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Dell Inspiron E1505 RAM Upgrade
Hello,
I have a dell E1505 with a T5500 Intel Core 2 processor. I right now have 1 GB RAM installed.
I was looking to upgrade my RAM and tried to find out the maximum I can fit in. When I go to the dell support website and ask it to perform a scan of my hardware it returns Intel 945 Express Chipset Family, but does not tell me exactly which chipset it is, 945GM or GME or GMS etc.
Now, from the scan page, I ask it to use the hardware config found to look for upgrades, it immediately goes to a page saying
"At this time, we can only narrow your system down to one of the systems listed below. Please select your system from this list. We apologize for the inconvenience"
It mentions E1505 and 6400, I click on them and the maximum RAM I am "allowed" to buy is 2GB.
(Something rather strange because at least I should be allowed to buy whatever I want)
Which probably is because my system's chipset and processor were reconfigured from the factor standard model of E1505 which I think was a T2500.
Anyhow, I tried using the intel chipset identification and again got the the same result in the identification scan, with only the 945 family mentioned.
I finally ripped open laptop, gave it a maintenance cleanup and also looked for the identification mark.
I found a code 0682945GM. But on the next line on the chip it said SL8Z2. Now I am confused if I am supposed to read the two together.
Because if I do, the chipset can also be GMS.
Can anyone shed some light on this.
I want to be perfectly sure that I can use 4GB Ram before buying it.
Thanks
Aditya
Mary G
4 Operator
4 Operator
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20.1K Posts
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July 10th, 2009 13:00
Just go to crucial.com and it will tell you. You cannot use 4 GB of ram. Your max is 1gb per slot, so the max is 2gb.
aditya.pidapart
15 Posts
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July 12th, 2009 15:00
p.s
The main reason for I looking for upgrades is that T5500 is a 64bit enabled processor and I was looking to upgrade to a 64 bit OS, probably Win7. My computer overall is pretty good given its a dual core and a 64 bit processor, but I lack a bit on the RAM.
So I set about looking for upgrades on my computer.
Thanks
Aditya
aditya.pidapart
15 Posts
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July 12th, 2009 15:00
Hey, Thanks for the response.
I used the detector put up on Crucial.com. But again, its mode of detection is to look for the model number of my laptop, rather than the actual hardware.
The standard inspiron E1505 has a T2500 processor and a different chipset. While purchasing my computer the processor was upgraded to T5500 (Core 2 Duo) and the chipset I have is 945GM (I had put up the identifying tags in the original post).
So I believe the original Chipset which was supposed to be present in E1505 did indeed have a maximum Ram capacity of 2GB, but according to the documentation of 945GM on the Intel website, I can put upto 4GB on board and all of it will be visible if I have a 64 Bit OS.
The dell detector and also the scanner from crucial.com apparently are only looking at the model number of my laptop.
Somehow, the Dell Scanner is being throw out of whack because of a customised configuration of my laptop and it is returning only general standard results saying its sorry for not being able to give an more specific response.
The Maximum RAM is dependent on the chipset. My main question was to ascertain the chipset version I have.
This previous post also indicates I can go upto 4GB with the correct chipset.
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19264744.aspx
Any suggestions on how to find out definitively what the chipset version is. The intel scanners only return the family and not the actual version.
Thanks
Aditya
aditya.pidapart
15 Posts
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July 12th, 2009 16:00
Hm, that is quite a useful response. Anyhow, I think I found the RAM chip I want on Dell Accessories. They have a 21 day return policy too. So I guess I can order it and install it and still be safe. Yeah I am aware that the Chipset is slightly old, that is the only bone of contention I have with my computer. But its a 2006 model and its good to know I can still install Win7 on it with minimal upgrades. I only found out last week that T5500 is 64bit enabled, I never got around to doing research on my computer. But any which way, from the reviews I am reading about the 4GB RAM on Inspiron, I can still utilise upto 3.25-3.5 GB which is still better than the 1GB I have right now.
Dell : CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) PC2-5300 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 Memory Module : Memory Upgrades : Home & Home Office
Thanks
Aditya
ejn63
9 Legend
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87.5K Posts
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July 12th, 2009 16:00
Even with a 64-bit OS you will not see 4G on this system - the chipset is too old to support the memory remapping necessary for that. You have an Intel 945 chipset - you need a minimum of a 965 for 4G remap support.
Crucial is usually reliable when it comes to memory recommendations - it doesn't mean your system won't work with 4G, but it does mean they're not willing to support it with their money-back compatibility guarantee.
Exmortius
3 Posts
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November 18th, 2009 20:00
Hi,
I have a E1505 with 3gig installed and windows 7 (by accident thought I had 2 1gigs when upgrading from 1gig) I did a mem test no problems BIOS sees it fine. tried 2 2gig but the BIOS only saw 3.3gig. So do you think that having more memory then is specified cause a problem? Idid the upgrade 11/18/2009.
System Information report written at: 11/18/09 21:52:20
System Name: ****
[System Summary]
Item Value
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name ****
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model MM061
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2300 @ 1.66GHz, 1667 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A17, 6/13/2007
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
User Name ****
Time Zone Central Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 3.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.99 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.87 GB
Total Virtual Memory 5.98 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.83 GB
Page File Space 2.99 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
TechSavvy22
1 Message
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April 2nd, 2011 05:00
I have used the belarc Advisor for years. It gives you an in depth look at your PC.
http://www.belarc.com/ba5.html?B
Enjoy!
urj2013
1 Message
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September 12th, 2013 20:00
you can use 2 gb per slot but dell says the system may become unstable if you go over 2gb total i have never had a problem during bench test's. i have used 2 2gb sticks in the 6400 2 times and e1505 5 times and it has shown as 3.25 on 7 different laptops, you can use a 1gb and a 2gb and that's pretty good for windows7 also