2.5 Gigs of RAM?

I so agree with that, that's why I type things not relating to the subject.

 

Hmm... Seems ACER is somewhat receptive to customer... uh... desires. Maybe if they get enough calls something may give. Seems to have happened with the Recovery Disk issue... Nah.

Oh, scolding instead of helping is NO HELP AT ALL... doubt anyone on this or any other board (forum) came out of the chute knowing all the ins and outs of posting or even emailing. Lets be helpful here not...

 

Hold on, im somewhat confuzed:
is it a physical limitation that prevents 2gb going into the slot? because they make 2gb that are the same size/type/speed as 1gb that can go into the slot
or
is it a BIOS limitation where it can only give an address to the first 1.5 gb , similar to the 32bit limitation?
i have found ram that is the exact same size and speed as the ram that the aspire one uses, but it is 2gb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820134513

 

Max total memory supported : 2GB
Max memory per bank : 1GB
Soldered on board : 512MB
Free banks : 1

512 + (1GB) = 1.5GB

has nothing to do with the physical size of the sodimms.

 

There is a least one variant of the Intel 945G chipset that supports a maximum of 2GB RAM.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that this variant is the one used in most Atom N270-based netbooks.

 

AFAIK
945 supports 2GB RAM max, there is no specific variant for that. It all comes down to how many free slots and max size per slot.

 

According to this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_chip ... e_Chipsets - some of the "P" variants support 4GB, but I guess that the Atom-based netbooks are all using the 945GSE and are therefore limited to 2GB.

 

The max memory per bank supported by the chipset is 2GB.
The max memory per bank supportted by AAO is 2 GB IF the other bank is empty
The max memory per bank supported by the AAO is 1GB IF the other bank is used (without modding)

To disable the regular DDR2 SODIMM module, all you have to do is to short out 11 pins: 81,87,95,111,199,82,88,96,104,112 and 118.
http://cid-2fedd1342ad58911.skydrive.li ... SODIMM.JPG
Here's a picture to help you understand what i'm talking about

It's possible to disable some chips on a DDR2 SODIMM module. On most of the chips, you can easily turn off 2x256 (double sided) or 1x512 (single sided) chips to make a 1.5GB DDR2 SODIMM module.

You can do the same to the on board RAM chip to disable it manually. Different chips have different smt connections thus one will need to check the data sheets.

If someone can take a picture of the text on the AAO's internal memory chips, I could figure out which pins to short out to turn the ram chip off.

Disabiling a specific micro ddr2 chip 60-ball DJ-Z (shaped like a square 15mm x 12.5mm)
short out these connections: a1, a9, c1, c7, c9, e1, e9, h9, L1
http://cid-2fedd1342ad58911.skydrive.li ... 20Chip.JPG
Here's a diagram to help you understand

I believe AAO use samsung chips since the SPD on the DDR2 SODIMM ram module says Samsung as manufacture.

BTW.. AAO's chip set is limited to 2GB of usable ram. So, you can use 4GB (2x2GB) in your AAO ( if the bios isn't locked), the chipset will only allow you to use 2GB out of 4GB.

 

There are some crazy people out there, but I don't know how many would be willing to short pins on their motherboard just to eek out another 512MB of RAM. But when I take my AAO apart (A110) I'll gladly take some hi-res images of the board and people are welcome to try things on their own.

 

I have just been inspired! =] I will most likely be disecting my aoa150 soon and ill post pics w/ it.

<noob question>
how would you "short it out", like i hear if u drop an electronic device in water it will "short out" but how will i do that to pins on the mobo?
</noob question>

here is one =]

 

just break the connection to short it out. There are many methods of doing this:
scratching the etched connection until the connection breaks
Desolder the pads under the motherboard

As long as you're not feeding power to the chip, the chip will not function thus turning it off. Shorting the VCC pins causes failure to deliver power to the chip that you short out.

 

ok, thanks jackluo923,
i wasnt really sure, and i didnt want to mess up my little laptop (beyond repair)
now another problem...grr dam screws...the little black screws behind the battery are a pain in the ass to remove...

Edit: F**k....striped the screws...this weekend, ill work on http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=10156 to fix it

 

I would argue that there's a difference between shorting traces and breaking them. They're generally separate concepts.

 

Try placing a hot soldering iron on the head of the screw for 10 seconds. This could be enough to soften the threadlock cement enough to allow it to move.

I have been lucky in that I have encountered only one truly stuck screw on the four AA1s that I have worked on and the soldering iron trick worked for me.

You still need a screwdriver that fits properly in the screw head, but if you have already stripped it then you are kinda "screwed" I suppose. Please excuse the awful pun! :lol:

 

Well.. for a newbie, it wouldn't matter. Breaking connection and shorting the connection are totally different concept, but both work for this mod.

 

I stripped some screws, so I got some off my Toshiba Satellite 3000-s353 and put 'em on my one.I think the screws Toshiba uses are the Satellites are the same screws that Acer uses for their Aspires.

 

I disagree with this.
"Shorting out" means connecting together.
So shorting out (connecting together) a bunch of VDD pins is totally different from cutting traces so that VDD never reaches the chip.

 

hmmm thing is, is that much ram necessary on a 'limited functionality' device?

n'lited XP's for example, and my n'lited version usually has around 1gb free most of the time during use. (1.5gb on mine). Same with vista and 7....

Perhaps the odd game here and there may go beyond 1.5gb but its prob very rare considering the machine is only powerful enough to handle average/older games....

 

Shorting two pins out would be considered "closed". Cutting a leg would be considered "open" For someone not to understand that makes me question their ability to give such advise.

If I ever get time to take my AA1 apart I might order a 2gb stick and desolder the onboard ramm. I would like to see the data sheet to see which is true, 1gb per slot or 2gb per slot. So far both are posted in this thread. Obviously if it is 1gb there would be no need to remove onboard ramm. I suppose I could do a google search to find the datasheet for the chipset, or someone could just tell me they will send it to me

Although, it should be possible to replace the onboard ramm with larger capacity chips. I am capably of doing that kind of SMN re-work so I will have to like into the chips once I get it apart or someone gets close ups.

 

hmm...i wonder if the bios will like that or not...
but its a good idea

ok... so if i was to disconnect the on-board ram..wound i break the connection or short the pins out??
and how would i do it??
a "noob" guide would be appreciated