Tutorial?

[RocketGuy]

Can someone recommend me a good tutorial on installing and uninstalling DDR RAM?

[KGB]

you joking right??

you plug it in and thats all there is too it.

[h20-ski]

4 simple steps
Step 1. push the tabs at the end of the DIMMs down/out. The DIMM will then pop out.
Step 2. Remove the DIMM
Step 3. Put the new DIMM in. The ram slots are keyed so that the DIMMs will go in only one way.
Step 4. Push the DIMMs in all the way until the tabs that you press down/out lock into the indents in the DIMM

[RocketGuy]

Thanks, but I hear there could be some dangers with static electricity, what's up with that?

[specmike]

Technically, you should wear a grounding strap when handling any components inside your computer. However, there are some ways around this. I always work on my rigs in a room with a concrete floor. Avoid carpet if you can. Before you reach inside your case to touch any components, just firmly grasp a bare metal portion of the case. If you have any static electricity built up, you should discharge it on the case and then you can safely handle your components. Just like when you walk across a room in winter and grab a door knob.

You can buy a grounding strap at a store like Radio Shack for less than $10 if you want. But, it is not necessary (IMO) if you remember to ground yourself before handling your rig.

Mike.

[JaGWiRE_abx]

Originally Posted by specmike

Technically, you should wear a grounding strap when handling any components inside your computer. However, there are some ways around this. I always work on my rigs in a room with a concrete floor. Avoid carpet if you can. Before you reach inside your case to touch any components, just firmly grasp a bare metal portion of the case. If you have any static electricity built up, you should discharge it on the case and then you can safely handle your components. Just like when you walk across a room in winter and grab a door knob.

You can buy a grounding strap at a store like Radio Shack for less than $10 if you want. But, it is not necessary (IMO) if you remember to ground yourself before handling your rig.

Mike.

Yes, it's not a bad precaution, and I have two of them, but anyone i've spoken to who has been using computers for 20-30 years and has been building since the dawn of personal computers like my dads 1st cousin (he calls himself my uncle, we spend a lot more time together then my real uncle), says that they just ground themself and don't wear around carpet.

[Ozzie]

As long as this topic came up, perhaps some suggestions of what to do in the BIOS before changing out RAM would be appropriate?

[RocketGuy]

Indeed, I'm new to this.
Might provide some more information:

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-8IP775-G
Information here: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/M...ProductID=1821

Memory:
Type: Dual Channel DDR 400 / 333 / 266 support
Max capacity: 4 GB
DIMM slots: 4
Current: 1x256mb DDR333(I plan on removing this) and 1x512mb DDR400

BIOS:
3M bit flash ROM, Award BIOS, F5

[RocketGuy]

Would wearing rubber gloves while working help against static electricity?

[FightingChance]

Don't worry about static electricity. Right before you go to change the RAM, touch the faucet in the bathroom or kitchen. (the faucet's metal, and connected to piping that runs into the ground.)

You won't have to do anything in the BIOS if you haven't monkeyed around in there before.

[Eldonko]

Yeah just touch some grounded metal before installing.

[Bofinn]

I just touch the metal of the case - make sure the power cord is still attached though.

[c_white_wolf]

Don't want to buy an antistatic wristband?

Get a 3 foot (1 meter) long piece of 18 guage copper wire (it can be longer if you need it to be). Strip 6 inches off one end so you have bare wire and and form it into a lasso type loop which can be tighted or loosened easily. Attach the opposite end with a one 1/2 inch looped stripped end to a screw attached to a metal device inside the box. eg: the hard drive cage. Not the motherboard.

As Bofinn stated, insure the power cord is still attached. Attach this makeshift antistatic lasso to your wrist before touching anything inside the computer. When your finished you can wire-tie the wire and leave it inside the box so it's always there when you need it.

Just a small point when it comes to static electricity:

The human body can hold a 50,000 volt static charge.

The wire grounded to the case, grounded to the wall through the power cord eliminates the charge.

If you don't have the power cord plugged in, use the strap but insure you touch some type of grounded metal first. If you have no grounded metal around and another person is around, touch the other person first. Just be warned, if you have a large static charge built up, you may get hit especially if you do it on a regular basis.

Originally Posted by 'STATIC ELECTRICITY' IS ELECTRICITY WHICH IS STATIC? NO!

What we call "Static electricity" also has another name: "high voltage." All of the familiar electrostatic phenomena which we encounter in everyday situations always involve voltages above 1,000V, and ranging up to around 50,000 volts at the most. If it attracts lint or raises hair, it's definitely over 1,000 Volts. Rub a balloon on your head, and you generate tens of thousands of volts! This is voltage without a current. Here's a way to think about it: pure electric current involves a current with zero voltage, while pure "electrostatic" phenomena involve electrical voltages with zero current. Scuff your feet on a carpet and you create a voltage difference of many thousands of volts between your body and the carpet. Study "static electricity" and you study voltage itself.

[RocketGuy]

it is done! and it is working!
thanks guys!

[wallijonn]

Originally Posted by Bofinn

I just touch the metal of the case - make sure the power cord is still attached though.

actually, no; at least not in new PCs. {Unless you have a power supply unit with an ON/OFF switch in the back - which you MUST flip to the OFF position}. Most new mobos have a green LED on it to show you that there is still power coursing through it (for one, so that you do not drain your battery.) So if you install a PCI card, for example, the unit may power itself up.

For adding memory, I:
reboot machine. go into BIOS, set to "default" settings. escape, f10, save.

while it is rebooting I depress the power on button for over 4 seconds. it should power off.

power unit off.

pull power cord.

depress power on button. This should discharge all the caps in the unit.

use a can of air to blow dust off the empty memory slots.

lay the anti-static mem package on chasis.

While making sure that at all times my elbow, arm or hand are in constant tocu with the chaisis,

I open the package, WITHOUT touching any chips or fingers or circuits (just holding it by the long sides) and insert into mem slot. I do NOT handle the mem stick: if it needs to be rotated 180 degrees (to line up the correct notches) I rotate my hand and insert gently until I push down on the very top and sides of the mem stick until I see and hear the unit "click" into its slot.

Repeat with other mem stick.

remove left hand from chasis. Put chasis upright, insert power cord, push power on button. Go into BIOS and check the mem timings (as they are reported).