Slow PC - memory issues ?

If the memory modules are identical, then 1 might be bad.

However, if you added in the second 128MB DIMM recently, it is likely that the BIOS on your motherboard cannot access the full memory on a newer high density DIMM.

Or, the second DIMM is actually a 32 MB module.

160MB of RAM is sufficient for W98.

I would open task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and see just how many applications are running.
If you have much more than 1 page of items listed in task manager, you need to reduce the number of running programs / processes.

Start by deactivating any application that places an icon in the system tray portion of the task bar that you don't use all the time.
For most, right click on the icon and select options. Uncheck, or disable load at startup.

Then, download and run AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy.
www.lavasoft.de
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Another thing to check into is updating the driver for your video card.
Some Windows updates for W98 cause conflicts with older video card drivers that can slow things down.

Still no improvement?
Windows over time, runs slower and slower as system files and registry entries grow.

Depending on how often you load and remove software, the functional life of a W98 installation varies from 6 months to 2 years.

The fix, is a clean installation of Windows.

Back up your critical files and account settings.

Either format the hard drive, or empty the root (C:\) and Windows folders.
For the Windows folder, you must also empty at least the system and system 32 folders and their sub-folders.

Install Windows,
install device drivers
update Windows,
Defragment the drive,
install desired software.

A lot of work? Yes.
Worth it? Usually.
The performance difference between a clean install of Windows and one that is several years old can be dramatic.

Chas

Hello. Remove one memory stick at a time and identify the one that shows only 32Mb RAM.

DO you by any chance use integrated video and shared 96Mb of RAM? ;/

That could be right as that M'Board has the Graphics built on board. What you should be doing is going into the BIOS and seeing just how much of the System RAM has been set aside for Video.

With these M'Boards that have On Board Video they steal some of the System RAM to use as Video RAM normally this is set to 32 MEG but it can be altered to a greater amount so that which has been allocated to the Video disappears from System Memory. With the 810 Chip Set M'Board which this is you are better off using 32 MEG for Video as any more is just a waste of RAM as it can not be fully used. It been a while since I've actually looked at one of these Boards but I seem to remember that you can allocate Video RAM in 32 MEG chunks so you could have allocated 32. 64, or 96 MEG of RAM to the Video and that would explain why the second only appears to have 32 MEG of RAM available.

After you reset the BIOS to 32 MEG available for Video run Defrag from the run box and clean up the way that files have become stored all over the HDD you could also run CHKDSK first as well to just make sure that there are no problems on the HDD as well like cross linked files or other things like that which will chew up clock cycles and appear to slow the thing down.

Lets know how you get on.

Col

Those are good answers. But here is a program that will help with the "Clogging" memory Problem that has plaqued windows for years. and It works with ALL versions of windows

http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/maxmem.htm

I have used it for years a and you probably know the programmer if you ever watch techTV.

Luck to ya