RAM Chip Won’t Fit in the Computer’s Slot

I bought a memory upgrade for my computer, but it will not fit in the slot on the motherboard. What gives?

It unfortunately sounds like you bought the wrong type of RAM. There are a few different types of RAM available. In order to upgrade your memory, you must find out exactly what kind of RAM your computer requires.

Why it won’t fit

Take a moment and look at the edge of the memory chip with the gold connectors. Somewhere near the center, you should notice a small notch in the chip. This notch fits over a corresponding protrusion inside the memory slot. This notch is in a slightly different position on different types of memory, preventing you from installing the wrong kind of RAM.

How to find out what kind of memory your computer has

The How-To Geek has a great guide for finding out what kind of memory is installed. He recommends using either the System Information for Windows tool, or the Crucial Memory Advisor.

Photo by fbz.