OK, most of you will be aware that the Advent 4211 which is basically a re-badged MSI Wind is only available HERE
We have our hands on one and we are well impressed with it so far. Want to make one of the best even better? Read on…
Here’s a simple step by step tutorial showing you how to upgrade the memory in your Advent 4211 (MSI-Wind).
*** WARNING ***
Opening your netbook may invalidate you warranty, although to date we haven’t had a reply from Advent confirming this we thought we better point this out. MSI have stated that upgrading the RAM will invalidate your warranty, we’re not quite sure why though nor are we quite sure how they could tell as there are no void if broken type stickers anywhere on the 4211.
OK, all you need for this is a small Phillips / cross head screw-driver, a suitable stick of memory and your Advent 4211 / MSI Wind.
We bought a stick of PNY SODIMM PC2-5300 DDR2 memory from PC World at a reasonable price and it came with a nice 10 year guarantee that will no doubt out-live the machine it was destined for. Here’s a picture of what we got. [Edit] We’ve found some Cheaper ram at Play.com
Here it is un-boxed.
Next thing to do is to flip your netbook upside down and take the battery out. Once it’s out loosen the 9 screw’s as marked in the picture below.
Once they’re loosened carefully start working the back off the netbook. You may hear some clicks as your working it loose but just take your time, once it’s fully loose carefully lift it clean off. The next picture is marked with a yellow rectangle where the memory slot is that you’ll be filling with you new memory. You’ll notice some black tape, just ignore that and leave it alone as it’s used as a shield for what we presume to be the already installed memory.
OK, grab your new memory and take a look on the bottom of it where the connections are, take notice of the gap thats there. If your not sure then take a look at picture 3 again and it’s on the bottom about 3/4 of the way along. If you now look at the memory slot on your netbook you will see where that groove fits. Here’s a close up.
Once you have your memory lined up your ready to push it into the slot, put it in at a 20-30 degree angle and carefully push, keeping an eye on the groove. As your pushing it into place it should go in very easily with minimal force, as it’s going in decrease the angle so it lies flat with the mainboard.
From the side.
Check the metal clips on either side of the memory to make sure they are clipped in. Also look at the groove on the bottom and see if it looks like the memory is pushed as far in as it can go.
Here’s a close up of the left hand metal clip.
Here’s a close up of the right hand metal clip and the groove on the bottom of the memory. If all these look the same then your memory is installed and seated correctly.
That’s it, the memory is installed.
Grab the back cover and carefully line it up and click it into place. Again, take your time, there’s no rush. Once your happy everything is lined up correctly tighten the screws and your just about done. We timed the process and it took under 5 mins, however, this isn’t a race so just go at your own pace. Less speed more haste.
Time to replace the battery and power on the netbook.
Once it’s fully booted, left click on “start”, then right click on “my computer” and select “properties”. A screen will pop up and you will now see that you have an extra GB of memory… Woohoo
That’s it, mission complete, well apart from the most important crucial final step below!
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July 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
[...] [...]
July 15th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Hi there,
I’d like to start by saying great tutorial.
Would like to ask a fe w questions if possible since you opened the 4211, I have purchased one a few days ago and set it up nicely, unfortunately the HD has started to tick intermitantly and is sort of making a splashing weird sound. I can only presume it is the HD, I can here the normal clciking of the hd which is fine as all hardrives make a certain amount of sound but the ticking is driving me nuts.
The question basically is can the hard drive be upgraded?, if so are they standard 2.5″ or 1.8″ sata or ide HD’s also do you know the highest capacity it will recognise.
Finally when you were upgrading the ram I saw only one slot, does this mean the other 1gb is onboard?, and is 2gb the limit.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
All the best
Mike
July 25th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Great little tutorial, i bought one of these the other day and just this minute finished popping my ram expansion in, effortless.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Excellent tutorial, plan on getting a stick tomorrow and this makes it all so easy!
Re Mike’s query, if I have a HD that clicks loudly I get VERY nervous, if it’s under warranty I’d get it back to the shop asap and demand a new machine.
July 29th, 2008 at 9:03 am
[...] while you have you wallet open. Our easy to follow Advent 4211 Memory upgrade tutorial can be found HERE. We had a few of the 4211’s lying around our office which were promptly claimed by staff and [...]
July 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Excellent tutorial, but the link for the memory to PC world says the memory is 240 pin but on the picture for the memory box it has 200 pin does the matter and can I get 200 pin memory? Thanks
July 31st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hi Daneiel,
Thanks for the comment. We’ve followed the link and it looks like things have switched around at PC World. We’re not entirely sure what they have done but we have found some compatible ram which is even cheaper than the PC World one.
I’ve editied the link into the tutorial.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Thanks for the kink change
August 4th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Wonderful tutorial. Sooooo easy to follow. Thank you for doing it.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Thanks guys, very useful tutorial, i’m getting the machine in the next few days, i’ll get the ram from the link u suggested. Cheers
August 16th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Thanks guys, just fitted and rebooted, all works fine. Sitting back and enjoying the tea and biscuits :-). Keep up the good work.
August 16th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
[...] Removing the cover is relatively straightforward: there are nine screws which hold the bottom in place. Once these are undone, the back pops off easily. There is a free memory slot which is instantly recognisable: detailed instructions on how to put the additional memory in is available here. [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Thanks for the tutorial, it worked fine for me.
Only snag is that I bought 2GB memory instead of one! I can’ get a refund from Play.com as I opened both memory packages before I realised my error.
Anyone interested in buying this at half price £6? (by paypal or google checkout)
Here are the details: Kingston KVR667D2S5/1G Valueram Computer Memory 1GB PC5300 DDR2 667MHz 200 Pin SO Dimm
August 25th, 2008 at 7:13 am
The memory turned up from Play.com early on saturday morning, but I couldn’t do the upgrade as I was taking friends out on a trip. Once that was over I rushed home and did the upgrade as per your instructions. Very easy. Refitted the battery, plugged in the power supply and hit the “on” switch. Nothing! Panic, panic!!! Do the usual, power out, battery out, battery in, power in, hit the “on” switch again. Whizz whizz sounds, boot up and then Welcome and all back to normal. Panic over, machine purring like a contented pussy cat, glass of wine to calm myself down.
Still the best bit of kit I’ve bought in years, even better thanks to your upgrade article. Congrats on a great site and useful and realistic tips.
Regards,
Dave
August 25th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Does the Advent 4211 support putting in a 2Gb SO Dimm ?
August 29th, 2008 at 7:20 am
The maximum it can take is the 1GB module.
August 29th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Thanks for the tutorial, just put a 1gb Kingston ValueRam stick in and it was a doddle, matter of a couple of minutes. Machine definitely runs faster so worth the €18 it cost here in Dublin.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Hi.
You mention 667 MHZ memory.. On my Advent 4211 the memory on the motherboard is 800MHZ, so by adding a single 667 you will down tune the whole lot to 667 which is silly, given the price differential of about £3.00.
My system flies with both XP, Vista and especially Redhat Linux. The difference between 1 and 2GB is marked due to increased file/disk caches and worth it to anybody; not just Vista users .
I’ll upgrade the Hard Disk to solid state when the prices drop a little, and buy a high-capacity battery when they ship.
The atom processer rocks, this machine is so much more than a basic net browser, it runs everything faster than my previous-generation high-end ‘full spec’ laptop. These should be selling like hot cakes. Can’t complain at the price, other than I could do with a few more pixels in the vertical resolution.
Thanks for going to the trouble of doing this website..
September 11th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Had a proper fight with the Advent to get the battery off, once that was done it was a lot of edging and tweaking and gentle persuasion to get the back off, and finally it was quite tough to get the RAM in the slot. It DID all happen as pictured though and worked as hoped. Thanks for the really excellent guide!
September 11th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
also why cant you use 2gb upgrade and only 1gb?
September 13th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Was about to buy the ram from play, when I saw the previous comment by Alan about the ram speed being 800mhz. Can anyone please confirm that the advent 4211 has 800mhz ram? Have tried PC World and the tech guys and they don’t know.
If I were to buy 800mhz ram and it’s supposed to run at 667mhz, will it just run slower ie will it still work, but drop down to a lower speed?
Anyone have a link to somewhere to buy the right type ram of 800mhz? Where did you buy yours from Alan?
Many thanks, I hope someone is able to answer these questions soon, as I’m keen to upgrade the ram asap.
Cheers,
Jason
September 15th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Louis, the maximum the motherboard can handle is 2 GB so with the 1GB that’s already hard installed (soldered) on the motherboard a 1GB stick is the most you can get working. However, MSI’s latest firmware is reported to allow you to turn off the on board memory, if that’s the case then a 2GB stick would work. I’m not sure if that option is included in the latest bios update by Advent (1.08) but i’ll take a look later and let you know. Just to recap, 2GB is the maximum total memory allowed on the wind chassis.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
After installing the 667MHz ram I got on Ebay I read Alan’s message saying his Advent had 800MHz ram, so I looked at my computer’s properties and it said 800MHz, 1.99 GB of RAM. I went into hardware to see if I could fathom whether it was 800 or not, came back out, looked at my computer properties again, and it had changed to 1.60GHz, 1.99 GB of RAM. Very strange. But I guess that means the speed has doubled from 800 to 1.6 GHz? (not very knowledgeable on these sort of things) Can anyone confirm this is right?
September 27th, 2008 at 2:26 am
your 800mhz speed mentioned is the processor speed, and can vary depending if on battery or mains & also how power saving is set.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
[...] it is with 1gb of memory, but it’s always nice to know it can easily be upgraded to 2gb if needed. Tutorial - Advent 4211 Memory Upgrade (MSI Wind) | NetBookMag.com __________________ When is the last time you felt good about [...]
September 28th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
First of all I have had one of these for a few days and absolutely love it! I have ordered the 1gb upgrade from play.com and look forward to fitting it. Susan stated that the properties showed 800mhz and then 1.6ghz. As far as I can make out there is an option to underclock the processor to extend battery life. This halves the processor speed to allow your battery to last longer.
If you need extra power for mobile use you can always buy the extended power battery which seems to cost about £45 here in the UK. The extended batteries are 4400mah whereas the standard battery is 2200mah. The extra battery power should let you go for quite a bit longer before needing to find a power socket.
I highly recommend buying one of these whether you need it or not!
September 28th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
The eco function is enabled or disabled using fn and f10. This only works when using battery power.
September 28th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
The reason it had changed is because when the laptop is in low power mode, it will underclock the CPU.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I am a klutz. Of the worst kind. Yet, using your tutorial I got it right first time. In Australia you would be given a gold star, a Go Home Early Mark and a Chocolate Freddo. Sadly, Chocolate Freddos do not travel that well so you will have to take the thought for the deed. It truly is a most amazingly simple guide for people like me to follow. Goodonyer, yer blood’s worth bottling.
Gazza
September 29th, 2008 at 9:22 am
[...] a gig of memory from Play.com in the UK, went to NetBookMag.com and followed the instructions. It worked first time as [...]
September 29th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Hey Gareth, thanks for the kind words
A go home early mark and a chocolate Freddo sounds just the job.
Maybe we will replace the cup of tea and biscuit for the above at the end of our next tutorial.
October 7th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I just bought a 2 Gig card to put in the free slot, and the wind doesn’t boot with it in. I’m assuming that’s because the system can’t take more than 2 Gigs at once, but you said earlier that it might be possible to shut off the onboard memory. I was just wondering if you’d found anything more about that. It would be convenient not to have to buy a new card.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I have just installed 1gb ddr2 pc2-5300 667MHz 200pin SODIMM, its in correctly.
However the extra 1gb is not showing on system properties! It still says i have0.99 GB of RAM. Is there something else i should be doing?
October 13th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Ref 31 I did the same. I reopened and noted I had not slotted the new ram in correctly. (not far enough) Sorted that and now GB
October 16th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Great tutorial - gave me the confidence to order the RAM from play.com and install it without a problem…
…but (ok, so you knew this was coming)…
…but, now the netbook feels slower to boot than before.
Just a feeling, I never timed it before, it just feels slower in its startup - would there be a reason for that (the 1.6GHz and 1.99 GB of RAM show up fine in properties)?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Thanks for the tutorial! Never installed RAM on a laptop before, this made it much easier as a first timer, did it in 10 mins.
As for the reply above, my Advent doesn’t feel slower to boot, seems to take the same time (under a minute).
October 24th, 2008 at 12:23 am
I just followed the instructions on tuesday to put extra 1gb. no hitchs and the 1.99 is showing on my properties
very useful guide.
please show us how to fix wi-fi card because my wi-fi keeps crashing. I did update the bio but it did something to the keyboard and I couldnt type. I had to shut it down, remove the battery before the keyboard would work.
has this happened to anyone??
October 27th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Hi May,
There have been many reported problems with bios upgrade’s although touch wood we havent been affected by any of them.
Some people have reported that keyboards are not working, others have USB ports not working etc but i haven’t heard about wi-fi being affected.
As for the Wi-fi crashing, i’m not too sure what could be causing that as the memory upgrade would have no effect on the wi-fi card unless maybe you have caught an antenna wire somewhere when replacing the back of the netbook. Could be worth checking.
We have replaced the wi-fi card to a compatible one that works with both Windows and Mac OS X Leopard as the stock card does not work with Leopard. We done that when we upgraded the HDD to a 250GB drive so prehaps we could post up a tutorial combining both upgrades?
October 27th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hey, can you run Mac OS X on the Advent 4211? (post No 36)
Wow. How does it perform? I’d love to use this as a machine for mobile music apps such as Logic, Virtual Synths and Reason. This would need the USB ports to work with audio and MIDI interfaces.
Could you do a tutorial on how to install OS X, and any things to watch out for? That would be awesome!
November 6th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I’ve had an Advent 4211 for a few months now and I love it! Just upgraded the RAM as instructed, although never added memory to a computer before. Your instructions were very clear and precise. My Advent is now flying like a rocket!
December 4th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
There is a serious omission in your otherwise excellent tutorial. There is no mention of ELECTRO STATIC. Remember a lot of readers may be amateurs like me and new to this do-it-yourself business. Please explain how one should protect against static which I hear can destroy a memory in a flash. Or isn’t there any danger?
December 12th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
hey guys may upgrade my advent 4211 but OVERCLOCK IT FIRST.!
gives u 30 perccent increase on speed and its on the msi winds website 1.09 bios.
the wind is the same as the advent deof do it sooo fast now!
December 25th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I picked up a Wind for Christmas and just wanted to let you know your excellent instructions are still spreading Joy to the World half a year later.
Nicely done!
BTW, re #39 ESD can zap the insides of electronics and destroy them, but also can punch microscopic holes in some transistors to make them “leaky” where they still work awhile but reliability is downgraded. Many devices nowadays have built in protection to moderate voltages (perhaps 3 to 10kV) but your body can easily build up more spark voltage than allowed so it is always a good idea to touch a grounded metal piece inside the computer to equalize your body voltage before picking up the memory and avoid touching the connector pins (try to handle the memory by the side edges with no metal).
January 5th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Thanks
I will try it this evening
January 15th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
What a great walk through, thanks so much, I have just upgraded my 4211 and it took all of 3 minutes, and that was taking it easy. A great tutorial, very valuable and gave me the confidence to do this.
I bought the 4211 from eBay second hand and what a fine machine it is, I am very pleased with it and am expecting teh extra 1 Gb of RAM to really give it that bit more umph by reducing the disk/memorey swapping..
Thanks for your help.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 am
Great tut guys… Just installed the 1G chip in an MSI Wind U100. I think the fit for the case on these units is very nice. I actually had my wife go out and use hers with no screws in it one morning at the coffee shop. Just make sure especially around the seam next to the battery the case is completely snapped together its a snug fit I heard gentle snaps when taking apart and putting together. May I also say imho, to lift the case up on the side opposite from the headphone jacks and VGA Dsub15 port. I also found out we’d been sold a 2G chip from a local vendor. I confirm at least for the U100 its 1G on the board and a 1G upgrade up to 2G. No ideas for max HD cap (although I’d like to find out). Yes, beware of ESD with the open case, handle this mem chip by its edges and don’t go rubbing any cats b4 u attempt this ;o). Hope this makes things even smoother for someone. Thx for the awesome pics, good job…
February 12th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Hi,
I bought the MSI U100, which has a 120 gb hdd 1g ram.
I bought a pair of 1Gb corsair sodimm, DDR2 667Mhz for it thinking it had 2 slots not 1.
Once i discovered this and only put one chip in, it only recognises the chip and wont pair
it with the on board ram.
I updated the bios to 1.0B and that improoved nothing.
I also made sure i didn’t disable the on board ram.
How can i make it recognise that i have 2gb of ram?
March 5th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Excellent tutorial! I had the same problem - overly timid when putting in the stick, so did it again and gave it more of a push & presto! Worked a treat, thanks for your help.
March 6th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Heya. I have read loads of the comments above and just wondered if I should get a DDR-2 800MHz PC2-6400 ram chip. The product number is GX2S6400-1GB if anyone would be so kind and check if it is fully compatible with the Advent 4211/Advent 4211C as I will get one this tuesday.
And one other thing…
Does the DDR-2 667MHz PC2-5300 ram chip slow down the computer??
Thank you
Lyall Mattheus
March 6th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Or am i just being a noob and this tutorial is for a slightly different advent??
Because my advent has 1GB DDR2 533Mhz SODIMM PC4300 (integrated)
March 16th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Hello everybody,
Just found this forum and some interesting info here.
I have a 4211C I bought few months ago and have been so impressed I recently bought another one for my business partner! both have been upgraded to 2gb 667mhz RAM. however I have been told by techguys that the machine will support 2 x 2gb ram chips but they must be running at 533mhz. I don’t know enough about this subject to know somebody is yanking my chain but it seems to me that 2 x 2gb chips running @ 533 mhz would be faster that 2 x 1gb chips @ 667mhz??? also if 2×1gb is definately the most that the machine can handle is it possible to remove the oem chip and replace it with an 800mhz chip?
Is it possible to upgrade the harddrive to a solid state drive? if so what type/size do I need to look for and has anybody done this? (i know the capacity is smaller the machine’s hard drive is only used for programs and I keep all my files on SD cards, that way the machine can access files etc from a flash based set up (which is a big performance increase) and also means if ever you have a problem with the machine you do not lose your files!
Last question, is is possible to upgrade the CPU? if so to what and how fast? and yes I have already tweaked XPOS as much as poss it will do a complete re-boot in under 60 seconds! In short I love the little netbook and have set about making it as fast as possible.
Wow this has turned into an essay, it seems like i’m not alone in my love of this little bit of kit, sure the answers to the above will be gladly recieved by all.
Thanks in advance for all advice recieved.
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Hey I have a 4211-B which comes as std with 1GB; i NEED to upgrade as I am constantly running at 68% RAM
Can anyone advise where i can buy a 2GB stick from and is it the same process as above???
March 25th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Dont’ worry i found a 1GB stick in the drawer opened her up, shoved it in, and she’s on 2GB now… although I am thinking of upgrading to a new laptop (probably 15inch for work with 4GB or RAM).
April 15th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Brilliant tutorial, thanks guys.
May 14th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Can I up grade to a 128Gb SATA-II SSD, with a Power Consumption: 280mA~330mA , would this help to extend my batteries life & by how much.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Nice tutorial. Would it be possible for one on how to get the microphone to work? I can do skype etc using an external mike but the internal one seems hopeless (I have all the volumes set to max and boost ticked). Installing a larger HDD or an SSD might be interesting to. Can the current atom processor be swapped for the 330 version or is it soldered in?
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Ordered ram, popped it in and… black screen… bummer.
Read comments, and tried turning off the onboard memory, which has done the trick. Wiked!
Thanks for the tutorial, worked a treat!
August 16th, 2009 at 11:07 am
This is the DOG NUTTS! You have made this so easy. Well done and thank you.
September 11th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Please anyone,
I have mistakenly bought a 2GB chip. I know how to fit it (thank you for the tutorial) but I don’t know how to access the BIOS to disable the onboard memory.
I am also quite anxious about touching the BIOS as I hear it can be fatal for the running of the computer.
Thanks in advance for helping
Franco
September 15th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Have I dreamt that I posted to this forum? I cannot see my post or had a reply.
I have a 2gb chip and need to disable the onboard memory. I know I have to upgrade the BIOS but i would like some advice on how to actually disable the onboard memory as I am apprehensive on messing around with the BIOS.
Thanks for your help
November 11th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Modifying the bios is so easy as to be ridiculously easy. Just tap the ? enter the bios and use the arrow keys to find the right page. Its real easy, You can make changes ,.. and either accept them or dont save them. So, it gives plenty of warning.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:13 am
UPGRADING RAM:
I popped the back cover off and was looking at a 1g ram card and not the connector as pictured here.
Can someone confirm that the first gig is a card or and not an onboard chip?
Any instructions for removing the motherboard to get unnearth to install the second ram card?
Thanks
Tim
December 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Re DISABLE ONBOARD MEMORY Nicked this from Electric Vagabond (It worked for me)
If you have additional RAM and your Wind won’t boot, you probably need to disable Onboard Memory in the bios. You can display the bios splash screen by holding down Esc and pressing the power on button. You will still need to press Del once you see the MSI splash screen. Alternatively try removing the additional RAM module and booting into the bios (press DEL when the MSI splash screen appears). In the Advanced tab ensure that Onboard Memory is disabled then reinstall your additional RAM and reboot.
December 29th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
OK, the instructions on how to get in and fit the memory were good. It was only after trying to fit 2Gb and finding that it didn’t work that I read through all the reader’s comments. I wasted money on the 2Gb and have now ordered a 1Gb. It would have been much better if it had said right up at the top of the tutorial exactly what sort of memory was required (number of pins, speed, size) and why only 1Gb could be fitted. It was my fault, but I think you assisted a little…
December 31st, 2009 at 11:29 am
Just upgraded my Advent 4211 to Windows 7 and added in the extra 1GB Ram, an excellent tutorial that made upgrading the RAM very easy, although seating the new RAM was a little tricky. Many Thanks
January 19th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Followed the excellent tutorial above (and the ESD advice - thanks Engineer #43) but System Properties, PC Wizard and Crucial Memory Advisor all show 2nd slot empty - have swapped SODIMMs with a “known good” 1gb PC-5300 from laptop - chips are both good but 2nd slot still shows empty - have I missed anythiing (firmware? BIOS?)
Any advice much appreciated Rgds rigz