How to Access the AAO RAM Socket

awesome guide, i took my time to study up the internal structure and what can/must/should be done internally. At first I didn't got the trick with the keyboard, but after it got easy. Installed a Kingston KVR667D2S5/1G , and it worked like a charm. Although I don't have warranty anymore, but I live in Brazil, and it's much more likely be robbed than to have a defective AA1, so "CARPE DIEM COM 1,5Giga de memória até o 'dono' levar!" (seize the day with 1,5GB until the 'owner' takes away!)

Thanks a lot for the How-To. I think it must be FIXED, because it's the first guide every AA1 user will look for.

cheers!
Arrôi!
 
Hi, thanks for a comprehensive guide. I am having great trouble in unclipping the top plastic cover around the hinges (re. your figures 7 and 22): I cannot see where to put the pressure so that the cover disengages without damage. Any hints?
Thanks in advance.
 
I just did this upgrade using a Centon 1gb stick on my AAO 150 series. Everything went well. I paid $15 USD from Fry's here in the states.

I considered buying a 1.5 gb stick from OCZ so I could max out at 2 GB, but it sells in pairs and I don't have anyone to share the second stick with. Here's the link to Amazon where I found the product. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CNR354

Lastly, I now have an extra 512 mb stick for some one to use at no charge (the stick came with the AAO). I prefer to mail it to another address in the states to keep shipping cost down. Send me a message if you want it.

Cheers.
 
Well epic fail for me.

The top right screw on the motherboard part didn't budge, but that wasn't the worse.

The bottom left screw you need to remove. That one didn't move at all. It just stripped. No matter the screwdriver, no matter how much strength or lack thereof I used. I'm a guitar tech, I use screwdrivers a bit, I have a lot if sizes etc... I didn't go all out on the poor screw. But it didn't move.

Thankfully nothing broke, it all works as it should, but I'll never be able to access the RAM socket anymore. Just impossible now.
 
johnny elevator said:
I considered buying a 1.5 gb stick from OCZ so I could max out at 2 GB, but it sells in pairs and I don't have anyone to share the second stick with. Here's the link to Amazon where I found the product. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CNR354
Cheers.
Click to expand...
I hope nobody else saw this link and ordered it, thinking they were going to get 2 - 1.5Gb ram sticks. It's actually a combo of a 2Gb stick with a 1 Gb stick.

Vic
 
I will add my comments and appreciation to a great guide. I have the AOA150, and the hard drive has some minor differences from this original guide on the final removal of the motherboard -- less screws to remove! I just pulled the hard drive with motherboard as a combined assembly (figures 11 and 12) and everything else was pretty much the same. This guide was absolutely a life-saver for me, I would have had some serious trouble (and probably given up) if I had to go into this netbook blind.

Some thoughts:
A lot of complaints about stripped screw heads. All the screws that I removed had loctite applied, which is one reason they are difficult to remove. Start with good phillips head screwdrivers, all the appropriate sizes and you should be OK. The black screws remove easiest if you use the biggest screwdriver that will fit.... too small and you increase the chance that you just strip the head. I think most people identify it as a #1 size. The one screw that takes a #0 size (figure 6) is probably best done with an eyeglasses screwdriver set. Push hard on the screw as you are backing it out. Any wobble or room for movement means too small a tool and big risk for stripping.

Lastly, I upgraded my memory because I recently upgraded to Windows 7. Thought that it would give some improvement - not that Win7 is sluggish, but just thought it could benefit from extra ram. Well, if there is any benefit it is not obvious. The machine worked fine with 1GB and 1.5GB is not noticeably better. This is with routine web-browsing, email, and office apps.

Vic
 
Failed last night after about 40 minutes of trying. Reason for the fail was that I had bought a recon machine about a year ago, and one of the screws (to the left of the wifi card, holding down the mobo) was already stripped, presumably by the recon guys. Interesting to note also that at least one other screw was completely missing!

I reassembled and am now thinking through my strategy for getting the stripped screw out. The cross-head has worn to almost a complete circle.

Options on the table:-
- create a slot for a flat-headed driver (haven't got a dremel will have to use something slower and manual)
- araldite on the end of a cross-headed screwdriver to "fix" the driver into the hole
- give up (not choosing that one!)
- drill out screw head - not keen on that as may leave me without the ability to re-secure the motherboard

Any other bright ideas?

Thanks!

Matt
 
Success!!

Took the AAO into work and the IT guys lent me some needle nosed pliers which gripped the screw and I was able to remove.

Put all back together, took it home and installed the RAM in about 20 minutes - fantastic guide.

Now the netbook is missing two screws - one that was missing anyway, and I've binned the knackered one. I can't see any reason why the mobo will move about much, but if anyone knows where to source spare screws I'd quite happily put one back in its place!

Matt
 
larkim said:
Success!!

Took the AAO into work and the IT guys lent me some needle nosed pliers which gripped the screw and I was able to remove.

Put all back together, took it home and installed the RAM in about 20 minutes - fantastic guide.

Now the netbook is missing two screws - one that was missing anyway, and I've binned the knackered one. I can't see any reason why the mobo will move about much, but if anyone knows where to source spare screws I'd quite happily put one back in its place!

Matt
Click to expand...

Well, being small as it is, the exact size will be hard to get on hardware stores, so if you have friends that work with cell phone repair(or somebody that works with this), that's the place to get something.
 
True true, but I was hoping there would be an "official" Acer screw supply route - perhaps ebay? I'm not too concerned about it, would gladly spend 10 minutes doing an online purchase, but I don't get onto the shops much so I don't fancy traipsing around mobile phone shops on the off-chance that they have something appropriate.

Thanks for the idea though!

Matt
 
AAO is noticeably quicker (particularly at boot time) under Win7 now - went from 512 to 1.5Gb.

Under Win 7 the "scores" that the device earned were identical for all aspects, except for memory, which went from 2.0 to 4.5. Overall score is still 1.0 (based on the aero graphics performance score).

Matt
 
Well I tried again today and that screw is shut TIGHT. There's no moving it. Looks like this is it, I just can't upgrade the RAM on mine... It runs fine with Kuki on 512MB but I can imagin it'd just fly with 1GB, or that I could run NBR variants too... ah well.
 
larkim said:
AAO is noticeably quicker (particularly at boot time) under Win7 now - went from 512 to 1.5Gb.

Under Win 7 the "scores" that the device earned were identical for all aspects, except for memory, which went from 2.0 to 4.5. Overall score is still 1.0 (based on the aero graphics performance score).

Matt
Click to expand...

Uninstalled the build 7100 of WIn7 which was coming to end of life as the testing grace period ran out.

Now have installed the full install home premium version instead, and this time the Win7 scores overall 2.0. Not changed anything else, other than doing a clean install, quite pleased with that result now!

Matt
 
ByteStor BSDDR2-1GB-4300-SODIMM 533MHz fitted in place of original 512MB module working well.

Had to remove 3G wireless module via opening in lower case before motherboard could be removed.
 
Help! I did everything just as posted. Three times I pulled the unit apart and reassembled. I still don't get any video display. I have checked all the connections. The video ribbon was never disconnected but I get no video. Any tips on what to look for??? Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give! - Victor :oops:
 
Re: How to Access the AAO RAM Socket - Screen Black on re-bo

Hi - new to the forum. I have an AOA 150 (or ZG5) with HDD runnning Windows 7. I have installed 1gb RAM as per the guide but when re-booting the screen is blank. I have taken the RAM out and everything is OK. Does anyone have any idea why this happens? I have heard that the BIOS might need to be upgraded for it to recognise the additional RAM. Any help gratefully received as Windows 7 is so much better than XP but it struggles on 0.5mb RAM...... :?

Cheers
 
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