Hello to you all,
I left the battery in an Acer laptop while I swapped out old memory modules and put in new ones. I think doing this may have damaged the laptop...I'm looking for some advice about this. I'm wanting to know if any of you think this laptop most definitely got "fried," or maybe not.
It's an Acer TravelMate 4000 laptop with Windows XP. When new, it had 512 GB of memory/RAM (two 256 MB PC-2700 SoDIMM modules). I wanted to upgrade the RAM, so I found the Acer service manual for this laptop on the web. It said it can take up to 2 GB of PC-2700 200 pin RAM.
After I put the new memory in, the laptop wouldn't start up. When I press the power button, the cooling fan comes on and stays on for 5 seconds, then stops. Nothing at all appears on the screen...no Acer splash screen, no BIOS hardware information or anything.
I did some reading on the web about "how to upgrade memory on a laptop." In one guy's tutorial/instructions, he says that if you don't remove a laptop's battery first before opening up the hardware covers and removing internal parts, the charge in the battery will "surge the laptop's hardware."
After reading that, I took the battery out of the Acer. Then I swapped the memory again, taking out the new modules and putting the old ones back in. My thinking was that maybe there was some compatibility problem after all with the new memory. But after putting the old RAM back in, the laptop still wouldn't start up...same as before with nothing at all on the screen.
The laptop was in good working order before I attempted this upgrade, booting up into Windows with no problems.
I think the only mistake I made was failing to remove the battery. Before buying new memory modules for the upgrade, I got on the phone with a customer support agent at Crucial. He gave me the model number (CT12864X335 or CT410745) of a Crucial PC-2700 SoDIMM that is guaranteed by Crucial to be compatible with this TM 4000 laptop. So I bought two of these new 1 GB PC-2700 SoDIMM modules.
When they came in the mail, I prepared to do the upgrade. I looked at a specific page in the Acer TM 4000 service manual that shows with pictures exactly how to remove the memory modules...it's not hard to do. But, there was nothing anywhere in the manual saying something like "Warning: failure to remove battery before opening hardware covers and removing hardware items may result in permanent damage to your laptop."
There is a "Disassembly Procedure Flowchart" showing that you are to remove the battery as the first step before removing anything else. But this detail didn't catch my attention immediately.
I did the memory swap on a bench with a grounded metal work surface. And of course, I used a grounded wrist strap. So I don't think ESD damage is a factor here. I have done numerous hardware replacements on desktop PC's: CPU upgrades, video cards, memory upgrades, hard drive/optical drive replacement etc. all with excellent results. So basically I know what I'm doing (most of the time).
I think this upgrade SHOULD have worked, if I had removed the battery first. But I think that when I pulled the old RAM out, some critical component(s) on the laptop's system board got fried by the charge in the battery.
Do any of you think this laptop may still be in good working order? Or would leaving the battery in while swapping the memory modules as I have described definitely destroy the laptop's components?
I would greatly appreciate any advice here...many thanks!
I left the battery in an Acer laptop while I swapped out old memory modules and put in new ones. I think doing this may have damaged the laptop...I'm looking for some advice about this. I'm wanting to know if any of you think this laptop most definitely got "fried," or maybe not.
It's an Acer TravelMate 4000 laptop with Windows XP. When new, it had 512 GB of memory/RAM (two 256 MB PC-2700 SoDIMM modules). I wanted to upgrade the RAM, so I found the Acer service manual for this laptop on the web. It said it can take up to 2 GB of PC-2700 200 pin RAM.
After I put the new memory in, the laptop wouldn't start up. When I press the power button, the cooling fan comes on and stays on for 5 seconds, then stops. Nothing at all appears on the screen...no Acer splash screen, no BIOS hardware information or anything.
I did some reading on the web about "how to upgrade memory on a laptop." In one guy's tutorial/instructions, he says that if you don't remove a laptop's battery first before opening up the hardware covers and removing internal parts, the charge in the battery will "surge the laptop's hardware."
After reading that, I took the battery out of the Acer. Then I swapped the memory again, taking out the new modules and putting the old ones back in. My thinking was that maybe there was some compatibility problem after all with the new memory. But after putting the old RAM back in, the laptop still wouldn't start up...same as before with nothing at all on the screen.
The laptop was in good working order before I attempted this upgrade, booting up into Windows with no problems.
I think the only mistake I made was failing to remove the battery. Before buying new memory modules for the upgrade, I got on the phone with a customer support agent at Crucial. He gave me the model number (CT12864X335 or CT410745) of a Crucial PC-2700 SoDIMM that is guaranteed by Crucial to be compatible with this TM 4000 laptop. So I bought two of these new 1 GB PC-2700 SoDIMM modules.
When they came in the mail, I prepared to do the upgrade. I looked at a specific page in the Acer TM 4000 service manual that shows with pictures exactly how to remove the memory modules...it's not hard to do. But, there was nothing anywhere in the manual saying something like "Warning: failure to remove battery before opening hardware covers and removing hardware items may result in permanent damage to your laptop."
There is a "Disassembly Procedure Flowchart" showing that you are to remove the battery as the first step before removing anything else. But this detail didn't catch my attention immediately.
I did the memory swap on a bench with a grounded metal work surface. And of course, I used a grounded wrist strap. So I don't think ESD damage is a factor here. I have done numerous hardware replacements on desktop PC's: CPU upgrades, video cards, memory upgrades, hard drive/optical drive replacement etc. all with excellent results. So basically I know what I'm doing (most of the time).
I think this upgrade SHOULD have worked, if I had removed the battery first. But I think that when I pulled the old RAM out, some critical component(s) on the laptop's system board got fried by the charge in the battery.
Do any of you think this laptop may still be in good working order? Or would leaving the battery in while swapping the memory modules as I have described definitely destroy the laptop's components?
I would greatly appreciate any advice here...many thanks!