wierd computer problem

[Rumble]

1.7ghz pentium 4
512 mb ram
80 gb hd, about 75 free
radeon 9200
windows xp

ok im having this wierd problem, when i turn on my computer, windows boots to a black screen with the cursor. somtimes it can take up to a half hour for windows to work. so me, being all confused tried a number of things to fix this with no luck, so i reinstalled windows, formatted the HD, and still, no luck. So ive updated my BIOS, and every driver i can think of. still no luck. Also, to add insult to injury, when windows finally boots up, occasionally the process "winlogon.exe" uses up 99% of my resourses, causeing the computer to go really laggy/hang up for about 1-20 minutes. any help would be great thanks!

[impostal22]

try changing the slots the RAM is in...what brand of RAM is it? if that doesn't work, i'd try replacing the RAM.

[Rumble]

ok, i heared about the RAM ting, so i opened up the case, i have two 256 mb sticks. so i took one out, and the system wouldent fire up at all, but when i switched them, it seamed to work a little better, but i am still getting the prolem, if only to a lesser extent. it says on the chip "spectec" is that good? thanks for all the help

[impostal22]

Originally posted by Rumble
ok, i heared about the RAM ting, so i opened up the case, i have two 256 mb sticks. so i took one out, and the system wouldent fire up at all, but when i switched them, it seamed to work a little better, but i am still getting the prolem, if only to a lesser extent. it says on the chip "spectec" is that good? thanks for all the help

spectec huh..never ever heard of em..it could very well be the problem..especially if changing the slots improved performance slightly. did you use completely different slots or did you just swap the locations? if you can afford it, i'd suggest getting some nice corsair ram for $40 per stick of 256...if your mobo can support pc3200..which i assume it can...free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-478&catalog=147&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1

[Rumble]

ok ill look into that, but how would i find out if I can support pc3200? My motherboard is a Intel 845.

[MarkM]

Originally posted by Rumble
ok, i heared about the RAM ting, so i opened up the case, i have two 256 mb sticks. so i took one out, and the system wouldent fire up at all, but when i switched them, it seamed to work a little better, but i am still getting the prolem, if only to a lesser extent. it says on the chip "spectec" is that good? thanks for all the help

I don't know the make but are you saying that it will only work with two strips in different sockets to when you started as you should be able to boot with one stick...if you can't the slot or the memory has an issue..do you get a full memory check result with both sticks and neither of the pair will work on its on regardless of the slot it is in?

[impostal22]

Originally posted by MarkM


I don't know the make but are you saying that it will only work with two strips in different sockets to when you started as you should be able to boot with one stick...if you can't the slot or the memory has an issue..do you get a full memory check result with both sticks and neither of the pair will work on its on regardless of the slot it is in?

that's a good idea, try booting with just one stick (try with each stick)...if neither works, try a different slot...if one works and one doesn't, then the one that doesn't is corrupt.

ok ill look into that, but how would i find out if I can support pc3200? My motherboard is a Intel 845.

it depends on when it was made..the i845 started out only supporting SDRAM..but, realizing their idiocy in doing so, intel created new i845's with DDRAM support.

[Rumble]

MarkM, sorry I wasent very clear, My motherboard has 3 slots, and my two memory chips were on the first two. I took out the one on the right, (the middle of the three slots) and fired up the computer. When it diddent work, I tried the stick of RAM I took out, and put it where it was before, in the second slot. That seams to be working a little better

[Rumble]

the sticks I have seam to have two holes at the bottom, as compared to the one that the RAM i was told to buy has. Would this help at all?

[impostal22]

first try what i said two posts ago...
"that's a good idea, try booting with just one stick (try with each stick)...if neither works, try a different slot...if one works and one doesn't, then the one that doesn't is corrupt."

[impostal22]

Originally posted by Rumble
the sticks I have seam to have two holes at the bottom, as compared to the one that the RAM i was told to buy has. Would this help at all?

does your RAM look more like this

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=20-159-007-04.JPG

or like this

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=20-145-478-02.JPG/20-145-478-01.JPG

[Rumble]

like the top one. Sorry for the lack of clarity, I tried to attch a pic, but attachments seam to be down again. Im going to be restarting my computer now, so Thanks For all the help everone! Especially Impostal22!

[impostal22]

Originally posted by Rumble
like the top one. Sorry for the lack of clarity, I tried to attch a pic, but attachments seam to be down again. Im going to be restarting my computer now, so Thanks For all the help everone! Especially Impostal22!

np sir. you've got SDRAM, which kinda sucks lol..and i don't know of any high quality SDRAM makers out there...maybe markM or someone else does. i would seriously try doing what i suggested, because if you discover it's only one of the sticks that is bad, then you know the source of the problem and can replace it, more or less, easily.

[Rumble]

ok it seams that only one of the chips is causing a problem soooo.... looks like i gotta replace it. Ok so i have SDRAM? any way to change that? im guseeing no, save buying a new mother board. Any recomendations? i dont have a lot of cash, bit i could fork out 200 maybe if thats realistic. thanks!

[impostal22]

Originally posted by Rumble
ok it seams that only one of the chips is causing a problem soooo.... looks like i gotta replace it. Ok so i have SDRAM? any way to change that? im guseeing no, save buying a new mother board. Any recomendations? i dont have a lot of cash, bit i could fork out 200 maybe if thats realistic. thanks!

lol...200 would get you a new mobo AND ram...but you really odn't need to go that far if you're pleased with your comp's normal performance (plus if yuo're not too confident in your computer skillz, you dont wanna be installing a new mobo.

as for sdram recommendations, i'll get back to you on it!