Memory is my friend!

[girlyswot]

I've had the laptop for about 8 months now, running Vista with 1GB RAM. This was fine at first but recently it's been getting slower and slower and I have one programme that I couldn't use because it would just bluescreen immediately.

So today I bit the bullet and took it in to Circuit City, paid the money and came home with 3GB RAM installed. Honestly, the computer now works faster than my brain. It's scary! It feels like having a new computer again.

ETA: Why are things never that straightforward with computers?

About an hour in, I suddenly got a dark blue screen with the ominous words 'Hardware Malfunction'. I did what any normal person would do - ignored it. Turned the computer off and on again. It worked perfectly, at the lightning fast speed, for the rest of the afternoon. Put it on hibernate to come home, try turning it back on - nothing. Just the Vaio flash, then no Windows, nothing.

Took it back to Circuit City where another teenager looked at it and shook his head. Apparently my computer (or possibly my version of Vista) won't cope with 3GB. So he took out one of the newly installed cards, and voilá, it works again, though not quite so fast. We're not back to yesterday's level of slowness. I'd say it's now about the speed of my brain, so that's good. Plus I get to return the memory card I didn't need, so it's saved money too.

I think I'm happy. So long as it WORKS this time!

Comments

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

Does this mean you get to waste spend more time on LJ?

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think it ought to mean the opposite since I won't have to waste time waiting for pages to load and things like that.

Plus, you know, next week semester starts again, severely cutting into my LJ time! Though I'm hoping to have a little something ready to share next Friday.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

Whoot! Whoot! In case you're wondering, it is now just after 7 am on Friday 1st. You ust be almost a day behind.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Okay. Will aim for Thursday lunchtime then. Don't get too excited, though...

[grandma-kate.livejournal.com]

Glad you are on the fast track again.

Dear Oatmeal has built himself and others many puters from scratch. And even though he is a Mac convert since he married me, he still hangs out a lot at electronics places. I'd been complaining that Big Mama was running slow, so he brought home a 1G memory stick, flipped the old dear on her side, and plugged it in. She like a teen again. Instant improvement.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Hello, Kate. If only one could upgrade one's own memory and become like a teen again!

I've been meaning to leave a comment on your post about cancer and Jane Austen, to say congratulations and also, I think the current 'series' of films is a pretty mixed bag. Some were BBC productions and others made for a commercial channel in the UK - and I think that shows. The most recent crop (Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Mansfield Park) really don't have a lot to recommend them.

For Persuasion, you can't beat the Ciaran Hinds/Amanda Root version that came out about 10 years ago. It was beautifully filmed with some of the best acting I've ever seen, a great script that stayed close to the book - just a joy to watch.

I do love Mansfield Park and Fanny Price, though I know that's not a popular opinion. I think that's why so many of the adaptations fail - because they're written by people who don't really like the book or the characters as they are, so they try to change them.

I've never much cared for Northanger Abbey and I haven't seen this adaptation, so I can't comment.

For Emma, the Gwyneth Paltrow version was, surprisingly, far superior to the Kate Beckinsale one. And for S&S and P&P, of course, you can't beat Emma Thompson and Colin Firth respectively.

I really disliked Becoming Jane, but I'll be interested to see what you make of the bio that they're showing.

[dogstar101.livejournal.com]

Faster than Ros's brain? Blimey, that IS scary :-P

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

The computer clearly got scared too, and refused to work. It's now back to a more manageable level of reaction.

[amamama.livejournal.com]

Oh, I hate that phrase, 'Hardware Malfunction'. Ours has had a penchant for 'Kernel instack page error' which is completely Greek to me, but thankfully we've discovered that opening the cover and vacuuming the insides does the trick. I've heard a lot of different stuff about Vista, not all of it good. Hubby dear refused to get Vista installed when the laptop was fixed, he swears to XP until they get all their wrinkles ironed out. I'm holding my thumbs, hoping your DC keeps on working - at the speed of your brain. That should be fast enough for almost any computer.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

I think Vista works fine. Obviously there were teething problems and there's always the issue of software upgrading. But it does need a computer with sufficient memory and 1GB isn't really enough.

[megan29.livejournal.com]

"I suddenly got a dark blue screen..."

Aah, the blue screen of death, as it is affectionately known on slashdot.

I would not put money on your computer working properly now - though of course I hope it does. Long and painful experience has taught me to mistrust, abhor and downright hate any piece of software (affectionately known as crap) made my Microsoft.

No, I'm not a Mac person. Sadly, my laptop runs XP, as I've given up Linux due to insufficient driver support. As such, my laptop needs rebooting about 3 times a day. Worse, at work I got pushed into being administrator for a server machine, which runs XP. That one is the biggest pain in my behind - I cannot scream loud enough to express it. The only consolation is that my office computer runs Linux - good, old reliable Linux.

Whatever possessed you to buy Vista?! I hear they still sell laptops with XP, and Dells even come with Ubuntu (saving you a ton of money, not to mention frustration). Well, I guess it's too late now, but keep it in mind for next time.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Actually, I don't dislike Vista. Quite a lot of the new features are good. You just do have to have enough memory to make it work.

Next time? I'm pretty sure that by the time there's a next time for me buying a computer, XP will be long dead.

[megan29.livejournal.com]

I meant, next time keep Ubuntu (or some other good Linux distro) in mind. Linux will never disappear - and one day it will finally win the OS war. (I predict around year 2500). :-)

[alkari.livejournal.com]

I hear they still sell laptops with XP,
They sure do! Down Under, there was such an outcry from purchasers about Vista glitches after it was released, that retailers and suppliers were forced to offer customers the option of which OS they wanted installed on any new PCs or laptops. Naturally, they had tried to sell Vista-only machines, but people kept coming back and demanding that Vista be uninstalled, and there a lot of very angry customers. Many businesses are very wary of changing their systems over until it performs better, so I'd say it's been quite a PR disaster for Micrsoft.

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

AFAIK, all the glitches have been sorted out BUT obviously there will be some older software that won't run AND you do have to have enough RAM to make it work properly. But it's really not as bad as people have tried to say. Every time there's an OS change, people complain. And then get used to it.

I wouldn't advise anyone buying new to get XP now. Just make sure you get a machine that will run Vista properly.

[alkari.livejournal.com]

I know several people, including experienced IT users, who continue to have problems with various glitches! And once of the main reasons for people demanding XP was integration with existing systems - if an office needed to replace a computer, they did not want to have one running Vista with all its issues, and the rest happily existing on XP. Manadatory "improvements" to systems dictated by Micro-God were not appreciated by the business world!

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Well, but that's always the case with new OS's and businesses running networks. It's different when you're buying one for personal use.

[crumplehornedki.livejournal.com]

thanks for the tip, I'm looking at getting a laptop of my own at some stage this year and I've been looking at ones with 1GB RAM so I should obviously be looking for 2GB minimum which of course ramps the price up!

but then again we may buy a house instead - oh the dilemma laptop vs house :P

[girlyswot.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely get 2GB or if you can stretch to it, 3GB. I think that's more important than hard drive space, since you can easily store things on a flash drive if that runs out.

[alkari.livejournal.com]

What dilemma? With a new laptop, you can "live" in a sumptuous virtual palace if you so desire! :p

[moonette1.livejournal.com]

LOL!