[rshaffer61]

This looks to be a limitation of the motherboard and to get around it would necessitate a motherboard upgrade.

Maybe single sided memory?

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It might be a possibility. OP, how much RAM is required in total? I should think from reading the thread 8GB would be plenty.

Also Ron it might work out cheaper to replace the motherboard than the RAM.

By the way it is a lovely morning here, good morning to you all. Must in fact be time for morning tea.

[Troy]

It might be a possibility. OP, how much RAM is required in total? I should think from reading the thread 8GB would be plenty.

Also Ron it might work out cheaper to replace the motherboard than the RAM.

By the way it is a lovely morning here, good morning to you all. Must in fact be time for morning tea.

[jsaklas]

rshaffer1 and Troy,

Thanks for the info. First, I now fully understand that I can only use two of the 4 gig sticks. That's fine, I'm sure 8 gig total is more than adequate.

Now to get to the loading of two operating systems. Here I need detailed, step by step, help. (Hey, I got a Medicare card - cut me some slack.)

First, at my age I don't like change for change's sake. For example, the MS Office 2007 menu system is horrible. It is so bad that I found some free software that, with one click, converts it to Office 2003 formats. Secondly, I don't even like XP's format; I chose to set it up in the Classical (Windows 2000) format. I bring this up not to be a pain in the $%#, but to ask you if Windows 7 will confuse and frustrate me (and the Mrs.) This may be an issue since Troy's solution seems to mean that Windows 7 will be only format I see.

Is there another easy solution that would simply allow me to load during boot-up the OS of my choice? IF not, then I guess I will have to get used to Windows 7.


js

[Troy]

You are able to run Windows 7 with the "Classic" theme which has a look similar to Windows 2000. It still is Windows 7 of course, so there are differences to get used to. Currently I am on my work computer which runs Vista Business - it's a bit slow so I run the Classic theme here too.

As for the dual boot, this is exactly what Ron was suggesting. Two completely separate operating systems which you can choose from a boot menu upon computer start up.

I suggested the XP Mode as that cuts out a lot of the hassle of running two operating systems - Separate drives and/or partitions, Windows Updates within each, application updates within each (such as Java/Flash/Adobe Reader updates etc), antivirus etc. The reason I suggested XP Mode was not just for "change" sake, Windows 7 with the latest patches is the most secure operating system when compared with XP. It is a clean and neat solution which achieves exactly what my clients have wanted to achieve, however I appreciate it might not be for everyone.

So by all means take some time to deliberate. Also I'm sure if Ron or anyone else has for and against points to help you consider they will post them up here. Once you have made a decision we can drill down to the nitty gritty of step-by-step help.

Troy

[jsaklas]

Troy and rshaffer61,

A few last questions and then I will decide which was to go.

If I choose to load two separate OSs, will I have to load all my software on each system, including my anti-virus (I use, and am very satisfied with, Kaspersky.) software? Is your answer the same regardless of whether I have both XP and W7 on the same drive (fyi, my hard drive is partioned into three drives, C (341 gig free), D and E (each with about 500 gig free) or on different drives.

Will the bootup default to one of the OSs if I don't actively tell the machine to load a specific OS within some reasonable time, say 5-10 seconds?

If I load the W7 and use XP mode, will the machine react more slowly, than if I choose two separate OSs?



js

[Troy]

Yes. You will have to load everything that you want into each installation. You might as well think of it like two completely separate computers. Same or different drives doesn't matter. Each installation will need to be on it's own partition regardless.

The bootup will default to one and load it after a short time unless you select the other.

Depending on the performance of the computer as a whole, there is a small period of waiting whilst XP mode loads up, but after that it's pretty much not noticeable.

Cheers

P.S. in the strictest theoretical sense, XP Mode runs as a virtual machine and therefore would need its own antivirus and updates applied. However in the implementations I have performed, I did not do this and explained to the end user why. First up as XP comes with a firewall, I made sure it was enabled in the XP Mode. And then I disabled the Updates after installing as many as were available at the time. The stipulation for this was that the XP Mode was only to be used to run the specific programs required that would not run under Windows 7. I have followed up a few times with these clients who are quite pleased with the way it works and report no problems. I suppose if there is a program that only runs on XP that requires internet access then antivirus + updates would become an additional necessity.

[jsaklas]

rshaffer61 and Troy,

I decided for the short run I will keep my computer as is, i.e., I will run only 32 bit XP. I suspect that I will upgrade to 64 bit Windows7 some time in the future. When I do that I will need some help.

Should I start a new topic at that time or should I contact one of you two.


Thanks much for all your assistance.


js

[rshaffer61]

You can return to this topic and post and we will get a email notification.

[Troy]

You can return to this topic and post and we will get a email notification.

I won't, I have disabled all email notifications. I login and check my subscriptions manually whenever I have time (which isn't very often these days).