Hello,
I bought a slot of memory from crucial.com (per their scan suggestion) and tried installing it this past weekend.
I think it may be a hair too long as one side will click in but not the other. I’ve tried reversing which direction and even tried to install it in the existing slot. It isn’t being recognized by the PC either. I recently installed additional memory in another PC so I don’t think I am doing it wrong.
Any tips I might try before going to Crucial for an exchange.
Thanks for your help.
Denise
It's fairly easy to get one end of a stick of RAM to fit, only to find that it is not positioned to easily fit the remaining portion of the stick.
"The Trick" is to position the entire stick "loosely - flat and parallel with the slot" on top of the slot (with the divider slot correctly oriented) and have it setting inside the plastic fasteners at both ends.
Then use two fingers, one toward each end at the same time to press the stick into the slot in a parallel fashion.
I generally use a flashlight to assure that I have the divider correctly lined up.
Might you have received the "wrong type" of RAM?
Have you taken out an old stick that was already fit into a slot and matched it to your new one to assure that it is the same type and that the contacts and divider slot match up exactly?
I think it may be a hair too long as one side will click in but not the other
In some cases the fit is so tight, you MUST insert the entire stick in at once. If one end goes in first, that tiny tilt of the stick is enough to prevent the other end from going in. So as Doug noted, you must have them perfectly aligned, and you must hold your tongue just right before applying force. Of course that also means the latching levers must be open too.
Although Crucial is certainly one of, if not the major player in the RAM market, they might have sent the wrong stuff. DDR2 will not physically fit in a DDR3 slot for example, even though the RAM sticks are the same length. Examine the RAM stick carefully and note the "keys" - the notches cut into the RAM's connector that ensure the stick can only be inserted one way in the motherboard's RAM slot. Then ensure the stick and slot match so you have the right RAM and so you are not attempting to put it in backwards.
Finally, just as a reminder, make sure you unplug the computer from the wall and you touch bare metal of the case to discharge any static in your body BEFORE touching the RAM sticks or reaching in the case.
notice both these sticks of ram have a single slot(gap), where the connection pins are, but not aligned with each other, that's because they are 2 different types of ram and made to fit in 2 different notched ram slot types.
1 is ddr ram and the other is ddr2.ram.
both look very similar and would be hard to tell which is which just by looking at them and why doug suggests taking out a stick of ram already in the machine and checking it against what your trying to install just to make sure they are the same, and of course like Digerati said because of the slot(gap) in the ram and the corresponding notch in the ram slot they will only fit one way.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Thanks Terry.
I just got my new box of crayons and had started on my own picture illustration.
But you beat me to it.
Hi All,
With patience, a flashlight and a steady hand the RAM clicked in.
But, the machine is still only showing 1 gb of memory. I reinstall and still only 1 gb.
What would you suggest as a next step?
what size of ram stick is it? 4gb, 2gb, 1gb, etc. it might just be your motherboard can't use the ram stick if it's capacity is to large, but it may also be the stick was damaged either before or after you got it and might need to be returned to the manufacturer for a replacement.
if you can give us the make, model of your motherboard and it's bios version, we can check what the bios and motherboard supports but in all honesty i'm thinking the ram may have been damaged especially if you tried to start the pc with it not fully seated and you will need to rma it and get a replacement.
so the next step for me would be to get in touch with the seller and tell them you installed it correctly but it's not seen in bios so you need a replacement for it, they should give you a rma number to return it to them so they can replace it for you.
remember never ever touch the contact edge, i always try and hold the ram by it's 2 outside edges(small sides), ram is easily damaged by unseen static from a persons body and why you always need to take the proper precautions mentioned by both Doug and Digerati.
To suppliment the information that Terry has requested, it could be useful to get an inventory of the machines, hardware, software, and general configuration. Any of several online inventories could serve the purpose, but the safest is PCPitstop Overdrive which reports detailed information about the above, but does not intrude nor report any personally identifying information nor any of your saved documents, media and personal information.
Please Run the PCPitstop.com OverDrive Full Tests
Here's how:
You must use your Internet Explorer for this procedure. (doesn't work so well in Firefox or others). If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”. After completing PCPitstop OverDrive you can close your IE browser and re-open it Normally so that you are no longer running as administrator.
Go to: http://www.pcpitstop.com
Click on "Free Computer Check-up" listed below PC Pitstop OverDrive
In the User Login - Click on "Sign up FREE!"
You'll need to submit a valid email address and create your own password, then click - Create Account(button)
Now enter your email address and password to Log in, Select - Scan this system Now!(button)
You will then be asked to download an ActiveX component and allow it to install.
It is safe and does not compromise your privacy.
Follow the on-screen prompts to install the ActiveX and to allow the Full Tests to be run on your machine.
The Full Tests take about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes on most machines.
When complete, a Results - Summary - Recommended Fixes will be displayed.
Please post the URL internet address, from your Results, back here into this Topic Thread so that we can review the configuration and present performance levels of your machine.
Note: During the graphics 2D and graphics 3D testing, your screen will display some rapidly moving objects.
If you are sensitive to visual flashing, it may cause dizziness. Therefore, look away from the screen during that portion of the testing.
After reviewing the results we will be more informed and may be able to provide better recommendations for you to work towards improving your machine's performance.
While PCPitstop does offer a variety of Paid Products, the PCPitstop OverDrive testing is FREE. Please ignore the references to Paid Products. At WTT we prefer to provide manual solution instructions that you can apply directly to your machine.
Indeed there appears to be some important information missing/not reported.
This is probably because you may not have started Internet Explorer in "run-as-administrator" mode.
If your machine is running Vista or Windows 7, you must Select IE to “Run as Administrator”
Please close all browsers, then navigate to:
Start - All programs - Internet Explorer -(right-click) then select: "run as Administrator"
Please complete another instance of PCPitstop Overdrive and post the Results Summary URL in your next reply.
Also please post the machine's full brand-name and model number.
Your machine supports
•Single-channel memory architecture
•2 x 240-pin DIMM sockets
DDR2 DIMMs
•Supports either - PC2-3200 (400 MHz), PC-4200 (533 MHz)
Please have a look at what you actually purchased and attempted to install, to be sure that it is marked PC2-3200 or PC2-4200
OK, That RAM stick is correct for your machine.
Now for a little, process-of-elimination, testing…
Turn off the machine, unplug the power cord and use appropriate static-electiricity cautions.
(it is generally enough touch a bare-metal structure in the tower.
That process equalizes the static charge of your body and the static charge of your machine.
You can then touch components such as removing a RAM stick without damaging it via static electricity.)
Next:
Please Remove the "new" RAM stick completely from your machine.
Next,
boot up the machine to determine that it actually functions correctly with only the "old" RAM stick.
Next turn off the machine, unplug, and repeat the same static-electricity cautions.
Next:
"Move" the "old" RAM stick from the slot where it presently fits, to the second slot.
Boot up the machine to determine if it functions correctly.
If the machine does not now boot-up nor function correctly - STOP and report back.
Otherwise… (if it does boot successfully) (continuing with the above turn-off/unplug/+static cautions)
Remove the "old" RAM stick completely from the machine.
Replace the "old" RAM stick with the "new" RAM stick. (Place the "new" RAM stick into the slot that first held the "old" RAM stick
Attempt to boot the machine.
If it does not boot - STOP and report back.
Otherwise… (if it does boot and function successfully) (continuing with the above turn-off/unplug/+static cautions)
Move the "new" RAM stick into the other slot.
Attempt to boot and see if the machine functions successfully.
If not - STOP and report back.
Otherwise… (if it does boot and function successfully) (continuing with the above turn-off/unplug/+static cautions)
Next:
Insert the "old" RAM stick into its origninal slot, while allowing the "new" RAM stick to remain in its present slot.
Attempt to boot-up and use the machine to see if it functions correctly.
Please Report back with results.
Hi Doug,
Here are my test results. Slot 1 is where the Old Ram resided. Slot 2 is the one I have been trying to add New Ram to.
Removed New Ram from slot 2 - Left Old RAM in slot 1 – Reboot - PC works as normal, system shows 1GB
Moved Old Ram into slot 2 - Reboot - PC works as normal, system shows 1GB
Removed Old Ram from slot 1 - Installed New Ram into slot 1 - PC works as normal, system shows 1GB
Left New Ram in slot 1 – Installed Old Ram in slot 2 - PC works as normal. But system shows only 1GB
So both Rams work in slot 1, neither works in slot 2.
Hope I just have to press 2 buttons to fix that
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