The article explains how to upgrade the memory of a computer system to improve its performance. The first step is to check the manual on Dell Support and unplug all external connections and cables. The manual will guide you to locate the memory stick and remove it by pushing down and out on the levers. It is important to note the keyed spots on the memory stick and motherboard to avoid damaging the system. The manual will also tell you the maximum amount of memory that can be added to the system. After purchasing more memory, align the outer two edges of the memory and gently push down until both levers click back into place. Upon powering the system back on, the BIOS will notify you of the change in memory, and you can verify it.
When you're looking at improving the performance of your system or increasing the performance of your system, one of the first things I would say to look at is the amount of memory that you have.
Now, first off, what you want to do before you look at upgrading your memory, changing out any components, is go to support.dell.com,
enter your service tag on your system, then look at the manual, and when you open up the manual the first thing it's going to tell you is to make sure you unplug all of your external connections and cables, especially your power supply.
When you're looking at the manual on your system, you'll be able to locate where the various components are on your system board, or your motherboard.
Now, what we have here is, as you'll see, and again in those diagrams, where your memory is there are levers on either end of the memory stick.
Now what you're going to want to do is push down and out and you'll notice that the memory stick pops up and will come free from the system really easily.
Now, also on the memory, one thing that you want to take note of is the little keyed spots that we have right here on the bladed edge of the memory that fits into the slot.
They are only going to go in one way. You can damage your system if you force it or if you put in an improperly keyed piece of memory. So, you have the key of the memory, which is your type of memory that you're going to use.
One other thing you'll want to look at is how much memory you can put in your system. That same manual will tell you, per model, for the model or the serial number or the service tag number that you entered, will tell you the maximum amount of memory that you can put in that system.
You can go through our sales departments or what have you, purchase more memory, and make sure that when you put the memory back in that you pay attention to these keyed spots and as you'll see, the male of those keyed slots are located on the motherboard.
You align the outer two edges of the memory and then gently push down until both of the levers click back into place. There's one. And there's the other, okay.
Now, on this memory, since we're adding some more memory here, we're going to add into another slot. Again, you've got the notched-out areas here and you also have notched-out areas over here, which those little levers that are on either edge, that's what's clicking in, and that's what you're seeing and hearing click on to the memory to hold it in place.
We're going to do the same here. We're going to push down. And you now have upgraded your system memory. When you power your system back on, you can close it up, get all your cables connected, you power your system back on, the BIOS, the very first screen you see, where you see the Dell splash screen, the BIOS will tell you, it will give you a message, that your system memory has changed.
That is just letting you know that the system has registered that there has been a change in the amount of memory. You can hit "F2" if you want to go into the BIOS and view how much memory and verify that it is registering all of the memory.
Or you can just hit "F1", you can go into the operating system and you can verify it there as well.
