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Winxp with 128MB RAM?

N

Nebben

Senior member
I feel like I've exceeded my post limit lately... but I have one more question to ask.

I'm still trying to get my parents' computer working (the one mentioned in at least 3 prior topics) and I've determined that both of the 256MB ram sticks they have have bad areas on them.

I have one 128 MB stick that is working perfectly, but the drop from 512mb to 128mb sucks. Is it feasible to run WinXP on a machine with only 128mb RAM? All it is used for is web browsing, basically.

The system is:

Asus MEW Motherboard
Intel Celeron 500MHZ
128mb (functional) / 512mb (somewhat functional, cannot even complete the winxp installation) PC133 SDRAM
Integrated video/sound

I could install Win98 and use the 512mb, which works, but I have experienced a few bluescreen vxd errors in just a few hours of usage while setting up the machine.

Is it better to run Win98 with 512mb of faulty ram, WinXP with 128mb of good ram, or some other alternative such as Win2k, which I've never used and don't really want to spend money on...

I'm considering installing MEPIS Linux or something similar, because they wouldn't need to relearn everything, as they basically just use FireFox and not much else.

 
It should be able to run Windows XP with only 128 MB of ram. If all you do with that machine is web browsing it should be fine.
 
I would never run a system on faulty RAM, especially if I knew about it. Either use the 128 that works fine, or search for some 256 in FS/FT forums if you are willing to spend a few dollars.

That being said, your pretty much on the low end of everthing there, I would also recommend win98, or a distro of linux with a lightweight desktop manager/browser.
 
I have a laptop with celery 1GHz and 128MB RAM with win XP pro and 32MB SHARED GRAPHICS!!! flys along like a train with a 1000cc engine but it goes.....Just....Spends a lot of time churning the hard disk.....I could swear it clicks the hard disk even for moving the mouse pointer!!
 
^^ and that is with twice the processor, most likely a bigger hdd as well. If you have it already, you might as well try it, otherwise through linux on there and see how it works. If you do put linux on it, make sure to use a lightweight desktop like fluxbox (only one that comes to mind). Firefox should work ok as long as you don't use KDE or GNOME.
 
XP is pretty brutal with 128mb of ram. Even 2K runs pretty meh with nothing but antivirus and a web browser open. XP is rather painful.
 
Use Classic Theme and disable most of the visual effects. It won't be blazingly fast, but it should run fine with XP.
 
At work, we used to have 533mhz Celery machines with only 128mb RAM and a slow 10gb hard drive. Yet they were uncluttered and I just used one during Xmas break and it wasn't slow at all. It handles basic Windows tasks like Web browsing, Office stuff, along with our business software very well.

I am under the impression that XP can be made Win2k-like as far as system resources go if you disable all of the new "features", visual effects, unneeded services, etc. So in this case, I don't see why your rents machine wouldn't be suitable for XP if they are just doing basic tasks. Then, if it was still painfully slow, I'd consider linux, but it's probably not necessary.
 
1. I've use nLite to reduce the XP's footprint from 800mb to just 500mb.
Google nlite to find the site

2. Agree, uses the classic theme save memory and cpu load

3. Avoid any Background Pictures, which can eats up 2-4mb of memory

4. Google (Black Viper's Service Tweak 911)



 
if its only for browsing i would use linux. use a light manager like xfce.
its should be much better than xp/2k. and less problems regarding spyware, virus etc.
 
It will be SSSSSSSSSSSLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.
This should only be a temporary fix.
 
If they're using the Web, you MUST have both a firewall and an anti-virus program on the machine (you didn't say in your original post if either are on there now). Running XP and both a firewall and an a-v program on a machine with only 128 MB of RAM is gonna be tough. And if you don't have a firewall and a-v program onboard, a slow machine will be the least of your worries (it's probably infected with viruses and spyware and God knows what else right now, and badly, if it's been running without them for any length of time at all). 🙁

No offense, but why not just go buy a stick of 256 MB RAM and save yourself all this hassle? I just picked up a module of 256 MB Kingston Value RAM for like $42 at Zip Zoom Fly a week or so ago for a friend's basic machine. Unless I was flat broke and starving, that's what I'd do. 😀

EDIT: By "firewall," I'm not including the very weak Windows firewall. I'm talking about a real firewall like Zone Alarm or Norton or McAfee or something. 🙂
 
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