My 1st home computer..Why is it so slow?

[ronald2000]

Hello Powweb People,usually when I get on the computer,its from my school..But,I just purchased my very 1st home computer (PC).Its a used model...I believe itd older also...Its an IBM PC 340 :rolleyes:
Well,I just a variety of different programs and I also got my internet connection through SBC yahoo DIAL-UP..I've been told that dial-up is a slow connection.But,my programs also operate slow (That doesn't have anything to do with diap-up does it?)Well,after installing the programs I ran out of space on my hard drive making it impossible to install more programs,work them programs etc....

My question is:
Does memory play a significant role in the speed of your computer?
How do I get more memory?


I know these are stupid questions but please bare with me.I new to all this computer stuff period...

[stevel]

Yes, memory plays a very big role in system performance. If you have insufficient memory, the system will be sluggish, will pause for long periods, you'll hear the disk rattle a lot, and some programs won't run.

How do you get more memory? You buy it! If it's a really old model, you may have a hard time finding memory in local stores. It looks as if your system uses EDO memory - you can buy this from www.crucial.com - use their selector to find the memory that's right for you. You may want to open up the box to see how many memory cards you currently have - I think this system will also need memory to be installed in pairs (you'll need to buy two cards.)

[moezez]

According to what you have said, it may be possible that memory, or RAM, might not help your situation. If there is any possibility that you could post your system's specifications, such as:

CPU type and speed
amount of RAM
amount of hard drive space
type of video card

it may be a lot easier for someone to diagnose where the problem may be coming from. All these play a rather large role in the perceived speed of your system.

Good luck on getting it fixed. :D

[zeroseven]

dude that's old-school! :D

[(jj)]

It would also be nice to know what Operating System this computer has on it, as in Windows 95, Windows 98 Windows ME..???

You stated:
Well,after installing the programs I ran out of space on my hard drive making it impossible to install more programs,

If this is a Windows based machine (any version) this alone will cause your system to slow down greatly, as well as cause you not to be able to run some programs. Windows NEEDS to have some free hard drive space to use for it's Virtual Memory.

[Rick_E]

In my opinion, these are minimum amounts of RAM and free hard drive space required for decent performance.

Windows 95: 128 MB RAM, 100 MB free on the HD
Windows 98/Windows ME: 256 MB RAM, 500 MB free on the HD
Windows 2000/Windows XP: 512 MB RAM, 1 GB free on the HD

Simple things you can do to speed up the computer...

* Have as few programs and utilities running in the background as possible (clean out the Startup group).

* Do a defrag at least once per week.

[ronald2000]

Thank you all for your inputs....I know this was a stupid question so thank you again........

When I get all the info on what I'm working with..I'll be back with more information.BTW-I got windows 98.

[(jj)]

The only "Stupid Question" is the one never asked.

So ask away, anytime you need, that is what this forum is all about. You will find that everyone here is always willing to help those who need it.

[Pauly]

Hey All,

Check the amount of programs running in the backround on the computer.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete...all three at once.

A Close Program box should open. How many items are listed there? 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 items?

I do tech support over the phone 8 hours (55-60 calls) a day.... 5 days a week(275-300 calls)

My record of things running in the backround is 39.....Yes, I listened to the person count them all. LOL :)

I agree with JJ....there are no stupid questions.......Just people who keep telling me that they are computer stupid.....really.....people tell me that all night long...no kidding!!!

Pauly
www.dropthedrum.com

[TakeIT2]

Hi,

I got a few IBM's so you get the goods...

On the left side of your cpu or bottom ther is going to be a sticker with the model and sn# copy the model number and look for it in the following search using the controls on the page. IBM PC340 Search (http://www-1.ibm.com/support/search.wss?rs=0&q=PC+340&apar=include&tc=HW170&lang=en&loc=en-us&from=tss&ics=utf-8&cs=utf-8&cc=us&Submit.x=65&Submit.y=12)

My first thoughts on this box are this:
It is a great project box for tinkering with hardware, and learning about restoring a PC. If you are planing on using it for simple web browsing you are going to get by, but if you expect anthing more prepare to be disappointed. This box originally ran DOS win3.1 or win95. All the flash that you see advertised about the web will demolish this box it is not a multimedia wonder. Nor will it run most newer software, I know I still run 3 systems in its class, but I run linux on them. If you can be happy with very simple single task sessions you can learn a lot from this box. You will have a hard time running mail and a browser at the same time as your Operating System if it is graphical.

As far as upgrading this box, you can max out the ram in 4 32mb 72pin edo sticks to 128 Total by specs, check www.pricewatch.com ; The size of the hard drives you could install will depend on the os you install and the controller, the max it shiped with was 2.5gb (think win95 limits). It more than likely does not boot from CD Rom so you will need flopy disks and CDRom drivers or get a friend to make you a win98 boot disk you can use it to install win 95.

I sounds like if you ran out of hard drive space, you might need to clean out the prior owners junk and trim the software installed to what you want to use. If this machine is still running win3.1 (run like hell) no just see if you can coble together some dos software. But If you are connecting to Dial up Yahoo you are probly running at least win95 which it could have shiped with. Trim the extras out of the software installed. If you are using it to connect to powweb whe you read this congrats and more power to you. Use that IBM Site All The Docs And Drivers are there for windows.

To answer your original question memory is very important and comes in two varieties that will affect proformance of the pc. One is "RAM" think of it as Oxygen for running programs, and there is Hard Drive Space, it is for Storage Like A 2 drawr or 4 drawr filing cabinate. In either Case More is always beter within other limits.

Many windows 95 systems shipped with 16mb of ram but windows 95 requires at base that much to run so any application you run inside windows will choke eventually without more RAM.
DOS will scream on this box!

There is always More....
Paul

[TakeIT2]

OK, I can fix a PC But my spelling sucks, :p and mozilla has no spell check.... :D

TakeIT2 The Limits One more Time.....