I'm still hooking up some old machines to use as testing stations. Questions - 1. All the machines use PC100 non ECC memory, and all had only 128mb installed. (2x64) I have a bunch of PC133 128mb sticks. I stuck them in the machines, and it counts up to 372mb and seems to run fine. Is there a problem running this PC133 memory in a machine that wasn't specifically designed for it? 2. I have a PII 400, PIII 500 and a PIII 700. The system info shows the processors as 399, 501 and 701. Whats up with that? 3. I have a PIII 1.2 mhz HP computer that is a very small. (HP e-pc c10) It only has 256MB of ram, and I can't find a way to add memory to it. Is it possible to add memory to this machine? 4. One computer locks up at boot unless I turn off the "shadow cache" in the the setup. Runs fine as long as set up that way. WHAT? 5. Is there a program that can detect which wire is hitting he CPU fan when the case is closed? Thanks
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1. Have you got an onboard graphics card, or other device thats using the memory? - If so, check in BIOS, usually 'DEL' key at startup, or sometimes 'F1' and its usually under something like perhipherals or devices. There usually arn't problems running faster mem on a board that doesn't support it, the board will just run at whatever speed it can handle, so it will run the 133 at 100 speed if it only supports 100, most cases. 372mb is roughly equivilient to 3 sticks, so if thats what you put in it seems fine. 2. Having a CPU Mhz readout that is slightly higher or lower is normal, in some cases with modern CPU's the Mhz is not the actually number represented on the chip, for example I have a AMD sempron 3400+ 64 bit, its running at 2.00Ghz but the additional features give speed in other areas. 3. If it hasnt got standard upgrade slots for some reason, just tweak in other areas a) decrease the memory you actually use, go for an older OS if its not too important to keep up to date and dont load so much crap into memory, ie if you have more than 5 icons in the system tray (bottom right next to clock) then you probably have too much junk you can load when you need it. b) you should do this with all PC's as its generally effective, set the swapfile to a permanent size 1.5x your physical memory size. For this PC set it to 2.5x, if you dont know how, I can show you. c) keep your disk tidy, delete all temp/Internet Exploiter cache files etc, do a search on ur pc for .log files too they accumulate, delete anything else u think you wont look at or need, and anything in \Windows\Help if you dont think you need it .. along with that clear out \Windows\Prefetch (if using win XP, which btw if you are, on a 256mb machine would totally suck anyway as it needs more ram) d) after you have done that, DEFRAG, this helps a lot especially on older machines. Dont use win defrag tho, its shit, get Norton Speeddisk (part of System Works) or my fav is Executive Software Diskeeper 4. Shadow cache should be off on most PC's, check that you actually need it.
3. yes it is upgradable, it has one memory slot and can be upgraded to 256mb... actually it's maximum memory capability is 320mb.. but try getting a 320meg mod
Yeah, looks like it came standard with 128mb, and somebody has already stuck 256mb in it. It runs pretty good. All I need it for is to run one particular program, so it should be OK. I am sure the machine is really a piece of crap, but at least I can hide it in a drawer where the kids can't trash it.
One thing I remember is that if you mix a 133 and a 100 stick together, the computer automatically runs both of them at the slower speed, 100 MHz. Probably won't make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but worth noting, nonetheless.
