for all you computer people out there

[dbo]

Hey all hopfully you can help me out because i am retarted when it comes to computers. I curently own a Dell Dimension 4700c and i am looking into getting some ram. Now here is my question my friend recomended i get 2 sticks of 512mb ram that have a speed of pc3200 what ever that is?!?!? He recomended 2 companys kingston and micron because he sayd there are cheaper companys out there but there stuff might not work as well... now what should i look out for or find before i actully go about doing this.. my comp curently has a clock speed of 3.00ghz. it only has 256mb of ram in it and its new and locks up like heck. Any help would be aprecited thanks.

[ip42800ht]

3.0 with 256 is a bottleneck.

Get two more sticks of Crucial or Kingston memory; at a speed of 3200...at least. You'll have two open spaces for RAM, you should.

[4wheeled maniac]

Try this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820223009)! I'm guessing that Dell's use 184 pin, right?? I've got 2 of these in my custom computer and its lightning fast! Great price too!

[thedominator]

I have heard good things about kingston memory. You should have at least a gig these days.

[dood]

don't assume anything, 4wheel....

I ran the dimension 4700c through Crucial.com's memory lookup thing, and it shows that you have DDR2 memory.

This is what I would suggest for you- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146370

Crucial also tells me that you only have 2 memory slots total, so you may want to look into just getting a single 512, a single 1gb, or buy the kit linked above and sell your old 256mb on ebay or something. Just make sure that you're buying DDR2 and not the original DDR. Standard DDR is not backwards compatible w/ DDR2.

[4wheeled maniac]

Dood, I wasn't sure on what slot he had, so thanks for clearing that up!

[dood]

4wheel- I was kinda surprised, myself. Guess when he said it was new, he meant it!

[bnkrazy]

Originally posted by dbo
...its new and locks up like heck.

If it is literally locking up to the point that you must power it off, it may not be as simple as getting new RAM.

Locking up repeatedly could be a sign of many things, mostly bad hardware. You may get lucky and have it be the RAM, but it could be anything. Frequent lock ups are most commonly from a bad or overloaded power supply. How many devices are in the PC? What is the PS rating?

Hopefully since it is new it is also under warranty.

You could run memtest86+ to check and see if it is the RAM. [link] (http://www.memtest.org/#downiso)

If it is not completely locking up and you can end-task the offending application, it may well be the RAM...or if it is one application that consistantly locks it up, it may be that app...one way to find out...test it.

[Curbe]

I'm not a Dell fan but as I understand it, they will support their equipment no matter how old it is. Their tech support is second to none in the industry. I build my own PC's so have never dealt with them.

I would start with them, they *should* be able to advise you and get you headed in the right direction. You *may* have to buy whatever hardware they think you need but nobody knows their systems like they do.

I would call Dell first.

[razer]

Originally posted by Curbe
I'm not a Dell fan but as I understand it, they will support their equipment no matter how old it is. Their tech support is second to none in the industry. I build my own PC's so have never dealt with them.

I would start with them, they *should* be able to advise you and get you headed in the right direction. You *may* have to buy whatever hardware they think you need but nobody knows their systems like they do.

I would call Dell first. Indeed. You can even look up your computer on their website & it will tell you what sort of memory you need to use for it when upgrading, whether you want to buy the memory from them or not.

[dood]

Their tech support *used* to be second to none. Now it's all outsourced, and you can be prepared for a long wait before you get to talk to anyone...

Also, it could be that you have this machine so totally loaded up with spyware and viruses that it's causing it to lock up. Wouldn't be that far-fetched....

[dbo]

No it dosnt lock up too often maby twice a day and only for like a min. at a time then it catches up. Dell...I will never call Dell nore by any of their products again there Tech suport Sucks nothing but indians you cant understand. They diddnt help me 1 bit. for the 6+ houres i spent trying to fix my other dell... I am never buying one again. And i run Adware and microsofts spyware daily and have Norten as well its not viruses or spyware i no that. But i also get this stupid error message that i cant seem to get rid off. It says power surge on hub port and every time i start my comp it comes up... my Computer is plugged in through a surge protecter if that matters... every time i try to click out of the baloon message it just pops right back up repetidly. I have been getting really frustrated these past 2 weeks. There is nothiing i hate more then my complocking up when im trying to do important stuff etc i just wana punch my hand through the flat panel moniter AND belive me im the most non violent person. Anyways thanks for all your replies.

[Highlanduh]

Originally posted by dbo
... every time i try to click out of the baloon message it just pops right back up repetidly.
1. What does the message say?
2. What exactly are you doing when the comp hangs (surfing the 'net, editing pics, etc)?

[dbo]

soon as i start the comp up not even 2 min into teh start up process it says power surge on hub portand after i clik the baloon this is what it says up top in teh box.... A USB device has malfuntioned and has exceeded its power limits of its hub port. you should dissconect this devise. The only thing i have in my USB ports as of now are my mouse and my keybourd thats it the only other plug going into my comp is the 56k looking plug for my inetrnet

[Highlanduh]

Originally posted by dbo
.... A USB device has malfuntioned and has exceeded its power limits of its hub port. you should dissconect this devise.This should be obvious, but it seems that there is something wrong with either the mouse or the keyboard (or the USB port).
You should contact Dell and explain the issue before doing anything else.

You can also try a PS/2 mouse and keyboard or try using different USB ports.

EDIT: You might also want to read this (http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&cs=19&docid=E8F4F6154F167AE9E030030ABD622A91&journalid=E07B890FF49F11D9964C015B8D903451&l=en&s=dhs#enus).

EDIT AGAIN: Did it hang when it was new, right out of the box?
If not, then back up whatever data you need to CD/DVD and do a Dell PC Restore (http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kb/en/document?dn=1090151).

[bnkrazy]

Heh, I actually just ran across this MS KB article today...

clicky clicky (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;870893)

From the article:

To work around this issue, you must power the USB device by an external power source if one is available for the device. For example, you may be able to use an AC adapter to power the USB device.

I would definately try swapping out your USB keybd/mouse for a cheapo ps2 style and see if that fixes it...

[dbo]

It dosnt affect anything as in preventing me to do anything the messege keeps poping up. There aren't any aparent signs of it afecting anything if it diddnt come I wouldn't even no there was a problem

[Highlanduh]

Originally posted by dbo
It dosnt affect anything as in preventing me to do anything the messege keeps poping up. There aren't any aparent signs of it afecting anything if it diddnt come I wouldn't even no there was a problem
It appears that my 1st link above might not work.
If not, go to Dell's support, choose your PC's model, and type "USB power exceeded" in the search box.

It appears that it's a known issue and they provide a patch to fix it:
Dell Software Engineering has provided a patch to turn off the false balloon messaging that is displayed by the operating system. Download file name R89758.exe from http://support.dell.com.

But you said your system hangs for around 1 minute a couple of times a day.
What are you doing when that happens?

[dbo]

Aim, Internet, and and a game at most

[traxxasmaniac]

Don't want to take over your thread but, I have a question. I picked up a used Emachines T1840 from a freind for $5. It says it uses Pc2100 ram. Can I use like pc3200 ram? It only has 128 mb of it.:(:( Also what it a good, cheap, power supply. Thanks

traxxasmaniac

[razer]

Go to kingston.com or crucial.com & they both will tell you what memory will work with your systems.

Sometimes you can use PC3200 RAM in a system that came with PC2100 RAM, but it will run at 2100 instead of 3200 because of the rest of the system. Some systems don't like high-density chips & you really won't be able to tell until you try some & it doesn't work. If you go to one or both of the websites I just mentioned & give them a try, they both guarantee that the memory they recommend will work with your system.

[traxxasmaniac]

Thanks Razer, you know it all.

traxxasmaniac