Problems with my magic picture box

I really don't know much about computers, but would I be correct in assuming;

-RAM determines performance
-If I were to somehow install an absurd amount of RAM (lessay, a terabyte), my computer would never crash again?


I ask because it's been crashing a lot lately. That or sometimes Flash just doesn't work. I have no idea why.

By crashing, do you mean a Blue Screen?

I did get the Blue Screen of Death twice during these past 14 or so months, yeah.

Blue Screen crashing can be attributed to a multitude of things. It can be:
a) overheating (CPU/GPU)
b) bad Windows install
c) bad RAM (or RAM slot)
d) failing hard drive (if OS is installed there)

What kind of crashing are you getting though? And I mean recently.

It's pretty much exclusively media playing.

Anything Flash related (youtube videos, games). Also when I try to play music or watch movies/tv shows that I have on my computer. It'll say that I've not enough memory, but everytime I check, I'll have 3-4 thousand Mb free.

Perhaps, but Windows Media Player and VLC stop working sometimes, too.

by memory the computer means your RAM, (it could also mean the the size of your page file)
How much RAM do you have installed and what is the size of your page file.

Two gigs of RAM.


Haven't the slightest clue what the other thing is.

The page file is virtual memory. Let's say you use all of your two gigs of RAM, the page file then uses space from your hard drive to create virtual memory.

I also want to address a few other things.


That's partially true. There are a huge number of different factors, such as: processor speed, the amount of cores (dual core, quad core, etc.) the processor has, and the hard drive.


That may not fix your problem. Most motherboards can only handle a certain amount of RAM, depending on how old your computer is. Most of the newer PC's can handle up to 256 MB, which is the most I seen so far. If you were to do any modifications to your computer, I'd recommend researching your computer's specs to find out what hardware is compatible with your motherboard.

Hunh- I thought 1Gig was the standard for some reason, with 2 not uncommmon.

Ah well.

Given the problems presented initially, though (media of various forms not playing/crashing), what do you think is most likely the problem?

I think it's the RAM simply because it usually gets sorted out if I standard tech support answer it (turn it off and on again).

Did I just type that? I mean't 256 GB, not 256 MB. Stupid me.

Anyway, you could start by adjusting the virtual memory of your PC. I'm assuming it's a Windows OS? How much space does your hard drive have remaining?

Ah. Haha, I see.


Anyways, yeah- Windows 7, and 236Gigs free on the drive.

Laptop though, thought I oughter mention. My questions for adding RAM or other whatnot is most likely towards a PC I'm thinking of acquiring/building later on.

I assume you meant GB? This would be a silly thing to do anyway. Anything remotely close to that amount of memory would cost an astronomical sum of money.

@PumpJack McGee you may be confusing "memory" with "storage". RAM (memory) is a special type of high speed storage device. A "stick" of RAM typically comes in small amounts (e.g. 2 gigabytes or 4 gigabytes) because it's relatively expensive. Just 8 GB of RAM will cost you about $70 USD today. Storage on the other hand is a very slow container for your data. Storage is (usually) very cheap in comparison but your computer needs both to function. Storage devices include hard disks, flash drives, and more recently solid state drives. A typical 1 terabyte hard disk will cost only $50-$70 USD.

Everything on your computer is stored on a storage device at first. When you want to boot up Windows or run a program (like your browser) your computer moves that data from storage to RAM in order to have high speed access. Without doing this, your computer would be awfully slow and unresponsive, so it's not really feasible to have a computer system without RAM.

With that out of the way let's talk about how RAM might affect your performance. There are basically only three scenarios.

1. You have sufficient or maybe even too much memory available. In this case everything should run smoothly and you should not experience any problems. Having extra memory will not add any additional benefit.

2. You have insufficient RAM available. As MeganeMaster described, your computer will set aside a chunk of space on your storage device (typically at least double the capacity of your RAM). When your memory starts to fill up, your operating system (Windows) makes the decision to put some stuff that was in your memory into this page file. The term "virtual memory" just means that your computer treats it as an extension of your actual RAM. This allows your computer to keep using memory even when you're trying to use more than it has available. However, there is a limit to how much extra mileage you can get. You will eventually run out of virtual memory and at that point Windows will warn you and you may start experiencing serious problems.

[EDIT] Additional opinion: 2GB of RAM is not very much today. Most people will recommend 4 GB minimum these days for a new computer. We can't rule out the suggestion that you have insufficient RAM.

3. Your RAM is failing. If part of your RAM stick is failing all sorts of bad things may happen. If you can safely conclude that your computer only experiences problems with Flash and video then your RAM is probably not failing. You would probably experience much more random problems if your RAM was bad.

With all that said, it's still not clear what the root of your problems is. This problem has only manifested recently so there must have been some change. The requirements for computing is constantly changing, and for the most part we need more powerful machines as time passes. In this case your computer would just be outdated and literally unable keep up with the times. But I'm not convinced that this is the case. To my knowledge, there hasn't been any major change in the requirements to play video (but I could be wrong about this).

More likely to me would be as dasBattleship01 suggested, overheating. After a long period of time (especially without thorough maintenance) a computer will run hotter and its parts will be worse at dissipating heat. For less powerful computers, playing video will really heat things up. This not only shortens your computer's lifespan, but it also decreases performance in the present time. You always want to keep your computer as cool as possible. If you haven't checked it for dust, make sure to pop it open and have a look. There are many guides on the internet for proper cleaning and maintenance. OK if you have a laptop this is much more difficult but possibly doable.

Yeah, I caught my mistake. Also, yeah I realize it would be silly and expensive, but I know someone who did it before.

Thanks for your insight as well. Always a good thing.

As for the problem, like ChrisBRosado123 said, the root of the problem is still not clear, but we'll start with your assumption first.

Extending Virtual Memory in Windows 7:
1. Open the "Control Panel"
2. Find the "System" icon and click on it.
3. On the left panel you should see, "Advanced system settings", click on it.
4. In the "Performance" box, click "Settings..."
5. In the "Performance Options", click the "Advanced" tab.
6. In the "Virtual memory" box, click "Change..."
7. The default should be set to "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives". Uncheck the check box.
8. Select your "C:" drive.
9. Select "Custom size"
10. Type in the "Initial size:" box "6144" (This is 6 GB)
11. Type in the "Maximum size:" box "12288" (This is 12 GB)
12. Click OK for all three windows.
13. You may need to restart your computer to finish this.

You now have predefined extended memory added using your hard drive space. Anytime you are running low on memory it will go up to using 12 GB of extended memory. You can add more if you like later on.

I find it better to have this custom than system managed, but that's just my opinion.

Alright- just wanna check something real quick.

In that box, it says I have 248246 Mb available, so I'm assuming 240 GB or so, yeah.

I'm also assuming that means I've got enough to pull off this trick of yours.


Lastly- the bit that confuses me- why would the default settings not be the optimal settings for smooth system performance? Is it a safety feature of sorts (perhaps saving space for system recovery)?

Correct, you have more than enough space.


The system typically sets virtual memory equal to the size of your RAM and maximum size three times your RAM. In your case, you have a total of 4 GB (2*2=4) and 6 GB (2*3=6), respectively. Sometimes this may not be enough. By increasing it, you designate up to 8 GB of your hard drive space to use virtual memory in the event you run out of RAM storage.


This might be a bit much to start with. Instead, use 4096 MB (4 GB) for step 10 and 8192 MB (8 GB) for step 11.

As a heads up, hard drive performance is slower than RAM performance. This means that programs that use virtual memory will not perform as fast as the RAM. This is a trade off between the two.

Welp- better to run slow than not run at all.

Thanks for the help. It's been very- well, um- helpful.