(no subject)

[katallison]

Right, then, as promised yesterday, here be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Which is to say: has anyone out there in the viewing audience encountered a situation where a stick of RAM just. Plain. Will. NOT. Seat itself correctly in the slot allocated unto it???

What I have done:
--verified multiple times, at multiple authoritative sites, that I bought the correct type of RAM for my computer.
--verified multiple times, with the aid of strong light and magnification, that I have the notch on the RAM lined up correctly with the tab on the slot.
--consulted the manual for my machine.
--Googled "RAM install problem."
--pushed DOWN on the freakin' thing as hard as I feel is safe to do without risking cracking the motherboard or some such goddamned thing.

It goes a *little* ways in, but not far enough so the latches intended to hold it in place can close, and then it just will go no further.

Any ideas for things I might try, short of chucking the sonofabitch off the BRIDGE??

ETA: Hah! Got it! What I did was (a) stomp around for a while, channelling my inner RayK and punching the sofa, and then (b) go back to the blighted machine, take a moment to breathe deeply, allow whatever I've got that passes for chi to flow down into my fingers, and then reach in and push that sonofabitch as hard as humanly possible. And lo, it slowly and begrudgingly slid into place. And now! It is working! And holy WHEEEE, it is fast! Thanks, everyone!

Comments

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Get the flashlight and doublecheck that there's no other little bit of plastic or metal hiding in the slot, blocking the new chip from going in correctly?

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Good suggestion (esp. considering how hard it was to see down in there) -- but it turned out to be that I just had to push WAY WAY harder than seemed advisable, and it snapped right in.

Thanks for the idea, though, Elke!

[darthrami.livejournal.com]

Assuming you're doing this on a mac, all the advice I can give is when I did it for the first time on a mac, I had to push OMG WAY HARDER than I ever thought I should. It was alarming.

But on the other hand, I don't want you to break the memory or you computer. :-/

[katallison.livejournal.com]

That was it! I had to push much harder than seemed either safe or advisable, but eventually the sucker slid into place. Now I got speed! Yay!

[ratcreature]

I've had that happen. It needed a lot of brute force to slot it fully (compared to what I expected I mean, I didn't use a sledgehammer to make it fit, obviously). I made sure the plastic holders were up, that it was oriented correctly, that I didn't try to push at an angle and so on, and it still wouldn't slide in, but I had to press really hard for the latches to close. Harder than I had to press to insert cards (like graphics or sound cards) into slots. Obviously I don't want you to break anything, but I had to use a lot of strength.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Turned out you're exactly right--I felt *really* nervous pushing it that hard, but by god, it finally went in. And now there is speed! And rejoicing! Thanks so much!

[chickwriter.livejournal.com]

Kat, FTW!!

Machinery, sigh.

[umbo.livejournal.com]

Go you!

[ametistina.livejournal.com]

...showing once again that technology always yields to brute force!

(Of course, sometimes yielding=breaking into a million pieces, which is a little less satisfying.)

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I HATE installing ram-sticks. I'm petrified of breaking something in the computer, AND it hurts my delicate widdle fingers. I am very glad your story had a happy ending. :)

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

You know, I seem to remember a post where you said it *should* be simple, but you really feared that you'll end up posting a long angsty post having to ask for help with problems?
Yay for not-so-long agonies!
Yay even more for speed!

[heresluck]

Yay, problem solved!