Memory upgrade

[GuyBrush Treepwood]

I've got an old pc with 32MB RAM. I want to put Damn Small Linux on it,
but first want to upgrade it to 64MB RAM. I took out the memory to see its
manufacturer and find some info online.
The brand is Hitachi and I found this site:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/DRAM/Hitachi.htm
My problem now is: not all numbers are in the range of the example on the
site. The number on my memory is: HM5117400AS7
I'm pretty new to upgrading hardware myself, so what's important when
bying some extra memory modules?

 

[kony]

I've got an old pc with 32MB RAM. I want to put Damn Small Linux on it,
but first want to upgrade it to 64MB RAM. I took out the memory to see its
manufacturer and find some info online.
The brand is Hitachi and I found this site:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/DRAM/Hitachi.htm
My problem now is: not all numbers are in the range of the example on the
site. The number on my memory is: HM5117400AS7
I'm pretty new to upgrading hardware myself, so what's important when
bying some extra memory modules?

A great first start is letting go of the secret- telling us
what this system is, for example the board make & model, or
at least the chipset (northbridge) it uses. Next might be
making mention of whether this is Fastpage, EDO,
EDO-on-DIMMs, whether it uses pairs of SIMMs or lone
modules, etc, etc.

Luckily I happen to have some data regardless...

It's 7ns Fastpage, 5V, 2K refresh, 4Mbit x 4 (so 16Mb, 2MB
per chip), if the 32MB is on a single module it should have
16 chips... or if on a pair, 8 chips per module. You could
get 6ns instead, but keep the slower (7ns) modules in bank 0
& 1.

What's important?
That is common, typical fastpage memory. EDO will "usually"
work too, though it drops down to Fastpage mode, IIRC.

You might contact the local computer shop or see if any
businesses in your area are throwing away old gear, as that
stuff should be free (if being thrown away) or quite
inexpensive at a fair computer shop (no need to get new
memory, used that tests OK would be by far the best value).

 

[Noozer]

How about Google?

HM5117400AS7 is a 32meg Fast Paged memory module. Another one of these
shouldn't cost you more than a buck or two... IF you can find any.

 

[GuyBrush Treepwood]

A great first start is letting go of the secret- telling us
what this system is, for example the board make & model, or
at least the chipset (northbridge) it uses. Next might be
making mention of whether this is Fastpage, EDO,
EDO-on-DIMMs, whether it uses pairs of SIMMs or lone
modules, etc, etc.

Ok, very true. Sorry about that. It's a very old PC, I should start
digging up the manuals and specifications.

Luckily I happen to have some data regardless...

It's 7ns Fastpage, 5V, 2K refresh, 4Mbit x 4 (so 16Mb, 2MB
per chip), if the 32MB is on a single module it should have
16 chips... or if on a pair, 8 chips per module. You could
get 6ns instead, but keep the slower (7ns) modules in bank 0
& 1.

This was actually my question.
Where and how did you find this data?

What's important?
That is common, typical fastpage memory. EDO will "usually"
work too, though it drops down to Fastpage mode, IIRC.

You might contact the local computer shop or see if any
businesses in your area are throwing away old gear, as that
stuff should be free (if being thrown away) or quite
inexpensive at a fair computer shop (no need to get new
memory, used that tests OK would be by far the best value).

I was thinking of searching eBay a bit.

 

[kony]

This was actually my question.
Where and how did you find this data?

I have extensive archives, never delete anything.
Had some similar memory, knew the specs then and pulled up
what I'd written at the time, and confirmed it with the page
you linked- that page did mostly identify the memory by
itself, what data I had merely confirmed it. Plus, I built
boxes back then, probably have a stack of them under the
newer junk piled on top over the years. Most memorable was
that 7400 part, as two dimms that look the same might be low
or higher density based on that part, and it was usful so
one doesn't have to try memory only to find they thought
they had a 32MB SIMM but instead only 8MB.

I was thinking of searching eBay a bit.

Ok, I"ve no idea where to get the best deal on that these
days, except
free-being-tossed-in-garbage-while-still-in-a-system is
about as cheap as it gets.