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  • #16
    Yup. Since I'm still unsure as to who's fibbing about how much RAM you can shove in there, we'll just stick to the 1GB PC2-6400s.

    From the link, either the Crucial on the top left (~$17) or the Zeppelin on the top right (~$14) should work. If you can get your friend to help, maybe (s)he can download a good memory tester (I use Memtest86+) to check things after installing.

    Don't get anything labelled "SO-DIMM", as that's for laptops, and stay away from anything larger than 2GB per stick.

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    • #17
      And then... where does it go? (In the computer, I mean.)

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      • #18
        There should be slots of the right length very near the CPU, with clips on the outer ends - it should be pretty darn obvious once you look.

        Most likely you will get a leaflet with them which explains what to do from there.

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        • #19
          Being that it's the winter months and static electricity builds up; before you touch anything electronic, don't forget to ground yourself by touching the case of the power supple (big box at the top or bottom of the case where the power cord goes in) before you touch the RAM.

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          • #20
            I bought a memory stick today (on sale). I brought it home, took the side panel off the computer, unwrapped the stick, and fiddled around until it fit.

            I put the side panel back on, plugged in the computer, and turned it on.

            The lights over the "on" button began flashing red, and it sounded an SOS.

            I unplugged the computer, took off the side panel, and saw that the memory stick still had a paper sticker on it.

            I took off the sticker (DAMNED strong adhesive; why don't Band-Aids stick like that?), made sure all of it was gone, then put the stick back in.

            Oh, dear. There's a little notch about halfway up the stick that doesn't fit with the slot. I'd put it in backwards.

            Turned it around, fiddled with it a bit more, snapped the snaps shut, put the side panel back on, turned on the computer.

            Success! The computer also informed me (via the monitor screen) that more memory had been installed.

            Now I'm not as afraid of my computer's innards as I used to be.

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            • #21
              It shouldn't be necessary to take the sticker off - most likely you just put it in the wrong way or not firmly enough the first time.

              Still, good progress.

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              • #22
                Kudos!

                Although, had you clicked on the link to Crucial I provided earlier, they would have shown this to you.

                And good call, emax4! I've done these so many times, that it's second nature for me to ground myself without thinking. I often forget to tell others about this step.

                Also, for those thinking to add more memory, I'd like to add: After grounding yourself by touching the PSU or case, unplug the computer to make sure the +5Vsb is drained. Some mobos will have an LED somewhere that stays lit when plugged in, and some PSUs will even have one on the back near the plug. Wait until it goes out, typically within ten seconds, and then install the memory. This takes care of a feature called "Suspend-to-RAM" that keeps power to the RAM when the rest of the computer is off (for an instant-on effect). Popping RAM in/out when powered up is a big no-no.

                Another consideration is to look closely at the sockets. In Eire's case, they're all white, so she can just shove them in there willy-nilly. If your sockets are paired by color (e.g., two blue and two black sockets), then you need to match exactly the type, speed and specs (known as "CL-levels") of the RAM, as well as needing to get them in pairs. This is because the mobo is set up to use dual-channel memory, and is why you'll see memory sold in "kits" for a certain size. Although you can use just one stick, the mobo will slow down and resort to single-channel mode until another identical stick is added (and is why I asked Eire so many questions about her specs).

                Now, Eire, do you have someone that can download and run Memtest (or just download the UBCD, which has it as one of the utilities)? I boot it up, get 'er going, and let it run through at least two passes before I call the RAM "good".


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                • #23
                  Well, I can download and run it. As for grounding myself, the computer is always unplugged when I'm not using it; I don't want to use electricity needlessly. I had to unplug the cable from the back of the computer, too, so that I could drag it into the light. I'm happy to say that even in this kitty household, the inside of the tower is clean.

                  It was a bit difficult to reach the sockets. There were some cables in the way, one of them pretty thick, and I didn't want to unplug them, because I wasn't sure if I'd remember where they went. I just sneaked around them, and it worked.

                  If I download and run Memtest, what should I expect?

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                  • #24
                    Much like Google, the power of Memtest lies in it's simplicity.

                    Screenshot

                    Once booted or launched, it displays a text-only page, telling you what it found (and how much memory, of course). It then just does it's thing: test your memory. Any errors found will be displayed below (in red). Each "pass" is comprised of eight tests. On slower machines, a pass will take about 2 hours, and is long enough for any heat problems to crop up. As stated before, you want to run this for at least two passes for modern machines, as it makes sure things heat up to test for thermal problems.

                    An interesting note: Test #6 (Block move) will also test your CPU's cache RAM, due to the way it works. It places a bit pattern into a block of memory, moves it to the cache, then writes it out to another block of memory, then reads it back to verify. I once had this test fail on one of my machines - thing was, it passed the memory when popped into another board. Once I realized how/what this test did, I was then able to track it down to bad cache, and swapped the CPU. I haven't had any problems since.

                    Once you've run it long enough without errors, then just pop out the disk/drive and reset or hit escape.

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