Computer update: Vicki (with the help of our cousin Bryan, hardware guru) has assembled my new, souped-up computer. However the metallic CPU case I chose seems to be too tall for my existing CD player cables to connect properly. Along with a configuration problem, I can now only start my new PC in Safe mode, and it cannot connect to the Internet. How tragic.
We changed the processor from a Pentium IV 2 GHz to an AMD 2600. We doubled the amount of RAM (which was 512 MB) meaning that I should now be able to open all my web design programs at the same time, without strange, wordless alert boxes popping up on my screen.
Hopefully the hardware problem can be resolved today so I can continue with my work on the Church website. In the meantime I’m hijacking my mum’s computer to check my email – and post this message.
Comments
Why did you switch to an Athlon? I’ve found the p4 chip to be really quite stable.
I find that I can run Dreamweaver, Photoshop, couple of ie windows and windows media player fine with on 512MB of RD-RAM, and heat is not really and issue with the amount of cooling I have.
What OS are you (going to be) running?
I was quite happy with my Pentium IV, too – but everybody else felt that AMD was faster now and had better bang for the buck :-/
As for operating sytems, we’re all stuck with Win 98 unless someone convinces my dad to upgrade all four desktop PCS (on our home network).
AND when I run Macromedia MX software at work on Win2000, everything works smoothly. On Win 98 however the response is sometimes delayed. Even with 512 MB RAM on my old machine, I couldn’t run Outlook, a couple of browser windows, Dreamweaver and Fireworks at the same time without something going wrong.
New windows would go blank; my DW code view would occasionally warp into strange-looking fonts, and I couldn’t increase canvas size in Fireworks – I’d get a memory shortage warning (!!).
You can connect a winXP box to a 98 network setup. Based on the fact that I have only just put XP on this machine, I would say that it wasn’t so much the lack of physical RAM that was the problem, it was the way win98 was using the RAM.
Don’t forget to get more fans put in the case if you’re using an Athlon; those things heat up faster than a dodgy vindaloo.
Thanks for the advice, bailz! Yes I think it must be Win 98’s handling of new programs (like MX) which probably run better on XP systems.
Re: the Athlon heat – beside the fans, the CPU will be under the full blast of our air-conditioning 🙂
Win98 has poor memory management. The extra memory is wasted. For graphics and real work, get industrial strength Win 2000 or XP.
Because you changed hardware (cpu) on the machine, the Win 98 will not start up. You can try to delete the processor stuff in safe mode. Control Panel, System, DEvice Manager. Delete everything under System Devices, which is a scary thing to do, so make sure you have backed up your data.
Win 98 ‘should’ pick up the new cpu when you restart.
Pray first 🙂
Thanks. We just fixed everything. You guys were right.