New RAM or new laptop?

[jenny2017]

25 minutes ago, MJKT2014 said:

I notice the contacts on my RAM chips and various shades of gold color? Shouldn't they all be same shade? Is this a sign of old age or need for cleaning. I got no cleaning gear where I am at moment.

Please use a rubber for it. But please not a condom, an eraser does the trick. 

[jenny2017]

22 hours ago, CliffH said:

 

Cleaning the RAM module edge connectors with isopropyl alcohol is my method.  Less chance of static damage to the chips than using the rubber.

There's no static damage with rubber, I'm doing that for many years now. But a;so the "technicians" at computer shops. More effective than alcohol. 

[Pdavies99]

45 minutes ago, MJKT2014 said:

I notice the contacts on my RAM chips and various shades of gold color? Shouldn't they all be same shade? Is this a sign of old age or need for cleaning. I got no cleaning gear where I am at moment.

Its an age and heat issue, most people know that Laptops get hot, older ones usually have a heat "sink" within and newer ones often have a mini fan.  Its recommended to run a laptop sitting on an external fan, heat is a laptops worst enemy.

 

As to the contacts, yes they should be the same color, but heat and age has affected them.  If you think its an issue just carefully rub over them with a pencil rubber.

[MJKT2014]

Thanks guys.

 

I am now more than ever convinced it has not been a hardware issue but a Windows 10 bug. Ever since I switched off fast shutdown/boot in power settings the issue and whole point of my o/p has gone away. Really disappointed in Windows 10 wasting my time to date. I will wait another few weeks to be sure, but since one week now no problems. 

 

I will try and clean up the RAM connectors or buy newer larger modules once I get near a shop, away at the moment.

[Pib]

2 hours ago, MJKT2014 said:

I am now more than ever convinced it has not been a hardware issue but a Windows 10 bug. Ever since I switched off fast shutdown/boot in power settings the issue and whole point of my o/p has gone away. Really disappointed in Windows 10 wasting my time to date. I will wait another few weeks to be sure, but since one week now no problems. 

Fast Boot issues for some people started before Win 10 came out....Win 8.X has Fast Boot issues with some computers.

 

A couple of years ago when still on Win 8.1 "and" the first release of Win 10 one of my current Lenovo laptops (around 4 years old now) would sometimes not fully power down when turning it off....the power on/off lite would stay lite....it was hanging-up in the shutdown.  It would do this like on every 10th or so shutdown.   My other Lenovo laptop never experienced this problem also running Win 8.1/10.

 

I turned off Fast Boot and the problem went away.  After a week or so I turned Fast Boot back on and the problem never came back. 

 

When you turn off Fast Boot all the temporary files created allowing Fast Boot to operate are deleted when you power down the computer.   Once  you turn it back on new ones are created.    I figure the old files got corrupted in some way...maybe from various Windows updates.   Disabling and then re-enabling Fast Boot allowed it to start fresh with new Fast Boot temp files.   

 

Then I just got in the habit of periodically, say every month or two or after any major Windows update, of disabling Fast Boot, powering down, powering back up, then re-enabling Fast Boot.   Then forgot about it for a month or two.   Call it a preventive maintenance task.

 

Now that you have disabled Fast Boot which deleted old Fast Boot temp files, you might want to re-enable it and see if your problem comes back.   I may not if the problem was Fast Boot related since Fast Boot has created new files.

[MJKT2014]

On ‎08‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 8:45 AM, Pib said:

After a week or so I turned Fast Boot back on and the problem never came back. 

I am now thinking Fastboot may not be the root cause as I tried going to slow boot for a week or so, no issues then back to fast boot no issues. But the issue I notice is always reappearing when I connect to specific wifi routers and onto the Internet. My connections are poor in my location anyway with internet connectivity on or off several times a day even tho the wifi signal is 100% on. I have a choice of routers thro satellite links and telephone hotspots to chose and nearly all cause my wifi card to turn off with no way to turn on again using either the on/off F10 key or thro Win10 wifi settings, whilst device manager in Win10 says its working normally with latest drivers. I simply have to do a computer reboot to get the wifi working again and during the boot process my original problem of several failed boots and Win10 saying I need an system recovery disc happens. If I keep powering/on off I eventually start up normally. Then the laptop runs for days until I ever try to use wifi again. The wifi card is a 6 year old Intel Centrino Adv N6200 AGN with three yr old Win8 drivers that have no update available. On other networks it works fine so it must be related to the combination of wifi routers I have available to me now and the wifi card in my laptop I think.

[JSixpack]

5 hours ago, MJKT2014 said:

I am now thinking Fastboot may not be the root cause as I tried going to slow boot for a week or so, no issues then back to fast boot no issues. But the issue I notice is always reappearing when I connect to specific wifi routers and onto the Internet. My connections are poor in my location anyway with internet connectivity on or off several times a day even tho the wifi signal is 100% on. I have a choice of routers thro satellite links and telephone hotspots to chose and nearly all cause my wifi card to turn off with no way to turn on again using either the on/off F10 key or thro Win10 wifi settings, whilst device manager in Win10 says its working normally with latest drivers. I simply have to do a computer reboot to get the wifi working again and during the boot process my original problem of several failed boots and Win10 saying I need an system recovery disc happens. If I keep powering/on off I eventually start up normally. Then the laptop runs for days until I ever try to use wifi again. The wifi card is a 6 year old Intel Centrino Adv N6200 AGN with three yr old Win8 drivers that have no update available. On other networks it works fine so it must be related to the combination of wifi routers I have available to me now and the wifi card in my laptop I think.

 

Sounds like you should try an external wifi adapter.

[Pib]

Wifi hardware and associated driver can cause problems on a PC "beyond" just having Wifi/internet connectivity problems.....can indeed cause seemingly unrelated problem  In fact, an incompatible Wifi driver can cause Blue Screens of Death (BSOD), computer will not even boot, etc.   

 

Just for example I still have an old Toshiba laptop that just keeps in ticking....around 11 years old now...still running Win 7.   Toshiba stopped providing updated drivers around 8 years ago...typical in how manufacturers stop providing updated driver approx 3 years after an item was first release.  

 

Anyway, during a Windows Update the update said their was an Optional Driver I could install along with other updates.  This optional update was for the laptop's Wifi.  I said sure...install the this optional driver....I have always installed the "optional" updates recommended during Windows updates.  After the download/install of the updates the computer needed to do a Restart....well, a Restart would end up in a BSOD....a message indicating my hard drive was defective.  Tried several power-ups....same result...a few seconds after power-on I get a BSOD.   Had to restore a backup image to get the computer going again which means the updates I had just installed were not included.  Computer now worked fine again.

 

Worked fine until I did the Windows update again and allowed the optional Wifi driver to reinstall...once again back to the BSOD...have to reload a backup image to get going.   OK, I'm now going again...I do the Windows update again but this time I do not select install of the optional Wifi driver update.  The install went fine...no BSOD.   I now did another image backup.  

 

After this image back I did a Windows update check again...it just offered that one optional Wifi driver update....I said go ahead and install...once again back to the BSOD....and to do an backup image reload.  Then I went into Windows update and Hid that update so it would not offer it to me again.  

 

Summary: Computers can be very picky about their drivers....especially picky about graphics and Wifi drivers...buggy/incompatible drivers can cause very strange problems.....problems which don't even seem related to the problem you are experiencing. 

 

And I just remembered another incompatible Wifi driver story from over ten years where after the update (once again a Windows Update recommended driver vs the Wifi driver from the manufacturer's website) where after the update the Wifi connectivity was intermittent....sometimes would work for days fine....then just not work...then start working again....then not work again...etc...etc....etc  Now the driver did not cause an BSOD...just intermittent Wifi connectivity...after I rolled back to the previous driver it worked fine...rock solid Wifi.  Once again I Hid this update in Windows and stuck with the driver from the manufacturer's support website.

 

I'm not saying your problem is Wifi driver related---but it could be.  Computers are great devices, but can be a pain sometimes in strange problems they develop. Software/driver problems that make a person think it's a hardware problem.....and hardware problems that make a person think it's a software/driver problem.  Preaching to the choir I know.   Good luck in your continue troubleshooting of your problem.

 

 

 

 

[dreytom]

You won't see a big improvement by just installing a new RAM. Your laptop is quite old so maybe it's time to get a new one.

[jenny2017]

On 2/28/2018 at 3:11 PM, dreytom said:

You won't see a big improvement by just installing a new RAM. Your laptop is quite old so maybe it's time to get a new one.

My DELL is nine and running with 4 GB of DDR II RAM. It's gor W 10 Pro, 32 bit OS and quite fast, with many programs installed.

 

     It's important to use the right programs to keep a PC/notebook running well, similar to the maintenance of a car.