🚀 go-pugleaf

In <cZMlnuG00WB404Z0cv@andrew.cmu.edu> kn0j+@andrew.cmu.edu (Kenneth Blake
Nerhood) writes:
>  When I order the chips, do they come on a board that I install in my mac
> or do they come loose?

	If you order chips, you get loose chips.  If you order SIMMs, you
get chips mounted on a little PC board that you just plug in.  I'm not 100%
what SIMM stands for, but I assume it's Single Inline Memory Module, by
analogy to DIP (Dual Inline Package).  The vast majority, if not all, of
the ads you see in MacWeek and the like are for SIMMs.

> do I have to have a dealer install it or can I do it easily?

	I'll only address the technical issues -- there are also problems
of warranty violations and the like of which I know little.  Plugging in a
SIMM is pretty trivial -- if you can plug in a PC board, you should be able
to plug in a SIMM.  You put the edge with the contacts into the socket and
then gently push it over to one side until the plastic clips engage the
holes in the SIMM PC board.

	If you need to remove a SIMM (for example, to replace a 256k module
with a 1 Meg module) that's a little bit more complicated.  You have to be
careful to release the plastic clips built into the socket without breaking
them.  I use a small flat bladed screwdriver to pry up the clip on one side
and use a finger to rotate that end of the SIMM out of the socket enough so
that when I release the clip it won't snap back.  Then I do the other end.
If I'm removing a whole bank of SIMMs, I find it more convenient to do one
end of all the modules then go back and do the other end of all the modules
than to do both ends of one module before moving on to the next.  None of
this will make any sense until you actually have a SIMM socket in front of
you and see what it looks like.

	Another complication is getting the case open.  If you have a II
series machine, it's easy; the lid is designed to come off by just
releasing a couple of clips and maybe a phillips head screw.  Note: on the
plain II, it is normal for it to sound like something is breaking when you
take the lid off!  On the II-Cx, it's a somewhat better design which
doesn't make as much noise.  On a Plus or SE, you have to remove 4 or 5
screws.  These screws have TORX heads requiring a possibly-hard-to-find
TORX screwdriver.  Even worse, two of the screws are hidden under the
handle and require a longer-than-normal shaft TORX driver to get at them.
Two are in obvious places and I think one is hidden under the battery
cover.  Once you have unscrewed it, you are still faced with prying the
tightly-fitting body halves apart.  Probably your best bet is to ask your
memory supplier if they can also sell you a special "Mac Opener" which is a
combination long-shaft TORX driver of the appropriate size and a sort of
Mac-specific crowbar.
-- 
Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
{att,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu
"The connector is the network"