Installing & Upgrading
Memory
Before we begin.
Please read the entire page before you start. See
bottom of page for Text version. These instructions
are more or less here for the standard IBM type PC
computer with a external monitor, and keyboard. They
are not intended for Apple-IMac machines, or those
who share some design ideas with them such as some
emachines, where the computer mainboard is in a
common case with the monitor. Monitors can build up
voltage levels in excess of 10,000 volts, and can
produce FATAL LEVEL electrical SHOCK hazards
. For that reason I, STRONGLY SUGGEST you get a
professional to do upgrades to the memory on these
systems. The typical IBM type machine does not share
this type of hazard to the person installing memory
upgrades. Even so, with that being said, I in no way
assume any liability for damage, or injury done to
you, or your property by use of these instructions.
95% or more of persons reading these instructions
would have no problem what so ever installing memory
upgrades. If you feel you are in the 5% or less that
cannot follow these instructions, or have any doubt
about your ability to follow them, please take your
machine to a computer shop, and have them install the
memory for you. It is far less expensive than damage
to your computer or injury to yourself.
Installing, and upgrading of memory on computers
sounds like a very complex, and risky thing for most
people, but in many ways it is not at all a complex
operation. With a bit of guidance, and care, nearly
anyone with some very simple hand tools can install
memory on most PCs. While this page cannot hope to
address all the possible installations of memory, it
can however point you in the general direction so
that it should be more than possible to feel
comfortable adding a bank of memory. For general
information purposes, kb means kilobytes, mb means
megabytes, and gb means gigabytes.
At this
point it my also be prudent to consider the system
you are planning an upgrade to. At times it is best
to hold off on adding memory to an older system in
favor of changing more parts. In some cases such as
those systems using 168 pin DIMM memory it may be a
smart move to get PC133 in favor of PC100 if possible
so you may be able to transfer that memory into a
newer system also. Just consider what you have,
are willing to spend, and where you wish to be at
when it is all done. It may be better to put your
hard earned money into other system improvments if
you are currently planning to try to add say 32mb of
costly 32 pin memory into a 486 DX2 motherboard to
allow you to run WinME say when you would be far
better off to obtain a new motherboard with something
in the range of 700 to 900mhz processor that accepts
168 pin memory.
You will need to establish what type of memory
your computer takes since memory comes in many
different type packages, and sizes. It would also be
a good point to decide what exactly your need is in
the way of amount of memory. It is my opinion most
systems do not come with enough. I generally suggest
minimum amounts of 48 to 64mb of memory for Win95
systems, 96 to 128 mb for Win98 systems, 128 to 192mb
for Windows ME, and 256mb or more for Windows 2000
Professional. The reason for this is simple.
Windows uses a process called "Virtual Memory" which
is really nothing more than writing files to disk
when it gets pressed for memory. Often times Windows
inability to find these files is the reason for lock
ups, and reboots, and it slows the operation of your
system down to use Virtual Memory. So if you can
avoid it's use it is a good idea to do so. As far as
maximum amounts of memory, for most Windows 95/98/ME
systems gains seen with installed memory over 256mb
are questionable. On Window 2000 Professional 512mb.
Of course operating systems other than Windows, and
server operation would need even higher abouts of
memory, but this page really is not written with
that type of hardware in mind. Want more information
about how much memory you need? Try this "How Much Memory do I need page
from Crucial Memory. If you are not sure what
your computer accepts for memory, or how much memory
your system has installed here are a few basics to
help you determine these factors before you consider
buying memory. Even at this it is a VERY good idea
NOT to open a memory package until you are sure, and
can see what you have inside your computer. Most
stores, or mail order houses will help you with
deciding which memory your computer takes to some
extent, but it is often impossible to tell the exact
lay out of the memory until you really have the case
open, and can see the way the memory is installed.
If you know the make and model of your computer such
as a Compaq, IBM, HewlettPackard, Gateway, Micron,
Dell, or so on, it is possible you can just use a
memory makers website to get the basic chip types
your system can accept. The dialog box below is for
Crucial Memory.
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perhaps the largest memory supplier
and a site with a very good memory requirement
locator. Here is a link to Kingston Technology
a memory chip supplier.
http://www.kingston.com/ Here
is a link to the PNY Technology site but you will
have to select memory... http://www.pny.com ( this
is not an endorsement of their memory over any other
brand, just the first sites I found with a search of
memory suppliers. ) These sites should open into
new pages. See other links at the bottom of this
page. If you do not know the make of your computer or
parts it is made from, you are not without hope. I
recommend you get a program to snoop your hardware
for you. This is the one I like the best myself. http://www.sisoftware.demon.co.uk/sandra
SiSoft Sandra is my personal favorite of the programs
I have seen for telling you about the hardware you
have on your computer and the above link will allow
you to download a shareware version of the program.
Or you can get a free PC Advisor from www.Belarc.com that will do most
of the same stuff - click the PC Advisor link on the
main page. After it is installed it will add an
additional icon on the control panel or desktop
screen which will be titled System Information, and
have easy to follow icons after the program starts
which will tell you about the basics you need to
know. After you have the program running and have
opened it to the screen where the program has started
you should see several icons for things such as
System Summery, and so on. Go to Mainboard
information and about half way down that list you
should see how many banks of memory are available and
how many memory modules have been installed. For
most who are reading this, you will find out that you
are using PC100 or PC133 DIMM SDRAM. Typical
installed sizes from most builders are a single bank
of memory usually in 32mb or 64mb sizes. You will
wish to take note of the open memory slots, and the
size memory modules that are supported by the
mainboard (motherboard) of the system. Most Pentium
2 class machines over 250mhz will accept up to 256mb
banks of memory. Most systems that are Pentium 2
class under 233mhz will only accept memory modules up
to 64mb in size. Most systems with processors under
550mhz will work acceptably on PC100 (100mhz buss)
memory. Most systems over 550 mhz will require PC133
memory modules. If your system is over 1000mhz (1
ghz) you will have to check carefully about the
memory required as some use PC2100 DDR memory and
others may use RDRAM depending on the processor and
mainboard used. If your computer is slower than
166mhz and uses a Pentium 2, Pentium 1, AMD K5, K6 1,
Cyrex, or 486 generation processor, you will have to
check very carefully for size memory supported by the
bios ( it may not even accept 64mb banks) and it may
even use older 72 pin EDO SIMM memory modules.  So at this point you can
see that knowing what type of memory before you
proceed to even buy memory chips is the first step.
If you do not wish to or for some reason do not have
good results with a hardware snooper program like
Sandra, Nuts and Volts, and I am sure Norton has one
too, you will have to open the case up and look to
see what it uses. Perhaps even reverse engineer the
install by reading the chip numbers off the existing
installed memory and seeing what size memory is there
and if there are any free memory slots to be had.
The great point about programs like Sandra however is
often that you can use the motherboard make
information supplied by the program to hunt down the
motherboard makers website and get details about the
hardware if you ever need it. Many motherboards have
FLASH upgradeable Bios chips that allow upgrades to
your motherboard by running the downloadable program
file to upgrade it. Care should be taken with this
however as a power outage while doing this can be
fatal to your motherboard, so if you are going to
attempt a Flash bios upgrade have a UPS on the
system. Many of these sites have downloadable manuals
for the motherboards they have built in the past.
Handy information to have in some cases, even if you
do not know much about the hardware part of the
computer, it is often helpful to have such
information at hand should you wish to have someone
else repair or upgrade the computer. You can
generally print these files out for a manual you did
not get with the machine in most cases. One last
comment. If you have a good, quick machine do not
get the cheapest memory you can. The fact is many
builders will tell you that standard low cost PC133
memory is not acceptable for Athlon Thunderbird
Processors and that you should get the best grade of
memory for these processors as they work the memory
hard. Even less demanding Pentium 3 systems may have
problems with cheap memory, depending on factors such
as clock settings used. One other factor most do not
consider here is the climate the computer operates
in. Excess heat is not a friend to your computer.
Cheap memory that works well at 75f / 27c may produce
many errors if you add 15 degrees or less to the room
temperture. If the memory is not warrented for at
least 1 year it is not worth getting. Most good
memory will be warrented against failure (except
static shocks) for a period of at least 1 year and
many are warrented forever. For those really
interested, and know a bit of MS DOS, you can
download many things from a site called http://www.bootdisk.com such as
the files needed for DOS boot ups, and memory tests
if you suspect a bad memory module.
The next
thing to get is to have some basic tools. You should
have at least the following at hand before you
attempt to open the computer case. I good medium
sized Phillips head screwdriver. ( ideally with a
magnetic tip to hold the screws until you get them
started. ) A few paper lables like those used for
diskettes or printing out addresses on a printer, and
an ink pen or marker. This for making labels in the
event you need to remove a connector so you will know
which way it goes back on by labeling the connection
with the name numbers or letters as well as the
direction the connector come off in. Some connectors
like those found on drives are easy to reverse if
you are not careful and in some cases can be a big
problem if they are reversed. It is also a good idea
to have a can of Static Guard to spray the floor and
chair where you are going to be working before you
start. This to keep the chance of a static charge on
you from being likely. If you wish most mail order
memory suppliers are also more than happy to supply
you with a static strap for your wrist for about
$5.00. ( The truth is these are little more than
a velcro and nylon wrist strap with a wire attached
to it with a clip to connect to the computer chassis
or case. These keep the static charge drained off
you, which can easily exceed the voltage a memory or
other chip can accept. ) This is not a bad idea
if you are handling very costly memory or processor
chips, and live in a climate that produces a lot of
static such as winters in North America during the
heating season. You can often get by just fine
without the use of such a strap if you make sure to
keep the chip/memory/card in the anti static package
right up until it is ready to be installed, and then
make sure you keep a bare part if your arm or one
hand on the case/chassis of the computer. NEVER
HANDLE conductive parts of COMPUTER CHIPS, CARDS, or
CONNECTORS, with your hands. At the very least
you risk static damage to the parts. Even if you
avoid this pitfall the oil or other body fluids can
effect the connections. So care should be taken to
avoid touching parts that are used as part of the
electronic pathways inside your machine.
Ready
to begin.
Ok at this point we are going to assume you got your
memory, you have your tools, you are ready with your
nerve to open the computer and install the memory.
First thing power down the computer, monitor,
printer, and any other attached devices before
unplugging any cables. Label the connections on the
outside of the computer case as you remove them if
you need to do so. Most of them are color coded on
newer machines but if you are not sure it is
generally best to label them to avoid problems later.
Carefully position the machine where it is a good
spot to work on. Keep in mind that some CPU units
can weigh over 25 pounds, so they can be heavy to
move. Use the pictures in this section of the page
to get a general idea of what you are looking for,
but keep in mind there are a several motherboard and
case makers, and they do not all use exactly the same
designs, so memory chips, power supplies, screw
placement can be other than the location shown. Also
the processor is going to be in the processor socket
or slot, and there will more than likely be a fan or
duct work to the processor also. There will more
than likely be a video card, modem, and perhaps sound
card on most machines installed in the AGP and PCI
slots, as well as ribbon cables running to both the
controller plug ins on the mainboard. You will also
soon find that larger cases are easier to work on
than smaller ones.  This all is usually
hidden under drive bays, hard drives, and a power
supply. The back of the machines in most cases
have 3 to 6 screws located around the edge that
attach the cover to the base of the chassis. Remove
them carefully and place them into a bowl, jar, or
some other place for safe keeping. ( They are
often hard to find replacements for if lost and you
should always keep the cover on your machine and
attached when in operation. ) Slide the cover
toward the back without lifting on the cover
generally about 1 inch. Then you can usually lift the
cover assembly off the machine. NEVER PRY, POUND, or
otherwise strike the computer to try to remove the
cover. Check for other screws that were missed if
the cover does not seem to come off without a
problem. At this point you should see the inside of
the computer. From the image file you should be
able to locate the memory slots. The first thing to
do is to make sure that the memory slots are
available to install the memory you had planned to
install. In some rare cases the software does make
errors and you may not have as many slots as reported
or they are stocked with memory. ( Remember I
told you not to open the memory before you got to
this point. ) In some machine you may find it
nessesary to remove the power supply from it's mount
to gain access to memory chips. This is normally not
a matter of removing any connectors inside the
computer, just removing the screws holding the power
supply to the case and then lifting the power supply
case up and placing it out of the way while you are
installing memory. Some cases allow your
main/motherboard to be move without a big operation
by removing a few screws that hold the entire frame
for the motherboard to be detacted ( except for
cables ) from the case. Some cases allow the drive
"bays" to be slid out for memory or cable
installations. In all cases, refer to the makers
instruction book if you have one. Most do explain
the basics of how to get to the point of installing
memory. At least look at the manual if you have one
for the information that pertains to your case. At
this point you may also notice dust inside your
computer. It is not a bad idea to clean this dust
out of the machine but do not risk getting computer
boards wet, or otherwise physically coming into
contact with electrical parts on the boards inside
your case. You can take a VERY slightly dampened
paper towel and wipe up dust around NON-ELECTRICAL
parts. NEVER contact electrical parts with any part
if you can avoid doing so, unless you are VERY sure
you know the correct way to clean up such parts
without damaging them. Some use a vacume sweepers
with curtain brushes also to dust the inside of the
cases and have good success if care is excersized
when doing this. Now by this point you should have
located the memory slots. Carefully examine them as
the chips only go in one way. ( they will not go
in backwards, note slots or indents on the connector
edge that need to mate with those in the slot. )
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Note: This is an example board.
Some use slots also for processor connections.
You simply position them over the
slot in most cases and push them into it. The
motherboard in the photo above is a bit of an
exception in that it is one of a very few that has
both DDR and SD Ram slots. Most boards will have 2 to
4 memory slots. Note the white "locks" on the ends
of the slots. These will come up and lock the memory
down into the slot if the memory is correctly seated.
You just push these locks down to eject a memory
card from the slot also. If the locks are not in
place, the memory is not correctly seated. Pushing
the memory card down may take a small bit of effort
but you should be able to do so without any great
amount of force. You should not need tools or have
to use a great amount of force to push the memory
into the correct position. If they do not go in,
check to make sure you have them placed in the
correct direction. YOU CANNOT ALWAYS GO BY THE SIDE
THE CHIPS ARE MOUNTED ON THE CARD! Different makers
may use a slightly different design. The main focus
being that they are electrically the same, yet look
totally different. There are index holes or
grooves on the connector end of the card that will
mate with the slot. Use these for reference points.
On PC100/133/2100 banks of chips, you will see the
little locks come up and lock the bank of memory down
into place if they are put in successfully. On some
older 72 pin memory there is a slight click when the
lock that holds the memory down locks down. The
locks are even metal on some of the 72 pin memory
sockets.
Ok you have
the memory in, and I assume know at this point to
return the parts to the places they were if you had
to remove anything such as cables or moving power
supplies for access to the memory slots. Also keep
in mind the cases cover has to be slid about 1"
forward to lock down before putthing the screws in.
Take care not to pinch any cables in the case when
putting the cover back on before putting the cover
screws back into place. Then connect all the
external cables up as needed and return the computer
to where it was before. If you have done your job
correctly in most newer machines when you start the
machine up, it will find the memory upgrade, and make
the needed chances without any further work on your
part. If you have an older machine, you may have a
bios error. Enter the bios if you have not done so
already by the error trapping routine on most bios
versions. CAREFULLY move to the configuration screen
and then to where memory is listed. Change the
memory amount to the correct amount now installed on
your machine. ( most machines work in multiples of
4. for example 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512,
1024, 2048 etc. a few will have odd ball sizes like
12, 20, 24, 48, 96, also possible...) Generally it
will not let you get past this point until you get
the correct amount of memory entered. Then if you
have not made any changes to other settings there,
exit with saving. If you have messed up by accident
exit without saving on most of these bios setups is
also an option. Then you can do it again if needed.
One last thing. For the next 24 hours of computer
operation note any problems like memory errors. Most
memory chips if they fail do so within the first 24
hours of operation. So it is often not a bad idea to
leave the computer run for 24 hours to "burn in" the
chips. This holds true for any upgrade including
adding cards or drives to a system.
OK I
have added the memory so what can I expect?
Well it is hard to give anyone hard fast numbers
about the advantages of additional memory. Here is
about what most see however with Windows 98 as an
example. If you started with the base of 32mb of
memory, you would see about a 30% increase in most
operations if you increased the memory to 64mb. If
you increase the memory to 128mb you can expect to
see about an additional 15% over the 30% already
seen. This simply put means if something took 2
seconds to do it in many cases will take about 1.2
seconds now. The results from adding memory over
128mb depends greatly on the use you have for the
machine. If you are not using several programs at
once, and are not running a high demand for processor
power, you will likely never notice gains beyond
adding 128mb of memory with Windows 98. If you are
one that has several programs going at once, or do a
lot of video or imaging work, you may well see
gains up to 256mb of memory installed. There is some
real doubt exactly what gains are seen after 256mb of
memory with Windows 98. Windows 95 would see more or
less the same results but with half the memory
amounts. Windows ME would be more or less the same
as Windows 98. Windows 2000 is likely going to see
gains even with more memory installed or double the
amounts of Windows 98 / ME as it's memory
requirements are double that of those two operating
system versions.
Ok I
followed the instructions, and nothing works!
If you followed the instructions and nothing worked
then retrace your steps. Chances are it is a simple
matter overlooked. If the computer does not start up
make sure you have it plugged in. If the computer
runs and there is no video on the monitor, turn it
off and make sure you have the monitor plugged into
the back of the computer. The same holds true with
sound cards and speakers, and printers, and mice, and
keyboards. Check your connections but make sure you
power down before you change any connections. USB
ports are the only exception to this rule as they can
be hot tapped with the computer going. If you still
are not getting any results remove the cover and make
sure you did not miss a connection inside the case
that got dislodged. If the computer comes up and
shows a memory error after you get it going. Go back
to the SiSoft Sandra and see if you can do a memory
test. If the problem is on the new bank of memory
remove it and return it to the store in the package
it come in. ( at this point you would wish you
could show you used a static strap ) Most stores
however will not give you a hard time about the
memory and replace it without too much of a problem
IF YOU SOUND LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING
ABOUT.... If you sound like you haven't got a clue,
you more than likely do not have a prayer of getting
the memory replaced if they suspect you damaged it by
not knowing what you are doing. |
© joanna99999, 2001, the terms Internet
Explorer, Windows, Windows95, 98, ME, NT, and 2000 are
copywrited by Microsoft Corp. Asus is ASUSTek Computer INC.
SiSoft Sandra, copywrited by Catalin-Adrian Silasi Software.
Items shown should not be considered endorsements or fitness
for any purpose other than what the maker states See product
packaging for more copywrite information. See the link to
Toms' Hardware Guild for details about hardware selections
and reviews. The author of this page assumes no liability
for damages resulting from your use of the instuctions,
software, links found on this page. Their fitness for any
purpose other than general information is solely up to you
the reader. Every attempt has been made to make the
information useful and accurate, however without sole control
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