Jude 2

I recently asked for help regarding a computer situation and received incredible help, guidance, advice, etc. In the process of increasing my level of knowledge and level of comfort, I decided to get brave.

I had a very nice Gateway tower that I bought two years ago. I had continual problems and sent it to Gateway twice. I felt it was a hardware issue but they said it was a software issue (maybe a driver). Both times it came back it repeated the problem. Finally, it 'crashed' and was inoperable.

The warranty expired. I knew I could fight it and Gateway would probably work on it again but I just put it in a box in the garage and left it.

Well, to make a long story a lot longer, the succesful situation a few days ago with the other computer inspired me to get the old Desktop out and play around. I thought, "What could it hurt?" I knew I couldn't make it worse. Maybe I would learn something that would help me down the road.

Well, after playing around for a long time with it I realized I kept getting a certain coded message. I googled and researched that code and it suggested a hardware problem (Like I had originally thought) and possible a RAM issue.

I removed one the RAM chips and - poof - suddenly the system was working perfectly (albeit just a bit slower).

I went to Staples to replace the 512 chip and the had a 2 gig chip on sale for 60 bucks. I installed that and now the machine is running faster than ever and is smoking! (in a good way - not in a way that I should disfellowship it - lol)...

So, thanks to direct help of the Jude2 Family I have fixed a member's machine and thanks to the indirect inspiration of the Jude2 Family I have restored my machine. I am very pleased.

It's been a good week.

We are running a gateway at home and it has lasted over a decade. I did upgrade the memory once.

It is a bit slow now, maybe I should go for the 2 gig deal!

I'm amazed out how quick it is... Even though it is two years old - I bought it with everything possible. So the upgrade in RAM has made it seem to be still cutting edge.

I've always been a fan of starting with RAM - try that before buying a new system...

I just wish I had never tried dealing with Gateway support! Should have come to the Jude2 Family first!

congrats!
until recently when the "magic smoke" was released from my main computer at home, and had to replace it - my system was an ancient (relatively speaking) AMD Compaq presario system. I think it too was over a decade old. worked great. when XP came out, I was told that it wouldn't run on it. after fiddling with win98 a bunch, I finally gave up and tried installing from a newly reformatted HD (back then, they had no restore CD's).

Turned out everything worked great. the reason that it "officially" wasn't supported was that there were not going to be video and sound drivers available. That was not an issue since I had added a third party video and sound card anyway.

I guess sometimes, it is just about trying: failing and learning, or making it go with some level of success and learning.

again, congrats and good luck with future endeavors on your PC('s).

There's only one problem with my recent success this week... Now a couple more of my members have computer issues that they think I can resolve!

LOL - I promise not to bug you guys about them...

It's really fun learning....