Hp Mini 5103 - CPU and Ram upgrades?

[The-Architect]

Hello

Given the recent production of Bay Trail cpu's that are supposed to be much better than the 4th generation haswell cpus, enabling laptops and tablets to finally catch up in terms of performance, I was wondering if its possible to upgrade the Mini 5103 with Bay Trail 2.4ghz cpu?

With these new cpu's, its doable that they can support higher ram capacity than the atom 1.66ghz cpus... My question is, is it possible to equip 1 x 8gb ram in the 5103? I understand the limitations of ram capacity, especially in mini laptops, however much of that limitation is focused on the OS 32 bit Windows 7 starter. I will be installing a 64bit linux distro so there won't be a ram capacity limitation.

So that leaves hardware, can the motherboard support an 1 x 8gb ram stick at all? I can't be certain the Bay trail cpu's can support 8gb for sure however I understand they can probably support 4gb...

Please help me, I'm not very knowledgeable with laptops :catembarrassed:

[VJ_R]

Hi

You can find all the info about you Mini in this guide 

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02521749/c02521749.pdf

Page 1 to 3 are the Specs and what is the Max supported.

[Xqzit]

Hello,

Well, unfortunately 2GB is the max your mini laptop supports and with Widows 7 Starter the max sometimes can be limited to 1GB. The max memory is limited to 2GB by the motherboard, CPU and the chipset. Well, there is nothing wrong in trying to make your laptop work with a single 8GB module but the laptop simply will not accept it.

Regards.

Source: http://h20566.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/kb/docDisplay/?sp4ts.oid=4256301&spf...

[The-Architect]

Sorry it took so long to reply, I'v been kinda busy lately!

Please keep in mind that the specs stated in those sources for the motherboard are largely influenced by what the factory cpu is installed into the laptop models before sent out to retail shops. For example,

• Intel Atom N475 Processor (1.83 GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB)

• Intel Atom N455 Processor (1.66 GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB)

  will only support 2gb ram at maximum largely due to limitations of the cpu!

  However, the new Bay Trail intel cpus will be able to support 4gb ram easily (not sure about 8gb though but that would be great if it did) . I have read forum users claiming that it is doable to have 4gb ram installed in their mini laptops despite, the motherboard stats saying otherwise (that it can only support 2gb). So I don't think its a motherboard limitation but rather a cpu limitation. There is one exception to that rule though, is how much power to individual components (i.e. ram voltage, cpu voltage etc) can be supplied by a small power supply and how much a small fragile motherboard can handle with power supply and demand.

  http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/09/intels-atom-cpus-finally-get-serious-with-the-new-bay-trail-a...

  Bay Trail intel cpus can support 64bit architecture so Im keen to install a 64bit linux OS that can support more than 2gb! So that leaves the question, if a cpu can support 8gb 1 ram stick, and I have sufficient power to draw, with a 64bit OS distro, will the 5103 laptop work with that capacity ram?

[Brian_Steele]

Windows 7 Starter can actually support up to 2GB of RAM (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limit...). 

The 1GB limit on some models of the 5103 actually seems to be a hardware limit. 

Unfortunately it looks like I have one of those 5103s with the 1GB limit - I tried upgrading the memory to 2GB and my 5103 refuses to boot, presenting me with a blinking CAPS-LOCK key instead, suggesting that it does not recognize the memory module.

[C0D3_WH1SP3R3R]

2Gb will boot. But the motherboard only supports 1 Rank. I have 2Gb and Win10 Pro x64 running on my 5103 (WQ211AV)

The ram has 2 stickers: (also see attached)

CT:RBJQR95H1ZDOJN

SPS: 621567-001         REV 2.00

MEMORY 2GB                  DATE CODE: 951064

                                             2010/08/27

===================================

MT8JSF25664HZ-1G4D1      1023

2GB     1Rx8     PC3-10600S-9-10-B1

PRODUCT OF CHINA     DPAA8L5002

 I tried a couple 4GB Strips but they are both  dual rank. My friend said he thinks he has single rank 4Gb I can try. I'm not too sure, I don't recall ever coming across 1xR 4GB but that would be pretty stellar.

Oh and the same is true for a lot of the earlier XW series workstation servers which are fueling my ESXi Pharm, that's how I stumbled across the Ranking limitations of some machines. I'm curious what it might take to squeeze some more potential out of these mini's. I have one I've chopped and manged into a bomb desktop media server (HP Mini 1000 1030NR). I'm currently messing with the bios for these two as well as my ProBook 4510S to allow for some better network cards (Elim whitelist).

Hope that helps out some and the best on your endeavors. The light at the end of the tunnel.....could be a train.

🙂