What the heck, since I already have the thing apart, I might as well make this “Mess with your PC Day”…which could very well turn into “Break your PC Day”
So anyway, I’m currently getting by with a whopping 48MB of RAM on a PC with a 1.96GB hard drive…yes you read that right the hard drive is less than 2GB, and it’s almost full I might add.
At any rate, this PC is serving it’s purpose for the moment, (replacing it is not an option for me right now), so I’d like to at least bump up the RAM. The PC has 4 simm slots and Acer’s tecnical info specifies that the PC will handle up to 128 megs of RAM I believe.
In order to max out the Ram on this PC I’ll have to replace most, or all, of the four currently installed cards (two 16MB simms and two 8MB simms), with higher capacity cards, but here’s the problem: This older RAM my PC uses (darn, don’t have specs handy) costs around $1 per MB new, when you can find it. Obviously, it hardly seems worth putting $130 bucks into a this PC for a memory upgrade - heck, that’s a full 25% of the cost of a much better brand new PC these days.
So I’m wondering if anyone has suggestions on where I might find some used RAM for this old jalopy - are there reliable sources on-line for used stuff like this? I’m going to call a few places around town today, but I thought I’d ask around and see if anyone had any other suggestions regarding sources I should check out.
If you get the speck on the memory you will portably find someone willing to part with it for free. It is useless today unless you have a very old computer.
Pull one of the memory chips out by opening the little levers each side and leaning it over at a 30degree angle. It should just lift out. If it does not want to lean over try it the other way. Remember to have the computer unplugged before you do this and touch an unpainted part of the case to discharge any static electricity.
It is portably IDO or EDO memory the sticker on the Memory should tell you.
It’s 60ns-70ns Fast-Page or EDO type DRAM. The PC has four 72 Pin SIMM slots and the technical info I have says that max memory capacity is 128MB RAM, according to Acer’s website.
Loren
[ This Message was edited by: Loren on 2002-11-08 13:13 ]
Do not overlook Goodwill and other thrift stores as sources of parts for older PCs.
I got my last complete upgrade at the Harpers Ferry Flea Market (W.Va.), where the guy will come install it for you and actually guarantees his work. It worked out well for me because I wanted Windows 98 specifically.
Check Ebay (Somewhat risky), local flea markets, etc. Also, do a search on the web through google and priceline. They should both point you at places you can still pick up those sticks.
And, since they are older, they should be pretty cheap, too!
Old RAM has become expensive, I guess because they don’t sell much of it any more. When I checked with several on-line dealers about a month ago, which I believe included Crucial, most didn’t even stock the memory I need, and the ones that did were charging $1 per meg…This PC isn’t worth putting $130 into for RAM, or anything else. Half that amount maybe…
Thanks for the suggestions though, I do appreciate it
Thanks so much for the offer Unfortunately my SIMM slots are already full of 8MB and 16MB SIMMS (2 of each), so the only way for me to up the memory is to replace them with something larger. Thanks though, I really do appreciate the offer!
I should mention that Erik T. has been kind enough to offer me 2 of his old 72PIN 128MB RAM SIMMS, however we aren’t sure they’ll work on my machine because the Acer website info says max capacity for my PC is 1 32MB SIMM per each of the four sockets.
But then I wonder if that’s just outdated info from back in the day when 32MB SIMMS were as big as they came…Anyone know if there would be any reason why the PC couldn’t handle or utilize the addition memory?
I can’t help with memory… I have a box full of 4 & 8mb 72-pin SIMMs salvaged from obsolete PCs, but nothing larger.
I might be able to upgrade your CPU if your motherboard accepts old 486 Intel chips.
What clock speed is your current CPU rated?
On 2002-11-08 20:01, Loren wrote:
The CPU is an AMD-K6 233Mhz MMX.
Loren
Ah, an AMD man like myself… too bad I don’t have any spare K6 CPUs lying around.
I don’t suppose I’m going to be of any assistance with your PC upgrades after all.
Loren,
I’ve got a few machines pulled from service in storage that may have suitable memory.
You’re looking for 72 pin 32meg EDO SIMM’s… right?
I’ll check the processors too. Could have an AMD K6-300 or 350 but it won’t do any good if the board doesn’t support it.
Anything else? like another drive? may have something in the .5 - 2gig range. Do you have support for a second IDE drive?
Yup, 72 PIN 32mb EDO SIMM, that’s what I’m looking for.
As far as drives go, I’ve got a donation drive on the way already thanks to Erik. I’ll just have to figure out how to add it, or swap it out with the original. Geeze, I better start doing some reading…
Chips: I have no clue if my board will support anything faster/different than what it’s got. I’ll try another email to Acer tech support - out of warranty machines like mine garner a $2.79 a minute charge if you call Acer for support, which probably includes a good half hour of hold time…
Loren, if your machine can handle a second drive, it’s usually easiest to change a jumper (or two) and ADD it to your existing system.
If you can’t add and you need to keep information from the original drive (special configurations, drivers, software you no longer have original installation disks) I’ve got some software designed to clone or migrate data to larger drives.
It’s fast and realible but… you might need access to a second computer to make the data transfer should your computer not support multiple drives.
