Installing More RAM
by Kara Glover

Your computer locks up every other day. Everything you do seems to run slower these days. Have you looked into getting more RAM?

The average computer needs a MINIMUM of 128MB of RAM to run successfully. And that's for a light user - someone who only goes on the internet sometimes, sends email, and writes an occasional Word® document or two. But the average user needs more like 256MB of RAM for their computer to run smoothly. Just how much RAM do YOU have?

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To find out, right click on your My Computer icon, hopefully on your desktop. Left click on Properties. Near the bottom of the window you should see the amount of RAM your computer has. If it's less than 128MB (more often than not, 64MB), you now have the answer to why your computer keeps crashing and is acting like molasses. Time to add more RAM!

Adding RAM isn't as daunting a task as you might think. It doesn't take a certified technician to do it. In fact, once you have the RAM in your hand, installing it only takes about ten or so minutes.

First you have to determine how much room you have in your computer to add RAM. The instructions are a little different for a desktop compared with a laptop. But for both you have to go grab your Phillips screwdriver.

You have to open the desktop to see how many RAM slots are available. For this exercise I HIGHLY recommend NOT doing this on the carpet. Try to do it somewhere there's a tile or wood floor because you can shock your computer (not a very pleasant thing, it might not start up again). If you can, buy an anti- static wrist strap at the computer store for like $10, and attach it to your wrist, that would be best. It clamps to the metal casing of your computer to ground you after you take the cover off .

Now that I trust you are NOT on a carpeted area and hopefully within the safe confines of a wrist strap, unscrew the couple of screws that keep the cover on and take the panels off. You should see (well, a lot). But what you should be looking for are one or more "sticks" of RAM, maybe an inch high and a few inches long. Try not to confuse them with your sound card, network card, and other larger cards that have ports coming out the back of your computer. The RAM sticks are green with black squares all over them. Take a look and see how many slots are still empty. That's how many more RAM sticks you can buy. Go ahead, and close up the computer and put the screws back on.

Laptops are easier. Turn it off, unplug everything attached to it, and turn it upside down. You should see a couple of closed compartments held on by small screws. Here it's more a matter of guessing. Take the screws off of one compartment, and see if you can see one or two green circuit boards lying flat and held down by off-white plastic clasps on the side. That's the right compartment (if not, close it up and try another one).

Now let's say you have 64MB of RAM. If one compartment is empty, you know the one green stick holds all 64MB. But if bothslots are taken, you most likely have two, 32MB sticks of RAM. You might want to think about replacing both of those. After all, you can take RAM out just as easily as you can stick it in.

Once you know how much room you have, you have to determine just exactly what type of RAM your computer needs, because sticks of RAM vary from computer to computer. Make a note of the make and model number of your computer. Then you can do one of two things. You can call your computer manufacturer's parts and accessories department, tell them your make and model, find out the RAM you need, and purchase it from them (usually a bit more expensive).

The other way takes a bit more effort. With the make and model in hand, go to your computer manufacturer's website. By searching for your model number, looking in the parts section, and a little digging, you may very well find out on your own what RAM your computer takes. Make sure to note all the details - if it's DIMM or SIMM RAM, or maybe SDRAM, and how many pins it is. Then you can go to your local computer parts store (Fry's Electronics in Southern California), and buy the RAM for probably a little cheaper than it would take to purchase it directly from the manufacturer.

After you get the RAM, once again either open the compartment in your laptop or take the cover off your computer (again, NOT on the carpet and using an antistatic wrist strap).For the laptop, first remove any RAM you plan to replace. GENTLY pull away the fragile plastic holders and lift it out. Next take out your new RAM. Hold it by the green edges. NEVER touch the gold prongs on the bottom. Now, holding it at a slight angle, slipthe RAM into the slot so the gold edge matches the holder. Try to slip it in all the way so hardly any of the gold prongs show. Then lower the RAM and carefully snap it into the plastic holders.

For the desktop, also angle the RAM stick (holding it by its green edges), and gently slip it into its slot until the gold prongs nearly disappear. Make sure the pattern of the gold prongs matches that in the slot. Then slowly bring the RAM stick upright, and make sure the plastic clasps on the side gently snap into place.

Close your respective compartments and cases, and see if you did a good job! Turn your computer on, and right click again on the My Computer icon. Left click on Properties, and see if the computer recognized your new RAM! If so, hopefully this will help your computer's performance a bit. If the computer doesn't recognize your new RAM, you may have to go through part of this exercise again.

©2004 by Kara Glover

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Kara Glover is a Computer Tutor and Troubleshooter. You can find her free online
tutorials on topics such as Microsoft Word®, Excel®, and PowerPoint® at her
website: www.karathecomputertutor.com
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