Question

Want to upgrade memory - unclear on which memory is correct

Asked by: mlscho72

Running XP home, mb is Aopen ak77 pro. Currently have 256m of 184 pin DDR SDRAM. I have been given 256 m of pc2100 DDR DIMM, unbuffered Non- ECC. I'm not sure this will work and am not sure how determine which memory IS correct. Help?!

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Asked On
2003-08-08 at 14:29:46ID20704455
Topic

General Computer Systems

Participating Experts
1
Points
125
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: dogztarPosted on 2003-08-08 at 14:54:24ID: 9111526

well your OS makes no difference....XP certainly prefers more RAM though, and its very happy with 512MB.  Just plug it in, if the system won't boot with it, or crashes while loading windows, then this new RAM isn't compatible with your system. PC2100 unbuffered non-ECC is the type your machine uses however, so it should be OK unless the RAM is just incompatible for some strange reason.  If your current 256MB is double-sided however (2 banks) you'll need to put the new stick of RAM in the 3rd slot.

-dog*

 

by: mlscho72Posted on 2003-08-08 at 15:25:42ID: 9111676

-dog*

My concern is that I do some damage to the MB, which my MB documentation warns about. Re: current 256 being dbl-sided - I don't know if it is or not. How do I determine that I put the RAM in the 3rd slot?

 

by: dogztarPosted on 2003-08-08 at 15:35:13ID: 9111718

Well to see if your RAM is double sided, just look at it.  If it has black chips on both sides of the board, its double-sided.  It is extremely unlikely that installing another stick of PC2100 DDR on your board will damage it unless you...well I don't even know what you could do that would damage the board, short of scratching all over the board with the RAM while installing it.  Or just remove your current RAM and install this new stick in its place...if it starts up OK, shutdown, unplug, add the original back in either slot 2 or 3, then power on again.  I am 99.5% sure you will be fine.  At worst, you'll have to reset the CMOS which is easy to do either via the CLR_CMOS jumper or removing the onboard battery (silver coin-style) for a few minutes.

-dog*

 

by: mlscho72Posted on 2003-08-08 at 16:59:32ID: 9112050

It was as easy as I hoped it would be. Thanks for the confirmation.
Mark

 

by: dogztarPosted on 2003-08-09 at 09:48:16ID: 9114216

Glad I could help.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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