Installing RAM in Dell Inspiron ME051 (1300/B130) - Hynix Ram?

Question

Hello, I'm going to be helping my grandma out with her computer, mainly upgrading the memory because it's so slow...  and wanted to run a few things by people here. One, is it alright to not install matched sizes of RAM? Can I install 512mb in one and 1gb in the other? Also, I have this Hynix RAM I know little about other than it was pulled functioning from a computer fine. It's 1GB 2Rx8 PC2-5300S-555-12 (HYMP512S64CP8-Y5 AB 0647) - From all the specs of it I read online it looks compatible. Just wondering what people think. I'm only going to have a few days so if I screw everything up I'm gonna have problems. She's running Win XP Home Edition Version 2002 SP3. Also, I'm debating on whether or not I want to try and update drivers. I looked on the DELL site and it looks like there are tons of driver updates. Not sure what the most straightforward way to update drivers is safely other than 1 at a time but could use some advice on what some critical driver updates might be to install and how to do it safely. I'm going to bring along the Ultimate BootCD in case of  any problems and might burn her desktop files onto a disc in case of problems but other than that I'll just be crossing my fingers. I assume she's got the WIN XP disk that came with her machine... I'll have to doublehceck that. Anyhow, let me know what's up with the RAM. Oh yea, and I'm gonna install teamviewer so I can help her remotely.

ieee488 · Answer

Be sure to guard against ESD. When it comes to drivers, if something isn't broke, don't fix it. Unless it is Microsoft Windows Updates. Her laptop may have a restore partition.

wyclef · Answer

what's ESD? that just making sure i yank the battery and touch a piece of metal?

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