Hit 512MB memory upgrade on my old ThinkPad and found the limit real fast

I was upgrading my T23 from 256MB to 512MB thinking it would breathe new life into it for retro gaming. Plugged in two 256MB sticks and it booted fine, ran great for about 20 minutes. Then I tried to open three browser tabs and a spreadsheet at the same time and the whole thing froze solid. Had to hard reset it and lost some unsaved notes I typed up. Has anyone else run into weird memory caps on these older laptops where more RAM doesn't actually help?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_perry1d ago

That chipset probably caps out at 256MB per slot, not 512MB total.

thomas_young1d ago

Wait, are you sure about that? I feel like I've seen a few builds using that chipset with 512MB sticks and they posted screenshots of it working fine. Could be a motherboard specific thing though where some manufacturers fudge the specs a bit. I remember back in the day everyone said the 440BX chipset capped at 256MB per slot too, but later BIOS updates changed that. Might be worth checking if there's a BIOS revision that unlocks the higher density sticks.