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Installing New Hardware Safety

johnjohn320

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
OK, I finally bought some more RAM, and while it's shipping, I figured I'm gonna open up my computer and take a look at my motherboard, just make sure I can find the slots and everything. So, since I 😱 have never installed hardware before, I want to make sure I get some things straight before I open this sucker up. So, I'm assuming I should unplug it, but are there any other things I should do for my personal safety, as well as to avoid damage of my computer? Thanks.
 
Always touch the case before you touch anything, as to ground yourself.

Try to avoid working on the carpet. (Although I never follow this rule.)

Check, double check, and triple check that you have it lined up correctly and seated properly.
 
Actually, you should leave it plugged in, to ensure everything is grounded, and make sure part of your fleshy body is always in contact with the case chassy.

A wooden table or countertop make good places to work. It not tough, you'll be fine.
 
See if you can buy an anti-static mat and wrist grounding band; try Radio Shack. At the minimum, use a wrist band. I use an anti-static mat that connects to a ground source and my wrist band connects to the mat. I would suspect that many intermittent computer problems you will see posted, are a result of mis-handling the components during assembly. I just cring when I see how some "techs" handle electronic components. Static can build into the KV range, destroying or weakening components. For your own safety, pull the plug.
 
First off, never, ever, EVER (got it yet?) work on any electronic equipment when it is plugged into a wall socket. Average socket carries 15 amps of 115 volt current. More than enough to give you a funky new hairdoo.

I'm going to assume that you have a DIMM. (Dual Inline Memory Module) Most pc's made in the past few years use DIMMs. Here's whatyado.

1. UNPLUG the darn thing.
2. Put case on table in well-lit area.
3. Open case.
4. Touch metal part of case (frame, NOT the circuit board (motherboard or mobo in geekspeek)
5. Find the empty memory spot closest to the one that's already occupied.
6. Open little white levers on both ends of socket.
7. Socket is assymetric. Make sure you are inserting the memory correctly.
8. Push mem straight down (90degree angle) until little white levers spring up all by themselves.
9. Make sure levers are fully up.
10. Frag away with your new memory.

Cheers.
 
Yeah, I decided to ignore what H8Tank said (no offense man) and I unplugged it. I didn't see the last two posts, I had already turned the thing off and was fumblin around. I haven't received my RAM yet in the mail, I was just lookin around for my first time. Anyhow, it's obviously up and running just fine, the only two hard parts were 1)getting the damn side back on, I fumbled with that for like 10 mins, it just didnt want to fit! and 2)Getting all the plugs and cables and whatnot plugged back into the back of the computer once I was done. I'm a little confused on where the memory slots are, I saw 5 parallel white rows on what (I think) was the motherboard. Is this it? I find it hard to believe that I'd have 5 slots left, not to mention that I didnt see any white knobs on the end of anything ANYWHERE. Can you guys help me? Someone had a pic in another thread ofa motherboard, I'll go check that out now. BTW, how much does one of those anti-static things cost, and its rather difficult to keep one hand on the case when I'm screwing the thing back together, is it necessary to keep my hand on the case when I'm not actually touching the hardware inside? One last thing, you said push straight 90 degrees DOWN. There wasn't anything laying flat, it was all vertical from what I could see, except for some boards that were sticking out of the side of the largest board (which again I am guessing was the motherboard). Perhaps sometime I could take a pic or two of my computer's innards, and you guys could tell me what everything is? Anyway, thanks for the help, looking forward to your replies on this one!
 
OK, mobo 101. Here we go. It's good that your reply was very descriptive, cause now I know what you're looking at. Those five white slots are called PCI slots. They are for Modems, sound cards, video cards. NOT MEMORY. I don't think memory would fit but for sure you'd fry the memory and possibly the motherboard. I.E. your computer would be a paperwieght.

I should've specified what memory looks like. DiMMs are about 6 inches longX an inch high. Same size as a 6-inch ruler. They have memory chips (look like those after-dinner chocolate mints) on either side of the board and a row of gold contacts on one edge. You hold the memory at a 90 degree angle to the board, gold contacts pointing down, and push into an available memory slot. Your board has memory, trust me. What kind of PC is it that you have and how old is it? Have you tried the manufacturer's website? For sure they have some diagrams or pics showing what is what. If you want to email me a pic of your mobo, I'll help you. cosmo31@mail.ev1.net
 
Yeah, what I was looking at was definetly not right.A friend of mine looked at the same pic of the motherboard that I mentioned above, and the slots I was looking at were the PCI slots, he said. In that case, I never saw the RAM slots...hope I can find it next time...


Oh yeah and BTW, the innards were so frickin dusty!! Any suggested ways of "cleaning" it out? It can't be good for the hardware to have half an inch of dust resting on it.🙂
 
Here is my computer:

Gateway
Pentium II-450
Riva TNT
96 Megs of RAM (for now😉)
Windows ME (don't say anything, I know)
SoundBlaster Sound Card.

I'm gonna put all that in my sig soon. Thanks for your help! I'll check the Gateway Website, see if I can scrape up anything.
 
A can-o-air outside will take care of the dust, and as for the memory, look for slots that look like this.

(BTW, Ph3ar my l33t photoshop sk1llz)
 
Woohoo! I've been zapped a few times.

1. My dad asked me to finish installing a light switch for him. I ASSUMED that he had cut that circuit. Nope. Yow!

2. Messing around with a dead PS, I had it plugged in and open, but I only touched the outside. Apparently some wiring went wrong. ZAP!

3. Well this time the current didn't go through me, but I had left the computer plugged in, but turned off. I figured I wasn't installing any hardware so it wouldn't be a problem, I was just putting in the hard drive cage. Well, it just so happened that one of the little plastic boots that goes over the wires on the power switch had slipped down, and when I was installing the hard drive cage, it made contact with that and with the case at the same time. That made a big bang and killed the PS. oops. 🙂
 
RE: Your pc. A PII, huh? That's a little older. It may use SIMM's instead of Dimms. Single in line memory module instead of Dual inline memory mod. Two differences; SIMMS are way cheaper and they insert at 45 degrees and then "snap up" to a 90 degree angle....

Look straight down at your mobo. The five white slots are the PCI slots. Don't worry about those. To the right, on the other side of the board (around there) should be a black cartridge with a fan or a heatsink on it. That is you processor (The 450 PII). Next to that should be two or three slots. ONe of them is occupied. Those are your memory slots.
 
Sh!t, I hope it doesn't use SIMM's, cause I ordered a 64 meg stick of DIMM. Here's the thing though, on the Crucial Website, it said specifically "Upgrades for a Gateway G6-450". On the front of my case it says " Gateway G6-450." I hope that means that anything I could have ordered from that site will work on my comp.
 
A Static-mat and wrist band should only be about $10 bucks. The mat is about 2'x 2' and is condutive vinyl. The wrist band is conductive elastic. A long curly wire is on each. I conducted seminars on handling circuit boards for a company where I used to work. The company was trying to save money on DOA boards and intermittent problems created during handling. It only takes about 50 volts to weaken an integrated cicuit and static goes into the 1000+ volt range. If you could see under a microscope, just how a circuit is weakened, you would be amazed. Just touching your hair, cloths, walking across the floor, etc., can generate some very large voltages. After seeing the examples, it made a believer out of me. Now, I'am always extra careful when handling components.
 
I don't know of a single PII that uses SIMMs. Here are some good pictures to help you out, courtesy of anandtech's recent server upgrade article 🙂

http://images.anandtech.com/editorials/2001/01/cpus_sm.jpg

In the lower right hand corner of this picture are the DIMM slots. Seeing as how your computer is a gateway, it probably has only a couple of these, but they should look about the same, black like that with white or off-white tabs.

And your RAM will look SOMETHING like this:

http://images.anandtech.com/editorials/2001/01/sdram_sm.jpg

...there's really nowhere else that it would plug in.

Don't worry about being CONSTANTLY grounded, just touch the case before you start, and if you're paranoid, touch it every minute or two...that'll be way more than enough, unless you're wearing socks and rubbing your feet on the carpet while you do this.
 
Don't worry, it's not SIMMS. You have a BX chipset according to what you posted from Sandra, and your FSB is running at 100 MHz, according to your 450 MHz speed. All signs point to PC-100 SDRAM(which come on DIMMS). I don't think the BX can even support SIMMS.
 
OK, it's comfortable to hear that that about it P2's not using SIMM. I've got a good idea of what the RAM slots look like now, now I've just got to find them in my computer🙂.
 
Also, the RAM only goes in one way, so make sure you line up the notches and if it doesn't want to go in, make sure you've got it right instead of just pushing really hard. 🙂
 
There were some early P2 440FX chipsets that used SIMMS. and some weird LX/FX chipsets by OEMS that used special SIMMS.

But since you have a 450, the bus speed is 100mhz, none of the boards that used SIMMS had that bus speed.

Deeko's got the right idea, you must have a BX board and therefore use DIMMs.
 
I can almost guarantee it doesn't use SIMMS, those are Pentium days, a PII 450 runs on a 100 MHz FSB and it requires PC100... I dunno about fact but i've never seen a SIMM powered P2 computer b4. u'll be fine if you ordered PC100 or PC133 as long as you have an open slot, but even if not, you could always pull out another smaller module and stick in the new one, and probably sell the other stick off if possible.. just a thought... peace all 🙂
 
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