What memory should I use for upgrading my notebook computer?
Laptops are not very upgradable computers and in general you stuck with hardware you got inside your laptop. But still there are some components that you can upgrade to improve the performance of you computer. One of these components is memory (RAM). In short, more memory – better computer performance.
There are a lot of different memory brands on the market and sometimes it is very easy to get lost. As a computer technician I would recommend to use Crucial – high quality, not expensive and very reliable computer memory.
Crucial offers you very good tools integrated into their website. These tools will help you to find the correct memory type and correct memory size for your computer.
If you have no idea what kind of memory is installed into your laptop you should use the Crucial system scanner. The Crucial System Scanner takes the guesswork out of upgrading your memory.
The Crucial system scanner will examine you computer and give you an idea what kind of memory you need, what memory size you should use and how many sticks you can install.
More advanced users can use the Crucial Memory Advisor tool. In this case you will have to select the manufacturer, the product line and the model of your laptop manually.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Upgrading Tips
March 20th, 2006 at 9:12 am
Excellent topic. Do you have something similar for CPU upgrades? For example, my Toshiba A30 should support HT CPUs to 3.2GHz, according to the tech manual, but it fails to boot with a 3.2HT CPU in it (it actually attempts to boot for 3-4 seconds 9-10 times before giving up and powering off completely)? The processor is good, but the laptop just doesn’t like it.
March 24th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
[…] What memory should I use for upgrading my notebook computer? How to choose the right memory type and size? 03.24.2006 […]
April 13th, 2006 at 4:53 pm
I have a Toshiba M45-S331. I have found your website EXTREMELY valuable. I am already planning on upgrading the processor to a Pentium M 760 (currently a 730). I have already upgraded the Memory to 2Gig, and the hard drive is now a 7200RPM 80GB Segate.
The only upgrade I would like to make now is to upgrade the display from the WXGA to a WSXGA+ or a WUXGA. Is this even POSSIBLE? Does Toshiba have a 15.4″ replacement display that I can put in this laptop? I really need more desktop area, and this would be it! Otherwise, I will need to sell this laptop soon. (Anyone interested?)
Thanks!
Kevin
April 13th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Hi Kevin,
According to Toshiba Tech website there are about ten 15.4” WXGA displays available for Toshiba Satellite M45 and only one 15.4” SWXGA (Toshiba part number V000053290). There is no way I can tell you if it will fit your laptop. Most likely it requires a specific video cable and specific display mounting brackets. The other thing, it is pretty expensive. Sorry, cannot advice you anything.
BTW, when I want to sell some stuff fast, I use craigslist
April 22nd, 2006 at 7:55 am
I have a Toshiba A25 S207 with 512 MB (PC2100). A PC2700 memory module will work on it?
thanks!
April 22nd, 2006 at 9:14 am
Cleverson,
A PC2700 memory module should work fine. It should clock down to PC2100. Do not forget that the maximum amount of memory for your laptop is 1GB. If you already have 512MB in one slot you can install not more then 512MB into the second slot. Toshiba Satellite A25 memory slots are located under the keyboard.
April 25th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Thanks so much for your website; I have been trying to find a teardown manual for my laptop so I can clean the heatsink and I finally found it!! Thanks!
I have a Toshiba Satellite A75 laptop with 640MB ram currently. How much ram can this system support?
Thanks!
April 26th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Hi Ed,
It depends on the model. Toshiba Satellite A75 has only one memory slot available for memory upgrade because some memory is already integrated into the system board. Some models have 256MB onboard memory some have 512MB. You can install up to 1GB into the available slot. If you give me the model for your laptop I can check it out and give you more accurate information. You can find the model number on the bottom of your laptop, for example Satellite A75 PSA70U-1Y300G or you can look it up on Toshiba website.
May 5th, 2006 at 12:04 am
It is a Satellite A75-S211
Part Number: PSA70U-0WK00G
Thanks!
May 5th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Hi Ed,
Toshiba Satellite A75-S211 has 256MB onboard memory. The maximum amount of memory this model can accept is 1280MB, so you can install 1GB PC2700 DDR333 memory stick into the slot on the bottom of the laptop.
May 13th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
I have a Toshiba A55 and I have two problems. First I spilled coke on the key board and would like to know how to clean the keyboard. Alot of the keys have the wrong function now and I have connected a USB Keyboard. I saw your instructions on how to remove the keyboard. Second, am I able to add Ram and how much. Thank you Doyle
May 22nd, 2006 at 10:29 am
Slot B in my Tecra 8200 has gone dead. The memory doesn’t show up at all (in BIOS, Memtest, windows). I”ve tried various sticks in both slots and determined that the problem is definitely in the slot and not the memory.
Both slots worked when I got the machine and installed new RAM. Somewhere after that it failed, perhaps while I was troubleshooting a bad used mini-pci WiFi card I had installed.
Anything I can try short of replacing the motherboard?
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Hey Nril,
In your case it would be necessary to replace the motherboard if you want to use both memory slots. Otherwise, you can use only A slot with maximum amount of memory installed.
May 23rd, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Hey Doyle,
Sorry for a late response, kinda missed your comment. You cannot clean the keyboard and it must be replaced to operate properly.
About the memory upgrade. Toshiba Satellite A55 has 2 memory slots available for upgrades. You definitely can upgrade the memory, but I cannot say witch memory size and memory type you should use because you didn’t provide all needed information. Some Satellite A55 laptops can accept up to 1GB, some of them up to 2 GB. Some models use PC2700 DDR333 memory, some use PC4200 DDR2. I can look it up for you if you tell me the laptop model, for example Satellite A55-S1064 and how much memory you have currently installed.
June 27th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
If there is a site for this question tell me I should have read the posts first and I’ll beg forgiveness later.
I have a Toshiba 1805-177 with a mk2018 gap 20 gig drive. Will a mk4025gas 40gig drive work in it’s place. I use this notebook as a backup with 512meg of ram. have winxp pro sp 2 loaded with no problems. can’t bash Toshiba it has worked 4 years with no problems.
Thanks
Mike
June 28th, 2006 at 11:32 am
Mike,
New 40GB hard drive should work without any problem. You can install even a bigger drive.
June 28th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Thanks, I’ll see who has the best deal on a 2.5 drive.
Regards
Mike
October 26th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I have a Toshiba satellite A55-s306, and I bought new RAM for it just recently. It’s a 512, and I know it’s the correct type of RAM becasue I checked about a dozen sites and htey all recoomended me the same one. The problem is no matter what slot I try to install it into, with or without the original RAM in the computer, when I try to boot the computer up it beeps rather loudly, and nothing happens. The screen stays black.
From CJ2600:
I think that Caitlin not the only person who experience the same problem, so I decided to publish her comment as a post, you’ll find it here:
I installed a brand new RAM into my notebook. Now the notebook will not boot up and beeps when I turn it on.
February 4th, 2007 at 7:14 am
HELLO freak i have an Inspiron 5160 its two yeasr old and running good with -2GB of memory - and like to upgrade processor from 2.80GHz to higher because i need more CPU ive seen a processor that is 3.20 GHz . Dell doesnot want support of processor change ,what do you recommend?
February 23rd, 2007 at 1:25 am
Yes I have a Toshiba A5-S1064. I have 1.60GHz and 504 MB of Ram. They thing is i can have windows vista on my computer. i had it before, but it does say that your MB need to 524 ( I think) anyway i want to upgrade. what be the best for me. my uncle said that 1g is = two 524’s. So should i get 1g or what.
Thanks Jayson
February 25th, 2007 at 2:14 am
Jason,
Check the memory slot on the bottom of your notebook. If the memory slot on the bottom is empty, you can install up to 1GB memory module into this slot. Vista likes more memory so I would go with 1GB module module. Here’s a disassembly guide for Toshiba Satellite M55, I think this model is similar to Tecra A5. The memory location is shown on the step 2. The second memory slot is located under the keyboard.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Hello
I have a 256 MB SDRAM PC133 stick that I want to use along with a 128 MB PC100 in a old Toshiba Tecra 8200.
My question is, if I install both sticks together, can something bad happend? Will the speed of the PC133 stick underclock to 100MHz?
Thanks for all this superb info, and excuse my English.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:03 am
Joao,
In most cases you can mix PC133 and PC100. Nothing bad is going to happen but the PC133 stick will run at 100MHz. If the laptop will not boot up with PC133 module, you’ll have to find PC100.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:22 am
“In most cases you can mix PC133 and PC100. Nothing bad is going to happen but the PC133 stick will run at 100MHz. If the laptop will not boot up with PC133 module, you’ll have to find PC100.”
Thanks for your answer and advice
I will try that out then.
March 3rd, 2007 at 11:25 am
Oops, my bad. Anyway, thanks for your advice.
March 8th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I want to replace the memory in my friend’s Dell Inspiron - it’s in the 1200 series - she bought it it 2002. I easily opened the access panel to install one 256 but the other is located under the keyboard. How do I access this correctly? I don’t want to break her laptop. Thanks.
March 27th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
My Fujitsu C2010 has 256MB onboard which is a DDR200, recently I bought a 256MB PC2100 (DDR266) and slotted it into the empty memory slot. When I boot and go into BIOS, I only saw 256MB on the memory slot and the onboard memory is “none”. I take out the installed memory and boot again, the BIOS gives me back my onboard memory 256MB. It is designed in such way or something wrong with my installation of new memory where DDR200 and DDR266 can not be used together?
Since the user manual states that the maximum memory the laptop can use is 512MB, can i buy a 512MB PC2100 and replace the 256MB PC2100? Which I hope should again disable the memory onboard and i finally get 512MB of RAM.
Thanks for all the articles.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:41 am
question on upgrading cpu on inspiron 8600- currently has 1.3 pentium m- i have a 1.8 and a 1.4 but the motherboard won’t accept either of them - it will power up with error message- “this cpu is not supported the processor code is wrong ” or something to that effect- anyone got an idea- i’d like to toss in the 1.8 should i just ignore the error and use it anyhow?
July 20th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
1. My Fujitsu C2010 has 256MB onboard which is a DDR200, recently I bought a 256MB PC2100 (DDR266) and slotted it into the empty memory slot. When I boot and go into BIOS, I only saw 256MB on the memory slot and the onboard memory is “none”. I take out the installed memory and boot again, the BIOS gives me back my onboard memory 256MB. It is designed in such way or something wrong with my installation of new memory where DDR200 and DDR266 can not be used together?
July 21st, 2007 at 3:08 pm
broc wilde,
PC2100 (DDR266) or PC2700 (DDR333) should be backward compatible with PC1600 (DDR200). I searched the Crucial site for your model and they recommend 256MB PC2700.
Here’s a quote from their FAQ:
Check the BIOS version you have installed on your laptop and upgrade it to the latest version if there is any.
August 9th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I need to replace my fujitsu laptop c2010 motherboard.
Where can i get it cheaply.
October 11th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Hi, I am currently in the market for a memory upgrade. I have a Toshiba A75-S226 and would like know what my optimal options are for this model. Thanks in advance.
October 13th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Adam,
Toshiba Satellite A75 notebook has only one memory expansion slot available to end users. You can easily access the memory expansion slot from the bottom of the laptop if you remove the cover in the middle of the case. You can install up to 1GB memory module into this slot. Also, you can use 256MB 512MB modules.
Memory type compatible with this unit: PC2700 DDR333.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I just installed 1GB memory in my Toshiba M105-S1021. It already has 512MB onboard. But after installation the system information only shows 1024MB total physical memory and about 365 available memory.
I ran the scan at Crucial and it doesn’t show the old memory. What happened? I thought I’d have about 1.5 GB memory.
The old memory was DDR2-533 (266 MHz) and the new is DDR2-667 (333 MHz). Does that have anything to do with it?
(I updated the BIOS before I installed the new memory BTW)
January 8th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Lee,
This is an unusual problem and I’m not really sure what’s going on.
This laptop suppose to run DDR2-533 and DDR3-667 should be backward compatible, so you should be fine, unless both memory modules somehow are not compatible with each other.
What OS you are running? XP or Vista?
Witch BIOS version you installed? According Toshiba, version 5.0 doesn’t support XP.
By the way, this laptop doesn’t have onboard memory. The 512MB module is installed into the memory expansion slot under the keyboard.
I’ve created a disassembly guide for this model and here are links to all disassembly guides. I’m not sure if you want to remove the keyboard, but you can try swapping memory sockets and install 1GB under the keyboard and 512MB into the bottom slot. This requires some skills.
Did you check how much memory is detected by the BIOS when both memory modules are installed. Is it still 1024MB?
January 9th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Thanks for the reply cj -
I’m running XP, and BIOS v.1.30. BIOS only reports 1024MB when both modules are installed. I’ve removed the keyboard once - I just need a better screwdriver to get to the 512 module. I’m going to try swapping them and see what happens.
If I bought another 1GB module identical to the first one and installed them both, would I be able to get the full 2GB?
January 9th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I swapped memory locations, putting the 1024 under the keyboard and the 512 in the accessible slot and I still get only 1024. Apparently the new module somehow overrides the old one.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Unfortunately, the only way to find out is installing another 1GB module. Toshiba doesn’t provide any information about memory brand compatibility.
January 10th, 2008 at 4:29 am
I added 1gb memory my toshiba A75 and used almost 1 year. Then I met the power problem and I solved it by soldering connecter. After then my laptop shuts itself immediatly or not started. When I removed the 1gb ram and it started normally. I added another 500M ram and it keep working. When I replaced the 500MB ram with another new 1GB ram, computer worked for several hours and shutted down itself immediatly and it started for for several minutes and shuts down itself. So I put previous 500MB ram and every thing goes smooth.
Can my computer has a power problem? or what.
Please help me!!!
January 11th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Semih,
When I removed the 1gb ram and it started normally. I added another 500M ram and it keep working. When I replaced the 500MB ram with another new 1GB ram, computer worked for several hours and shutted down itself immediatly
Sounds like the 1GB memory stick might be bad. You can test memory with Memtest86+. Make sure to run this test overnight, so it makes a few passes. If this test detects any memory errors, you’ll see them in the morning.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:39 am
HELP! Desperately seeking assistance with a Compaq Presario 900 RAM upgrade (XP Home SP1). Bought the memory from Crucial and have run the memtest and all is good. Replaced 256MB with 2 512MB as the computer is upgradable to 1GB. Computer won’t boot to windows. In safemode computer shows RAM and as I stated it tests ok. Have talked with HP (who states RAM333Mhz isn’t compatible and I need 266Mhz). Cruicial isn’t much more help beyond suggesting my video driver probably needs to be upgraded. I’ve been the the HP/Compaq site and have downloaded pretty much everything there (though they’re old downloads….)
Any ideas? or do you know of more updated patches I should be looking at - possibly another model more current that is compatible with this old system?
I wouldn’t care as much if it was my computer but I’m upgrading it for a friend. I really want to succeed at this task - she can’t afford a new laptop right now and I don’t want this to be my first ‘failure’!
HELP??????
Deb
April 16th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Hello I have a Toshiba Satellite A55 S1064. My problem is we bought this at a pawn shop. It did not come with any system restore cd’s, so when you boot it up to HDD password the text is very small with a black background and then after you enter your password still with what seems to be a very small screen area it shows the windows logo starting then back to a black screen. Out of curiosity I tabbed to what would be user names and hit enter and it loaded so the system is still running but no screen. My Operating system is Windows XP Home edition can anyone Help? Please.
Vicki
April 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
For Presario 900 notebook memory upgrade. Buy memory module at the Dell website with a Kingston brand. it has a 266Mhz which compatible wit the Presario 900 aptop.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Vicki Blackard,
Here’s what you can do to test if the laptop hardware works fine. You can download live Linux, for example Knoppix (google for knoppix), and burn it on a CD. After that you boot your laptop from this CD and test your laptop.
Knoppix is a user friendly OS and you’ll be working in an environment similar to Windows. If the laptop works fine with Knoppix, apparently the hardware is fine and you’ll have to reinstall Windows.
Try calling Toshiba, maybe you can buy restore CDs from them, shouldn’t be expensive.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 am
Thank you so much back up and running
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hey all, i have an old Toshiba Satellite A75-S206.
it is broken beyond repair ( the cpu is fried. it was over clocked ) and i was wondering if there are ANY parts at all that i can salvage from it to reuse or sell. when i opened the system board up, i was dismayed when i found out that nearly all the components are attached directly to it. i managed to get the keyboard, hdd, cd drive, internal speakers, fans, lcd screen, and screen backlight inverter out, but im interested in anything else like the video card, as well as the processor and ram. correct me if im wrong, but i believe this model of A-75 has 512 mb of ram built into the system board. is there more ram ( ie, another ram slot ) in the pc that im unaware of? any answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated. feel free to email me at Jello630@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Doug
* I just Bought a MacBook Pro to replace the old toshiba. quite the step up lol. i highly recommend it. best pc ive ever owned.
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
doug again. still working on that toshiba satellite managed to remove two more circuit boards whose purpose is unknown to me. based on what i told you i already removed from the pc, and this sites collective knowledge of the arcitechture of the Satellite laptop, any one got any idea about what the two new mystery circuit boards are?
thanks agian, doug.
( still Waiting on answer to first question, just so people dont assume my posting means it was answered. )
August 14th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I noticed on the reply to caitlins comment that a maximum of 1GB ram can be installed (512MB in each slot) in the Toshiba Satellite A55-S306. I ran the crucial system scanner and Its assessment was that I can add 2GB, 1GB in each slot. Is this correct and will it utilize all of the 2 GB?
August 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Brian,
Here’s what I found in the official detailed specifications for Toshiba Satellite A55-S306.
Memory
• 256MB expandable to 1024MB (Both slots may be occupied.)
• Optional available expansion memory modules: 256MB/512MB/1024MB, SODIMM; Memory compatible with PC2700 DDR333
As you see, it’s not very clear if 1GB is max for one slot or for both slots but at the same time Toshiba offers 1GB optional memory modules, so I assume you can install 1GB into each slot.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
How do I find out how much memory my laptop will support
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Jake,
Usually this information is available in the user’s manual. Alternatively, you can go to any online store selling laptop RAM modules and search for compatible modules using your laptop model.