Upgraded Core Solo --> C2D max RAM

[strwrsfrk]

Another weird question with no easy answers online:

I bought a Core Solo Mac Mini to upgrade to a T5600 1.83GHz Core2Duo. I know this is possible; tons of people have done it and posted.

My question is whether this enables the Mini to read more than 2GB RAM. That is the max for a Core Solo machine, but is the issue of addressing 2GB+ RAM a processor issue or is the logic board the bottleneck?

Thanks.

 

[NatronB]

You're still limited to 2 GB RAM.

I'd like to make a pitch for the 2.0 Ghz T7200 Core2Duo. Lion ready (with a little bit of work).

-N

 

[strwrsfrk]

Darn

T5600 is still Lion ready. Would prefer the T7200, of course, but my budget is almost nil.

Thanks for the info!

 

[weckart]

You can hack it to take more than 2GB, but that means flashing the firmware to change it from a Mac Mini 1,1 to a Mac Mini 2,1 model. It will then recognise up to 3.3GB of RAM.

 

[dlee27]

You can hack it to take more than 2GB, but that means flashing the firmware to change it from a Mac Mini 1,1 to a Mac Mini 2,1 model. It will then recognise up to 3.3GB of RAM.

Can you elaborate on details of flashing firmware? I'm very interested. Thanks.

 

[alust2013]

You also will need the firmware hack to run Lion, as it will still see it as a Core Duo machine due to the chipset.

 

[strwrsfrk]

You also will need the firmware hack to run Lion, as it will still see it as a Core Duo machine due to the chipset.

I read that updating to 10.7.2 requires this change, yes.

And does anyone have a link to instructions for modifying the firmware to take more RAM? This is the first I've heard of it.

 

[dlee27]

And does anyone have a link to instructions for modifying the firmware to take more RAM? This is the first I've heard of it.

I've done it today and can confirm that 3GB of RAM works. Unfortunately, board ID is not changed this way so Lion install USB still does not run without modification. Read #46 by MacEFIRom and #67 by Sebinouse.
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,874.0.html

 

[strwrsfrk]

Thanks!

I've done it today and can confirm that 3GB of RAM works. Unfortunately, board ID is not changed this way so Lion install USB still does not run without modification. Read #46 by MacEFIRom and #67 by Sebinouse.
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,874.0.html

Thank you! This is awesome!

 

[jdreier]

Ok. I've read the posted thread about the firmware upgrade a couple of times now. I get most of it. It's just the crc32 check sums that confuse me. What do they actually do? I'm pretty computer savvy. I've upgraded my 1,1 mac mini to a 2.33 c2d and have successfully installed Lion on it.


Can anybody give me a simplified walkthrough of the firmware upgrade process? I mostly just need to know how to run the crc32 stuff.

till then i'll keep reading on the web about it.

Thanks,

 

[dlee27]

I mostly just need to know how to run the crc32 stuff.

You just need to follow Sebinouse' instruction on the post.

Open EFIUpdaterApp.efi with hex editor like Hex Fiend. Use find/replace function. Find "67 BC 27 43" and replace them with "1C 65 1E DD". There are 4 instances around offset 0x73B0. That's it!