My computer is currently running Windows 98 and is about six years old. The standard RAM that came with the computer was 128MB but my computer kept crashing, ran slow and regularly displayed error messages. To fix this problem I bought a 256MB RAM and replaced the standard RAM. My computer is only slighty faster and still freezes up often. How can I fix this? Should I install both the new RAM and the old together and create 384MB? Can I do this? I heard that only the same brands of RAM can be installed and run together. Are there any other tips on making my computer faster? I regulary run 'Disk Defragmenter','Scandisk' and 'Disk Clean-up'. My computer also restarts occasionally for no reason but this happened before and after altering the RAM.

Please help me

Kieran

Kieran,

Can you provide us with some more details about your PC's hardware? Is it a brand name computer or a generic one? Do you know what type of RAM you bought? Do you know the type of CPU installed? How much free hard drive space do you have? Are you running any anti-virus/firewall/anti-spyware apps?

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Hi, It's a "GenuineIntel, Pentium(r) III Processor 256.0MB RAM Win98 2nd Edition" is that enough info? I'm not sure what brand name and generic comp mean but I bought it from the company that makes it (The PC Company) and haven't changed anything to do with it except replacing the RAM. The old RAM said on it "PC133 128MB 8M*8 SDRAM" and I think it also was a product from "The PC company". The new RAM is "Kingston 256MB PC133 SDRAM" that's all the info I can give about the new RAM because I bought It offline, I'm quoting the auction and the RAM is now installed in my PC. I'm not sure what a CPU is? how can I find this out? sorry I'm not more knowledgeable about PC's. My hard-drive is 16.0GB (1.90GB used and 14.1GB free). Yes I am running McAfee virus,firewall,ad-ware, and privacy programs. They are provided by the broadband supplier at a monthly cost.

Is that much help?

Kieran

Even I worked on a PIII machine taht had 64 MB of RAM, upgraded it 256MB, but was dissappointed with only a little improvemnt in performance, then waht I did was install WinXP and voila! The way XP handled the system was amazing, so I suggest installing WinXP 'cuz that "harnesses" the power of ur machine much better, I went in for dual boot 'cuz I had HDD space to spare but since u don't have a much hard disk you should uninstall a few programs that u do not use and defrag the hard disk to optimize the performance of ur PC, even if u don't reinstall the OS.

Kieran, have you ever reformatted and reinstalled 98? Windows (especially the versions prior to Win2k) almost requires you to reload the OS at least once a year. From Registry corruption, lost drivers, and orphaned files, your computer will slow down over time. Even if you regulary defrag and run scandisk, Windows will slowly "die" over time.

My recommendation is to backup whatever valuable data you have then peform a complete format and reinstall Windows. Since your computer is so old, putting XP on it won't help; XP's minimum requirements probably exceed your current computer's specs.

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No, they don't.
KieranC's coputer just manages to meet the minimum sys requirements, which are as follows:

Processor:300MHz or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum supported
Memory: 128MB or higher recommended; 64MB minimum supported
Hard Disk: 1.5 GB of avilable space
Display: Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution video monitor

This is what is mentioned on the flyer of WinXP that came with my PC, so installing WinXP should not be a problem.

Hi, would installing winxp make my PC perform better than it is now? Earlier in this thread I asked If installing both old and new RAM would make my PC run faster than at present. Since installing the 256MB RAM my PC has shown minimal differences and appears to be worse off than b4. It continues to display illegal operation error messages in some of my programs and freezes up to or around 20 times a day. I am still frequently running disk cleanup,defragmenter,scandisk probably more often than suggested. I even un-installed a few programs. Is my PC really dying? that makes me feel a whole lot better. I'm not sure how 2 re-install win 98. I no longer have most of the CD's that came with it including the win 98 CD.

Any Suggestions?

Kieran

Yeah installing XP would sure do ur PC a world of good; regarding the RAM you'll prolly have check your main-board specifications if it supporst dual channel memory modules, having boh of them would not be a bad idea. Given your current system status (frequent application hang ups etc. etc.). Your OS definately needs a re-install for sure.
All the best.

hi, how do I check the main-board specifications? How do I re-install windows 98. Do I need the CD that came with the PC? Would Installing both RAM modules make the computer better or worse considering the state of the OS?

I disagree about XP. If the computer is 6 years old, it may meet the minimum specs for XP, but it won't run that well. The system as a whole just wasn't made for XP's capabilities. Yes, XP has better memory managment and other tweaks, but it's so bloated w/ "features" that the system will bog down. Hence the difference between minimum and recommended specs.

IMO, use the money you'd spend on buying XP and just get a whole new system. You can always copy your important data over to it. If you don't want to do that, then just reformat and reinstall 98.

If the system came w/ a "recovery disk" or something similar, you should be able to just boot from that and make your choice from a menu. The motherboard book or manufacturer's website should have info on what type of memory your board supports; installing them both (if they will work) is great, but only after you've reinstalled the OS.

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