Once you go Mac....you don't ever want to go back

So Fry's had 4GB of DDR2 RAM on sale for $34.99 last week. I bought 2 sets....1 set for laptops and one for desktops. I installed the 4GB in my Macbook. It booted up and way happy. I installed the 4GB in my desktop. It took it and started screwing up.

My main desktop had been running for 32 days non-stop. It was performing as my security computer as the computer I built to be a security computer couldn't handle it.



Over the last 32 days it had received over 5 BILLION Bytes! Wow. So much so that the 5 could barely be seen in the network stats. My main desktop had been very reliable. I wanted to up the RAM to 4GB to help it run the memory intensive security camera application.

After installing the RAM it took Vista literally 10 minutes to boot up. Even then some Searchindexer.exe was running non stop even though I turned OFF indexing on all drives. That program was eating up RAM and running both CPUs (its a dual Core 2 Duo computer) at 100%! After 30 minutes the computer locked up and upon rebooting would no longer load Windows Vista...just hanging up. I figured it was the RAM. I installed the original 2GB of RAM. Same thing. I tried loading Windows XP (I have XP installed on a separate drive)....nope. Nice. I defaulted the BIOS. Nope. I then loaded Vista and patiently flashed the BIOS. Same thing. I then brought the computer to the living room and decided to work on it there.

I had another computer I needed to work on so when Kelli came home this is what she saw.



She wasn't too happy....but understood. After much tinkering I finally got the computer to boot with the original RAM. The new RAM always caused issues....so it's going back to Fry's. I thought I was done....but then I noticed the CPU at a toasty 179 degrees F. Wow. I thought it was an issue with the new BIOS. I flashed back to old BIOS. Same thing. I took off the heatsink and reattached it. Same thing. I don't care for the new heatsink designs. It is supposed to be easier. I find it harder. I am going to let the computer cool down totally and try again. Who knows if this is a new thing or if it has been overheating for a while. I rarely ever sit down and use the computer. Mostly I just connect to it over the network.

I fixed the other computer. While doing so Kelli complained about her laptop. It's a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB of RAM. It runs very slowly. I have taken off all the fancy Windows Vista eye candy and extras...still slow. She is okay with it.

My Macbook Pro runs the Mac OS X very well and Windows Vista BETTER than any computer in the house. I don't see me buying another PC ever.