Anyone [H]ere work for Fujitsu? (Upgrading a thin client...)

S

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
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Hello... I have a Fujitsu Siemens Futro S400 thin client. Got it off a fellow [H]ere, don't remember who (no offense meant -- my brain needs a RAM upgrade, lol!).

I'm trying to reform it into being a proper, if somewhat low-power, desktop system. I've got a hard drive in it (running XP because I needed that for something :eek: ) but I'm booting a Puppy Linux derivative from a flash drive. Would work great if I wasn't limited to 512mb RAM. I stuck a 1gb stick in there at some point and the system would only recognize the first half. Grrr argh.

I emailed Fujitsu at some point a while ago and they told me that this specific client was not capable of going above 512mb RAM, but they wouldn't give me a straight answer as to why... I know that there are some versions of this same model that can take a full gig, and that's really all I want from it right now. (I suspect that it's a BIOS limit, but I don't know where to find the fix.)

Current specs --
1GHz AMD Geode NX1500 CPU (whee!)
512mb RAM (duh) DDR1 speeds (I think it's PC2100, oh joy...)
20gb HDD + WinXP (will later be replaced by 8gb IDE SSD + Puppy Linux)
PS/2 mouse & keyboard
External 12v PSU brick

No, I'm not interested in upgrading it to some sort of sixteen core 12ghz beast. I'm taking on the challenge of making it a reasonably energy-efficient desktop for very basic use, because I want to. I'm looking for light web, email, and word-processing capability and nothing more. The sort of bare bones stuff you can still do with a Pentium M if you're a little crafty, that's all.

*ahem*

Can anyone tell me what's required to up this system to being able to handle a full gig of RAM?
 
What chipset is the motherboard? That should tell you the max ram, and possibly if it can handle high density memory. Not sure how contacting Fujitsu would help unless they made your motherboard chipset?
 
Fujitsu made the system... unfortunately their tech support people are, judging by my interactions with them, more oriented towards people who are not terribly computer literate...

Chipset is an SiS741CX.

Here's loads of info on the S400, including basically everything I know --> http://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/Futro/s400/index.shtml

EDIT: should probably note that I just tried to find out the specs myself on that chipset. Either google hates me or they don't exist... I'm actually leaning towards the second option right now. Even SiS' website doesn't have them...

EDIT2: further down the rabbit hole. Even Wikipedia doesn't list that chipset!
 
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Sorry, I totally derped that Fujitsu made it somehow. The data sheet says max 512mb max under XPe (not sure what the e designates?) except via CUZ (not sure what CUZ is, other than slang for cousin, or just because?)
 
god I hope someone owns up to being with fujitsu....so I can beat them with a trout
 
CUZ is their customization line.

XPe is XP Embedded. Basically lets you take stuff out if you want to; it's a modular version of XP.

Worth noting, one of the very few not-a-driver results google gave me for that chipset was this PDF for a Jetway board with the same chipset. 1gb RAM max. (I will warn you that this particular PDF is not the best thing Jetway's ever made... ;) ) So the chipset *can* support it, it's something Fujitsu did when they made that board.

I also distinctly recall a reference *somewhere* to that system supporting 1gb RAM in certain cases. I really think it's got to be something in software/firmware (meaning a BIOS limitation) and not hardware-based. Companies are just too damn lazy these days to make two different mobos for the same product, one supporting half the RAM of the other.
 
It sounds like that's a tough cookie to crack, as I can't image many enthusiasts have that system and bothered to look into it.
 
Probably not.

There really aren't many thin-client-reformation enthusiasts out there AFAIK! (So few that I had to make up the term... I think it's mainly me and Mr Parkytowers Guy, at this point!)

I looked on google briefly, there's a support forum for Fujitsu stuff but not thin clients. I don't think there's a forum for people who want to turn them into nice desktops... although I haven't really looked (I'm not even entirely sure what to put into google for that one, lol).
 
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