Computer Advice: RAM upgrade

[Alpinestarhero]

Hi girls and boys, hope you are all well.

My laptop, a Toshiba Satellite Pro A40, is a sturdy beast. But its patheticly slow.

So I figured it would benefit from getting a RAM upgrade from its current 256 MB to 1GB. But I know nothing about upgrading memory, so I need some advice;

Whats a good product? Is 1GB too much? How is it done? How much can I expect to pay?

Ta

Matt

[TSM]

go to crucial.com/uk

its the best place, put in the comp type and they send you memory that they guarantee will work with your comp, free delivery i think too.

[rigor]

Hi girls and boys, hope you are all well.

My laptop, a Toshiba Satellite Pro A40, is a sturdy beast. But its patheticly slow.

So I figured it would benefit from getting a RAM upgrade from its current 256 MB to 1GB. But I know nothing about upgrading memory, so I need some advice;

Whats a good product? Is 1GB too much? How is it done? How much can I expect to pay?

Ta

Matt

Go to Crucial Memory (http://www.crucial.com/uk/) and use there system scanner, or select your laptop from the drop down boxes. It will tell you what you need, the prices and what your laptop can take. it's a very good site.

You can never have enough memory in my opinion.

EDIT: See, if I'd had more memory I'd have beaten TSM to it ;)

[TSM]

Go to Crucial Memory (http://www.crucial.com/uk/) and use there system scanner, or select your laptop from the drop down boxes. It will tell you what you need, the prices and what your laptop can take. it's a very good site.

You can never have enough memory in my opinion.

you can apparently, tooo much slows down the comp under certain circumstances, also for a laptop its a problem as when it needs to hibernate more data needs to be written to disk before its turned off.

No a biggy though. Just get 1GB total ram or more at least.

[Alpinestarhero]

Ok, thanks guys. I saw this website, but I'm always iffy about buying from things I havnt heard of.

Matt

[Grinch]

Depends on the OS too, Old windows 98 would only address about 512 mb of ram, and I think XP's best is a max of 2GB. Some laptops will only support a limited amount of memory, due to physical and hardware constraints, but the website should tell you that. I tend to use the memory scanner to find out the memory model number and then have a search about on ebay and stuff, then you can get it for about half the price.

[Alpinestarhero]

Depends on the OS too, Old windows 98 would only address about 512 mb of ram, and I think XP's best is a max of 2GB. Some laptops will only support a limited amount of memory, due to physical and hardware constraints, but the website should tell you that. I tend to use the memory scanner to find out the memory model number and then have a search about on ebay and stuff, then you can get it for about half the price.

I used the memory scanner at crucial.com, it tells me that i have 256 mb in one slot, with another slot free. It then tells me i can stick in 1 gb in the free slot, or stick in two 1 gb wotsits (replacing the 256 mb)

I'll just stick in 1 x 1gb, thats £60. Quite reasonable I think, i was expecting it to cost a fair bit more

Only thing is

how to get the memory in. What size hammer?

Matt

[MiniMatt]

little screw fixed door underneath, then slip yer stick in at a slight angle (ooh-eer) and push it down flat till the little clips either side latch on.

EDIT: there's probably a little picture on the door flap thingy you want to unscrew, it's likely a rectangle with little legs coming out

EDIT 2: you'll want a small-ish philips head screw driver for the A40 if I remember correctly

EDIT 3: it'll only go in one way, there's a little notch on the contact side of the memory stick that's slightly off-centre, if it don't fit, don't force it :D

[Alpinestarhero]

little screw fixed door underneath, then slip yer stick in at a slight angle (ooh-eer) and push it down flat till the little clips either side latch on.

Next to the battery slot?

Matt

[Grinch]

I used the memory scanner at crucial.com, it tells me that i have 256 mb in one slot, with another slot free. It then tells me i can stick in 1 gb in the free slot, or stick in two 1 gb wotsits (replacing the 256 mb)

I'll just stick in 1 x 1gb, thats £60. Quite reasonable I think, i was expecting it to cost a fair bit more

Only thing is

how to get the memory in. What size hammer?

Matt

Did it give you the memory model number?

[Ch00]

Underneath the laptop should be some panels with little screws if you take one off you should see the memory slots.

The memory will only fit in one way and will not need much effort to seat it correctly.

Ch00

[MiniMatt]

Next to the battery slot?

Matt

Might be :D You're looking for a panel that appears to be fixed underneath with 1-3 (maybe 4) screws. Not the ones that are sunk quite deep round the edges. The only other panels there might be would be for the hard drive and possibly the inbuilt wireless thingy, just take doors off and look for the one that's already got something that looks like a memory stick in it :D (they're about a third the length of regular PC memory sticks, so about an inch and a half)

[Alpinestarhero]

Underneath the laptop should be some panels with little screws if you take one off you should see the memory slots.

The memory will only fit in one way and will not need much effort to seat it correctly.

Ch00

Hey! I brought your SV of you, i swear

It seems i could be venturing into my first hardware modification of my trusty toshiba.

What if it dosnt work? how does my laptop know its there? do I have to install software?

Tell me when to stop asking stupid questions :D and thankyou everyone for your advice so far :smt045

Matt

[Alpinestarhero]

Might be :D You're looking for a panel that appears to be fixed underneath with 1-3 (maybe 4) screws. Not the ones that are sunk quite deep round the edges. The only other panels there might be would be for the hard drive and possibly the inbuilt wireless thingy, just take doors off and look for the one that's already got something that looks like a memory stick in it :D (they're about a third the length of regular PC memory sticks, so about an inch and a half)

Gotcha. I think theres only one panel anyway, the one i said about :cool:

Matt

[Ch00]

You did buy my SV off me. Hope its all going well !!!

[MiniMatt]

Nope you won't need software.

If it don't work first off try taking out the original 256mb stick and slapping the new 1gb stick in the slot the 256 came out of. Sometimes they don't like non-matched pairs.

If that don't work then you got the wrong part and it's time to give Crucial a ring :D

EDIT: "How does my laptop know it's there?" It just does :D The BIOS *might* say something like "new memory found, save config?" and take you into the bios setup screen, if it does that you just need to select the "save changes and exit button". But it probably won't do anything, it'll just work.

EDIT 2: Oh, just in case. Make sure computer is shut down first eh? Just to be doubly safe I'd say take the battery out as well, but that might be a tad over-cautious.

[Alpinestarhero]

You did buy my SV off me. Hope its all going well !!!

It is! Although it didnt like starting when i stalled it the other week, think thre is a prob with rectifier. I have added a wobble inducing topbox, great fun! Is the V-strom to your liking?

Matt

[Ch00]

The v-strom is very good, loads of fun and doesnt hurt my back or wrists and powered by the save 650 engine as the rest of the bikes.

Ch00

[TSM]

some laptops have the memory under the keyboard too

[the white rabbit]

Can I also ask a RAM q?

I have just stuck 1gb of ECC RAM in a computer that doesnt support ECC, allegedly. It doesnt need pairs in slots.

I wasnt expecting it to work but windows says I have 1.25b RAM on system hardware. I think the processor has previously been swapped ou.

Should this not work or does it sometiems work? Am I up for trouble ahead??

[AndyW]

Can I also ask a RAM q?

I have just stuck 1gb of ECC RAM in a computer that doesnt support ECC, allegedly. It doesnt need pairs in slots.

I wasnt expecting it to work but windows says I have 1.25b RAM on system hardware. I think the processor has previously been swapped ou.

Should this not work or does it sometiems work? Am I up for trouble ahead??

Not 100% sure, but it will probably send ECC signals down connectors not connected on your motherboard, so it will probably work. I'd prefer sticking correct type in though.
Depending on where you got the memory, you can always send it back and ask for it to be swapped for correct type, normally a small(restocking) fee, but then you have no worries about anything.

[the white rabbit]

I got it for nothing, hence am keen it works ;) :D

[Alpinestarhero]

Uh-oh, i just flicked through my laptops hanbook - the slots for the memory modules are under the keyboard, bit iffy about removing that. It also says something about "boot mode" and im not entirly sure I know what that is either. I dont think it means its the mode for putting it in just incase you get annoyed and "boot" the computer across the room when it dosnt work first time round :flower:

Still, I suppose i should still give it a go....eh?

Matt

[the white rabbit]

Cant you take it in to your IT guy and get him to 'supervise'?

[Alpinestarhero]

Cant you take it in to your IT guy and get him to 'supervise'?

I dont have an IT guy (or girl, to be completly PC) :D I can manage software pretty ok (i dont really mess about with things or download too many programmes), but I've never delt with hardware before........

And before someone mentions Geeks On Wheels, they charge WAY too much

Matt

[SoulKiss]

My Toshiba Tecra M7 also had the memory under the keyboard.

Took 5 mins to sort it all out - but then I have soem experience.

You ever in Central London these days?

I can have a look if you like

David

[Alpinestarhero]

My Toshiba Tecra M7 also had the memory under the keyboard.

Took 5 mins to sort it all out - but then I have soem experience.

You ever in Central London these days?

I can have a look if you like

David

Well I'm not far, because I spend alot of time at Maria's in palmers green, about 5 - 10 mins away from bounds green underground station. I'll be back up next week - I'll order the memory module anyway, some help would be apreciated! Where are you in central?

Matt

[EDIT] duuurrrrhhhh your in vauxhall, i just noticed, silly me