how hard is it to ...

[der]

I want to add some memory to my computer. Is that something I can do myself without alot of difficulty or do I have to hire someone to do it for me?

[700mb80min]

Nothing to it ...... firstly go to http://www.crucial.com/ for the test to decide what ram you need . After purchasing your new ram , you simply " snap " it into place and power up .

Get your ram and post back for more detailed instructions.

[der]

ok ,, another question ,,, my current mb is 256 ,, my capacity is 2048. It shows several that I can choose from ,, all they way from 128mb to 1 gb. Now my question ,, I have only one slot left for memory installation .. should I go all the way and get the most memory or is it all that necessary to have that much??
The biggest reason I am looking for more memory is because I do alot of graphics work .. many animated and it seems if I leave alot of them stored on my computer, it gives me fits as if it is too much for it to handle well. So ,,, how do I figure how much I should need?

[700mb80min]

Hard to say der , depends on what you run while you are working with graphics . As a rule of thumb 1024 should be sufficient for you so maybe go with a 512 stick plus your 256 and try it .

Note the ram speed from crucial before you buy .You will definately notice a difference .

[der]

ok ,, I am going to ask a couple of questions here ... might sound a little dumb, I dont know .. but I have to figure this out. I probably should take my puter in and have someone look at it, but I dont want to - so am trying to figure this on my own.

Is it possible that the memory I have now is damaged or something and how would I know or find that out? Can I even find out without having someone look at it?

[700mb80min]

Sorry the the tardy response ..... ram can be a funny creature but generally if your system boots , ram is not the issue . Your process list may very well be the culprit while doing graphics . Post your computer specs from http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html and we`ll go from there.

[Mobo]

Wouldn't hurt to try this as well Der:

http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html

[der]

well .. I downloaded the Belarc advisor. The first time I tried to run it, it froze part way through, so I got offline and disabled my antivirus software. Then it ran fine .. did its check .. popped up the log .. then poof ,, frozen computer. I couldn't come here to post my results - I actually couldn't go anywhere. I even tried to copy and paste the log, so I could save it after shut down. But I couldn't do anything, including shut my computer off. I ended up pulling the plug . I turned computer on - tried it one more time and it did the same thing. So ,, once I got the computer back on again .. I uninstalled it and did a clean up ... and here I am . I intended to download the memory test as well, but now I dont know if I want to . But I am open for suggestions.
Will check back in tomorrow tho .. fibro is kicking my butt and it is time to call it quits.

(mobo ,, good to see you back) (((hugs)))der

[der]

tried this one more time but with the same results ... so not sure where to go from here

[Mobo]

Der. All this freezing up. When did it start and have you put in new ram yet ?

In addition run a full online virus scan here:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/