OK, so my Celeron 633 MHz PC running Windows ME with 64MB SDRAM is goin’ a little slow. I have a stick of 256MB SDRAM in my hot little hands and I’d like to know how to install it. I’m not completely clueless, I’m capable of removing the PC cover, I understand that I need to be grounded, I have a reasonable collection of tools.
The PC has two slots, each capable of taking 256MB so I assume I’m ok to just pop my new RAM into the empty one. Do I need to remove the old RAM for any reason? Should the PC be plugged in or not (does this affect the grounding)?
To be safe, pop the cover while it’s plugged in (but off) then unplug, this will groung you (assuming the case is metal). You should be able to just put the new stick in the empty slot. When you boot it up, if it doesn’t register the new amount of RAM then switch the two sticks. Sometimes you have to have the bigger one in the first slot. If it still doesn’t register, you may have to go into the BIOS and tell it how much you have now.
I have a Celeron too, and I added ram not to long ago. Theres nothing to it really. Just pick an empty slot, insert ram, and press down on both ends until it snaps in.
Yes its a good idea to turn the power off first or bad things might happen. Also, do not touch the contact points of the ram or you could damage it.
This may just be a tech superstition, but we always put the biggest memory stick in slot 0.
I’d remove the 64mb stick and put the 256mb stick in its place. Boot up, use it for a while and if everything’s fine then power down and put the 64mb in the second slot. If everything’s still fine, you’re done. If it, as happyheathen puts it, “pukes” then remove the 64mb stick and be happy… sometimes different brands of memory are fine by themselves but don’t play well together.
The method I just described is designed to make troubleshooting easier if problems arise.
Regards the non symetrical stick, is it easy to tell which way it should go? Or do I just try it one way and if it doesn’t go in easily, try it the other way?
Dimm chips have two slots on the bottom, one very close to the end, and one about a third of the way in, just match the slots on the chip to notches in the slots (for lack of a better term) that your putting the chip into. Just look, you’ll be able to tell.
Well, I took the 64 out and put the 256 in and that worked fine so I tried to put the 64 in as well. Now the ol’ HP Pavillion wasn’t a very easy thing to navigate inside. It had its RAM slots tucked right under so that one end was under the CDROM. Flicking the little catches was nearly impossible. I unscrewed the only screws I could see holding the CDROM but couldn’t get it to budge so I soldiered on. For some reason I just couldn’t get that 64 to fit in the second slot. The end under the CDROM just wouldn’t slide in enough for the catch to close.
It seems that it should be easier, maybe I should have pulled the chassis apart a bit more but I couldn’t see how to.
Anyway the 'puter is running good on 256 so thanks everyone for your help.
Different Pavilions have different drive bay release points. Typically the entire drive bay will come out of the chassis once released and give you better access to the interior. You may also want to take the PS out. On some models you have to release the front bezel before you can get to the drive bay release points. It’s a PITA and even similar models have completely different release points. I suspect HP subs chassis design and engineering of the various Pavilions out to completely different design firms as they are so varied. They are only the same on the surface chassis wise.
Even though I have large hands I can typically “feel” my way into the chassis to insert and remove RAM without removing components. The key is making sure the side clips are released by flipping them down before removing or installing and that the DIMM is facing the right way. www.hp.com has dis-assembly diagrams.
FWIW you are probaly better off reliability wise with just one 256Meg DIMM vs 256+64 as the system does not have to adjust for mem speeds or parameters between 2 different DIMMS and IIRC the system will typically default to the speed of the slowest DIMM (probably the 64) unless you can set the speed manually. Also in real world terms most apps under Win ME really can’t make much use of anything beyond 256 megs (if that) anyway.
Just a note that some motherboards are pretty specific about where memory of different sizes can go. Here’s a snip from the RAM table from my MB manual.
Total Bank 0 Bank 1 Bank 2
Memory Size (MB) DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3
144 M 8M x 1 pc 8M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc
160 M 16M x 1 pc 16M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc
192 M 32M x 1 pc 32M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc
256 M 64M x 1 pc 64M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc
384 M 128M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc
640 M 256M x 1 pc 256M x 1 pc 128M x 1 pc
Mixing and matching RAM is a matter of correct placement in the slots to make correct function. You should, of course, match speed, parity, etc.
FWIW: I’m a supporter of leaving it plugged in (with all power off) while working on it. There’s usually two power switches - a front-panel one and one of the power supply itself - turn both off.
Leaving it plugged in makes a ground path to your house neutral for the metal components in the machine. Unplugging it may electrically isolate it so that you’re not draining your static electicity to any sink (for example, while working on a non-conductive wooden table). Obviously, don’t poke around in the power supply while it’s plugged in.
Proper grounding is especially important when working with sensative devices like memory & CPU’s.
If your mains outlets are switched (as is the case with most outlets here in the UK), then leaving it plugged in, but turned off at the wall is probably sensible advice; you can ground yourself by holding the metal frame of the case (the earth connection is not broken by the switch on the outlet).
But otherwise (and particularly in the case of modern machines, where power is controlled by the motherboard, not just the PSU), there can be live circuits on the board (which will probably do no harm to the user other than financially, if he should slip, short something and fry the board).
For those without switched outlets, can somebody give us the straight dope on the little power switches on the back of the PSU? - do these isolate all supply from the motherboard?
No it is not sensible advice to leave the computer plugged in. Please stop saying this.
The sensible advice is to unplug the computer completely and get a ground strap and connect it to your wrist and the computer chasis. These are cheap and readily available.
This assures that you and the case are at the same potential. It’s almost but not quite the same as “grounded”.
I prefer a true ground if possible.
The switch on the back of my power supply kills the flow of power through the PS. The machine is electrically dead but still grounded to earth neutral. YMMV. I would agree that leaving the PC plugged in if the power supply cannot be actually turned off separate from the front-panel switch could be hazardous to your equipment. (Voltages are low enough that you’re pretty safe).
A person working on a piece of electrical equipment that is plugged into a switch regulated power outlet, will be safe if the switch is off, power outlet is well designed, correctly installed, and undamaged.
A person working on a piece of electronic equipment that is unplugged will be safe, unless struck by lightning.