micky wrote:
Well, the computer has continued to crash, mostly with the same 4
problems. Other times, it's frozen.

So I need a new one. I haven't had a new one since the PCJr.

1) This time I want 16 gigs of RAM, or do I want even more?????

The reason for more than 8 gigs is that I tend to open way too many FF
tabs and the computer slows and eventually FF stops. Won't more RAM
make that take a lot longer to happen?


2) And maybe I should get a SSD for the PC??? One page said that
READing the drive over and over won't wear it out, only writing to it.
Right?

So if I had another harddrive for data, that would solve the wearing
out, except I've separated the email data and the Usenet data from the
programs, but isn't it much harder to separate the Firefox data? And
that gets rewritten all the time.


3) Brand. I suppose if I get a name brand, I'll get the latest
technology on the SSD, but a) aren't lesser brands a lot cheaper. b)
don't they use the older technology where there is a difference, because
once better is invented, the name brands like Dell generally don't use
it anymore. In practice does this make a difference for me? Is the
previous design of SSDs so much not as good as the latest design?

I have to post this before the computer freezes.

I have an XP laptop and a win7 laptop. I'll unbury one of them if need
be.

https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.92-en.zip

Unpack the ZIP and run it. It gives a summary
of some parts of your PC. In this example, I posted
an image so you can see my machine details.

(Use "Download Image" to see details...)

https://i.postimg.cc/NG6s4MDn/CPUZ.gif

This kind of picture, if you make one, will give
some idea what you're currently driving,
and we can compare when selecting a desktop.

********

If this was a memory problem, we can try some stuff.

Maybe this is how the DIMMs are currently set up.
Dual channel, one stick per channel, some slots left blank.

These options are *only* worth considering if your desktop
has four DIMM slots. If your machine has two DIMM slots,
well, you can pretty well stop here.

Channel 0 Channel 1

| |
2GB#1 2GB#2
| |
X X

If you're on a dessert island (ice cream!), and can't get
replacement DIMMs, you can *reconfigure* the memory, with
all power removed from the machine. Using antistatic precautions
and with the *power cord pulled*, these are alternate configs.
(You don't want power in the slots, when inserting or
removing RAM.)

Channel 0 Channel 1 Single channel mode
"bad memory down low"
| |
2GB#1 X
| |
2GB#2 X

Or like this.

Channel 0 Channel 1 Single channel mode
"bad memory up high"
| |
2GB#2 X
| |
2GB#1 X

The reason for continuing to use *two* sticks in this case,
is so you can move the bad memory locations so they don't
bonk the OS on the head. One of the two configs will be
more stable than the other.

*******

On a machine with only two DIMM slots, if you had
two DIMMs installed, run with just one of the DIMMs
inserted and retest.

Channel 0 Channel 1 Single channel mode

| |
2GB#1 X

Then try the other stick, if necessary (if previous config crashes).

Channel 0 Channel 1 Single channel mode

| |
2GB#2 X

Those are some things to try
(for some value of "fun").

HTH,
Paul