Changin memory can be an easy process if you make it out to be but don't make it harder than it is. First get all the proper tools and supplies you will need to make the job, quick easy, and most of all done CORRECTLY!

We take no responsibility of any type with respect to any person following the procedures and techniques outlined herein. By following these techniques or procedures, you acknowledge that they were provided to assist you with changing your memory and that you are performing them solely and completely at your own risk!

Computer memory should only be changed by a trained and certified professional but if you need to save a hundred bucks and have some common sense you should be ok. If you just looked at someone and said, uh oh it says i need some common sense, you might not want to attempt this. LOL im just kidding, i do that alot, sorry.

First some Do's and Don'ts!

The Do's

    *Make sure that your work space provides sufficient room for you to work on the computer without allot of clutter.
    *Your work area should also have enough room to place tools where you can reach them as well as enough room for any components you may need to remove.
    * Make sure the work space is well illuminated.
    *Make sure that you have all of the tools you need to do the job correctly before you start. We have provided a list of the basics below.
    *Here's a list of things you will need: (or should have)
          o Small Flat bladed Screw Driver
          o Small to Medium Sized Phillips Screw Driver
          o Cotton Swabs and/or Q-Tips (electronics stores have stick type Q-Tips that work!)
          o Contact Cleaner (VCR Head Cleaner or Any non-residue solvent should work, Rubbing Alcohol, Acetone, etc )
          o Clean Cloth (old T-Shirt would be great)
          o Small Can of Compressed Air (This can be purchased at most electronics stores)
          o Small Flashlight
          o Anti-Static wristband
          o One Jumper wire 3' long with alligator clips on both ends
          o MS-DOS Boot Disk (you can download one at www dot bootdisk dot com)

    * Why all of these things? Simple, you will need the screw drivers to open the case as well as possibly moving components out of the way. You will need the Q-Tips and cloth to clean surfaces with the contact cleaner, including the contact edges of the memory modules. The cloth will enable you to clean contacts without touching them with your fingers. Oils from your skin can damage contacts and cause shorts. The compressed air is used to blow out dust and debris found in the case when you open it. The reason for the flashlight should be obvious. Static electricity is a major problem when working on any type of electronics, and even more so with computers. A static electricity discharge can rendered many of your computer components such as the motherboard, CPU and memory useless. An anti-static wrist strap will prevent you from transmitting static electricity from your body and clothes to you PC. A Jumper wire is good to ground your PC to the house ground. The small screw that holds the receptacle cover plate on at the wall is grounded! Lastly, many memory diagnostics need to be done at the DOS level rather than within any of the Windows interfaces, therefore a MS-DOS boot disk is helpful to have.
                                                                    
The Don'ts

    *Don't place any plastic covering of any type on your work space, and make sure there are no plastic bags, sheeting or coverings near the computer. Plastic transmits static electricity!
    *Don't ever work on a PC unless you have first grounded yourself. A wrist anti-static strap is best, but if one is not available, touch the outside metal PC case before touching any electrical components. Extremely dry environments create static electricity, as do certain types of carpet when you walk across them.
    *Don't ever work on a PC that is still plugged into its power source. Always unplug the PC before you you even begin to remove the cover.
    *Don't ever touch the contact edges of electronic components. Human skin oils are acidic which can cause deterioration of the contacts.
    *Don't work on a PC without having the correct tools. You wouldn't conduct brain surgery with carpenter tools would you?
    * Don't force anything. If you have to force it, you're doing it wrong!

Turn the computer off. Disconnect all of the cables and other connections into the computer, including the telephone line connection for the modem, the printer connection, the monitor connection, and everything else. Also unplug the power connector from the PC. It's important that nothing external to the computer be connected before you start the upgrade so that nothing outside of the computer can provide any kind of electrical current to the computer while you are working on it. It's not getting electrocuted that's the concern, it's that some tiny electrical charge might come in at the wrong time and destroy a component. It's not uncommon for a computer to draw a little bit of electrical current while it is plugged in, even when it has been powered off, so that's why it's important to unplug the power connector, too.

If you're not used to disconnecting everything then you'll want to at least carefully note where each connection was attached. The first time I did this, I used a short strip of masking tape to scribble a little note for each connection and then I wrapped the tape around the cord before I disconnected it. Each connection should only connect one way, so there's no need to remember how the connection was oriented before it was disconnected. But chances are you've got a nice little collection of connections into your computer, so you don't want to be looking at a confused pile of disconnected wires when you're done installing the memory! After disconnecting everything and labeling them, use the can of compressed air to spray out the dust from inside your computer. Theres going to be dust in there? Your asking!! YES and chances are you will be shocked at how much. You can use your rag (or old shirt) to remove and stubborn dust or lil dust balls from your cards and components.

Set the computer in a nice comfortable work space (personally, I just use the middle of the floor) and remove the computer case cover. It's easier to tell in this shot taken from the shot showing just the motherboard, then an installed motherboard.
                                  

Looks a little messier in a real live pc doesnt it but you can easily find them in the top right hand corner of the motherboard. The motherboard I'm using as an example uses SDRAM memory modules. Motherboards that use DIMM memory modules typically only support one type of DIMM memory module, either SDRAM, DDR or DDR2. But the upgrade procedure is the same for any kind of DIMM, so DDR and DDR2 memory modules upgrade exactly the same way. 

< Note the notches >   

Notice the notches shown next to the red dots. These notches "key" the SDRAM so it cannot be put in incorrectly. Isn't that nice? DDR and DDR2 memory modules also have notches, but each type of memory puts the notches in a different place so they can't be accidentally installed in the wrong type of memory slot. The gold plating that runs along the bottom - yes, that's real gold! - is one easy indicator of high-quality RAM. It's not uncommon for low-cost RAM to use tin instead of gold. Gold is a much better electrical conductor and makes a much more reliable component. Tin is cheaper, of course. Use the cotton swabs and contact cleaner for cleaning the contacts on the memory and the slots in the sockets on the motherboard.+

Here's a closer look from the "West". We're actually seeing the backside of the memory slot from this angle. One memory slot is populated. There are two more memory slots that are not populated. Having the first one already populated makes it easy to know where to put the second memory module. They must be populated in order beginning with the first slot. But not all the slots need to be populated. Notice the white locking clips on the middlememory slot (the first unfilled slot) are in the open - unlocked position. The locking clips on the third and final memory slot (the one closest in the picture) are in the locked position, but of course they can be moved either way since there is no actual memory module in the slot.

        

Before installing the DIMM in your computer, it's very important to put on an Anti-Static wristband . The alligator clip should be attached to a nonpainted metal surface on the case. The antistatic wrist strap prevents static electricity from building up. RAM modules are very sensitive. They can be electronically destoyed by a charge of static electricity. As an extra precaution, it's a good idea not to shuffle around while working inside the computer case. If you need to change position then let go of any electronic component, change your position, get comfortable again, then touch the nonpainted metal surface of the case with your hand before touching anything else. Touching the nonpainted metal surface of the case with your hand is another way to harmlessly release any static buildup. But this is an extra precautionary step - you should still always wear the antistatic wrist strap while working inside the case for any reason. Anti-static wrist straps are not expensive. You can find them in my ebay store Random Anythings when i have them in stock. Trying to change your memory without one is like playing russian roulet with your memory, cause you wont know if static electricity fries it and then you'll swear you were sold bad memory then someone like me will wind up having to give you new memory to 'gamble' again with to save negative feedback, then i lose money and my prices have to go up. See doing it right is a win win for everyone. And if you absolutely can NOT afford to pay the 3.99 for one, then tell me when you order your memory & i'll send you one to use&  send back to me. Its worth it to me to know you did it right & will be a happy return customer to my store Random Anythings .

The locking clips have an opening, called a groove, plainly visible in the ends of the memory module should be inserted. Then slide the memory module the short distance down the groove so that the memory module rests inside the memory slot. It's impossible to put the memory module in backwards thanks to the notches which "key" it with the slot. Slide the memory module in between the grooves in the locking clips and rest the memory module in the slot. In this shot, the memory module is not yet installed. At this point, each end of the memory module has been slid through the grooves in the locking clips at each end. Notice that the locking clips are still in the open - unlocked position. The memory module is at the entrance of the memory slot, ready for pressure to be applied to complete the insertion.Here's where and how I place my fingers to apply pressure and complete the installation. At this point, no pressure has yet been applied. Notice the locking clips are still in the open - unlocked position and my fingers look relaxed.Firm pressure should be applied straight down to insert the memory  module into the memory slot, as I am doing here. Although I've tried to place the pressure uniformly across the memory module, notice that the memory module has inserted into the right-hand side of the memory slot first (the right-hand side looking into the picture, but actually the side being pressed by my left-hand). This is perfectly ok. You can see that the locking clip on the right-hand side has moved into the closed - locked position, as it should.

   

But the locking clip on the left-hand side is still in the open - unlocked position. The gold connectors at the base of the memory module on the left-hand side are still in view since that end is not inserted yet. But they disappear by the time you reach the locking clip on the right-hand side since the memory module is inserted at that point. By applying additional firm pressure mostly with my right-hand, the left-hand side (as viewed looking into the picture) of the memory slide inserts into the memory slot. Notice the locking clip on the left-hand side is now in the closed - locked position. Installation of the memory module is complete! That wasn't so bad, was it?

Leave the computer case off. Reconnect all the connections, including the power cord. It's a good idea to leave the computer case off so that if something is not right then you can get right back into the computer (after disconnecting everything again, of course). Turn on the monitor and let it warm up for 10 seconds or so. That way you'll be sure and see any messages that are displayed. Turn on the computer. One of the first things the computer does is detect how much memory is in the computer and it display it. Verify the amount displayed is correct. If it boots normally, your good to go!

If anything has gone wrong, such as

• The computer beeps in an unusual way.
• The amount of memory displayed is not correct.
• The computer locks up.
  
• The computer does not boot.

then turn off the computer, disconnect everything again, and ensure the memory is installed in the right slots and is properly seated. If you had to disconnect anything inside the computer in order to gain easy access to the computer memory slots then verify it has been reconnected properly. The first thing you will notice if your memory isnt the right kind or is bad will be 3 short distinct beeps, this happens anytime something newly installed is preventing the system from booting up properly. Disconnect everything, uninstall the memory and then repeat all the steps from cleaning the memory & sockets & try again.
If you do this a few times and it still is beeping or not booting up, call a tech support if you have one.

Thanks for reading my guide! Wanna say thanks and support me, shop my eBay Store Random Anythings