32MB RAM upgrade - availability & replication

[spegru]

Wanman, when your 32m DIMM turns up it would be interesting if you could give a description of pcb and chip types - I am wondering if a 16m S7 dimm can be upgraded with extra chips

spegru

[WolfUK]

How long have you been wiating for the DIMM? I'm going to order the upgrade soon but I may use Clove (shed my Expansys past!) despite being a bit more expensive.

[wanman]

No Probs, Spegru.

I phone Expansys last week and they confirmed that they will take at least another two weeks as Psion have been struggling to satisfy back orders. Perhaps they have been too busy building netbook personality modules !!??

I was going to order mine from Clove then realised that their online price excluded vat. Don't get me wrong, I am a great fan of Clove and have bought all my machines, accessories and CF cards from them. The main reason for buying the DIMM from Expansys (apart from the cheaper price and similar lead times) was that I bought the personality module at the same time (which turned up next day !!). I have now been waiting since the 11/09 for the DIMM upgrade. I guess they should update their estimated 4day waiting time on their website !! lol

Regards
Si

[WolfUK]

After having my fingers burnt a couple of times by Expansys' estimated timescales I am always a bit wary unless the goods are in stock!

I've never bought anything of consequence from Clove since Expansys were always cheaper so I guess that I am reversing your position! However, after recent dealings with Clove regarding various general enquiries I like them as a company a lot whilst Expansys' customer service has gotten worse over the years IMHO.

As for the shortages in supplies ... could it be because the DIMMS are non-standard (which explains the massive price for 32 meg of memory!).

[wanman]

Could be, although it is a Psion accessory, which has always meant a high price tag.

The reasons for the shortages are a bit of a mystery. They are unique to the netbook which is still a supported hardware platform. I assume only Psion can answer this question.....where's Harvey when you need him??

If Psion were responsible for the release of these netbook personality modules onto the market, you'd think they would have released some 32mb Dimms aswell, for cross selling purposes. God no wonder this company hit hard times !!! lol

Si

[netBookBabe]

Originally posted by wanman
I guess they should update their estimated 4day waiting time on their website !! lol

Yeah, those "estimated waiting times" definitely seem like a case of "think of a number" to me. How many multiples of 10 days did people wait for the personality module?? You did well on that one Si - I guess you didn't order until you knew they had stock.

Don't we all hate waiting? :mad:
Julie

[Spuddey]

I have been waiting for over a month now for my upgrade and have chased Expansys on a regular basis. They did say they would change the 4 days when I suggested it was a misrepresentation - but that was a couple of weeks ago and they appear to have forgotten!
I think that they are having 'relationship problems' with Psion and this may have something to do with the delay.
No doubt it will appear eventually!

[Peter Walker]

Hi,
I have been hearing that one of the German Psion repair centers is testing a compatible 32MB Netbook DIMM that it intends to sell for just 100 Euro!

Once it is released, I will be buying one and reporting back here.

The company in question is SRS GmbH

http://www.srsgmbh.de/en/index1.html

Regards

Peter

[markdeppe]

I remember a post where psion in south africa queries@psion.co.za (http://www.psion.co.za/navframes1.htm) were selling the upgrade and batteries cheaper than in the UK which included delivery. I emailed them at the time and they quoted, I think £130 for 32MB memory all inclusive. I bought one second hand eventually for £70 so never pursued it.

[wanman]

Anyone who is interested, I spoke to Expansys today and they confirmed that their suppliers now have the 32mb DIMM upgrades for the netbook/7book. They said that they should have them tomorrow or Wednesday.

Spegru, when mine turns up I will get you the info you need.

Regards

Si

[Peter Walker]

Hi,
on the German counterpart to PsionPlace (www.psionwelt.de), it has just been announced that SRS-GmbH in Germany will be selling the Netbook 32MB memory for 120 Euro at the end of November.

It is already possible to place advance orders via E-Mail and it is listed on the German version of their Netbook price list:

http://www.srsgmbh.de/de/preise_nb.html

I have already preordered one and will report back when I get it.

Regards

Peter

[wanman]

£75 - excellent price even if post charges are on top of this !! If Expansys don't come through with the card in a couple of weeks. I will be cancelling my order with them.

Si

[Spuddey]

This looks very interesting!

As of the 12th of November I will have been waiting 2 months for Expansys to come up with the goods. Frankly I am very unimpressed with them and will not be dealing with them again. I have given up chasing them as the standard response is 'any day now' which after almost 60 days is rather taking the p...s!

Has anyone spoken to the German site as the item is not listed on the English page only on the German one - and my German is non existant!

It would be nice to buy from a firm who is obviously pro psion rather than one which has obviously lost interest in this section of the market.

[wanman]

I emailed them yesterday (in English unfortunately). Hopefully they can use Bable Fish and come back with a price to send one to the UK along with confirmation that they have them in stock.

Regards

Si

[WolfUK]

Originally posted by Spuddey
As of the 12th of November I will have been waiting 2 months for Expansys to come up with the goods. Frankly I am very unimpressed with them and will not be dealing with them again. I have given up chasing them as the standard response is 'any day now' which after almost 60 days is rather taking the p...s!I gave up on Expansys recently ... Their customer support seems to be really bad these days (I have emailed them several times about various things and haven't had replies whereas a year or more ago you usually got a same day response.

It would be nice to buy from a firm who is obviously pro psion rather than one which has obviously lost interest in this section of the market. I don't mean to annoy anyone but I spoke to Clove last week about some bits and pieces I wanted to order. I mentioned the 32MB upgrade and they had a quick look and found their final one for me. I ended up getting it the very next day. (BTW, I image that they will be getting more in ... email them or give them a call) They are very pro-Psion, very customer-orientated and, although slightly more expensive than Expansys, I would rather pay a small premium and deal with honest people. I have now switched my allegiance to them fully and I can highly recommend them.

[wanman]

They are more expensive, which I assume has something to do with them being a smaller company than Expansys? I agree with Simon on Clove's continued commitment to Psion and I have purchased most of my Psion gear from them in the past. This time though, I just want to save a bit of cash. If this German supplier comes back then I will definitely order from them.

Regards

Si

[pliskens]

I mailed teh german company who informed me that they wil lstart salles probably this month and teh total price would be arround EUR 130 including shipment.

[wanman]

Yep they have just emailed me back aswell:

dear sir,

the 32mb dimm is available from end of november. we send it to UK. the price incl. vat and shipping is € 140,-.
please send us a short order-mail.

best regards

srs service

Thats about £90......bargin

I will email them again at the end of the month. I have also cancelled my order with Expansys.

Regards

Si

[Peter Walker]

Originally posted by wanman
I emailed them yesterday (in English unfortunately). Hopefully they can use Bable Fish and come back with a price to send one to the UK along with confirmation that they have them in stock.

Regards

Si

I just spoke to SRS on the phone and they told me they expect to have the Netbook memory cards in stock in about 2 weeks.

I am sure they will not have much difficultly with English language E-Mails. They do run their website in English, too!

I will report back as soon as I receive mine and have tested it.

Regards

Peter

[MonkeyBoy]

Hi

I wondered if anyone had any luck getting a hold of the 32mb upgrade from SRS?

[wanman]

Not Yet, will email them at the end of the week.

Regards

Si

[Spuddey]

I have faxed and emailed and had an initial reply to my email but no subsequent responce to my faxed order. Has anyone else had this or do you think they work best if called? I don't want to miss out on the units at this price!

[Peter Walker]

Hi,
I have just spoken to SRS on the phone and they told me that the netbook memory will be coming in at the end of this week (about 6th December) and will then be sent out to those who have pre-ordered one.

I will report back here when I receive mine.

Regards

Peter

[Peter Walker]

Hi,
just a short update on the Netbook memory availability from SRS GmbH in Germany.

I received an E-Mail from them today telling me that they will be sending me the memory module tomorrow (Tuesday). As I also live in Germany, that means I should receive it before the end of the week!

As soon as I receive it, I will test it and report back here.

Regards

Peter

[wanman]

I had an email from them aswell, confirming the items are now in stock. The great thing is that they will post the item to you without payment and you sort out the payment with the delivery company. Will be no more than €140 (£90).

Regards

Si

[harveyr]

Just picked up on this thread..sorry, I'm sometimes a bit slack at reviewing this site as often as I should.

We did run out of 32MB upgrade DIMMs a while back as we had to find a new manufacturer of the PCBs. From memory it was only about 3 weeks we had no stock. Plenty of stock now, so there should not be any supply issues from our end.

Regarding the personality modules....these were definitely NOT put onto the market by us. I haven't been able to locate the source and Expansys Product Management have successfully managed to avoid me each time I call them! How many lunch breaks can a person have in one day I ask myself!!

Harvey

[wanman]

Hi Harvey,

Thanks for the reply/update. You are indeed a gentleman and a welcome, friendly voice from Psion.

Re the personality modules, if you have changed PCB supplier recently, perhaps your old supplier decided to get rid of some old supplies it had? The boards certainly seemed authentic, even down to the stickers on them.

Whoever it was, there are certainly a few forum members that would like to thank them for giving us the opportunity to speed up our trusty old 7's and enjoy the latest OSwith network capabilities. So please don't be too hard on them if you ever do find out !!

Kind Regards
Si

[harveyr]

Cheers Si. I doubt people were saying that when I i) refused to make available for sale the netBook personality module; ii) wouldn't release the Malaysian ROM image iii) wouldn't offer a warranty on the Malaysian machines sold on eBay....

And if I don't get Tao out some time in Jan...then I think I'm leaving the country!!


:D :rolleyes:

[wanman]

I know what you mean Harvey, I was a bit on the fence on that issue. I completely understood your position, but was desperately hoping that something could be done for them.

I suppose we have the personality module release to blame for this. It seemed to have provided private user's like myself with an unrealistic view on the type of support you as a company can provide (although we now know that Psion was not the source). Mind you, it certainly put a spark into the Psion community that hasn't been there since Psion Digital announced it's withdrawal from the PDA market.

Business is business and we are all now completely clear on Psion Teklogix' position on these matters. Thanks for your honesty and the completely voluntary support, you provide to this forum.

Kind Regards
Si

[pliskens]

Peter, since I am very curious, did you already receive the 32Mb Dimm from SRS this week? They informed me that it was shipped to me on wensday so i hope to receive it in the next few days..

[Peter Walker]

Originally posted by pliskens
Peter, since I am very curious, did you already receive the 32Mb Dimm from SRS this week? They informed me that it was shipped to me on wensday so i hope to receive it in the next few days..

Hi Pliskens,
the answer is yes and no! I have been out the past couple of days and I have received notification that the package is waiting for me at my local post office. I will be able to pick it up on Saturday morning.

Regards

Peter

[wanman]

Interesting developments on the 32mb DIMM front. Mine turned up last night:) although I was expecting the post office to hold onto it until I'd paid for it? When I spoke to SRS, they told me that the delivery company collect the cost of the item. Well no one has collected anything from me, but they have delivered a nice ram upgrade???

Can anyone else, who has ordered/received one of these DIMM upgrades from SRS, tell me how/if they paid for the goods? €132.50

Spegru, The invoice is in German but it looks as if they have charged for the seperate bits?

1 10182 - Leiterplatte fur Speichererwiterung Netbook um 32mb
2 00028 - DRAM 4Mx16-50, EDO 3.3V, 4K, TSOP
3 00030 - Arbeitszeit und Kleinteile
4 00003 - Porto und verpackung (think i can work out what this is)

Anyway, the board has 4 identical chips on it. Hyundai GB71VS65163CLT5 0118 AG8 Korea. There is no other markings on either the board or the chips.

Will try and install tomorrow.

[Peter Walker]

Originally posted by wanman
The invoice is in German but it looks as if they have charged for the seperate bits?

1 10182 - Leiterplatte fur Speichererwiterung Netbook um 32mb
2 00028 - DRAM 4Mx16-50, EDO 3.3V, 4K, TSOP
3 00030 - Arbeitszeit und Kleinteile
4 00003 - Porto und verpackung (think i can work out what this is)


Hi,
I now have my Netbook-RAM as well and I have already installed it!

I can confirm that it works fine in my Netbook so far and my Netbook reports 14MB ROM +50MB of free memory :)

I will continue to test it and will report any problems if I find any.

DiskBench V1.1 reports Disk C: Write time of 0.15 sec and Read time of 0.09 sec so the new memory is not slowing the Netbook down.

Essential Disk Utilities ChkDsk and Optimize continue to report errors on drive C;. yet this is nothing new and a well known problem with EDU.

The invoice and instructions were in German (no problem for me) and here is a translation of the items on the invoice:

1 10182 - PCB for Netbook memory expansion for 32MB
2 00028 - DRAM 4Mx16-50, EDO 3.3V, 4K, TSOP
3 00030 - Working time small parts
4 00003 - Postage and packaging

By the looks of this invoice, SRS have obtained the components and put them together themselves!

However they did it, I now have a lot more RAM in my Netbook!

Regards

Peter

[cangiante]

I found your post very interesting and I do have a couple of questions for you:

1) which are the main advantages you are experiencing after having upgraded?

2) how did you actually open the nB and do all the upgrading job?
would you recommend this also to an unexperienced nB user?

[wanman]

Hi there,

Adding the 32mb DIMM enables me to run more applications at the same time. This is particularly important for me when I am browsing the web as this can use alot of RAM. With the promise of a new java runtime environment next year, the extra RAM can only help.

Installing the RAM is relatively easy:

1) Backup up your machine
2) Remove both batteries
3) Under the screen (when open but tilted slightly forward), you will see two panels behind the keyboard. The right hand panel covers the netbook personality module and the left panel is where the DIMM card goes. Just slid this panel forward and lift it out of the way.
4) Slide the card into the socket and when pushed in, you then push the front of it down, until the two side metal clips lock the card in place.
5) Put panel back and both batteries.
6) Place your CF card in the slot with the OS.IMG file and boot up machine.
7) OS will install and after this you should find about 50mb free space on you c: drive.

If you need any other help or info, please let us know.

Regards

Si

[cangiante]

thank you for your prompt reply
I will contact the german supplier for ordering the upgrade

[Spuddey]

I have received my dimm and fitted it. Works fine with no problems yet.
However I still don't appear to have paid for it! Has anyone got to the bottom of this yet?

[wanman]

Thank god it wasn't just me. I was speaking to Peter Walker about it and he confirmed that he had to collect the package from the post office and had to pay for the full amount there. Looks like Parcel Force are taking the Christmas Spirit a bit too far.

I haven't decided what to do yet (he says, having already installed it), but am considering waiting until someone asks for the money.

I am not sure how this is supposed to work as have never ordered something, where I have had to pay the delivery company. I assume Parcel Force are responsible for collecting the money and it will be them who write to me?

At this rate, I doubt SRS will be sending too much more stock to the UK as Parcel Force are costing them a fortune !!

Regards

Si

[Spuddey]

I have sent you a private message with my contact details for keeping each other in touch with this payment situation.

[wanman]

No probs. Will do.

[MartinMaxwell]

>>>>Cheers Si. I doubt people were saying that when I i) refused to make available for sale the netBook personality module; ii) wouldn't release the Malaysian ROM image iii) wouldn't offer a warranty on the Malaysian machines sold on eBay....<<<<

Hi Harvey. If ever the new Unicode netBook comes out you should at least revise your position on number i) and ii). But your position on number iii) is understandable under almost any circumstances.

cheers / Martin

[pliskens]

For who is interested, I also received my memory update two weeks ago, it works without any problem. It was send COD to the netherlands(SRS did not mention that this would increase the price by EUR26 but it is still very affortable).

[jade]

I have the 32MB Dimm used for netBooks in hand if you need them. The delivery will take approximately 5 days by courier. It is at USD220 including delivery charges. Goods ship out immediately upon receipt of wired payment confirmation.

Contact me at vsuzanneg@hotmail.com if you need more information.

Regards

[cpulster]

I sale memory 32 MB DIMM internal upgrade for netbook for 159 EUR. New memory, work fine with series 7 and netbook. Please check http://www.pulster.de if you like.
(click on the left "netbook" and then "Zubehoer")

Christoph

[Peter Walker]

Hi Christoph,
as the memory is available for 120 Euro from SRS-GmbH, what would be the advantage in paying 159 Euro to buy them from you?

Regards

Peter

[wanman]

Especially, as the probability of getting the SRS RAM for free is quite high, due to the inadequacies of Parcel Force, who have still to collect my COD money, even though they delivered the parcel before Christmas ?? I have the money ready to pay but am earning interest every day and wait for them to contact me!!

Si

[cpulster]

Originally posted by Peter Walker
Hi Christoph,
as the memory is available for 120 Euro from SRS-GmbH, what would be the advantage in paying 159 Euro to buy them from you?

Good point, Peter :-)

Here are my offers:

[Commercial Advertising deleted]

Chris

[Lovena]

bought from david lowe (david.lowe@orange.net); only £50 inc postage - get them while u can!

[ohsix]

I bought one. The memory increase was only 16MB. How can I tell if the problem is the card or my machine. The card has 4 rectangular chips on it.

[mellz]

SRS Now lists the 32 MB modules for 79 Euros.

http://www.srsgmbh.de/en/index1.html

Click on "Price List" and Then "Netbook Price List".

[NbookMC218]

ohsix - I am very interested in hearing that your upgrade only yielded 16MB RAM (although there are 4 chips x 8MB showing). I bought my Netbook (used) a couple of years ago - and the seller did say that the RAM upgrade might niot be working correctly ... well I never really thought any more about it (as the Netbook was operating fine). But since having upgraded to latest OS build & just ordered Wi-Fi PC Card (as per recommendation on foxpop.co.uk), I thought I would investigate things (Opera can be quite RAM hungry!).

Well with a Netbook (as opposed to S7) 32MB Std + 32MB Extra DOESN'T really equal 64MB. You must subtract 14 or 15 MB taken up by loading the OS - so 50MB or 51MB is what it should show.
Mine only shows 35MB (which is obviously 16MB short).

Can you tell me where / who you bought your 32MB RAM from, as I was just about to purchase one from somebody.

Thanks. ANY ONE ELSE able to shed any light on this one ??
:confused:

[NbookMC218]

Under machine infomation:
ROM size 14M
RAM size 34M

Under Disk Information (like for 32M CF card in D:) the SIZE for Disk C (RAM) = 31M

P.S: 1) Incidently Power supply type: 15.5V 1.5A - does this mean my Buffalo Wi-Fi card may NOT have enough power to work??

2) People may find it of interest to know that re: Keyboard splillage thread ... I ordered a spare keyboard from SitaShop - the installation was very simple (and I can now type quickly without gobledigook for the 1st time in over a year!).

NB- BEWARE (when ordering from abroad (eg Malaysia)) - although I only paid about $108 US (£58 approx at the time) incl. p&p - I got a bit of a nasty shock in that I had to pay OCS (Couriers)another £13.87 Customs VAT + £7.50 (excl.VAT) handling fee (=£22.68 Total extra). Only when I had paid this were the goods delivered to my door (from Heathrow).

[NbookMC218]

The 4 RAM chips say (left to right in situ looking at Nbook screen):

SEC KOREA 904
KM416V4104CS-LC
(then smaller alphanumerics different on each chip)

SEC KOREA 940
KM416V4104CS-LC
(ditto above)

SEC KOREA 840
KM416V4104CS-LC
(ditto above)

SEC KOREA 922
KM416V4104CS-LC
(ditto above)