For you I.T. people,a question...

[Dougie]

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive (cos I'm tight) book on computer maintenance including how to upgrade?I'm wanting to increase the memory on my machine,but don't want to be offline for however long shops take.

[Shep]

You just need someone under the age of 25, mate. ;)

[addjunkie]

easy enough and im 43, buy it (make sure you get same stuff as already in) and shuv it in the right slot\slots.

memory company crucial has a web site with memory selctor on it so you get the right type. think its www.crucial.com.uk summat like that.

loads of pc magazine have articles on how to do it, search on google for practical pc or sumat like that , the www is full of pc gurus.

but have no fear tis easier than dropping a big bike in a muddy field pissed, if you know wot i mean.

[Mad Dog]

It'll cost you more to buy the book than it would to carry the unit into the nearest PCworld and get them to do it while you wait (10 mins top)

[kitkatman]

as said, it is easy enough, first things first you need to know what memory you have already got in there, ie, is it sdr or ddr, if its sdr it might be quite hard to get hold off, if its ddr, then you need to know what frequency its running at, ie, pc 2700 ect, now a lot of the newer stuff is running at 333mhz, but panic not as most ddr is backward compatible!
once you have brought the required ammount of memmory that you need, take all the leads of your base unit, lok at the back of the unit and you should see 2 screws either side on the side panels, take the screws out and slide the panel off, so that you can see all the internal workings of the computer, near the middle you will see the spair memmory slots, if you have already used all of these, then you are going to have to remove the memmory sticks to make space ( if for instance you are using all the spaces, you will need to have the same size sticks in each slot, all for instance 512mb, normally as a rule, if you mix and match, 128mb and 512mb, the computer will not reconise them and will not work until one of them is removed) if you look at the slots, you will see that there is a clip at each end of the slots, these secure the memmory into place, now insert the memmory into the slot, it can only go one way, so be careful!, and gently push the memmory until the clips lock the memmory into place, replace the covers and leads and you should have sucesfully installed the new sticks, it sounds and reads a damn sight harder than it is, its a piece of pis@, BEFORE PUTTING YOUR HANDS INTO THE BASE UNIT, MAKE SURE YOU EARTHYOURSELF TO GT RID OF ANY STATIC YOU MAY HAVE IN YOUR BODY, touching a radiator should sort out the problem, i have just upgraded my memmory and i have got a stick of 256mb, ddr pc2700, going spare if you want it ( no charge!) if so dougie send me a e-mail and i will post it to you, i wont be useing it and it will only collect dust, have fun

[Mitch]

To be honest, I've found the 'repairing Macs For Dummies' books being more than up to the job when upgrading my various Macs (G3, iMac and Powerbook) so I would reckon the PC version would be as good. I've had the casings open on more than one occasion (to change hard drives, installing RAM etc.) with no screws left over.

Believe it or not, Haynes even do a repair manual for PCs (though not Macs for some reason) :cool: I wonder if it's any better than their bike manuals?

[Yoda]

with no screws left over.

you dont really put all them screws back in do ya????

[excalibur]

Believe it or not, Haynes even do a repair manual for PCs

does it still say refitting is the reverse of removal? :)

[ForestFred]

Dougie its no problem Just go to crucial as addjunkie suggests run their memory tester it will tell you what type and how much memory you have and will tell you how many slots are available without opening up your case.once you've found out Do a search on the web forwhat you want.
putting it in is as easy as pie just make sure you have discharged any static electricity before you handle the chip.I've just shoved a new chip in mine took about 5 mins (coz the bloody cables kept getting in my way would have been 2 :) )

[Dougie]

Thanks guys!

[ForestFred]

No probs just pay our installments to Ewok&Tuck Inc this month :eek: :D

[Crofty]

If no-one wnts that RAM, throw it my way!
I've found a general rule with building PC's is if it doesn't fit, it doesn't go! but it is easy if you take your time. the hardest part is getting all the software to work, but seeing as you're just upgrading RAM this isn't an issue.

(the above stement about free RAM also applies to TV's, guitars, CD's, beer, Motorcycles, beer, women, beer.....) :D

[Friar Tuck]

If you want to improve your memory, don't drink so much! Simple really!

[Peirre]

even if theres a spare slot to fit an extra RAM DIM in the motherboard, it still might not recognise the extra memory, check the spec of the board to see how much extra it will take before splashing the cash.

comuters are like wimmin, it will have a slot to fit summat in, but won`t nessesarily improve the memory :rolleyes:



BTW, anyone got a spare 2hd hand P3 motherboard + processor goin spare to donate to my server tower project