Broken RAM?

I was adding some RAM to my computer just a few mins ago, and it was my first time so i went ahead without reading any manuals and took out the 126mb stick and popped in the 512mb stick. Then after it didn't go in i tried it the other way, then the other way, and back and forth 'till i finally got it in. What i noticed is that there are tiny little notches on the "modules", and i don't know if i damaged it or not. I'm sure it didn't have it before, and i don't want to keep busted things inside my computer. Can anyone help?

 

Do you think you can get a picture?

I'm not sure what you mean, you mean the single empty space at the bottom of the RAM stick?

 

=X Wish i had a webcam. Can't get a picture, but what i mean is that the bottom part, the black part has little white indents in it. They weren't there before so i think i busted it. I think i'll pop it open again and take another look....

 

What part has the white?


Tim

 

The black things on my 512mb stick. It's not on my old 126, or my 256... Hold on a sec, image just loaded. I'll pop it into paint to show you.

 

This is how it is. Sorry if the red is a little light. A better example, looks pretty much like the stick:

 

It is hard to say how much damage they have or if they are damaged at all. Can you get them in there (without breaking anything) to see if it still works? Then you could run a memory test to see if you get any errors.
Tim

 

When i go to Start>My computer>Properties it shows 736mb of RAM. The only reason i think it's busted is because of the little indents that just suddenly appeared. Otherwise i'd say it's fine....I don't know maybe i'm just paranoid. I have a headache i'll go eat some chicken noodle soup in a cup.

 

If I understand correctly, you have 512 + 256 = 768 but Windows is reporting 736MB.

My guess is that the difference (32MB) has been allocated to the GPU.

The best place to check the RAM size is in the BIOS info screen. RAM will either work or not work. Partly working RAM is highly improbable.

John

 

I don't want to sound like a total noob but i'll just come right out, and ask...What is the BIOS info screen, and where can i find it?

 

I am pretty sure those indents were already there, they are used to mark the "front" of the chip, so that they can connect pin 1 to pad 1, etc. i think you are fine.

 

Very nice, seems like i'm finally popular enough to have a haterbase. Anyways, the reason i didn't read the manual is that it's installing ram. What much can go wrong? You pop the chip in, and turn on the computer. Guides wouldn't have helped.

 

for the BIOS when you turn on ur computer before it boots up all the way when its loading windows you should see at the bottom or top of your screen something like

Press F2 for setup or something like that its usually like F2 F8 or delete key and that should bring up your BIOS... just don't go around changing things once inside BIOS heh ... just look at the main page should show ram amount etc

 

Thanks, i'm trying it right now.