Flwrite wrote:

Hi ~misfit~.  You wrote:

... boot into safe mode and check device manager for any devices
 that are no longer on your system and remove them.

Why do you have to do that in Safe Mode?

Because windows retains drivers for previously installed hardware sometimes.
They don't show up in normal mode, only the ones that are running show up.
However, if you have a look in safe mode you may get a surprise. Have a look
in normal mode, then try it in safe mode, can't hurt and you may end up
improving your system speed/relaibility. I had a look in one of my machines
once and it still had long-gone modems and video cards listed in there.

I'm in the device manager.  Been here before.  I haven't had such a
variety of peripherals over the years, so no extraneous drivers in
there.  (My HP Laserjet 2P is still on its 2nd toner cartridge.)  I
recognize most of the internal drivers -- only a few I don't have a
clue about in System Devices, but I assume they are all proper.

If you've never changed the mobo then the ones in system devices are usually
fine.

I wouldn't mind a handbook that listed a bunch of Windoze settings
that should be checked.  Just like the maxfilecache, I'm sure there
are other settings that could use an adjustment.

I don't know.  Sometimes a few months go by when my computer is rock
solid, too.  I expect it to crash occasionally, though, and it never
lets me down.

I have a couple of machines here running 98SE, one each for my girlfriend
and I, on KVMs, as some of our older but still enjoyed games won't run on
XP. (Don't talk to me about 'compatibility mode'). They both run fine,
they're don't usually go for weeks without a re-boot but I can't remember
the last crash I had. Mind you, I do tend to re-install reasonably often for
various reasons. Our main machines run XP Pro, as does out internet
connect/mp3 playing/DivX playing (hooked up to stereo)/file serving/back-up
holding machine.

Crashing doesn't seem to correlate to heat or CPU activity, so I
think the Powerleap upgrade is working OK.  Need to play with that
Prime95 just to be sure.  It was warm here today, and SETI Classic
has been running all day, and everything has been fine.  It's crashed
a couple of times, but I restart right away, and it works fine for
the rest of the day.  That doesn't sound like a CPU heating issue.

No, it doesn't.

**I'm more concerned about my eBay memory, which arrived in pink
static-dissipative bags instead of proper silver static-shielding
bags.** What can you do -- amateur computer entrepreneurs.  I expect
my "new" memory will have reduced lifetimes because of improper
handling.  I'm waiting for them to fail, and I don't know what the
symptoms will be.

I ran MemTest-86 v3.1a, did the default memory tests which exercised
the memory for a few hours, and there were no failures.  OK today,
but what about tomorrow?

It'll be fine. I've had a word with the powers-that-be and they tell me you
got lucky.

I keep the resource meter opened in the toolbar, so at least I get a
warning if resources are becoming a problem.

I run a little utility called 'Rampage' that sits in the systray and gives
you a constant read-out of free RAM. It's supposed to have the ability to
free-up RAM in 9x systems as well but I have it set to 'never attempt to
free RAM' (or however they explain it) as it just forces apps to go into
pagefile if free RAM gets low. (After all, free RAM is just RAM that isn't
being used, why bother having it if it isn't being used?) I just use it as a
monitor for free RAM so I know if I have enough in a system for whatever I'm
using it for.

It doesn't really crash often enough for me to complain about it.
And with the new maxfilecache setting today, I expect all remaining
problems to vanish.

Write soon, write often.  Thanks.

Don't encourage me man, I'm sure there are already people saying "What's
this? This isn't directly related to SETI." and are thinking about berating
me for OT posts.

Later,
--
~misfit~