Rob picked up some new RAM for my computer, reasoning that it might help with some of the sluggishness problems I’ve been having. Alas, when installed, the computer turns on but fails to boot. So I pulled them out and put the old RAM back in.
I’m sure it’s my imagination but the darn thing seems slower than before. It is five years old, so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that it’s cranky.
You may just be making a comment, and not really looking for advice, but I can’t help myself. Re-installing Windows will make a huge difference. If that’s too drastic, then a good defrag would probably not hurt.
Thanks. We’d tried those earlier before moving on to trying to add more RAM.
If your operating system is Windows XP, just be aware that without downloading the latest patches, it tends to not work if the RAM you installed goes beyond 2 GB…
Ah. I didn’t know that. I’ll have to check to see if I have the latest patch. Thanks!
Is this the laptop I saw last year or a desktop machine? If you look around you may still be able to find a new “obsolete” desktop with XP for a couple of hundred dollars. That would be the simplest solution if you don’t have too much specialized software loaded. If you want speed, avoid Vista.
If it is the laptop a cheap new one is harder to find. If there is nothing else wrong with it, you might consider a new hard drive. They do wear out and if you know the specifications for the old one you may be able to find one with a faster access speed that would help out a little. Also newer ones tend to have memory built in to speed access up even more.
What will help the most depends on what you are doing with it. If you are doing a lot of graphic design, the memory always help, but if you want to be able to open a program quicker, a faster hard drive will help the most.
John
This is my laptop. I don’t actually own a desktop machine. It’s generally wearing out, but I’m trying to keep it alive for the rest of the year. I just installed Ubuntu, which is zippier but a lot of the programs I use need to run on Windows, which just puts me back into the same problem as before — and yes, it’s graphic design.
At least writing is faster now.
I’ve no magic bullet on that one. I’m stuck with Windows for the same reasons. I run SolidWorks and AutoCAD and have to have Windows. I wound up replacing my laptop about 5 months ago because it would stop working if I pressed the case in the wrong place. 🙁 I have a desk top too though.
I’ve been trying to get WINE to work but the documentation seems to have nothing to do with the actual program.