Hello everybody. This is the first time ive used this forum so please bear with me!

My current system is:

Medion / Microstar desktop 2.66Ghz P4 512MB RAM running Windows XP

I have had this system for years and would like to add more RAM to make my system faster. This will be the first upgrade i will ever have done.

The motherboard is a Medion MD5000 / MSI 6701 (ID string W6701M7 V1.17) using an SIS 648 Chipset. I have downloaded the MD5000 motherboard specifications which state that it supports up to 2GB of RAM. BUT when looking at the specification of the SIS648 Chipset it says that this chipset supports up to 3GB. So which is it, 2GB or 3GB???
Also, i cannot find any info on whether this mobo / chipset supports dual channelling. I cant find any BIOS settings that mention it so maybe its not supported???

P.S. I only use my pc for internet and general word processing etc so would i really need to upgrade it as far as 3GB anyway??

Any help / advice will be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Wayne

i think that mobo has 2 slots so 3 gig isn't possible as there are no 1.5 gig mem modules. 2 gig is all 32 bit windows is capable of.

Hi Wayne,

I suggest you download this standalone program which will tell you in detail all there is to know about your system.

Have you got a Maintenance Program on your computer to keep it clean and running freely. I mean Antispyware and temporary internet file cleansers? For example:

CCleaner
MalwareBytes' Antimalware
Spybot Search and Destroy.

Keep us posted how you get on with these suggestions.

Best regards,

Thanks for your replies guys! I wasnt aware that a 32 bit OS would only support up to 2GB, so that solves my problem straight away!

Anybody know if dual channelling is supported by my system?????

Tallin, i have Norton IS 2008 which reports no viruses and i clean my old internet files out regularly. My HDD is getting quite full now which is also slowing down my system, but for the very little money and effort it will take to upgrade the RAM i will be happy even if it only slightly improves performance. Ive recently had to increase the size of the pagefile as a temporary measure. After all 512 MB is not really alot of RAM to have in your system nowadays. Thanks for the download links, i will try them out

no mention of dual channel in the mobo book.

PDF
Link to MD5000 Mobo Book

Why is nothing simple!?

Tallin, you said to let you know how things went so here goes

This afternoon I thought i would try taking one of the RAM modules out to have a look at it and as a practice run for when i change them for new modules as ive never done it before. So i took the side off the tower and took one of the modules out, had a quick look at it, then put it back in and turned the computer on. 512 MB of RAM counts up during POST as normal, so everything was ok there.

But now i seem to have created a problem. Any screen which normally has a black backgroung (the POST screen for instance) is now blue, in fact anything that should be black is now blue and pages have a blue tint in general. The graphics card is right next to the RAM modules so i thought that maybe i had knocked it or something. I took the side off the computer again, but the graphics card seems to be in its slot ok. I thought i would remove it anyway and reseat it just incase. I took out the screw holding it in place and pushed the retention mechanism down to release the card but it doesnt want to come out! The end of the card by the retention mechanism is starting to come out slightly but the other end at the back of the tower still seems pretty solid even though ive taken the screw out. Theres no other screws as far as i can see - i think its normally only one screw anyway isnt it?

Im fed up cos changing a RAM module is supposed to be the easiest thing you can do and i cant even do that right without messing something else up! Any suggestions....

the vid card can be tuff to remove. try rocking it back to front and vice versa. if the lock is open it'll come out. there should be only 1 screw on the metal bracket.

Hi all, ive sorted it! I tried connecting a spare monitor up to the tower and the display was alright on that, so that proved that all was good with the computer. I turned my attention to my monitor and tried restoring the factory settings and it worked! I havent got a clue why it lost its settings. I didnt unplug it from the mains when i took the tower apart to change the RAM, i only disconnected it from the back of the tower which ive done before without any problems! Computers are so fickle!

By the way, whilst trying to fix the problem i went into msconfig and tried starting up in diagnostic mode to see if it had any effect. It obviously didnt as the problem was with the monitor. I put it back into normal mode, but now when i start up i get an error message saying 'windows cannot find' and then four squares (this is a filename it is trying to find) and then a message saying that its something specified in the registry. I assume that this was an entry made in the registry when it went into diagnostic mode and now its back in normal mode it is trying to load something that isnt there. How the hell do you type a square with the keyboard so that i can type it into the search string in regedit to find and delete the entry!?
BTW the computer still works once these errors are canceled, its just a pain in the butt to have them coming up every time i boot up.

Something else ive now found which is very weird is that if i go to the start menu and select Log Off and then select Switch User and click on the other user to load their desktop, nothing happens! The only way to switch to the other user is to completely log myself off and then choose the other user, i cannot just select Switch User to do it. Never had a problem with this before.

So now ive fixed the display problem but im left with ghost entries in the registry and other strange goings on...