HP Pavilion zv6000 RAM Upgrade

Hello Gurus,

I have HP zv6000 AMD Athlon 64 with 512 PC2700 SODIMM RAM 200 PIN.

Currently there are two Modules of RAM (256 MB) installed and I want to replace one of the 256 MB Module with a single 1 GB Module.

I have read somewhere that the two RAM modules should be of same size.

I am little confused because I could not find the second module so that I could remove it and I don't want to disassemble the machine completely.

I can easily take off one 256 Module though.

Please help this novice.

Many thanks

Rakesh

 

They dont have to be the same size. while it does ive you the slight increase of "dual channel", size is much more worth it.

 

Here is a link to the service manual for your notebook section 5.6 covers External Ram Module section 5.13 covers Internal RAM Module. I found this manual and site to be very hard to use and understand but have a go and see if you can make heads or tails of.

On the subject of mixing RAM sizes. ahl395 said it does not matter much. He is correct for an Intel, for AMD? I don't know. Intel has published on what they call "Flex Memory" which allows you to get some of the benefits of "Dual Channel" with different size DIMMS of RAM. AMD has not published similar on this subject, and what they have published does say DIMM size must match. You should download and install CPU-Z and check if you are running "Dual Channel". If it is running "Dual" and does not support w/unmatched DIMMS. Based on my AMD you are looking at a 30% reduction in bandwidth which I think is substantial. So keep "Dual Channel" if at all possible. Here is NBR link on "Dual Channel".

 

That particular model doesn't do dual channel so it doesn't matter. No one knows why HP didn't enable dual channel support, it should have been capable. Anyhow, I recommend buying a Crucial 1GB PC2700 or PC3200 (it'll fall back to PC2700 to match your other memory) SODIMM. AMD notebooks are picky about RAM.

The second module is probably under the keyboard, at least that's where it was in the zv5000z. Look it up in the service guide (hp.com downloads page for your notebook, Manuals link on the left-hand side).

 

I have purchased 2 1GB sticks of RAM and installed them. My laptop will not boot up. I just get a totally black screen but I do hear fans running. I have read several boards and forums and even found someone with this problem. I checked both sticks as someone suggested, to see if either one was dead. They are ok and the computer boots fine with just one stick in at a time. I really want to max out my RAM to 2GB. How can I make this work? My husband said he read something about changing the BIOS, but this was before we purchased the memory and can't remember where he found that info. Please help!

 

Just use two pc2700 sticks and it will work. I did this same thing 3 years ago trying to use pc3200. It worked with one stick, but completely failed with two. You should go to hp and see if there is a bios upgrade, but I assure you the bios is not the issue. My wife still uses the laptop with 2 1GB pc 2700 ddr333 and loves it.

Rob