It seemed like such a simple upgrade, adding 128mb extra RAM and buying an aditional HD. Unfortunatly, there are several types of RAM available, and we have no idea which we currently have. Does anyone know where to acces this information? Also, does it matter a great deal what brand of Hard Disk you buy?

It is if it's SCUSI.

Excuse me? Computerish isn't my best language ;)

typically it doesnt matter what brand of hard drive you have.
As far as the memory goes, do you have any idea what kind of computer you have, or even how old it is?

[ 07-14-2002, 01:52 PM: Message edited by: slackerboy ]

Excuse me? Computerish isn't my best language ;) </font>[/QUOTE]Mine neither, but all i know is that if you have a scusi harddrive, your mainboard has to be scusi too, plus it's a lot more expensive.

Hi Dreamer128 go to this site and download SiSoftware Utilities
here: Sandra Utilities!!!!!!!!

It can tell you if you have Sdram or Ddram!!

I have a bad pic here so you can get an idea how the prog is!
You get ALL information for your computer from this program so it is wery cool!! :D

http://home.no.net/taffer/sandra2.jpg

So good luck hehe!! And i think you have IDE harddrive then you must buy a IDE hardrive but you get this info from the prog to! LOL :D

[ 07-14-2002, 02:34 PM: Message edited by: Megabot ]

YOu can easily determine what RAM you need from your system manual.

Quit sniggering, some people actualy hold onto those things. Not many, I must admit.

But nobody loses track of who manuafactured their machine and the model number is usualy on it somewhere. Try the label at the back. WIth that you can go to their website and find the specifications of the machine. If your lucky youll be able to find the technicians servicing guide as well which will not only say what you need but go through the exact steps in fitting it.

ON HDDs - i would avoid Seagate drives, cos their too loud. Aslo IBM cos they cost too much. Other than that their isnt all that much difference.

One point is SCSI and IDE - SCSI is superior in every way, but is usualy only found in business machines. You can have both types in one machine, but you need to buy interface cards and its a pain to set up. Stick with IDE unless you *really* need more performance, and have a profound desire to mess around inside the case for hours.

When your BIOS is posting it'll tell you what kind of ram you have installed in each bank. You'll have to be real fast to see it, but it will tell you in the lower right corner of the screen, right before it boots your OS.
And I really doubt your running SCSI unless it's a corporate server. Open up the system properties under control panel and take a look for something called an IDE controller. Double click it and it will open a tree showing primary and secondary. Your HD is always the primary master.

[ 07-14-2002, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Animal ]

Perhaps 5 years ago SCSI was king, but not now unless your running a server and need extremely fast seek times. Many IDE drives actually surpass SCSI in many real world situations.

Animals right about the RAM type apearing just after the post (on most machines, sometimes theres a splash screen in the way), but neglected to mention that the almost totaly useless pause key will pause the system allowing you time to read it.