Memory Upgrade for grandmas old comp?

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Computer gurus:

Comp is a Gateway 2-3 year old 1.80ghz processor, 128mb ram machine. It belonged to my grandmother who used it to write emails and do digital photos... Now that shes gone, and I moved into my grandpas house to keep him company- now I have to somehow use this slow *** comp for online classes.

In order for the machine to run, it uses almost all of the available ram to run system idle processes, so anytime you want to open the internet and Microsoft Word, the computer freezes up. My first question is, should I be able to run Windows XP on 128mb ram without problems or is there a way to free up some ram so i can do more than one thing at a time?

Please help! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Click to read more...

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Bump?

 

[jeeper07 5,000+ posts]

looks like your gonna need to buy some more ram... no way of gettin around it

 

[krouchchocolate 10+ year member]

U could run it but it might be kinda slow. Reformat the pc and start fresh.

 

[regal8r 5,000+ posts]

xp barely runs on 256mb //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

id just build a new computer...if funds allow of course. u can build a decent one for under 400 bux...

 

[crow 10+ year member]

Ram is a pretty cheap and easy upgrade. Crack it open and see what it takes. Kingston is a good brand.

 

[jimmclrk1 10+ year member]

I can sell you a 512mb stick of Kingston PC3200 ValueRAM for like $30 + shipping if you're interested.

 

[Pr0d1gy 10+ year member]

In order to upgrade the memory you will need to know what kind it uses first. To find this out, you will need the model number of the PC or the motherboard itself, so that you can find out what kind of memory it uses. Once you find out, you will need to know how much that motherboard can actually handle, then just buy the most you can for that board.

It is a simpler solution to buy a new PC really, but not everyone can or wants to do that. If you want to buy a new PC, make sure you get one with at least 1gb of RAM already in it, as I find XP runs much better on 1gb than 512mb.

Good luck with the fix, it should be simple enough & I can post a link to a picture based computer building guide so you can see how to add the RAM in case you haven't done it before.

Just send me a PM if you need more help.

128mb of RAM isn't good enough but you could try running an anti-spyware program if she hasn't done so before. It should help.

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Cool! I thought this thread would die, thanks for the replies! I will take it apart and see if there are any availiable slots for more ram. I have several ram sticks myself but I think they are the old 64mb and 28mb sticks, which won't help much.

Tomorrow morning I will pop the case off and have a looksee.

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Thanks Jmac! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif :veryhapp: //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

LAWL! 2.2 kb/s download speed.

Off to bed. It might be done in an hour or so //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

There she is. Played around with the program and it suggested: Upgrade memory to improve application performance, lol.

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition © 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------
Version EVEREST v2.20.405

Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/

Report Type Report Wizard

Computer GATEWAY

Generator Owner

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)

Date 2006-09-03

Time 10:05

--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

OS Service Pack Service Pack 1

DirectX 4.09.00.0900 (DirectX 9.0)

Computer Name GATEWAY

User Name Owner

Motherboard:

CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1800 MHz (18 x 100)

Motherboard Name Intel Rexburg D845GRG (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DIMM, Audio, Video)

Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale-G i845G

System Memory 125 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)

BIOS Type AMI (04/30/02)

Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)

Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:

Video Adapter Intel® 82845G/GL Graphics Controller (32 MB)

3D Accelerator Intel Extreme Graphics

Monitor Gateway EV700C [17" CRT] (123039736)

Multimedia:

Audio Adapter Intel 82801DB ICH4 - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-1]

Storage:

IDE Controller Intel® 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB

Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive

Disk Drive Maxtor 2B020H1 (20 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)

Disk Drive SanDisk Cruzer Mini USB Device (486 MB, USB)

Optical Drive LITE-ON LTR-40125S (40x/12x/48x CD-RW)

SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:

C: (NTFS) 19539 MB (6614 MB free)

Input:

Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard

Mouse Logitech USB WheelMouse

Network:

Network Adapter WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface (12.148.204.132)

Modem GTW V.92 Voicemodem

Peripherals:

Printer EPSON Stylus CX6400

Printer WinFax

USB1 Controller Intel 82801DB ICH4 - USB Controller [A-1]

USB1 Controller Intel 82801DB ICH4 - USB Controller [A-1]

USB1 Controller Intel 82801DB ICH4 - USB Controller [A-1]

USB2 Controller Intel 82801DB ICH4 - Enhanced USB2 Controller [A-1]

USB Device Logitech USB WheelMouse

USB Device USB Mass Storage Device

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Grab another 512 MB of PC2100 ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145024

You may want to toss some more hard drive in there as well ... 6.6 GB wouldn't last me a week //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

How do I do that? That is beyond my current knowledge.

The HD is indeed almost full //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

I'm gonna check out those old ram sticks... if at least one of them is 128mb that will get me double the nuts than before, right? That is all that is nessecary at this point i think, I'm going to have to get my own or build a comp.

Question- after inserting the chip, will the computer figure out how to use it on it's own or is there software i need or hardware configs that must be tweaked?

 

[Pr0d1gy 10+ year member]

Grab another 512 MB of PC2100 ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145024

You may want to toss some more hard drive in there as well ... 6.6 GB wouldn't last me a week //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

Heh. Yeah, I got 10+gb of pr0n alone...lol

 

[Pr0d1gy 10+ year member]

I've got 100+ GB of pr0n //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

We're not worthy!! We're not worthy!!!! Pass some along? ^_^ Megauplod links in my PM box FTMFW!!!