imac ram problem - switcable

[mister squid]

Hello, and thanks so much for this service - I'm a new user.

I have an iMac from 2000 (400MHz G3) which has started freezing a lot. Running Harware Test turned up a memory problem. How can I tell if I have a malfunctioning piece of RAM, and if so can I replace it, or maybe just remove it?

I'm going to replace this machine because it's getting obsolete anyway (I'm running OS 9 and having increasing trouble finding anything that will run on it), so what I'm really wondering is whether it would be cheap to get it running again and give the machine to charity, or if I should just toss it.

While I'm here, I've been puzzled that my machine sometimes starts to beep every little while when it goes to sleep. I snore sometimes too, but it seems odd in a computer.

Thanks again for your help!

[Buzz]

Hi Mister Squid,

You can always swap RAM in any Mac. You simply need to purchase the proper type of RAM to install.

Without knowing how much RAM your Mac has I can't say whether you can just pull the RAM. A Mac must have RAM installed to run, if you only have one RAM chip installed then no, you can't pull it. If you have more than one then you can most likely pull one chip.

The odd beeps would also be an indicator of bad RAM.

Depending on the type and size of RAM you want it can range from $20 to $100+. So it may be pretty cheap to just install new RAM.

[mister squid]

Thanks so much!