Wonderful weekend, loads of problems. Computer has been booting a running ok with new memory installed. Internet & general software runs faster etc. I have however, been kicked out of some games for no real reason & on reboot it states that "Windows has recovered from a serious problem". Sent the info 1st time a said it was my graphics card so I done what it said. It then happened again after a short while, and basically said reinstall/repair XP. If I do this how much will I have to re-install, bearing in mind XP is fully patched up & the graphics card & processor has been changed since I bought the computer? (I have run up to date AVG virus scan & search & destroy anti adware. Found some trojans but should have got rid of them) Any thoughts, answers, ideas much appreciated. Garyb

What kind of ram upgrade did you do? Add extra? Is the extra the same specification as the original? Have you run any memory testing progs such as memtest to verify your ram is error-free? If a graphics problem is indicated have you tried updating graphics drivers? Even uninstal the card in devicemanager and let windows re-discover it on reboot. If your XP instaldisk is an older version pre-SP2 then you will not be able to use it as-is to do a repair instal. You will need to create a SP2 slipstreamed instal disk. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and his wife will never forgive you.

Thanks for your reply. Should be like for like memory. From 2 strips of 256 to 2 strips of 512mb. (Motherboard capable of 2 x 1024MB)Same bus speed, voltage etc. I haven't run a memory test program as various posts say that it is not necessary with XP. Drivers should be up to date for my graphics card as it is new (a month or two old) and I made sure that they were up to date. Next question, how do you go about creating a slipstreamed install disk? (Couldn't the problem be 'copied' to this?)

A search of the forum under "Slipstream" will find the links you need. As to not needing a memorytesting prog with XP, I don't know where that comes from. You can get away with some ram errors in 98 or ME but XP is very sensitive to glitchy ram. Get memtest86 and check each stick separately. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and his wife will never forgive you.

maybe confused over memory management programs [which xp doesn't need] and memory testing programs like memtest

Simpleslipper here. http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=204781

Checked the memory. First strip showed one small fault but I ran the computer doing various things for 2 hours & no glitches. Checked second strip, showed no faults but my computer has been a right illegitimate son. Couldn't get slipstream to pick up the installation file for SP2 so have not been able to do that, says its not a valid directory even when it is my CD drive or even when copied to my C drive. IE6 & OE6 are both FUBAR'd also, cannot re-install my broadband connection either, says its connected but no browser will work (Either IE6 nor Tiscali 10), so need to re-install XP. Whats the best/most thorough way of doing this? Thanks for all the replys, hoping for some more. Cheers Garyb