Can Gizmo 2 use GX-420CA and 2GB chips w/o issues?

Hi David,

You should check with Gizmosphere directly if you can, but the answer for (1) was 'no' last time I checked the documentation or website - it stated somewhere that the board was capable of extra RAM, but it wasn't just a case of installing more (and I presumed this means other parts may need to be added too, e.g. capacitors). It isn't intended for user-modification to this extent anyway.

For (2), I don't know the answer.

EDIT: this is the text from the documentation (user guide) that I recalled:

This is a manufacturing option only. It is not recommended that users attempt to remove or resolder the BGA memory components.

It requires flashing the BIOS for the 2GB RAM to work. There's a source out there in which the user had already installed and created a BIOS file to flash for 2GB of RAM (it may have been through GitHub, perhaps). The RAM is no problem whatsoever. Viewing early docs for the board they clearly had intended to make it a 2GB bearing board (but a single, internal memo which mentions a change to 1GB would increase profit margins from within GizmoSphere is out there).  Your answer is reversed. 2GB RAM is no issue at all (so long as also Micron made DDR3 of the same [excluding memory capacity] type there is no problem with the install of Micron 256Gb DDR3 chips for 2GB, once BIOS flashed).

The portion you had no answer for was the important portion of the question (the RAM was $35, but processor was $123 with shipping).

I'll edit this post to give a link to the 2GB RAM BIOS file once I find the bookmark in Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Midori or Opera.

When I got the Gizmo2 for a project of a client I had a lot of issues ( helped me a lot) managing the options supported by the board. In the same period I have also explored with the guys of the GizmoSphere about the possibility to add memory easily but they told me that it was not needed - at least in theory - any extra hardware (the design includes the 2nd 1 GB RAM) but that they discovered unstability in the bios with more memory so decided to start the product with 1 Gb only. That's all what I know and it is a while I am not using this board (but I have in mind to use it in the near future for some local small server managing 3D printers.

Enrico

Can you show a link where someone installed 2GB DRAM and had it functioning? If it was no issue at all, others might wish to try it, as would I.

But I'd like to read up on it to confirm that someone successfully installed 2GB and had it functioning.

As I stated above: "I'll edit this post to give a link to the 2GB RAM BIOS file once I find the bookmark in Chrome, Chromium, Firefox, Midori or Opera." The problem is my device keeps taking me away from doing as much (forcing me to start from the beginning yet again) because my screen keeps flashing and showing me notices that there were replies here.

I am looking for it, but an online search is no longer useful because it is flooded with "GizmoPal" even when search line includes -GizmoPal and -gizmopal and others. It still shows those pages which were specifically asked to be ignored. I have a bookmark in one of the almost half dozen browsers, but which requires my trying each of the thousands of bookmarks in each browser until I find it. But again, I am forced to respond to the screen and LED's flashing, plus the annoyingly loud and unpleasant noise each of the 5 devices give when a response to this post comes in.

I will post it when I find it and I am certain it exists.

I understand, but you're referring to a BIOS file in your comment. Having 2GB RAM functioning entails swapping out the memory chips too. I can't see how you can state it is not a problem unless you've seen a comment somewhere that someone managed this and had no problem.

At the high operational frequency there could be instabilities. So I'd like it confirmed that it is indeed not a problem.

This is becoming exceptionally frustrating... Every search term so far has been a flood of 60+ Google pages about OTHER SBC's (and my search term included "Gizmo 2", meaning "The words between these quotation marks MUST be included in all results" but after page 2 very few of them do).  There are now so many Single Board Computers that it may take me 4 months to find what I am referring to.  But I cannot block out all the other SBC's because if there is an ad for any of them then Google won't show that page to me.

The page exists (or, existed as the site it was on may be dead) and I will continue to look for it.  I'll post it here once I am able to get through all the nips of my hands, feet, arms, legs, face, ears, neck and other parts by the many hundreds of others of SBC's. I'll find the page or at least the BIOS flash file for the functional 2GB of DDR3 RAM in the GizmoSphere Gizmo 2.

Hello David,

I experienced the same problem in past when I started to study Gizmo2 for SSD disk add-on and other features. The first issue is wiritng Gizmo 2 in the Google. you find almost nothing. I am sure of this as I always forgot to write it correctly for a while. If you put Gizmo2 (no spaces) you find the exact keyword and all the reference material to the Gizmo2 and Gizmosphere only.

Inside this I have just tried to search Gizmo2 bios customization and I have found a lot, including the several links to the SageBios on GitHub. Below some references (not checked):

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/48998-bios-system-customization

BIOS Customization - NEXCOM

https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot-gerrit/2014-December/017694.html  (the more useful I suppose)

Then try including both gizmo2 and sagebios and you dramatically reduce your search. Searching for sagebios gizmo2 RAM you find just 5 pages on google.

Hope this is helpful. Enrico

How on Earth have you been able to work with people of a dead company? Their telephone number, address and email addresses are all dead. While the Gizmo 1 and 2 come with warranties, you cannot get any warranty coverage because they have killed the company. Questions asked here: http://www.gizmosphere.org/gizmoboard-support/  are never responded to.

Here's some proof: https://youtu.be/N8OBgsgcfA4

Phone #: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-1lAPlHMTDgNkpndDlVTGZhdzg/view?usp=drivesdk

Fax #: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-1lAPlHMTDgcXgwOWVuZmZWMlU/view?usp=drivesdk

Here: https://github.com/coreboot/coreboot/tree/master/src/mainboard/gizmosphere/gizmo2

If you replace the Micron_MT41J128M16JT.spd.hex file with one specific to the Micron MT41K256M16HA such as Micron_MT41K256M16HA.spd.hex then there is no problem with the 2Gb chips.  They had intended it to have 2Gb from the start, but for the sake of profit margin dropped it to 1Gb.

https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot-gerrit/2013-November/004302.html

https://mail.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot-gerrit/2013-November/004198.html