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need help on hardware
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Aelfgifu View Drop Down
Caliph
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: need help on hardware
    Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 13:06

I recently bought WoW, but at home found out my 6 year old system is too slow to run it. Fortunately it was only the RAM memory that was too low.... so I could easily update it... or so I thought.

Being totally and utterly uninterested in the workings of a computer, I had been quite happily ignorant of anything that involved more than clicking icons, but a litte research on the Dell site showed me which kind of memory chip I needed. I then did a googlesearch to find it on the internet for half the amount Dell asked for it, and ordered it.
 
It arrived, I opened up the casing of the pc, slotted it into the only place that seemed to fit... and ran into a problem of the most @#$%&^* annoying kind: the brackets do not fit. The chip itself fits just fine, it is just the little white plastic thingies at both ends that will not close. There are two gaps in the chip, and the protrusion on the little plastic white thingies, instead of slitting into one of these, reach slap bang between them.
 
 
I SO F*****G HATE COMPUTERS!!!!
 
 
So, the question kindof is: does this mean that I got the wrong one, in spite of buying the one the Dell site and several other sites (including the one where I bought it) told me would fit? Or can I just ignore the little white thingies? Does anyone know?

Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Reginmund View Drop Down
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Posts: 1943 		  Quote Reginmund Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 15:31
I don't know much about computer hardware, so I guess I can just offer my sympathies. I too am frustrated by computers and technical problems in general, but my interest in computer gaming has forced me to become at least somewhat adept with them.

Word of advice; if your system is 6 years old, your RAM memory might not be your only problem. You should measure your computer's capacity (found by typing "dxdiag" into the "run" field you presumably find on the bottom of the Start-menu) up against the game's requirements (sorry if this seems patronising but I don't know how savvy you are).

As for the trouble with the chip, if it doesn't fit properly it probably won't work properly. It's a bit hard to say much about this without seeing the comp itself, you should find someone you know to look at it irl. There should be a small hole/recess close to the middle of the RAM stick, if that doesn't fit then you probably got the wrong stick, as it's a mechanism designed to prevent you from installing the wrong sort of memory stick into the slot (you can't put a DDR2 RAM stick into a DDR1 slot, for example).

That's as much as I can tell you.

Edited by Reginmund - 22-Sep-2007 at 15:35
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Paul View Drop Down
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Posts: 952 		  Quote Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 15:56
You may have a DDRam computer and bought SDRam or something along those lines.
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 15:57
Thanks.
 
I have checked pretty much anything, my processor is a pentium 4, and minimum is pentium 3, and I have a Geforce 2 vidoecard and plenty of hard drive space, as I have had to put in a new hard drive about a year ago. I am pretty sure it will work once I get the RAM memory up to speed. It is 6 years old, but when it was new, it was really quite good, so it ages well... Wink
 
And the thing is, the chip fits just fine, including the recess at the bottom. The only things that do not fit are the plastic clamps that have no other purpose than to keep it a little tighter in place. But the chip will stay in without them. It is just I do not want to turn it on without knowing something will fry if I do...
 
That is what confuses me so much. If the chip would not fit, I would know it was the wrong one. But this is the one the Dell sit told me would fit, and the one the online shop selling it to me said would fit, and it fits like a glove. It slots in perfectly. It is DDR DIMM 266Mhz/PC2100 SDRAM, as it should be... So why do the clamps not fit?
 
Oh, powers that be, I hate computers.

Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Posts: 1919 		  Quote xi_tujue Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 16:13
OH NO

WOW is so adictive don't tell them I dodn't warn u



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Aelfgifu View Drop Down
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 16:21
I know...
 
But thruth be told... I spend most of my evenings watching increadibly boring tv... Figured I might as well go online... quite a lot of my friends are there anyway. Wink It can never be worse than what I am doing now...
 
And besides, my tendency to get RSI will restrict my addiction... Once it really starts to hurt one has the tendency to stop, no matter the withdrawal.
 

Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Reginmund View Drop Down
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Posts: 1943 		  Quote Reginmund Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 16:45
I say just try it then, plastic clamps won't impact the performance of the chip as long as it's securely in place, they're just plastic clamps without any function beyond that.

And don't watch so much TV, it's a waste of time usually. If you're going to watch TV then at least be selective. I, for example, don't watch much else than Date My Mom and Temptation Island.
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Aelfgifu View Drop Down
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 16:57
Well, as I restrict myself to Law and Order, CSI, Animal Planet. Discovery and 'From slut to lady', I do not see how I am any worse than you... Wink
 

Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Posts: 8792 		  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 17:07
womeeens LOL
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Aelfgifu View Drop Down
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 17:14
Originally posted by Zagros

womeeens LOL
 
Yeah, like every man knows how computers work.
 
I asked a number of guys, none of them had any clue. AAMOF, the only one who was able to provide some useful info so far was a girl. One who is a neurobiologist and who thought herself to program-write. So do not even start with your 'women' stuff....
 
Euh, Men. Hopeless. LOL

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Posts: 8792 		  Quote Zagros Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 17:34
Hopeless?  Well, perhaps...  Especially under the evil scourge of viral gastroenteritis!
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Desperado View Drop Down
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Posts: 227 		  Quote Desperado Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 19:22
Aelfgifu, if you are sure that your CPU is Pentium 4 and supports DDR (because some of the early Pentium 4 motherboard chipsets like i850, work only with Rambus RDRAM or i845A, works only with SDRAM PC100/133-check in the user's manual), you must apply a little bit more strenght, but be careful not to bend your M-board much. Make sure that the RAM module is orientated correctly according to the slot(the clamps must be opened), then push one side of the module, until the clamp on that side close iself, then do the same with the other side of the module. NOTE: If you're trying to push the module so that its both ends to close the clamps simultaneously- they will usually not fit to the module-i suspect that this is what happened. So first lock one end of the module, then the other. Without closing the clamps the memory module will barely work. Another important issue: RAM modules are very sensitive to static electricity, so in order to preserve them - ground yourself by touching an earthened conductor(like the water-pipes, or any metal construction that contacts the earth), before starting to install the RAM.
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Posts: 4262 		  Quote Northman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2007 at 21:25
Good advice from Desperado above ^^
 
Since you are talking about white plastic clamps, I think he is right assuming its the self-locking kind.
Pay special attention where he says....  push the chip down until the clamp closes itself into the gap. You are not supposed to push or operate the clamp in any ways to close it.
 
Don't get confused about the terms SDRAM contra DDR  - its the same kind of chip, just 2 different ways to name it. 
 
Another thing - after de-charging yourself on the waterpipe, put one hand on the chassis of the computer while working the RAM chip with the other hand. In other words - don't put two hands down to the motherboard.
Just an extra precaution.
 
 
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Sep-2007 at 03:04
Thanks a lot Desperado and Northman. I indeed tried to push it straigth down... I shall try one end at the time, that sounds like it might work.
 
I knew about the static and grounding, I did try and decharge myself by touching the radiator, the stove and the earth-pin of a wall socket, but nothing happened, so I presume I was not loaded... Smile Still, I did use two hands. Hope the thing is still ok...

Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Aelfgifu View Drop Down
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Sep-2007 at 17:33
It worked! I am now the happy owner of 768MB RAM... Big%20smile

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Posts: 4262 		  Quote Northman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Sep-2007 at 17:42
Originally posted by Aelfgifu

It worked! I am now the happy owner of 768MB RAM... Big%20smile
 
Clap  Congrats Girl!
... and now you know for next time you want to upgrade.

It had 256 and you added 512 - right?
 
 
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Posts: 3387 		  Quote Aelfgifu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Sep-2007 at 17:54
Originally posted by Northman


It had 256 and you added 512 - right?
 
 
 
Yes.
 
Now all I have to do is solve the problems of my new videocard driver and the router, and I might actually manage to run my new game... When it has done updating about a gig of patches that is... ConfusedLOL 
 
A new pc might cost more, but it sure would be less trouble... But then again, I don't have any money, so this one will have to do for now. Tongue

Women hold their councils of war in kitchens: the knives are there, and the cups of coffee, and the towels to dry the tears.
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Posts: 1943 		  Quote Reginmund Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24-Sep-2007 at 10:45
Congratulations. What would become of the world when our devices no longer fit in their slots, I say.
 
Don't let WoW steal too much of your attention though, your input is still appreciated here.
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Posts: 6003 		  Quote Cywr Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Sep-2007 at 17:43
I just got smitten by the WoW bug too. What server are you playing on? I got a character in an English server and one i just started on a German one.

I'm also thinking of starting a WoWers Anonymous support group :p

As for the router, it got out through mine just fine, probably plug'n'play helped.
Arrrgh!!"
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Posts: 3638 		  Quote ulrich von hutten Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Sep-2007 at 18:11
Here are my obligatory two cents.....
 
 
DDR has it's place in a museum !
 
 
Might be it will come back, sooner or later....
 
 
**nude graphic content deleted!Shocked**
 
here, ladies and gentlemen , you will find the link to the pic, mr.seko has deleted. Make your own opinion...
 


Edited by ulrich von hutten - 27-Sep-2007 at 19:45

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