RAM Access In The 840AV, 8100 and 8500 Macintosh Computers

Dana Collins is a valued contributor to the 1st PowerMacs email list.

Recently Dana posted the following directions for accessing the RAM slots of a Power Mac 8100. Dana pointed out that the same procedure also applies to the 840AV and the 8500 Macs as well. These directions are reproduced here (very slightly edited) with his permission.

After the metal sleeve is taken off of the unit:

1. Unplug and take off the CD-ROM drive (not really necessary but gives you a bit more room)

2. Unplug any Nubus or PDS cards you may have in the Mac.

3. From the top looking down (with front to your right):
   (carefully) unplug all the wiring you see. From back to front, iirc, the SCSI cable, the power harness, speaker wire, the cdrom audio, and the floppy drive cable (maybe 1 more thing, can't recall)

4. In front of the unit will be the power light/debugger button "chassis". This little prong of plastic serves to hold the light wire AND acts as a lock for keeping the motherboard in place. Unplug the light, squeeze the two tension prongs back, and slide the "chassis" out of the front.

5. In the middle of the back of the motherboard is one phillips head screw, unscrew it (of course!)

6. Again, from the top looking down (with front to your right):
   The motherboard is now only being retained by a tension prong on the top left and several "hooks" that fit into notches in the motherboard. Pull back on that top tension clip - you'll feel the motherboard release - and gently slide the motherboard to your right (towards the front); once free, gently lower the motherboard to the surface in flat position.

That should do it - hope I remembered everything. This same procedure is also done on the Quadra 840av, and the 8500.