New system (Dimension 8400) Virtual memory nightmare

Parrotlady123:

You have posted to a forum made up of other users who try to help each other (on this board it is general hardware problems). Dell won't monitor these boards and call people back. It sounds to me like you have bad memory as you suggested, or that you have inadvertantly installed some malware. You might need to go back through Dell service. Also have you tried system diagnostics to check the system under load? One other thing, I would go back to the system the way it came to you after backing up all your data on an external. There may be an issue with the older screen saver and newer hardware. Not really sure but from your post it sounds as if the downhill slippery slope started when you installed the screen saver. It might have really messed up the video drivers or something wierd like that. Free screen saver programs also come with bugs, spyware, etc. If your dimension is new and you want to go back to how it was out of the box, there is a way to do that already installed with your system but you will lose all of your data. So back up.

Message Edited by parkerti on 05-08-2005 09:13 AM

Parkerti,

Thank you so much for replying to my post.  :smileyhappy:

You made good suggestions, too.   However I've tried everything already.

In the 10 days I've had the computer, I've already restored back to day one - twice.  I've also restored another time by a couple of days to start back before other programs were installed.

It's not the screen saver alone.  Norton security also causes problems, so I disabled it permanently.  This doesn't make me very happy, because I paid for it, it's a new version, and I've used Norton products on much older systems and never had problems.  Also I'm having these lag problems and virtual memory shortages even when I'm doing nothing else but using a message program or on the internet for more than an hour or so; running nothing else.

I've scanned for malware, viruses and disk problems.   Everything comes out clean repeatedly.   I've used DELL's problem seeker/solver, and windows' fixes,  too.    It seems to be a memory problem... a *real* memory problem, not just a virtual memory problem.   Don't you agree?

Hi

I agree with parkerti. It sounds like bad memory or could be  a bad motherboard[i mean bad memory slots on the motherboard].you can get a system exchange withing the 1st 21 days. try that. if you still want to stick to the same system then call dell tech support and ask them to replac ethe hard drive, motherbaord and memory for you. ask dell tech support to mention in their case that the above 3 components have gone bad. then get the case number frm them and give it to customer care and customer care will be replacing these parts for you iwth the help of an onsite tech.the reason being, if dell tech support replaces parts then they will be refurbished whereas if customer care replaces the parts then they will be brand new.

all the best.

I agree but only if it did all of this out of the box. When I spoke of going back to day one, I was referring to the Norton System restore partition on the system, not the Windows XP system restore points. If you have tried that ond you are only ten days into your purchase, return it and order another one. You have 21 days from when it shipped to return it. You will need to call in and speak with a customer care rep in order to get a return authorization. Time is of the essence if you decide to return it. I think it is either a faulty stick of RAM or your OS is flaked out. Best of luck!

If you really dislike the issue, return it and go out and buy a kick PC from BestBuy or something. We went to HP basically ONLY because of Dell's not-so-great customer support.

Also, try downloading Microsoft's AntiSpyware and running a full deep scan.