here are some pictures of the inside of my pc.
do you think you can point out where the ram cards are?

Okay, first I would get a can compressed air from such stores as Staples, Walmart, etc. and clean that dust out! Don't shake the can, don't turn the can upside down. Just get the dust out of your system.


Second, those cards you see aren't "RAM cards." They are your video card, sound card, etc. RAM are sticks and look like the following:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=17&name=Memory (click link). They come in many colors.

The board that the cards are set in is your motherboard and the motherboard is attached to the other case panel. That square fan that you see in the motherboard is actually where your Central Processing Unit (CPU) is. Your Athlon 3000 sits under that fan. To the left of the CPU is most likely your RAM sticks but I can't see because of the angle of the pictures and your cables to your harddrive, etc. are in the way.

Take another picture with a direct view, move aside those cables, and take a pen or pencil and point to where you think the RAM is.

its ok thanks anyways but i found where they are...they were right behind all of those wires sticking out!

i have a 512 and a 256 and right now im running the test on the 512 alone and it seems like there are no errors on that one. im on the second pass so im gonna keep it going and if its fine ill check the 256.

if one of them are broken, what specifications does the ram card need to have if i buy a new one?

That depends on your motherboard. Remember that Crucial link I gave you? Do what I suggested and copy down the information when the scan is finished, but lets see what Memtest says first. We'll take it from there.

By the way, I ment to say right of the CPU fan because I knew that was where your RAM was.

for it to work do i have to have 2 ram cards in my computer because i finished the memtest and the 512 is perfectly fine so i tried playing one of my games (doesnt require alot of ram) with only the 512 in and it still didnt work

Rule of thumb if gaming in XP: 2 Gigs of RAM.

Rule of thumb in PC gaming: Just becuse our system meets the minimum requirements doesn't mean it will play well or at all.

Did you take thge 512 out and test the 256 individually? How many Passes did you allow on the 512?

i did 6 passes but i did the 256 and its broken so i took only the 256 out and left the 512.

i know a friend who is a computer guy(he has a job fixing comps and stuff so hes experienced) and he said that there might be something wrong with the ati graphics card or whatever its called(the radeon 9600)and he gave me a nvidia one and i put it in my pc but when i went to install the driver, all the specs. in dxdiag said n/a so i didnt know which driver to download.

i did 6 passes but i did the 256 and its broken so i took only the 256 out and left the 512.

i know a friend who is a computer guy(like he has a job maing comps and stuff so hes experienced) and he said that there might be something wrong with the ati graphics card or whatever its called(the radeon 9600)and he gave me a nvidia one and i put it in my pc but when i went to install the driver, all the specs. in dxdiag said n/a so i didnt know which driver to download.

Then if the 256 had errors that needed to be replaced. And if you are going to game your going to need at least a gig of RAM and 2 is better.

Did you unistall your old drivers before putting the Nvidia card in? Does your friend have the installation disk for that graphics card? Did he say why he thought it was the ATI card?

yes i uninstalled the old ones and i dont think he does and no he didnt he just told me it might just be a problem with your card and then he said try this and he gave the the nvidia card but when i put iot in everything said n/a in dxdiag well only in display

Was your system stable with your ATI card after you took out the 256 and just ran it with the 512?

yes it was stable but not with games i have only the 512 in as we ......type.

i am just going to put the old driver back in because it worked better with the other one in.

Remember: 2 Gigs for XP gaming.

Also: Make sure you uninstall the Nvidia drivers before reinstalling your ATI card.

Question: Have you considered building a new system in the future?

i didnt have nvidia drivers in the first place because i couldnt find them, i just want games to work
my game even says that minimum required is to have 512 ram and i do have it
why should i make a new system i mean build

do u have any other ways that will fix it or can fix it or am i just **** out of luck???????

i figured out the problem and games are working now.
it was the ati card that wasn't working and i figured out the driver for the nvidia one so i tried it and the games work.
thank you for all of your help, you have been really good to me!