Flyder

Thanks nev. I think that tells me what I want to know. I can start thinking about a new computer without any guilt! I have access to a diddy laptop that is struggling itself`. I think I know what you mean by a full enclosure, but to check the inspiron I need a 2.5", but would I be able to use a 3.5" for the laptop one and just give it a bit more room? The reason I ask is that I have a dodgy hard drive in an external Maxtor One touch that has also failed so I would like to learn how to unpick and check that when I have access to a better main machine.I am not sure what size hard drive is in the maxtor. Maxtor were bought out by Seagate so no manufacturer stuff to read. I do have the dvd that came with it but no dvd drive! Do you know of anywhere I can look up the basics of the other methods you suggest as I am at a loss to know what you mean by a USB adapter & USB docking station,

(Dimm 1 only lower tray) AS the only way I can shut off the computer now is pulling plug I am opening to a Black and white screen and choosing option "open windows normally"". Decided to try safe mode instead. Doing this I was able to open a works template document, alter it and save to desk top, then shut down correctly. I then switched on and got to the normal desktop...the saved works doc was still there. I never use media player so not sure what normal would look like. instead opened the game solitaire and gave it a round. That seemed ok, so I went to find spider solitaire through the games tab.. Had a green bar progressing along the games screen top bar and a blank page. I have had time to type all this and it still hasnt opened. I cant close it normally. Tried ctrl,alt , delete, after 2 mins the screen blacked out then a minute on, a pop up to say "The logon process was unable to display security and logon options when ctrl alt delete was pressed. If the operating system does not respond press escape or restart the computer using the power switch." I pressed OK. Taken back to the frozen desktop, which tells me the games programme is not responding. (I tried solitaire in safe mode but that Windows told me it isnt accessible apparently anyway in that mode) I dont suppose this gives you much to go on, if you think its too sick to do anything with do say! Thanks again

Short answer is nothing works in any useful manner Dimm 1 and 2 tried individually in the top port both booted but failed to open any programs. Froze to spinning ball when repeated the request. Dimm 1 did exactly the same in the bottom when I resigned myself to trying with one 2mb ram card. Trying Dimm2 in bottom again I got as far as an open browser but as soon a s I called up a web page that too froze to spinning ball. Is there anything else worth a try? Many thanks again.

Thanks, that is all very helpful. I will trouble shoot it as you suggest and see what works best. Hopefully I can get it to work reasonably with just one of the ram sticks in one of the ports.

Both kingston 2gb and look identical but one marked dimm1 another dimm2 on what appears to be a second bar code label on top of the kingstons own label. Might I have inadvertently swapped them when they should be in reverse order? I am not sure how to "take note of speed of operation" of ram ? in system tools?

OK...did that. Removed both Ram cards and cleaned as instructed. Replaced 1 only in bottom slot, booted up ok and got access to net. Turn off. Removed the only installed card and put the second one in the bottom slot. Rebooted and again got access to the net. Undid back again and put the second card into the empty top slot. Restarted and got to the desktop without problems, then clicked to access net. Nothing. Clicked on start menu at left to see if I could access anything else..open an old program or similar. At this point both the desktop icons and the bottom icons disappeared, so again I cant shut down without pulling the batt and power out. So possibly the answer is to remove the top memory card and see if the machine really works properly with just the one ram slot loaded? hanks for helping, much appreciated.

PlasticNev, further to your suggestion,just wondering if this video on utube shows first thing removed is the hard drive, second the ram? Do I have to remove one to get at the other? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIEO5DLsyb0

Thank you for your quick answer to the distress call. Hard drive was top of my list but I have nowt to base it on, also I looked up replacement drive costs and it looks like it wont be worth it for a 4.5 year old lap top with dodgy mouse keys that has been used 12 hours a day for all that time. However I dont want to give up on it if it is an easy fix either. While I think about plucking up courage to look at the ram. Info is as follows. Dell 1750 Inspiron Laptop

Background. I had hard drive problem, lost information and my user profile set to temporary. After mucking about trying to rescue files etc for a few weeks I did a factory restore. Things appeared normal for a couple of hours while I downloaded AVG, recuva and a couple of other things, I shut the computer down properly and the next day it booted without anything untoward BUT when I clicked to open the intenet the screen whited out, froze and after an hour of letting it sort itself out nothing had happened so I had to pull the plug to even try rebooting. Has anybody any suggestions as to what may be happening? Thanks for reading

Just to introduce myself before I pick your brains:D Will have a search first though cos I dont want to embarrass myself the first day if poss.