How to add RAM to the Acer Aspire One netbook

The Acer Aspire One netbook. It’s inexpensive, it’s tiny, and the base-level version only comes with 512MB of RAM. I cracked open the case, voided the warranty, and added an extra gigabyte. Watch the above video to see how. More details after the jump.

Tools Needed

  • Small Philips screwdriver
  • Two small flathead screwdrivers (or something similar) to get at the keyboard
  • 512MB or 1GB stick of RAM. For best results, use PC2-5300 RAM.
  • Time, patience, and a blatant disregard for your warranty

Step One

Remove the battery and the following eight screws. Two of them are hidden under the rubber feet.

acer1

Step Two

Use a flat object (like a flathead screwdriver) to push each of the three tabs toward the screen while using another flat object to gently pry the keyboard upwards.

acer2  

Step Three

Disconnect the keyboard and trackpad ribbons, followed by the following six screws.

acer3

Step Four

Unscrew the two screws near the Wi-Fi module, unplug the audio cable, and disconnect the SSD ribbon. The RAM slot is on the underside of the motherboard in the lower left-hand corner. Carefully lift the board up and insert the RAM.

acer4  acer5

Step Five

Reassemble the computer and tap F2 while it’s booting to enter the BIOS. Under the “Main” tab, make sure your total memory is 1,536 megabytes. That’s it!

acer6

Tip of the hat to AspireOneUser.com and its forums. I got a lot of the info for this project from over there. It’s a great resource for Aspire One owners.

28 Comments/Pingbacks so far

 
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Jake (Who am I?)

God people, do not use metal screwdrivers to pry plastic computer components apart, unless you like the dinged and scratched look.

Instead, use something plastic like a credit card, which is what I used for this procedure and it worked wonders. You can use the corner of a credit card to press the tabs in, and work the keyboard out, without scratching, nicking, or otherwise damaging it.

 
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jaa93997 (Who am I?)

lol american express or visa?

 
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Arska (Who am I?)

Doug, thank you for the excellent video! Also the tip of using a credit card as the tool for detaching the keyboard worked fine. The plastic frame was also easy to remove by going around the outer edge joint with the card. The only trouble, which I had was due to not attaching the SSD cable properly deep into its connecter while reassembling. For that reason, the machine did not boot and I had to go back to redo the SSD cable mounting. Thereafter, the machine worked just fine. So, please, be careful while reassembling that all the flat cables get well attached to their connectors.

 
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Minerva1961 (Who am I?)

Thanks for that, GREAT help in upgrading my memory.

1) Yes, the credit card trick is handy, I found it very awkward trying to prise the keyboard out but keep at it, I kind’a prised the corner of the credit card in and then turned my AAA1 upside down and shook it a bit to help move it out of it’s tight fitting..

2) I found some of the screws very difficult to remove, they were on VERY tight and the far right one in photo three nearly defeated me, I was worried about flexing the motherboard, same goes for the middle lower one in photo four but I eventually got them out… Of course your mileage may be different.. of you have a less cheap jewellers screwdriver kit than me..

3) I have a hard drive rather than a SSD so I could not raise the motherboard as it was caught slightly by the circuit board on the far right therefore I had to remove that circuit board by removing the three screws on it, then the motherboard came away with a little judicious manipulation..

4) With the motherboard loose the AAA1 really is completely disassembled and it would not have been a problem to upgrade the hard drive at the same time..

Thanks for the guide, been very useful..

FYIO I’m very please with my 1.5gig 120gig Hackintosh, I get some VERY envious/surprised looks in the local Starbucks :)

Cheers

minerva1961

 
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Jeff (Who am I?)

Oh man, that sucks. I just got my Aspire One yesterday, and already I noticed that Firefox + OpenOffice.org Spread = swap. I was all about throwing in an extra GB of RAM until I saw this. Now? eesh.

I think I’ll just move my swap partition to my SDHC card when I tell Linpus to take its leave (in a couple days).

 
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pkvtj jhbu (Who am I?)

tekxgbcn truixs fqxwzhm lzqhbo kzvtdpu htnbm htnmwisb

 
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Johani (Who am I?)

Doug, thank you for the excellent video
I just got my Aspire One a month ago only yesterday i try to restart and since then it would not start the green led light is working but the hdd indicator light is not. also the screen is off. there is no response for some reason. someone think it is a virus and the motherboard affected. I also attach the external DVD Drive with winXP TO TRY BOOT FROM THERE BUT NOTHING HAPPIND.
….WHAT SHOULD I D ?

 
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johani (Who am I?)

DOUG Thanks
I got aspire one a month ago only yesterday i try to restart and since then it would not start the green led light is working but the hdd indicator light is not also the screen is off there is no response for some reason. someone think it is a virus and the motherboard affected. I also attach the external DVD Drive with winXP TO TRY BOOT FROM THERE BUT NOTHING HAPPIND.
….WHAT SHOULD I D ?

 
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kmar (Who am I?)

Johani
Did you ever get this problem worked out. My AAO did the same thing to me today. Geen light nothing else.

thanks

 
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Scalpel (Who am I?)

Hey very informative well done demo. Many thanks, I am a novice but thanks to your excellent video managed to upgrade. Great job…btw your accent is really cute!!

 
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Dave (Who am I?)

Doh… I mistakingly thought I could add 2gb. Well at least I found out before I reassembled. Thanks for the guide, that helped.

 
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jwwhite (Who am I?)

Can anyone tell me if the Model AOA150-1570 Aspire One Netbook (which ships with i gig RAM) can also be upgraded? Or is the DIMM slot already populated as shipped? If there’s a 512K DIMM in the expansion slot, can it be replaced with 1 gig DIMM? If there’s nothing in the slot, can I add a gig and end up with two gig?

Thanks.

 
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cacao74 (Who am I?)

Thanks for this guide.
Just upgraded to 1.5 GB on my new AcerOne White Perl.

bye.


slack? smack!

 
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Erich Hunt (Who am I?)

JWWHITE,

I have the same notebook that you have. It comes with WinXP Home and is already populated with 2×512 so both slots are used. NOBODY knows the answer to your question. One would think that it’s possible–you sacrifice one of the 512k and swap in a 1024k of memory.

I even talke with a tech-line person at Acer and even he did not know or could not be sure.

One day soon, we’ll know for sure. Then, in view of the above, I would suggest have a professional do it for $10 or $20 (the charge for swapping memory).

Good luck!

 
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Erich Hunt (Who am I?)

JWWHITE,

I have the same notebook that you have. It comes with WinXP Home and is already populated with 2×512 so both slots are used. NOBODY knows the answer to your question. One would think that it’s possible–you sacrifice one of the 512k and swap in a 1024k of memory.

I even talke with a tech-line person at Acer and even he did not know or could not be sure.

One day soon, we’ll know for sure. Then, in view of the above, I would suggest have a professional do it for $10 or $20 (the charge for swapping memory).

Good luck!

 
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giokink (Who am I?)

Great video and comments/tips from other subscribers. Will definately give this a try once my 7yrs old has got tired of his Christmas present and has started to play with the box (usually about New Years eve).
What I dont understand is why the manufacturer doesnt already fit it with 1gb of RAM which would save all of this. Even Notebook RAM is very cheap these days and for say an extra £20 they could do this and I would have paid the extra. Ahh well suppose that would have been too easy :-)

 
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Thomas (Who am I?)

Thank you!!

Invaluable advice.

Worked like magic!!

:o)

 
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Justin (Who am I?)

I haven’t taken my aspire apart yet but will when my new wifi card gets here. I wanted to order ahead of time a new fan unit. Any ideas as to what size the fan is?

 
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zucaritas (Who am I?)

HI, SOMEBODY KNOWS IF IS POSSIBLE UPGRADE WITH ONE MEMORY MODULE OF 2GB???

THANKS FOR INFORMATION……

 
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titaniumtux (Who am I?)

The credit card trick works (w00t), however a 2GB RAM stick will prevent the computer from running (this is from personal experience). Stick to a 1GB stick.

 
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herrold (Who am I?)

it is possible to use a 2 gig stick, you have to put it in a laptop that will accept more than 2 gigs ram, alter the stick so it reads as 1 gig. The only other option is to keep harassing acer to release a bios update that will disable the integrated stick

 
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mish (Who am I?)

I’m having trouble with the reassembly. In particular it seems impossible to put the little plastic bit back on to the keyboard and trackpad ribbons. I can get them on without the ribbons inserted. I can put the ribbon in and put the plastic bit on upside down, but that is loose and comes off easily.

I can’t do it for the trackpad, where the ribbon is naturally in place, let alone holding the keyboard and the ribbon in place at the same time.

Any tips happily accepted …

 
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herrold (Who am I?)

that little clip for the ribbon cable flips up, it does not pull out like older notebook ribbon clips. Use a piece of masking tape to hold the facia close to the netbook, freeing both hands to reattach that little ribbon cable

 
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Will2008 (Who am I?)

Thanks Doug, excellent video! Everything worked out fairly well the first time around and now I have an Acer Aspire with 1536 mb.

The hitch I ran into was with the keyboard cable. In my haste to get to the next step, I pulled it out of the wrong socket and did that to the trackpad as well. Luckily, they have the blue pulltabs that allow you to easily push it into the socket, otherwise it would’ve been a long night. Agree with the posters above about the screws. Some were on so tight that I had to pull out my power screwdriver/drill to loosen.

If any of you have the black keyboard version, you could always use a sharpie to cover up the scuff marks from the keyboard removal step.

Now if there’s only some way to turn off the fingerprint magnet feature…

 
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Ganesh (Who am I?)

Very ………very…..very Thanks for u provide us to good technicial support vidios.

 
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mish (Who am I?)

Having solved my trouble with the keyboard and trackpad ribbons, thought
I might report back here to let folks know how.

As herrold says, the little clips are designed to flip up, not pull out
as I did (and the video appears to). So if you read this before
disassembly then do that.

Otherwire, when reassembling, put the clip back in *without* the cable
inserted. Then just flip up the clip, insert the ribbon, and flip down
again. :)

 
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Justin (Who am I?)

This seems remarkable similar to the disassembly of most other Acer models. I have had to disassemble both my travelmate 4720 and my older 4220 because of falling accidents. I have to admit though that this would be a trial of patience to simply install a little bit of extra ram, especially since mine came with 1024MB pre-installed. On the other hand I do have 2 1GB PC 5300 DDR2 dimms just lying around.

 
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carmelo.ortiz@hp.com (Who am I?)

Thanks Doug, excellent video! will work on it ASAP.

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