PC Crashed again with alarming message

[Sebby]

Not long to go now, David.

[Rik]

I built my first computer knowing nothing about how a PC is put together, but it honestly makes sense when you have a look.

Of course, whether it works is another matter...

[David]

I have a season ticket for pc world 

[Rik]

Autumn or Winter? 

[David]

Must be winter as it has a special section which states "Only use if screen is frozen" so ?

[Rik]

[David]

 

[David]

Well they have arrived,very impressed with the service,have to pop around the school then its fun time 

[David]

Well its in and everything seems to be ok the hard drive clicking a little,just carried out a scan and the results are puzzling as there is no sign that anything has changed it is showing up as
Memory capcity 2048
Currently installed 521 MB
Availaible slots 2

Should this not have changed ?

Seems to be faster almost instant

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[Dangerjunkie]

Well its in and everything seems to be ok the hard drive clicking a little,just carried out a scan and the results are puzzling as there is no sign that anything has changed it is showing up as
Memory capcity 2048
Currently installed 521 MB
Availaible slots 2

Should this not have changed ?

Seems to be faster almost instant

Sorry I'm being lazy. How much memory did you have and how much did you just put in?

Do you have to do anything in the BIOS setup screen when you add memory on that machine? One of my Dells I did...

Cheers,
Paul.

[David]

This should have doubled it Paul so a little confused

[Dangerjunkie]

In that case I'd say that either you need to go into the BIOS and save something for the memory size to change or that one of the sticks isn't correctly seated/is faulty and isn't being recognised.

If you go into the BIOS setup is there a section where it tells you what is plugged into each memory slot?

So you had 2x256 and you replaced it with 2x512 if I understand right?

Cheers,
Paul.

edit: could also be a dirty/defective RAM socket on the motherboard.

[David]

Thanks I will double check the seating  first Paul

[Dangerjunkie]

OK I would go into the BIOS setup as well. One of my Dells refused to recognise a memory upgrade until I'd gone in and resaved the config.

Cheers,
Paul.

[Sebby]

David, what is displayed if you right-click on my computer then select Properties? It should tell you the amount of RAM installed.

How much did you have before and what have you just fitted?

[David]

I GB RAM Sebby

[Sebby]

You've just fitted 1GB, or that's what Windows is showing, or both?

[David]

It showing it in my computer section Sebby

[Sebby]

Then all is fine. It must just be the Crucial scanner - perhaps clearing your browser cache will sort that, but if Windows reports 1GB is installed, then 1GB is installed.

[David]

  thought it was faster although didnt get it for speed but certainly seems to have got faster 

[Sebby]

Good to hear.

[David]

Then all is fine. It must just be the Crucial scanner - perhaps clearing your browser cache will sort that, but if Windows reports 1GB is installed, then 1GB is installed.

Scanner stayed the same on SIW but when I looked at the cpu usage it clearly shows memory of 1GB so alls well...... cleared the browser cache while I was about it too

[drummer]

Sorry to put a damper on your success, but do keep an eye (ear?) on the hard drive clicking because if it persists, there's a pretty good chance it's on the way out.

When you boot the computer, one click is probably normal, but if you get anything resembling a "tick-tock" during boot up, it's time to backup everything on that drive sharpish.

[David]

Thanks Drummer carry out back ups once a week its quiet now.to be honest I have got so used to it as it has been like this since it came out the box.....that was just over 12 months ago warranty just up.

It was like a sky + box at one time,my last sky box made the same noise.but will bear it in mind many thanks am looking at changing it but have to some more reading 

[LesD]

Good work David, 

Here is another way to get an overview of what you computer build is.
Use:
Start -> Help and Support -> Use Tools to view your computer information ...... -> My Computer Information -> View general system information about this computer

Using this route in XP should show you a picture like the one I have attached below.



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