Max memory on DM4-2070us

[smh9]

For my Linux time (which is most of it) I use my trusty DM4-2070us, upgraded long ago to Linux and from 6 to 8 GB by swapping out the original 2 GB stick with a clone of the other original 4 GB stick.  Now I'd like to upgrade to 16 GB, which would be 2 sticks of 8 GB DDR3 (PC3-1060S).

The official HP spec https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02877599 says Max supported is 8 GB DDR3 but dmidecode on the machine reports:

$ sudo dmidecode -t 16
# dmidecode 3.2
Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs.
SMBIOS 2.7 present.

Handle 0x001A, DMI type 16, 23 bytes
Physical Memory Array
Location: System Board Or Motherboard
Use: System Memory
Error Correction Type: None
Maximum Capacity: 16 GB       <<<<<
Error Information Handle: No Error
Number Of Devices: 2

Anyone have an informed opinion whether the machine will actually support 16 GB?  TIA

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The i5-2410M  processor supports 16 GB of memory.

Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Processor (3M Cache, up to 2.90 GHz)

The Crucial memory report indicates the max is only 2 x 4 GB

Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | hp - compaq | pavilion dm4 series | Pavilion dm4-2070us | Crucial.com

The service manual indicates the max is 2 x 4 GB.

c03106877.pdf (hp.com)

The service manual for the dv6-6000 model series which has the same processor family indicates the max is 2 x 8 GB for models with the Intel processors.

c02842252.pdf (hp.com)

The only other thing you can do would be to un this command and see what it reports...but this only works for Windows.

1. In the search box, search for cmd and click Run as administrator. This will open the command prompt.

2. Once command prompt is opened, type wmic memphysical get maxcapacity and hit enter. There, it will show the maximum RAM capacity your PC's motherboard can support.

The capacity is shown as Kilobytes, so you have to convert it to Gigabytes by dividing the number provided in the report by 1,048,576.

[smh9]

I certainly appreciate the reply, but it doesn't definitively answer the question.

I knew the processor supports 16G.

I knew HP positioned this intermediate ca 2010 machine with 6G and speced the max at 8G.

But the question remains whether the machine would actually work with 2 8G sticks, or whether the bridge chips and memoy sockets don't implement the extra bit, ie that HP's advertised max is a marketing/testing position rather than an implementation limitation.  (In 2010 8G was a respectably large memory, and HP wouldn't want to compete with its higher end product line.)

The info from Crucial is most telling, since they are in the business of selling memory upgrades, and might have been in position to test the upgrade at some point.  So I won't risk trying the experiment myself and I'll just wipe my newer 16G I7 Envy of Win10 and install Linux.