Dimension 4550 RAM Upgrading

Hello cj75409, It is known that some of Dell documents on certain systems show some incorrect information.

I don't know about your system.

You might try going to a memory vendor, such as, Crucial, Kingston, OCZ, and others, and do a memory configurator, and see what those companies show for your system.

I would check several, since you may get different results from different vendors.

Usually, but not always, these configurators are accurate. If they prove not to be, the vendors usually will work with you to get the memory you require.

This has been my experience over the years.

Hope this helps.

cj75409

Go HERE and use their memory Scanner Tool, to find the memory that compatible with your 4550.

Bev.

That's inaccurate.  I'm typing this from a Dimension 4550 with a 533 FSB and 2GB of memory. 

Both 400 and 533 FSB support 1GB memory sticks. 

For compatible memory and details on this issue see http://en.community.dell.com/wikis/desktop/dimension-4550-maximum-memory-2gb-not-1gb.aspx

I agree. I just recently installed two 1GB Kingston memory cards in my 533Mhz 4550 Dimension as per the above recommendation. All went very good.  My system recognized the new memory upgrade immediately to 2GB total ram.

I have 1GB presently installed in my 4550 and I am thinking about going to 2 GB. 

How much memory did you have before you went to 2GB?

Did you notice any performance improvements such as in speed after installing the 2GB?

I had two (2) 512 Mb cards for a total of 1 Gb memory. I installed two 1 Gb cards for a total of 2 GB memory.

Maybe some speed increase, too hard to tell when things get this fast. But definitely faster when running multiple things at the same time or large applications.

As I mentioned above, my system instantly recognized the increased memory capacity with no problems at all.

I just installed a 1 gb PC3200 Corsair Value Select DDR1 400MHz - VS1GB400C3/EU G ($35 @ Fry's delivered) on my Dell Dimension 4550 (533MHz FSB) Desktop/PC and after some trials and tribulations I'm back up and working. Yes!

I thought I'd add a bit of my sad story to this thread. Thanks by the way for the info posted above, it's been very nice. When I opened my case I didn't notice that I 'unplugged' my hard drive connection. It was still there, hanging in there, but I didn't notice. When I went to reboot I got a message saying new memory found, but I couln't reboot because my hard drive was unplugged. I had the choice of F1 or F2. F1 just took me back to the F1/F2 choice. F2 told me my hard drives were "unknown". I'm not that computer literate so I thought my problems were related to the new memory, so after about 3 hours of forum searches I decided to unplug the hard drives, plug them back in and try rebooting again. Luckily, thank god, when I went to disconnect my secondary hard drive the cable connection to the motherboard fell off, and I thought, 'here's my problem'. With fingers crossed I rebooted with success and now have 1.5 gb of beautiful memory on my beloved 4550. If my ineptness helps someone else then it's been worth it.

I did upgrade my bios to V08 beforehand. I had upgraded one of the memory slots to 512 MB a couple of years ago. This time I replace the other 256 with the 1GB.

How did the BIOS upgrade to V08 go...any problems?  I got the following respose from Dell support when I asked about the need to update the BIOS before installing the additional memory:

Response from Dell support: "Please be advised that if you are not experiencing problems on your computer and are not aware of any additional features in the BIOS you are needed, then you may not need to perform the update. What I suggest is that you try installing the additional memory module and test if the system will function properly. However, if you notice inconsistencies on your system, then I suggest that you update the BIOS version.

my update went perfectly.

Hey Dell People;

Maybe you can help, or guide me where to post .. I'm getting having some trouble in making a smooth upgrade on my Dell 4550

I upgraded bios to A08 and from 1 gb to 2 gb (PC 2700, 333 Mhz) (I tried PC3200, but puter beeped & didnt startup)

On successful restart right after installing cards, the computer recognizes the 2 gb, HOWEVER,  when I shut down & restart, I only get a black screen (CPU not recognizing?)

I can only successfully restart if I remove one of 1 gb cards, restart, shutdown prior to windows startup (I have a password enabled in the BIOS, so there's a chance to restart prior to windows XP starting), and reinstall the second 1bg card, and then it works again.. until the next shutdown.. Perhaps my CPU speed settings (set to normal, not compatible) or other settings are not correct? Any ideas are VERY appreciated..

Arijay

Double post, answered HERE

Bev.

Putting 2GB in a Dimension 4550 is like adding a turbocharger to a Ford Pinto.

Just not a good way to spend your money.

Just buy two pair of matched (company, speed, etc.) memory bands.  I GB each.  Take the old banks out, and place the new ones in their place.

Now close up the case, do a double check as to your inlets and outlets, plug it in, turn it on.  cancel the quick boot by hitting F2 as soon as your bios spash screen appears.  you should see your memory recognized on the first, but sometimes second resrt.

Then let Windows take over and get back to work!!!

Any other problems?  You've got the mechanic!

M advice is free, but it's worth every penny.

Chris Smith  Lynchburg, Virginia.

Putting 2GB in a Dimension 4550 is like adding a turbocharger to a Ford Pinto. Just not a good way to spend your money.

2GB isn't that much money ... if the 4550 still works well, $75 is a lot less than the cost of a new PC.