HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptops can be a mystery on upgrading RAM, but not any more. HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptops take DDR RAM not DDR2 RAM. You should use PC2700 333MHz Memory chips, the board will accept 400MHz but it will not make use of the extra MHz. HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptops can handle to 2 Chips of 1 GB each of RAM.
RAM for the HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptops can run anywhere from $80 – $110 for 1 GB chip, unless you go to EBay where I discovered them at $34 each.
The first and easiest RAM chip to upgrade is located at the bottom of the laptop. Simply turn your laptop over and you will see an expansion slot between the 2 fans. It will have one screw holding the cover on. Remove that screw and cover. Spread latches on both sides of the RAM chip and remove the chip that may be located there. Should no chip be located there, simply slip in the chip until the latches on either side click into place. Be sure you are lining up the RAM chip correctly with their proper slotting. Replace the cover and screw the cover on.
Now comes the hard part. With your laptop still turned upside down near where your plug adaptor goes, unscrew the 2 screws in the silver, and the 4 screws on the black. It’s very important that you not only unscrew the 2 screws in the silver area, but the 4 on the black. Some laptops may contain 5 in the black. The reason you need to unscrew all these screws in the same area is because you are going to be lifting the keyboard. And if you haven’t removed the proper screws you will need up prying your laptop apart and could cause damage. This really is easy providing the right screws were removed.
After the screws are removed from your HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptop turn it over and lift your screen up and back flat with the keyboard. Take your screw driver and gently pry up the silver section that contains the power button and WI-FI unit. It should lift from either side with a gentle push up in the middle and flip just like the screen. You don’t have to take out the entire plastic piece to reach the 4 screws that are securing your keyboard.
Now your keyboard connection is uncovered, you should see 4 screws holding down your HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptop keyboard. Remove those 4 screws and carefully lift the keyboard laying it flat over your touchpad. The silver screws that were holding the screen on will be extremely small, be careful where you place those, and if you have pets or children you may want to do this after they are in bed.
You can now see your memory slot. Spread apart the latches on each side of the memory chip and remove the old chip. Gently slide in your new chip listening carefully for the click of each side as it secures in the memory slot. Once again, being sure you are lining up the RAM chip correctly with their proper slotting
Fold the keyboard back over the RAM slot to where it was originally located. Replace the 4 screws and snap down the cover you pried off. Close your screen and turn your HP Pavilion zv5000 series laptop over. Replace all 6 or 7 screws you removed.
When you boot, right click your “My Computer” icon on your desktop and select “Properties. At the bottom just above “Support Information” you should see “Computer: HP” then you will see your processor and Pentium speed. Just under that you should see the amount of RAM you just put in. If it’s not reading correctly the amount you put in, one chip may not be secure in its slot, or could possibly be bad or mismatched RAM. It will not read the full amount of 2 GB if that is what you put in because some is used for video speed. Please see pictures attached as example.
