aspire 5733Z Upgrading 4 GB installed RAM to 8 GB by adding a second board

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Answers

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    edited March 2022
    The "kit" contained the RAM board in a plastic box, installation instructions and troubleshooting guide (Offtek).  I attach the instructions and guide along with the BIOS information screen (IMG).
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Can't make out your BIOS Information tab image. Too blurry. What is BIOS version number?


    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    I thought it might be hard to make out but it was OK on my screen.  The System BIOS version number is V1.10.  The VGA BIOS Version is Intel V1994.  The serial number is LXRJW0211120414A921601.  
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    The socket seems to be disabled. Unless there is a BIOS option to enable it (probably in the MAIN tab if it exists---you might have to press Ctril+S if it's a hidden option), I'd like to see what the crucial.com scanner sees on your system with both sodimms installed.


    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    I ran the Crucial.com scanner and got a score of 127 which it says is above average.  As regards upgrades, it recommends a new hard drive (which I do not think I need).  For DRAM, it suggests either installing an 8 GB board or adding a new 4 GB DRAM in the second slot (at £17.99).  At the time I ran the scan, both of the slots physically contained 4 GB boards but the scan did not seem to be able to see the one in the upper slot.  In other words, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

    I went to the Main tab on the BIOS screen but could not find anything about RAM slots.  I pressed control-S but nothing happened.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    >>>it suggests either installing an 8 GB board or adding a new 4 GB DRAM in the second slot (at £17.99)>>>

    With the advent of 8GB DDR3 sodimms years ago, I had suspected that some later production mainboards for your model actually disabled and eventually eliminated the 2nd RAM socket to save manufacturing costs. However, the BIOS could likely still handle a single 8GB sodimm in the functional socket  So with this crucial scanner result, I'm a bit more confident a single 8GB sodimm will be recognized. But still not 100% confident.


    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    My ACER laptop is quite a few years old now so I doubt that 8 GB boards were so established at the time as to justify phasing out the second RAM slot.  The position as I understand it is that (i) it has not been possible to determine why the upper slot does not work and hence not possible to figure out how to get it working and (ii) my remaining option is to buy (for about £35) and install an 8 GB RAM board in the lower slot, making both my current boards redundant.  This might work but no guarantees.  Is this a fair summary?

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Yes, the BIOS & Windows system might or might not fully recognize a single 8GB sodimm in the enabled socket. My guesstimate of probability for success is 51%. Better odds than what you'd get at a gaming parlor. :)

    BTW, aside from photoshop's RAM requirements, the biggest performance bang for the buck in an older machine like this is to replace the HDD with an SSD. An SSD might also be fast enough to make adding virtual RAM practical for apps that require more than 4GB real RAM.

    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    Hello Jack.  I have been in touch with Offtek who sold me the 4 GB RAM board and they advise that an 8 GB board would definitely not work in the lower RAM slot which has a capacity of 4 GB only.  However they have offered to take the 4 GB board back and refund the price, which I think is very fair.

    I am not inclined to change the hard drive at this point so I will concentrate on trying to find a way of making the laptop as it stands work well enough to fulfil my requirements.  Many thanks for all the time and attention you have spent on this.  It's just unfortunate that we were not able to find a way through.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    >>>they advise that an 8 GB board would definitely not work>>>

    Well, they're guesstimate is 0% chance it'll work. Mine is 51%. Average guessitimate 25.5%. Still pretty good odds. If it was mine, I'd have to give try it anyway. Probably use Amazon since they're usually good for taking things back without question if it doesn't work.





    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    Well I tried your idea and bought an 8 GB RAM board through Amazon.  I installed it in the lower slot and when prompted, pressed F2 to enter the setup menu.  Under the Main tab, I saw "Total Memory: 8192 MB".  For a moment I thought I had found success.  Then I exited setup and saw the four-square Windows symbol and the message "Preparing Automatic Repair".  The laptop then went into a cycle of switching itself off, restarting until it got to the "Preparing Automatic Repair" message, switching itself off and restarting etc etc.

    I can probably get a refund from Amazon by sending the 8 GB board back but I think that this just about exhausts my options on the hardware front.  If I want to run Adobe Elements 2022 then it's a question of buying a new laptop that can handle it.
  • padgett
    padgett ACE Posts: 4,532 Pathfinder
    Personally stick to Crucial, Samsung, or Kingston - have had mixed experience with other brands.
    ps from "repair" you can go to "Advanced" then "Command Prompt". From a command line you can do nearly anything.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    Hold on! The BIOS recognized 8GB. That's the important thing right now.

    (1) Press and hold the power button till the laptop shuts off.
    (2) Unplug the charger.
    (3) Then remove the battery pack.
    (4) Press and hold the power button for about a minute
    (5) Replace the battery pack.
    (6) Plug the charger back in and wait for the battery charge LED to turn steady blue
    (7) Turn the machine back on and immediately press F2 to enter the BIOS menu again
    (8) Press F9 to load BIOS defaults and F10 to save defaults and exit.

    Windows should now start normally.

    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    I tried this Jack but no joy.  BIOS recognises the 8 GB but after exiting, the laptop still goes into the start Windows - click off - start Windows cycle.  Sometimes there is the four-square Windows symbol on its own, sometimes with the "Preparing Automatic Repair" message but always followed quickly by a click, a black screen and a restart.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    The problem is Win10 with an older laptop. Win7 likely would've automatically adjusted to the upgrade without fuss. Win10 needs to be manually adjusted. There is some risk in trying to do this. What do you want to do? Leave it at 4GB? Or try for 8GB?

    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    How great is the risk?  What damage might I do?  If I leave it at 4 GB, I will have to write Adobe Elements 2022 off as it needs 8 GB.  I am inclined at least to try adjusting Windows 10.  How do I do this?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    No real risk of hardware damage. My guess is that the hidden Windows 10 boot partition on your hard drive doesn't know how to handle the extra RAM so it chokes. For an older laptop running Windows 10 on an original Win7-era  MBR partitioned disk, the boot repair method is found in this link    in the section "Fix the MBR in Windows 10", You'd need to boot from the Win10 installation USB to get to the troubleshooting secition and run the command prompt to run the boot repair process.



    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    I am certain that I have never had an installation USB and I am fairly sure that I have never had an installation CD or DVD either.  My recollection is that Microsoft decided to withdraw support from the Windows I was running (not even sure what that was, Windows V7 or Vista probably) so offered a free upgrade to Windows V10 to users of the older version.  But I am fairly sure that it was a direct download from the internet so there was never any hardware associated with it.  Can I still do the boot repair? 
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,871 Trailblazer
    You don't need a CD or DVD anymore. Nowadays, you bake your own Win10 USB installation/repair thumbdrive for free using Microsoft's media creation tool.


    Jack E/NJ

  • MorgantheBear
    MorgantheBear Member Posts: 53 Troubleshooter
    OK, I'll try that.  The ACER currently has the 8 GB board in it so, while I can get into BIOS, I can't launch Windows therefore can't get on the internet.  If I replace the 8 GB board with the 4 GB  one, I can (assuming it works) download the repair drive using your link.  Will the repair still work with the 4 GB board in the RAM slot or do I have to put the 8 GB board back in at some point (and if so, at what point)?

    Thanks for your continued help with this.  I hope that you are learning a bit about 8 GB boards, to make it worth your while!