Sunday, June 21, 2009

1008HA Assassination - not for faint-hearted

RAM Upgrade of 1008HA (added Video clippings too at the bottom)

This small thingie is a toy for sure!! After all the soft surgeries I had it go through, this time it was hardware's turn. Asus have some funny policies about this RAM upgrade. Netbook comes with 1GB RAM which by the way not excellent thing to have though not bad either. When you know that it supports 2GB, there is no reason why one should not do it.

I called the customer care - following is the conversation we had - pretty hilarious one. After all usual rituals of asking contact details we got down to business.

"Mam, I have a eeepc 1008HA and want to upgrade the RAM. What would you recommend?"
"Your netbook supports 2GB RAM. Please look at the specifications of the RAM you already have and get new one with similar specifications."

"Well, I do not know where to look for the specifications. I know it is DDR2. Is there anything else I need to know about?"
She puts me on hold and comes back in a quick while.
"Sir, you should use DDR2 2GB RAM."

"I know that. There are different pins available - 200pin, 240pin etc." By now, I had done some googling on eeepc forum to see what I should be get but just wanted the confirmation.
She puts me on hold and comes back in a while after asking her superior.
"Sir, as I see, you should use DDR2 SO DIMM 2GB RAM."

I skipped the question and went to next one when I saw some discussion on the forum about it.
"Mam, I see that there is something with 667MHz and also 800MHz. What do you recommend?"
"Sir, 667MHz and 800MHz would be slower. You should get a 2GB RAM."
"Naah, please open amazon.com and search for DDR2 RAM. You will see 2GB RAM 667MHz and 2GB RAM 800MHz. Which one should I buy?"
As expected, she put me on hold and came back after asking someone. I was almost sure that I did a mistake by calling support.
"Sir, we recommend 550MHz (I think, she said 550 only) to 667MHz." Now that was some information, I did not know that but anyway this answer id not solve my problem but I preferred to skip this question too.

"Do you have any instructions or video for changing the RAM that I can refer to?" This was my pain point too - no where on web, I could find these. There are a few instructions and pics (links below) but no video. All sounds scary when you read and see.
"Sir, we do not recommend you upgrade the memory!"
"What? I want to upgrade memory, why would I not do that?"
"We do not recommend you do it."
"Oh. Ok. Then you do it. Whom should I contact."
"We do not do it sir. We can provide you with the set of instructions."
"But you do not recommend it?"
"That would void your warranty."
"This is really funny. You guys manufacture a machine with maximum memory capacity of 2GB but ship it with only 1GB. Then you do not recommend user upgrade the memory and you also won't do it! Why did you make the model support 2 GB then? Why didn't you ship it with 2GB otherwise?"
"Sir, we do not do it, but we can provide you with instructions."
"What is the use of instructions if it is going to void the warranty?"

After so much of the discussion, I realized that if you induce some damange during the memory upgrade process, then Asus would void your warranty. For some problem if you send back you netbook and if technician concludes that you induced some damage then Asus won't cover it under warranty. If you do the upgrade successfully the warranty remains intact. There was a catch which I realized after performing the upgrade. You would find a sticker inside the netbook beneath which there is a screw that you have to take off if you want to reach to the motherboard. The sticker says, "Warranty is void if found broken or torn" or something like that. Well, I did the successful upgrade but I had to tear off the sticker, I am not really sure if my warranty is void or still in tact. I guess it's void.

Anyway, I closed the call after requesting her to email me set of instruction that she has. She eventually sent me some generic instructions - unscrew the bottom panel, take off the ram and replace it. Another garbage. These instructions do not work for 1008HA - it doesn't have any bottom panel.

I found following 2 links very useful for the whole process.

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=233&t=1058030&last=12018025
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=68951

I bought a Crucial 2GB DDR2 SODIMM RAM 800MHz. 800MHz works well even though 667MHz is recommended. RAM is backward compatible.

Here is the video I captured while upgrading the RAM. Pardon for my _not_very_good_ narration and _not_very_good_ video editing. But I hope this clip will help all those who are going to do this scary stuff of upgrading the RAM for 1008HA. Hope many more such videos come up that can help users. Comments, suggestions, queries welcome.

Part 1 - opening the netbook and replacing the RAM



Part 2 - connecting things back


Special thanks to my roomie, Sahil, for patiently shooting this video and also helping out during the process. Honestly, I was sweating almost through out the process.

I tried to use the latex gloves in order to make sure that there is not damage by the static. But I really could not work properly with those gloves on - hence took it off after some time - definitely not recommended!

... and yeah, it is not for faint-hearted.

30 comments:

  1. Does the 2 GB of RAM reallt help? Do you notice the change in speed from 1 GB?

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  2. oh yeah ... it surely did. I could not see difference in booting time. However I did the video (that I have uploaded on youtube) editing on the netbook itself - and it went pretty fine. It did heat up the netbook a little. I had tried video editing before memory upgrade and the video preview there used to be choppy - which was not the case after the upgrade.

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  3. Sahit,

    Thanks again for the video, it really took a lot of the guess-work out of the equation. I just successfully finished the upgrade without any problems. I took pictures, so if anyone needs macro pics of the procedure, I'd be glad to supplement your video.

    Thanks again,

    TTx (ttexas on the eeeuser forum)

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  4. that would be nice too ... why don't you provide some link to the set of pics you have if it is uploaded already? it will be useful too.

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  5. Rohit, sorry for the name confusion. I think I combined you and your roomie's name.

    TTx

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  6. Here's the set of pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85569020@N00/sets/72157620346521635/

    Cheers,

    TTx

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  7. Humm, I just now tried to see your photos on Flickr, but it makes you create a Yahoo account, then tells ya that area (yours) is private..

    So, how do we see them ??

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  8. Hi AzWiz, sorry about that...I'm in the process of uploading them to Webshots instead. I'll update both posts when it's done.

    TTx

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  9. Here's the updated link: http://news.webshots.com/album/573241892jkMiXB

    TTx

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  10. I had to guess... i tried to look on youtube for a video but it was not made at the time.. I did it fine but damn.. it took me a looong time to figure it out. you should try to do it faster next time.. nice video btw

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  11. same guy from above

    i have a question
    once you take the keyboard off, the adhesive tape that was once attached to the keyboard and the bottom of it becomes dull. Also the clippings that holds the keyboard down is now permanently out of the way. now my 1008ha keyboard is sticking up slightly. How do I make it flat once again??

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  12. If I understand your question correctly, with the power off, firmly press down on all sectors of the keyboard. This resolved the issue for me.

    TTx

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  13. @ Josiah, the 4 clips that hold the keyboard down should keep it flat - i would suggest please check them back and confirm that all of them are holding keyboard. It is possible that some of them might be below the keyboard and hence it is not flat!

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  14. HELP!!! after upgrading my 1008 RAM I have no display on my screen. LEDs in front of my monitor is not responding... What did I do wrong? I made sure that all the connectors are plugged-in, though my RAM is easily to dettached it looks like its not well installed but I cannot push it any longer....=C

    I need your expertise.... Jasper

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  15. Jasper ... I remember seeing similar problem on eeepc forum ... did you check there? I will check too once I am back from vacation

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  16. I^ve bricked mine too :-( After upgrade when powering up just the left LED is flashing shortly and nothing more... Unit went to certified ASUS-Rep-center in CH and it'll cost me SFr. 480.- to fix it!!!

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  17. Mine is working after upgrade to 2GB ram. But i broke the touchpad connector. The blue ribbon cable is no longer connected to the plastic. has anyone an idea, how to reconnect this? i don't want to use a usb mice to work with this ultra mobile netbook :(

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  18. wow... i really wanted to buy eee 1008 but it scared me alrdy that i have to disassemble whole parts to just replace the ram... thats really lame... im alrdy stressed out!!!

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  19. I think I bricked mine too. I followed the instructions on the video and put everything together. Once I press the power button, the HDD indicator blinks once and then the wireless indicator lights up and stays that way. The display remains dead and the HDD doesn't spin.

    Have I indeed bricked it? Any help would be appreciated!

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  20. Can someone please tell me how many pin's there should be on the memmory?

    (144, 200, 204???)

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  21. ouch, sounds like a risky procedure and many have bricked it. I have just bought one and i think i will leave it for now. I Hope all you guys get your machines up and running again and remember, he who dares wins, so when you do get 'em running, they'll be better than most!

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  22. Hard Work My Computer Did'nt work at the beginning bet later i found out that i didnt plug the memory right

    and on the second try it all worked great

    great guide shame that warrenty is off
    once you take it apart

    kobi

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  23. Hi,
    Your infos and details about the Memory-Upgrade were absolute excellent - without it - almost no chance to get it done.

    Great - Nostra

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  24. I thought I had bricked mine in the process as well. When I put it back together, and tried to power it up, the leds would flash and the power light would remain lit and stay that way.
    Disassembled and reassembled a couple of times(I am good at it now) checking connectors and even trying the old 1GB ram. I always pulled the battery connection but not the other busses as shown in the video. Doing this you dont get proper access to the memory module so I was not seating it fully in the socket. One last try, I removed the other two busses which allowed me to fully take out the cpu/memory assembly and lay it flat on the screen. Only then was I able to properly seat the memory module.

    Put it all back together and I am up and runnig with 2GB.

    As discussed in one of the other threads, there is a small power switch under the keyboard (beside the bus with the blue connector). Turning it off once the keyboard is removed seems to be a good measure (just remember to turn it back on before you put the keyboard back in).

    Thank you for a great video.

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  25. Thanks for this! Just upgraded without much hassle thanks to your video.

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  26. i am very disappointed to see that this netbook is difficult to upgrade... the RAM upgrade on the 1000ha was easy as pie.. and did not void the warranty to the best of my knowledge.

    i'm not sure what asus is thinking with their new line of netbooks but they are pretty dumb in my opinion.

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  27. The video is very nice and easy to follow.

    However, as many other people (google "1008HA, RAM upgrade, won't turn on") I literally assassinated my 1008ha after ram upgrade.

    Please, add a sentence to the video saying "unplug or switch off battery".

    That would help.

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  28. I am pretty late to the game, but my wife has had a 1008HA for a year and a half and I decided to upgrade to 2GB or RAM at the same time as I'd investigate the touchpad not working after having dropped the Eee.

    Well, low and behold, I did the upgrade following the video bit by bit - and it went super smooth. At the same time, the blue ribbon for the touchpad has dislodged, so I reconnected it to the plastic holder, and on first boot, it reported 2GB of RAM fine and the trackpad was working again.

    Sincere thank you for taking the time to put this tutorial video together, and made a world of difference for me !

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  29. Thank you for doing such a wonderful job on this.

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  30. I have a problem with HDD, how I can reemplace?

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