Question/s About Upgrading Laptop

[bystander]

Hi folks!

I have a NEC Versa LX and I was just wondering if I could upgrade the memory/hard drive past its specs. Right now it has 196MB RAM and a 6GB HD. Can I make it go past 256MB RAM and 10GB HD? Also can I replace the CD-ROM Drive with a DVD-ROM Drive? If so, do I need to get a specific brand or can I use anything?

I'm also getting a funky (but rather sporadic) error message since I upgraded to WIN2K a while back, that I just never thought to bring up until recently. It's got something to do with IRQs and also something about "beginning physical dump of memory" (I don't have the actual error message on me right now - I'll post it when I get a chance). Any ideas?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Lord Evermore]

You may run into a problem with the 8GB barrier for the hard drive; a software overlay may be required to allow the system to read the entire drive size. The memory limit is dependent on the chipset, and it's unlikely that you can exceed the limit that they specify. Laptop drives appear to be brand-dependent, so if you can't find a drive specific to that model, you may not be able to swap it. However if your drive can be removed from the casing (the carrier that makes it fit as part of that laptop) then you can probably swap another drive into it.

There seem to be many different kinds of VersaLX. Which one do you actually have?

The IRQ error may be something like "IRQ not less or equal", which can be caused by lots of things. The dumping of physical memory results when Win2k crashes completely.

 

[bystander]

1. What's the 8GB barrier?
2. Does that mean I can only go up to 256MB RAM?
3. Hard Drive Removal - does this look like I can remove it from the casing? I don't know how to tell.
4. I think I have the VersaLX - Pentium II (I have to double-check that, though).
5. What can I do to prevent the IRQ error? And what causes WIN2K to crash completely? Is my sytem unstable? What can I do to prevent that from happening?

Lord Evermore, thanks for all your help!

 

[Lord Evermore]

The 8GB barrier is a problem with older systems. The BIOS can't recognize drive space beyond 8GB, so software overlays have to be used (provided with most retail drives or from the manufacturer's website for the drive) that make the space visible. Whether your system has this barrier depends on the type of chipset and BIOS, and what version it is. The only way to tell is to look up the specifications or contact the manufacturer. Sometimes a BIOS update can eliminate the barrier.

The memory barrier depends on the system. Get the exact model number and you can find out for sure. If you have specs for it that say expandable to 256MB, then that is your limit.

Removing the hard drive has nothing to do with the DVD drive. I assume that your CD drive can be removed from the laptop. The drive itself is enclosed in a casing that makes it match the rest of the laptop. That casing can probably be opened up, and inside is a standard CD drive. That can be removed and a standard laptop DVD drive put inside. However you may not be able to find one that's a perfect match for size or that will fit inside the casing. Also, if you were planning on watching DVDs, you may be trying to get more out of it than is possible. DVD requires a lot of CPU power and yours may be too slow.

Search google for the myriad ways that the IRQ error can be fixed. A bad driver file seems to be a common cause. You may want to try updating all the drivers for everything you can. You may need to do a complete format and reinstall of the OS if you can't narrow it down. Bad memory modules are also a common cause, which can only be tracked down by running the system with one module at a time, or swapping out the modules you have.

 

[bystander]

1. Assuming I can't get past the 8GB barrier, would an external HD be a suitable alternative? Would I have any problems considering it's a slower computer?
2. I believe memory is capped at 256MB, so I guess no go on that one as well.
3. I was just asking about the hard drive on point #3 above. You're probably right about adding a DVD Drive, though. It would slow it down considerably.
4. I'll research more about the IRQ error. Could it be because of poorly seated RAM? It might've become loose because I took it out before.

Thanks again for the help! You rock!

 

[bystander]

Anyone? External HD?

 

[Lord Evermore]

An external hard drive will be horrible as far as performance, especially since it'll end up being USB1.1 which is CPU dependent. A USB drive is going to be limited to probably under 15MBps throughput sustained, bursts around the low 30s, and the access times will go up tremendously. Not too terrible in comparison to an old laptop drive I guess, but still going to be noticeably slower; you wouldn't want to use it for anything besides extra storage space.

If you got a Firewire PCMCIA card the performance would be better with a firewire drive, but probably still a bit less than the average for the original drive.

It looks like the hard drive casing can be removed, that picture looks a bit bigger than an actual 2.5 inch drive, so I don't think it's some specially built drive with the latch system built into it.

Poorly seated RAM might possibly cause problems, but you'd have probably ended up with more serious issues from the RAM falling completely out later, unlike with a desktop which doesn't move much.

 

[bystander]

OK, so a big NO to the external HD then? Or can be considered if it's simply gonna be for storage? How much does a Firewire PCMCIA card go for?

If I can indeed replace the existing HD by just swapping it out, would you recommend that over the external HD? I basically want more storage - now that more memory is out of the picture (I obviously can't change the CPU... can I?).

It probably isn't the RAM, but perhaps some drivers need to be updated like you said. I'll monitor the system for a few days, and see if it happens again.

You're DA MAN!