Acer Aspire One RAM upgrade

Re: Ram upgrade

So, today I got an email back from Tech Support telling me I must call this 800 number for Aspire One Support. This I did and was told by the first chap that this cannot be installed by me, when I pressed and mentioned that I had bought the upgrade from Acer he passed me to tier 2. They also said that this is not an "end-user" installable upgrade because you must dismantle the whole machine, they will have an upgrade service in the future where you'll have to send in your AA1 to them for it to be upgraded (but no idea when this service will be available).

When I again said that I had bought the upgrade from Acer he told me that the online store is run by a third party company and they shouldn't have sold it to me. When I said that the specifications of the AA1 on the Acer site specifically said that it was upgradable and that looked a bit like false advertising to me he got quite upset and said that it will be upgradable through this future send-in program, he just couldn't tell me when. I think I must have touched a nerve because he actually got quite rude about it.

When I then asked about whether I would void the warranty if I did go ahead and install it myself, he said that I would not, but if anything went wrong while installing it I would have to pay for any repairs to bring it back to being within warranty.

After talking to him I called the Acer store and told them what I'd been told by Tech Support, and they basically said that was nonsense- of course I can install it myself- they just can't tell me how (they even suggested I call Tech Support for instructions!). When I wanted to cancel the order they said I must send them an email to do that, so I did that and then received an email back saying, "sorry too late- we've already shipped it". So now I've filled out an RMA form and will send it right back when it arrives.

An interesting little project so far- it would seem to boil down to this- The Acer Store online don't know what they're talking about; Tech Support seem to realize that selling a laptop with an unreachable DIMM slot was a pretty dumb idea and they get quite upset when you point it out; if you do go ahead and install it yourself you don't void you warranty, but you'll have to pay to fix anything you break to bring it back to being in warranty.

Tomorrow I'm off to Circuit City to get a stick of Kingston Value RAM for half the price- and to hell with them and their confustication!

 

Re: Ram upgrade

I had an Acer laptop I bought 2 years ago. It died after a year. Motherboard croaked. After all the money I spent on it I wasn't too happy. Well I bought the Aspire One for a great price and figure if it dies in a year atleast I didn't pay a butt load for it.

I went ahead and installed a 1Gig stick in to the AA1 that was previously in the other laptop and with great success! I watched a video on how to disassemble it... and the one thing the guy didn't figure out is that all the strip cables are held in by a switch. The black piece that holds the cable(s) simply is a plastic lever. Just pull the black piece upwards and it releases the cable. It took me a long while to figure this out. And the two black pieces I pulled out were extremely tedious to put back in. So flip it, don't pop it.

The RAM I installed is:
NT1GT64U8HA0BN-37B
1GB 2Rx8
PC2-4200-444-12-F1

If you can work with small pieces and connections this can be a simple task. It helps to know what you're doing too ;-). Just look up a youtube disassemble video and remember the black on the flat cable ends is a release switch.

Personally I think everything ran just fine with 512MB RAM.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Hi all,
Can anyone confirm if the 1GB ram 8GB SSD Linux version (A110L) has a free ram slot or is the other slot taken up by another 512 ram? Or did acer use a 1gig stick on it meaning there is a free ram slot still?

I am thinking about adding another stick which i already have in hand, but i don't want to go through the tedious process of taking it apart just to find that the second ram slot is already used up.

I tried to last night and messed up one stubborn screw so I now I would have to use a pair of small pointed pliers to slowly turn the screw if I want to take it apart. Darn!
Thanks in advance.

 

Re: MESSED UP SCREW HEAD!!!

That's exactly what happened to me last night too! The screw's head is totally messed and can no longer be used with a screwdriver. You could try this:
Buy a small pair of pointed pliers, grip the screw head and very slowly ease it out. Then find a new screw of the same size such as from a calculator or just find some in a hardware store and replace that messed up screw. Can't help you with the rest as I haven't gotten that far. I have yet to try this but am going to do so tonight, if you have success with it do let me know.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

When I took the screws out I had to use vice grips secured to the tiny screw driver... and apply downward force with on hand and use the vice grips with the other for leverage.

If you want to get a bit destructive remove a screw with a worn out tip I usually take out a dremel tool and cut the top with a straight line converting it to a flat head screw. Then I use a flat head screw driver. The big downside is the dremel will cut the surface of what the screw is in leaving unsightly marks. But since the battery goes over that location and you won't see it... maybe you won't care. For me just knowing the flaw is there would bother me.

Hope that helps!

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Taking out all 15 screws to get the motherboard out is not the issue.

BREAKING the zif for the keyboard and the mouse is.

You have to remove the battery.

Then remove 8 screws from the bottom. 3 are shorter and in the battery compartment.
5 are longer 2 of which are hidden under the rear rubber feet.

THEN you have to press 3 tabs at the top of the keyboard and gently lift but not too far.

Then the zif needs to be opened for keyboard then mouse.

PULLING Them out will ruin them.

The remove 8 screws.
If you manage to get that far you lift the top off with the screen lyning back as far as it will go.

Then remove 5 more screws.

Then disconnect the speakers cable and the video cable.

Then lift out the the motherboard from the front and slide out. if you dont slide and lift the board will crack
in the back by the screen where its held in by a tab.

Then put the ram in the standard sodimm socket in the back.

Easy eh?

 

Re: Ram upgrade

WTF ???
The Zif Connectoer has a Flip part on it.
YOU FLIP IT UP !!!
Take a small toothpic and FLip it up DO NOT FRIGGEN PULL IT !!! WTF

The keyboard use a Credit card do you dont scratch the housing. gently push it it.
easy as cheese on toast.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Hi, I just bought 1GB A-Data piece of ram (so-dimm 533 MHz) from ebay (22 euros total). It took me about 1 hour and a half to complete the upgrade but now I have 1.5 GB and it works all fine. I've followed this video from youtube ().

Regards

Luca

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Similar kind of experience. Sent in AA1 around 2 weeks ago because of black screen of death (not knowing about trick of Macles). Told 1 week later no repair under warranty because of memory upgrade (which had nothing to do with the problem). I argued that Acer advertise that you can upgrade the memory and the tech guys (at least in UK say it is OK and even give instructions!!). Told by the support person here in the Netherlands that there was a "communications problem" inside Acer. I then sent off a whole string of e-mails saying saying how illogical this is etc. Eventually they agree to repair the ONE under warranty. They claim that they will never normally honour the warranty if you have opened the machine but they did (eventually) make an exception.

I received my AA1 back yesterday. They had apparently replaced the motherboard. Sent back the 1GB card I had installed. Somehow they had managed to kill this! I took the stick back to the store where I had bought it. They exchanged it no questions asked (10 year guarantee) and put the new stick in my ONE. Also, they had reinstalled Linpus on the SSD and wiped out everything I had on there which was a little annoying to say the least. Have spent most of today reinstalling WIn/XP plus all my apps and have eventually got everything running (am now typing this in on the ONE---first post in about 3 weeks from the ONE!).

Although I like much about the ONE I really don't like Acer and when I replace this netbook (I am absolutely hooked on the concept) I will go elsewhere. Acer are IMHO a good OEM who can make great motherboards etc but they absolutely suck in selling to the general public (this is definitely not their core competence). Customer service is an absolute joke.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Put ur self in their shoes.
And replace the user with a Crook that thinks has Superior Tech Skillz
But really doesnt and managed to rip off an SMT or something else during the Ram install.

How do they know The user didn't zap something or damaged something.

So in order to keep things fair they set rues to warranty only cover unopened Ones.
Else they be losing money left and right. Yes Most advanced user will suffer form this rule.

Same works for XBOX 360s, PS3 etc etc etc.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Hi,

I just bought a Aspire One, 512-8GB from Tiger direct and purchased 1 GB PNY DDR2 5300 with it.

Was a bit of a pain to take it apart, but in 30 min it was done.

Your need to be a bit mechanical inclined but its not bad.

Andy

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Then they shouldn't advertise it as upgradeable, or have official representatives telling people that it is user upgradeable. If you purchased an AA1 after seeing the ads, you would have no idea that you need to take the MB out to upgrade the RAM, because RAM access panels are common on laptops and all the other netbooks.

And warranty services are not fair, they do their best to not have to repair things (I work as a computer tech, we end up arguing with warranty guys all the time). And refusing to do a warranty repair because a user made modifications, without checking that the mod caused the problem, is bad customer service.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Asus has the Same Issues with the EEE 7series.
I worked for HP few years back and Toshiba over the summer. They have the same Rules as Acer.
IF You opened it to do whatever, warranty will be voided, even if it's to add ram and the computer had no back flap.
Also half the Advertisment saying that they are upgradable are Based of the retailer, Not the Manufacturer.
If you are able to talk to Tech departments its a different story they dont have a certain rulebook to follow.

Most Warranty personel picking up the phones are not tech schooled.
So if you are not saying the right words matching their playbook they will be a total ass.

You can always remove your Ram and set it back to stock parts. And then send it back.
90% of the time it will be treated as a reg warranty item unless you seriously F up the internals.
And there are no void stickers anywhere. So it makes things easier for you.
If you decide to leave ur ram in there thats like leaving ur wallet with 1k USD in the car whiles it is getting cleaned.
If you set things to stock parts they dont have to report different parts.
Resulting it to be seen as a reg untouched Aspire one in their system.
The tech is still able to tell if you stripped the screw or not but most techs like myself wont care,
Unless the inside had been tampered with causing the damages.

Now if you expecting the manufacturer keep handing out replacements Blindly w/o any questions asks.
Raising MSRP price and make the customer purchase the Extra Warranty Price. Which equals in Higher Pricing of the device.
Resulting in Apple Like pricings. B/c at that point the profit is larger and they can afford to do so. Blindly handing out replacements.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

Good day,

I recently purchased a Aspire One, and it came with 1 GB of Ram. Does that mean that it comes with 512 onboard and 512 in the empty slot or is it all 1GB onboard. Basically, what I am asking is can I add an extra GB (to 2GB) or is it only max 1.5 GB

Thanks

 

Re: Ram upgrade

512 onboard and 512 in slot.
For now only supports 1GB n slot with 512 on board Totaling 1.5GB

We dont know if its possible if it will accept total of 2.5GB(2GB Stick) in the future. (Possible Bios update which i highly doubt)

 

Re: Ram upgrade

I'm a bit late to this thread, but if you're running Linpus Lite on your Aspire One, 512MB is plenty of memory for most "everyday" applications, believe me. I was going to do what everyone here seems to be doing, in upgrading to 1.5GB and installing Windows XP, but Linpus Lite is so impressive in terms of speed, I really can't be bothered now.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

i got a new aspire one yesterday with 120G HDD , 1Gb RAM and XP (in Taiwan)
after fully reading this post
I feel a little disappointed about my new aspire one can't go with 2.5gb memory
my model no. is AOA-150Bb
Does it means my aspire one is the sam with 512 mb on board and 512 mb on the slot ?
and is there any empty slot on the back ?
and finally...
is it impossible to upgrade to the 2gb momory module ?

 

Re: Ram upgrade

All AA1's come with 512mb soldered to the board and one SODIMM socket. Your SODIMM will have a 512mb stick, and it can handle a max 1GB stick.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

As i know, there is one DIMM slot on the MB,
The max memory support for the chipset on Aspire one is 2G,
There is 512 MB memory on the MB,
So, for the DIMM slot, only can install 1G memory on the slot and total memory is 1.5G.

 

Re: Ram upgrade

?I recently pulled apart my aspire one and installed a 1 gig sodimm from my dell laptop, works fine bios shows 1.5 gigs of ram.....however ...my cpu now only clocks at 756mhz....go figure