gen older Z users, but no idea whether they support 8GB. Here's me hoping sniper_snug is right...

I've found some 4GB RAM sticks in Korea's wholesale market, all directly from their factories. The problem though is that they were manufactured / released back in 2008, which I understand was when all those high-density RAMs were made (the ones that consume 'more' voltage than usual). They are quite cheap, with 8GB worth being about US$270.
They are SAMSUNG and HYNIX sticks, and I'm wondering whether I should buy those or wait a wee bit longer for the prices to drop... Because TRANSCEND's own 4GB stick released in 2010 with 1066MHz clocks have double the price. But then, SAMSUNG here sells their 2010-released 1333MHz DDR3 SODIMM variants for about US$140, which ain't too much more expensive than the 1066MHz variants. Well, I'm sure then 1333MHz won't show performance benefits on the older Z (let alone work)... Wonder if they are high-density chips as well then?

Pretty much everyone here with 8GB of RAM on their older Z seem to have CRUCIAL (Micron) RAMs, which is quite hard to find as it is in New Zealand (let alone finding an international shipper on eBay).

 

I tried R2171M3 with 8GB RAM and the notebook would not boot - that being said, I am using Hynix SODIMM DDRS 1066 PC8500. Maybe i'll investigate other memory options....

 

I may be wrong, but I judging by what people have managed to get to work (and not work), I believe the "trick" is to buy DDR3 SODIMMs with the following characteristics:

4 chips per side, not 8
1.5 V, not 1.7 or higher

Otherwise, the motherboard in the VGN-Z doesn't have enough power to drive them.

Personally, I've stayed at 4 GB, not because I doubt I could get 8 GB to work, but because for my particular use, gcc compiling, 5-5-5-15 timings instead of 7-7-7-20 makes more of a difference than 4 GB vs 8 GB. And there are no 4 GB SODIMMs with the tighter timing.

 

Argh... According to litco01's findings we can then say that the firmware is 'somewhat' of a dependent factor in all this, considering your machine is 'somewhat' reading the 2x sticks.

And as arth1 says, the sticks I'm looking at now do have 8 chips per side. The seller though has no idea at voltage they are rated as...

I'm now hoping someone who got their older Z with 8GB direct from Sony could help us out here... What brand RAM you have, and any stats that CPU-ID (or similar app tool) tells you about the 2x 4GB RAM your machine came with?

...Apart from that, CRUCIAL is the only brand that seems to be working; there is one member here (ehosey2) who I know has a 3rd gen machine that didn't come with 8GB from factory; he managed to get that booting with all 8GB of CRUCIAL RAM on W7 x64

 

I'll pop the memory cover off here and run cpu-z later tonight.

 

Whoops. Sticker on ram says "lifetime memory" (sorry these were freebies, thought was crucial). 4 chips per side, 8 chips total per sodimm. Attached is cpu-z from this ram installed in my vpc-z. I assure you this worked flawless in my vgn-z590 across all my different bios versions with no tweaking required. Good luck!

 

Thanks to beaups. So that came with the VPC-Z?
That reading for the MAX BANDWIDTH seems to be the clock speed of 1333MHz? Which I thought the older Z aren't compatible with if I remember correct...

I do remember some people saying that their older Z came with Micron 4GB sticks when they CTOed for 8GB RAM; seems like my memory serves correct since they are shipped with the new machines today (just with faster clocks)

Though the only conclusion this leads me to is to ask my Korean counterparts if they could source me some cheap 4x chip RAMs and go from there. Those CRUCIAL RAMs do have 4x chips per card, which does explain how ehosey2 got his 3rd gen machine working without BIOS tweaking.

Thank you to beaups
Some sort of conclusion, at least...

 

It did not come with either of my Z's. It's an aftermarket sample from the vendor. Today it is in my VPC-Z but I ran it in my vgn-Z for about 4 months or so with at least 3 different bios versions. Zero issues. Note that I did not try to mix with the ram that came with the Z. I can't remember if my Z's came with 2x2 or 4x1 but either way I replaced it all with 2 of these sodimms.

Hope this helps you!

 

And again these sodimms are 8 chips total per sodimm (4 per side).

 

Just wanted to follow up on this. I bought two crucial 4 GB SODIMMs (each has 4 chips per side, 8 total) with BIOS R2171M3 and my VGN-z590 booted fine. Thanks everyone for your help in getting 8GB working on my Z.

 

Thank you guys for all tips, specially ehosey2. I purchased my CT2KIT51264BC1067 from Amazon.com. Installed in my computer and they worked perfectly. I can now play with my virtual machines without any issues.

 

Glad I was able to help.

 

Also the "new" Samsung 4GB So-Dimms work without problem.
And they have 8 chips on each side, so this can't be a criteria which So-Dimms work and which not.

Here are the specification of the Samsung Dimms.

Memory type DDR3
Module format SO-DIMM
Manufacturer (ID) Samsung (CE00000000000000)
Size 4096 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz)
Part number M471B5273CH0-CH9
Manufacturing date Week 14/Year 10
Number of banks 8
Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts
JEDEC #1 5.0-5-5-14-19 @ 380 MHz
JEDEC #2 6.0-6-6-17-23 @ 457 MHz
JEDEC #3 7.0-7-7-20-27 @ 533 MHz
JEDEC #4 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 609 MHz
JEDEC #5 9.0-9-9-25-34 @ 685 MHz

 

I know this is a massive bumpage of sorts, but what TDO says above is true. I bit a bullet and went and bought myself 2x 4GB Samsung sticks, each with 8 chips on each side. Just note though this is with PC3-8500 variants, not just the PC3-10700.

My screenie below should help. There is a performance boost (ie, no lags and less HDD activity since I've disabled virtual memory paging altogether), and it does work wonders for me with VMs.

As for the reasons why 8x chipped 4GB cards didn't work from before. Maybe because older cards used chips that demanded more voltage / power? The cards I have here have that 'green' certification from Samsung, which I guess might == less power consumption thus == working in the VGN-Z?

 

Yes, I think it's most likely that the earlier 8-chip-per-side SODIMMs pulled too much power for two of them to work at the same time in the VGN-Z.

 

So if I was to buy this CT2KIT51264BC1067 kit for my Z570N will it work with my R2169M3 BIOS or I need to upgrade to a different BIOS?

 

I'm sorry to resurrect an old thread but my question is strictly related.

I have a two years old vgn Z690 (USA) with BIOS R3054M3 and I would like to up upgrade the ram to 8GB. I have found this thread and this one:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/384968-how-make-1st-3rd-generations-z-support-8gb-ram.html

It seems that because of my firmware version I cannot use any of the 2x 4GB sticks as those reported to work with vgn Zs that, to summarize, are:

- Samsung DDR3-1066 SODIMM 4GB - M471B5273CH0-CF8.
- Crucial kit 2x4GB, 8GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 - CT2KIT51264BC1067.
- Newer Samsung sticks (with 16 chips per stick).

Recently I have tried 2 Corsair 4GB sticks (part no. CM3X4GSD1066 G) and the laptop didn't boot.

Is my BIOS version such that simply won't allow any 2x4GB sticks (if mem>4GB then don't boot...thanks sony) or has someone found a brand/model that works?

Thanks much

 

@mabis
As stated by sniper_snug a few pages back, the VGN-Z apparently only supports upto 6GB of RAM (irrespective of model and iteration number), if it is flashed with a BIOS of R30??M3 (?? being any number).

I'm pretty sure that the Z690 is the 2nd generation of the VGN-Z. So I'm curious as to how you ended up with that firmware in the first place (unless you're into the hacked BIOS). The 'officially' supported firmware for the 2nd gen VGN-Z is R21??M3, with the latest being the R2171M3. This applied regardless of country of purchase mind you.

I'm not sure if this applies to the VGN-Z, but there have been negative reports of Corsair RAM on the TT (if memory serves correct).
That said, Crucial RAM has been confirmed to work the most. If anything, Sony used to ship their 8GB configuration models with MICRON RAM (which is a branch off company from Crucial); those cards had 4x chips per side.

Though, due to your firmware I wouldn't be too sure if the Crucial brand will work on your machine.

As you said, I'm running on the Samsung DDR3 SODIMM (the part number you stated). These had 8x chips per side. But then, I'm running on BIOS firmware R2171M3.

...at the end of the day, you may have to risk a firmware downgrade to get 8GB RAM to work. Heck, doing so may even get your Corsair RAM working...
On the subject of firmware DOWNgrades, you may be interested in flashing your BIOS with the latest firmware on the 5th generation VGN-Z (so that is the Z890 in the States I think). The latest firmware for those I believe were R5031M3.

The user reports on the forums here are that those work fine on any Z machine. This is because all VGN-Zs internally are identical (ie, same motherboards), minus slight differences like blu-ray optics, SSDs etc etc. So technically the R5031M3 should work on your machine. I wouldn't know as I never had the need / tried, so yeah... At your own risk I guess...

Regardless, good luck.

 

Thanks much for your detailed reply 5ushiMonster!
Reading this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/421846-how-make-3rd-z-support-8gb-working-solution.html

It seems that Z690 is gen 3 (at least sniper_sung calls it that way) and the latest firmware released for that gen is R3054M3. In that same thread the user NHT also says that his 3rd gen has bios ver R3054M3. I bought it in April 2009 so maybe I got the latest bios ver (very lucky, sigh!). BTW I didn't use the hacked bios, I just enabled the advanced option tab in order to enable VT-x for virtualbox.

At this point I will try some other memory sticks that I'll return in case they won't work. Should I have any luck with some memory I will post it here.

For what concerns the bios update in the sony support site for vgn-z690:

Sony eSupport - VGN-Z690 - Software Updates & Drivers

if I choose Window7 as Operating System, then it is possible to download bios R4041M3 for Z690. Is this a "good" version?

Lastly, do you know if it's possible to update the bios from linux or from a bootable cd/usb stick? I erased the win partition a long time ago and, in any case, it was vista and not win7.

Thanks

 

Yeah. Try out the RAM first before returning. It just may work.

Checking Sony USA's driver page (on the linked URL), the latest is R4044M3.
Assuming you are now running on W7 (and NOT on Vista), then I don't see the issue. R4041M3 I understand was the version which came out straight after W7, to allow for Windows XP mode (by enabling VTX).

The downloadable BIOS file (from the linked URL) is an executable that will launch a little app from windows itself. Follow the instructions that the app gives you and OK. It will update the BIOS while in windows. So you don't need to boot the update off a flash drive or anything; just run it in windows. After the firmware update is the done it will prompt you to restart; the machine will shut down, though you may have to turn it back on by pressing the power button (ie, it won't restart unattended).

At the end of the day, the latest one 'usually' is the best. My rule of thumb usually is 'if it ain't broke, don't update'. I say that because there are some small number of people who reported bricking, despite using the right firmware update and following all instructions.

Though I understand if that happens Sony can fix your machine for you for free, irrespective of your machine being under warranty or not (don't quote me on that though). This is because you didn't do anything wrong, just merely attempting to update using valid update files etc etc.

 

Yeah, I missed the R4044M3 version. Do this also allows to enable VT-x? I would say yes, given that the previous version does, but with sony you never know... Also the newer version is about half the size of the previous R4041M3...

Actually I'm not running Win at all on my Z. It's only Linux so I want to avoid having to install Win7 (partitioning the hd, etc...) just for a bios update. It's time to find a way to do it with linux...

I really hope nothing bad will happen because I bought my vaio in the US and I live in Europe. I'm almost sure sony Europe won't be friendly in that case, given also that my warranty expired.

 

VT-x should remain. I mean, I'm running R2171M3 and VT-x was (and still is) implemented since R2169M3.

I would strongly recommend you run that update off a Windows environment. At the end of the day, you're altering (albeit upgrading) a BIOS firmware. Would want that to run as smoothly as possible.

 

Hey sushimonster,

could you tell me the model of RAM you bought,
thanks

 

Hiya. Unfortunately, the screenshot one page back is the best I can do in regards to model number.

I bought these OEM in Korea, and the way RAM sales go there, especially when buying Hynix or Samsung, is that wholesalesmen buy them straight from the factory, no packaging whatsoever, and sell them on straight up. My two cards actually came in tin-foil (as did a DDR2 SODIMM purchase back in 2007).

http://www.enuri.com/view/Detailmulti.jsp?modelno=2066667&cate=070310&fb=1&porder=2&key=popular DESC&factory=&search=&m_price=&spec=&sel_spec=&pagesize=20&page=1&keyword=&orgkeyword=&spec_name=&from=list

That's from a Korean price-comparison site, the exact link which I used to buy my 8GB worth. Dirt cheap these days; a brand new, genuine Samsung 4GB DDR3 SODIMM @1066MHz going for approx. US$27. I bought mine back when these were approx. US$50...

EDIT - the URL looks garbled up, but just checked and it's still pointing at the right site.

 

I have an old VGN-Z21WN which I'm seeking to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB. Crucial have just phased out the CT2KIT51264BC1067 "recommended" in this thread.

The guy at crucial says he can't guarantee anything but "the substitute is now CT2KIT51264BF1339. This system can support 1333MHz modules, so in theory, these parts should also be suitable if some had success with installing the parts ending in 1067."

Looking at the sony specs for the VGN-Z21WN and the intel cpu specs for the P9500 I the FSB bus speed is 1066.

I'd welcome any comments on this. Perhaps someone has installed the 1333MHz modules?
Is there a better fit out there, hynix, samsung ... that's still shipping?
Thanks

 

While I can't help in regards to where to buy (don't live in the States...), I can tell you that a 1333MHz card is no problem.

The thing with such cards is that they down-clock themselves to 1066MHz, which is what the CPU is able to handle. This was the case with the VPC-Z1 laptops; they came with 1333MHz cards if memory serves correct but their CPUs were only able to support 1066MHz as well (despite the fact that they were using the i5 and i7 processors, a jump from the P9k and T9k variants on the VGN-Z).

I personally think any SODIMM DDR3 RAM you buy these days will work with the VGN-Z. We had to be careful back in the day because DDR3 was relatively new when the VGN-Z was released. I think there was something to do with the voltage requirements, in that some (read: most) RAM sucked too much power that the VGN-Z would only be able to see 4GB instead of the installed 8GB. RAM these days seem to have evolved, in that you can get cards with 8-chips-per-side and still use the full 8GB (my Samsung cards being the evidence)

 

FWIW, I've bought "Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1066 MT/s (PC3-8500) CL7 SODIMM 204-Pin Notebook Memory Modules CT2CP51264BC1067" from Amazon for VGN-Z17GN with R2171M3 BIOS.

 

Thanks for your replies.

I'm not in the US either, and amazon.com won't ship the CT2kit... ram still available there to Europe where it is no longer available.

I read the threads that in the old days it was a voltage issue. The crucial chips (in some version at least) take 1.35v and not 1.5v.

Anyway, looking back at a question of mine to metsn -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/696367-sony-vgn-z850g-upgrade-windows-8-a-3.html

He recommended:
3) RAM. Again, not too helpful. I couldn't buy the recommended RAM in my local shop, so I contacted them for help. They contacted Sony and recommended this "Kingston for Panasonic/Sony, 4GB, DDR3, 1066MHz, SODIMM (CF-BAC04GU, CF-WMB,A904G)" x2 Gotta say it works well

At first I couldn't find it here, but then saw:
KINGSTON M51264H70 (Panasonic CF-WMBA904G / CF-BAC04GU)

And the M51264H70 is available here at about 40 USD.
(also mentioned at: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/438767-bios-r4044m3-vaio-z-series-13.html )

I'll try one of these and get back to the forum (have to upgrade my BIOS first)