Re: OT: Web runs slow after RAM upgrade

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Norman Bauman  on Tue, 23 Dec 2003
01:09:35 -0500

> Over the weekend I upgraded the memory from 48MB to the maximum, 256MB.

> ... sometimes they freeze entirely and I can't even get
> control-alt-delete. IE scrolls very slowly, but after I log off the
> Internet, I can then scroll the same HTML pages at normal speed.

This is really OT, and complicated. But... you don't say whether programs
speed up when you're logged off -- you refer to "normal speed". No way should
they be "normal" if you've gone from 48 (barely adequate) to 256 Mb -- they
should be faster. Did you install compatible memory -- same type as the
original memory? How large is your L2 cache (on your MOBO)? Can it handle
256Mb? If it can't, then everything will slow down. I read somewhere that
Win98 reads memory from the end, not the beginning -- uncached memory, then
cached. It sounds to me like when you're connecting to the Net, you're tipping
over into a new part of memory (which maybe "ain't there") -- crossing some
line, obviously. But resource conflict is the #1 suspect, of course. Did you
enlarge your virtual disk (your swapper file)? On my 256Mb machines, I use a
swapfile of about 380Mb. What does the BIOS report for installed memory? Have
you upgraded your BIOS, recently or ever? If you're dialing up, what's that
"Colorado FC-20" mean, on IRQs 3 and 4 (3 _and_ 4???) -- what piece of
equipment is that? It's grabbing COM1 and COM2!

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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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