I have a Hewlett Packard Vectra 5/133, with a Pentium 100 CPU, 810mb hard drive (with about 100mb free), running Windows 95 and Microsoft Office. I recently upgraded the RAM from 16mb to 64mb with chips from an unused PC I had purchased from my employer. I put the RAM (two 32mb chips) into the same slots from which I took the 16mb (two 8mb chips). Since installing the RAM, the computer has recurring memory problems, resulting in either the termination of the application or the Windows blue screen. Messages vary, but they generally refer to failures in Kernel or EMS386 or win386 files, each of which I understand are responsible for memory management. Now there is another message during the boot-up advising that Windows couldn’t find the XMS drivers, however I ran Memmaker afterwards and haven’t seen the message again. When I ran Memmaker I created some upper memory, but the problem persists. Other programs appear to run okay, apart
from one similar failure when running Word. Can you assist, either with advice on an adjustment, or where I could take the computer for economical repairs?

As you have inferred, the problem which you are encountering is due to a memory problem. These computer symptoms often occur when the wrong type of RAM is placed into a machine. Placing the wrong type of RAM into a computer can cause a huge amount of problems including crashes, boot problems, and application problems (as you have described). There are many different types of RAM including SDRAM, EDO, FPM so when you buy RAM you have got to make sure that it is the right type for your computer. A few years ago, when I upgraded a computer from 8mb of RAM to 16mb of RAM, everything worked fine for about a week after which the computer totally seized up and refused to boot! I took the computer to the place where I purchased the RAM and they said that I had bought the wrong type of RAM and replaced it with the right type. So what is the right type of RAM for your computer? I tracked down on the Hewlett Packard website, a page titled ‘What type of memory fits in my HP Vectra PC?’. This page details all of the different types of RAM which fit into different models of the HP Vectra product line. You can find this page at: www.support.vectra.hp.com/vectrasupport/level4/38vf0054en/38vf0054en.html. From here, you can match the type of computer you have with the correct type of RAM with which to upgrade your computer. Replace your RAM with the recommended type and your problem should be fixed. However, when you purchase the RAM, I suggest that you print the information from the above website and show it to the sales person to ensure that it is the correct type.