On Nov 3, 2011, at 3:46 AM, George R Goffe wrote:
I upgraded my lenovo 60t to 4G memory and don't seem to be able to see all 4G of the upgrade.The hardware spec for this machine says it supports 4G memory. Any hints/clues/tips would be GREATLY appreciated.
It is a hardware limitation in the 945M chipset; the chipset physically only has 32 address lines, and the PCI/PCI-e memory map has to go somewhere. That 'somewhere' is typically the top 1GB of address space, leaving 3GB (give or take) available for RAM. If you don't have that 33rd address line, you can't go above the 32-bit barrier PAE or 64 bit regardless.
Same thing is true in my Dell Precision M65, although the Dell BIOS squeezes a little more out of it, 3.5GB or so is what I get with 4GB of RAM installed, and the 64-bit kernel, Fedora 14.
The 965 chipset fixes this by adding physical address lines to the chipset and adding remapping support in hardware.
In the Dell case, the Precision M65 is virtually the same machine as a Latitude D820; both have the 945; the Latitude D830 and equivalent Precision model have the 965, and can address all 4GB of RAM and can map the RAM that is displaced by the PCI/PCI-e address space above the 4GB (32-bit) line. (If your BIOS has 'PCI Memory Hole Remapping' support you can try that; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_hole for more information. But this won't help go above the 32-bit addressing barrier if the chipset physically only has 32-bits of addressing capacity, regardless of processor installed.
Again, neither PAE nor 64-bit OS will help since the 945 chipset physically does not have a 33rd (and above) address line, so the PCI/ PCI-e memory map has to go somewhere in the 4GB (32-bit) address space, taking away from the 4GB of installed RAM.
Please also see http://www.dansdata.com/askdan00015.htm and http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/intel-945-chipset-and-4gb-of-memory-578912/
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