Replacing memory on old laptop - advice wanted

[Andrew6974]

Hi.

I've decided to try and replace the faulty memory on an old laptop as the start of a project to restore it to working condition.
The laptop currently has a total of 3GB of RAM installed in two slots - a 1GB and 2GB card...

1GB 2rx16 / PC2-6400S-666-12-A0
2GB 2rx8 / PC2-6400S-666-12-FO

... they are 200pin slot cards. The 1GB card has two black memory blocks on it and the 2GB card has four blocks on it.

I was thinking of buying two of these...

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/200-pin-SODIMM-PC2-6400-Memory-Module/dp/B001342KM8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391015732&sr=8-1&keywords=pc2-6400

The one above that Amazon is selling looks identical to the ones I already have - 200pin / PC2-6400

I'm also unsure as to how much RAM a Vista 32-bit computer can use. There are a lot of different opinions around - some
say it's 3GB, some say it's 4 or more GB.

[David H. Lipman]

I suggest buying two 2GB PC-6400s modules.  They are common and the system is NOT that old.

 

The max RAM that any 32bit OS is ~4GB.  Specifically it is 2³²-1 or 4,294,967,295 bytes.  The thing is some hardware will use some of that space which could be .5GB to .75GB.  Thus the actual USEABLE RAM is 3GB ~ 3.5GB.  RAM is cheap.  You might as well max it out at 4GB of physical RAM.

[Andrew6974]

Thank you. As per your advice I have ordered two 2GB PC-6400s. I should get them tomorrow.

 

Is it advisable to use use an anti-static wrist strap when opening up computers ? I have read on other sites that static electricity discharges can damage internal circuitry.

 

And is it safe to use a can of compressed air to clean out any dust that may be inside ?

[David H. Lipman]

Yes, especially during the winter when the relative humidity is low and the static electricity generation is "higher".  Yes to the compressed air as well. 

[Andrew6974]

All fixed now. It only took about a minute to swap out the memory modules and it seems to have resolved all the problems with this laptop.

 

The OS is recognising the full 4GB which is nice and diagnostics are no longer detecting any hardware or memory problems. So I guess all I needed was some new RAM after all - wish I had known that months ago and that it was so simple to resolve !

 

System is fast and stable again - none of the freeze ups and crashes I was having before.

 

I'll be able to keep this laptop going as a spare / backup now.

 

Thank you again for the advice.

 

[David H. Lipman]

My pleasure and YW