RAM

I just installed a few sticks of RAM and i was just wondering how do i know if i installed it correctly or how do i know if its working or not?

Crap!  You beat me to that.

They only fit one way in their slots.  Each stick has a key slot manufactured into them that fit into the RAM rails.  Look into the rail and turn your stick to be sure it aligns itself with the key slot.  Again, they fit only one way.  Once you've gotten them lined up and dropped into the rail, push on both ends of the RAM stick as evenly as possible until they snap into the rail.  You'll need to go ahead and give it a good steady push to get them to seat.  Do not force jam them abruptly, just continue to apply steady pressure evenly until they lock into place.  That addresses the "install" part.

How do you know if they're working correctly?  Well, the machine turns on and you see a picture on your monitor.  You would definitely know if your RAM wasn't working correctly.  The PC will go through a series of boot scrolls on the screen, you will here a short beep from the MOBO that indicates it posted properly and then it boots into Windows.  If you get no errors (Black screen or Blue screen) then your PC is working correctly.  If your PC won't leave the boot screen and restarts itself, locks up, starts to smoke, you see fire coming from any location within the case itself or you get a nasty rash on the palm of your hand, you'll probably want to get a fire extinguisher and put that fire out, call DS and talk to them about that and get an ointment for the palm rash.

But, I will say, sirsiddius is correct in saying that you'll need to push that start button first.  Without that, you'll go nowhere fast.



Edited by EdH63 - 01 Oct 2009 at 7:18pm

just one last question am running vista and i was just wondering how can i get the system to stop using so much cpu and memory  

Actually, there is only one way to be sure your memory is really working, particularly if you've got a boatload of it. That's to run a progam like MemTest86 which rigorously tests all your system memory. Run it for 24 hours if you really want to feel warm and fuzzy.

Also is windows 7 a resource hog too?

so i just modify enablesuperfetch and not the other ones like enableprefecher, videoinitime and enableboot trace is that correct

Edited by Rambo - 03 Oct 2009 at 10:51am