Questions on upgrading Prebuilt PCs: RAM

Upgrading Ram Issues

Hello, I'm trying to upgrade my family's old prebuilt pc which is an Acer m3970 desktop.
Specs are as listed

-i5-2300
-2gb SoDimm ddr3 Ram
-Acer Mobo
-cheap psu
etc..

So when i tried to upgrade it with another stick of memory(2gb ddr3) from a friend it didn't boot
it only kept beeping, no signal on monitor whatsoever.

-Tried putting only the 2gb ddr3 stick (friend gave me) on slot 1,2,3,4 and it didn't boot
-Tried putting only the 2gb Sodimm ddr3 on slot 1,2,3,4 and it booted.

Conclusions: The Ram my friend gave me was broken?

if so what kind of ram should i buy if i can't buy the exact same ram the prebuilt had.

Thanks in advance.

If you cant get the exact same brand etc... Your best bet is to get something with exactly the same specs minus the size. Not just the speed but also the timings. Odds are the stick you tried was either the wrong speed or the wrong timing, or both. The stuff you have now should have the specs on the sticker, if not you should look into something like hwmonitor to give you more detailed info about what you are currently using so you can look up what you need to know.

Your friend could have given you a perfectly good stick but because of the limitations of the board it wouldnt work. There is more to ram than just being ddr3.

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Thanks will do and update this thread if it works.

Another program you can try to find the information you need is Rammon. I just installed and ran this program it gave me all the information I needed to upgrade my ram, if I was going to. Don't try to run this program on a virtual machine it won't work.

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Yeah, Rammon would probably give better info from the looks of it. Good call.

Another option is to use a compatibility check on a manufacturer's website.

I like Crucial, so here's a link for the Acer M3970 page: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-upgrade-for/Acer/aspire-m3970

IIRC Kingston has something similar as well.