Okay, that seemed to do the trick, (I hit F2, which pulled up a screen asking me if I wanted to save chamges) I now have 1.87 GB of RAM according to the properties thing in my computer, apparently only one card was making a connection.
okyoure... thanks, yet this is a desktop, I was surprised at how hard I had to press them in, being a delicate instrument, I didn't want to break anything.

I would run a program called CPUz. It has a memory tab and can tell you a bit more information about what you have installed (or if one DIMM isn't showing up).

http://everon.info/CPU-ZSpdTab.jpg

To properly seat the RAM, firmly and evenly push the DIMM into the socket until the two locking tabs on each end firmly clip into place. Sometimes if you've had empty slots, dust can prove troublesome. It can be easily thwarted with a vacuum, though :)

Great glad to hear it's all working now.

Yes, the memory has to be seated firmly. Next time, I would recommend removing and reseating, pressing till the tabs click rather than just trying to reseat them in place.
Sometimes they won't seat right because they aren't aligned in as perfect as needed, removing and replacing cures that.

That little bit of memory missing in windows is going to the onboard video, somewhere in those BIOS settings you can adjust how much it takes. 128k is reasonable for normal users. High end video, gaming, heavy graphics would need more.

When you get your courage up you can install a video card, they are really cheap now I have 2 1gig cards in my desktop I paid about 60 bucks each. You don't need 2 or 1gig but I always hated the onboard video setups.
FYI the onboard video will limit your maximum resolution, ie you won't be able to run a 23 maybe even a 21" monitor at it's proper resolution.

^ I did pull 'em out and put 'em back in with, I felt too much pressure, but, hey.
I also understand some loss is normal.
My monitor is 17" square, I don't watch much full screen, but maybe later I'll try upgrading there later.
Thanks everyone for all the help and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Okay, I'm checking out this site, but haven't the foggiest as to where to begin.

Why is my PC so slow?
 

You must have been reading my mind when you posted this. I am trying to increase the performance of my PC. I looked inside and only had 1 256MB ram chip. I added a 1G chip but the PC doesn't see it. However the Crucial.com scan did. Why is that?
Here's what I got;

But under Control Panel/SystemProperties. it only shows 256 MB RAM?
Why is that?

How do you post the System properties? cut & paste won't work?

Danny

Put your 1GB stick in Slot#1 and take out your 256MB stick. The BIOS may not like two different sizes of RAM. Also, with two compatible 1GB sticks, you could end up with Dual DDR memory access speed with sticks in the proper slots. Once again, some BIOS's do not like certain memory sticks - even if they are from the same manufacturer. It's weird I know but true.

Once you get your 1GB stick recognized, you can play around with getting to see your 256MB stick as well.

Edit:
Regarding System Properties, bring your information up and hit PrintScreen button. This should copy screen contents to the copy buffer. Then go into Paint and paste it. You can then crop the image to just what you want and save as 16bpp or 256color bitmap (bmp) file. We don't really need 24bit color.:P

Well to post, might have to Shift + PrtSc then use something(Paint, Paint Shop Pro, some freeware equalalent I have one her can't remember it's name) to cut just what you want to show and save it as a JPG.

Re the memory issue.
While they say it works, I've had issue's, so I never mix speeds or even sizes per bank, generally I don't even mix brands. If you do, always put the slowest chip first, all chips then run at the slower speed.

If you have 4 slots, bank 1 is slot 1 and 3, so you pair those two initially.

Yours is showing 3 slots so you fill them in order.

For you, I'd just toss the 256Mb chip, putting the 1gig into slot 1.
I don't think the 256mb will make enough of a difference, and it means all of your memory is running at the slower speed (not really noticable true, but why). You can pick up more 1gig chips for next to nothing.

Boy Codifex, you just beat me too it, I was just looking it over when the email came in !!!!

Heh. It's just computers; been there done that.:D

I like helping people. I like your answers too.

Yep, same here. Pretty much we had the same answer.

Here's a FREE Msft updated Paint.Net never tried it, I have it DL'd on my PC just never installed it.
http://www.getpaint.net/

So it turns out the chip wasn't pushed al the way in. The computer recognizes both chips now and the performance is noticeably better.

My question now is how much better can it get if I put another 1 gig RAM chip in? Would it be worth the cost?

Thanks for al the help!

Danny

You need to find out how much memory your processor can handle and max it out, any more and it's a waste of money.
I bought my stuff from http://memorystock.com and highly recommend them. On their site just type in your computer, they'll list how much it'll take.

That site said to add another chip so I guess that's what I'll do.

Another question, can I add another hard drive on this system? I'm running out of memory and I just happen to have one laying around.
How would I go about putting it in?
I know how to install it. I'm wondering how to format it and make the computer see it.

Thanks!

Danny

Yes, you can add the hard drive. First make sure it's jumpered to slave. Then download the free easeus partition manager. http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm Run the partition manager to setup and format the hard drive. It's a good program and will help you along.

Looking good :)

Is there a limit on how big a hard drive I can put in? Can I put in a 1TB drive?

Danny