How Do I Check What my Correct Memory Status Is, and How to Upgrade?

[Snort McDork]

Did that make any difference to mouse behaviour ?

Well when I changed to the new Mouse last night, it did seem to improve things. However, I posted an update below.

 

[osprey]

Performance wise, things have improved a bit with the new mouse. However, I still get a bit of delay/hesitation when just writing this. Additionally, online web pages are occasionally acting "sticky" of lag in response. Would the video card have anything to do with this? I'm watching a video and it "hangs up" or "freezes" for 2 or 3 seconds, then goes back to normal. Audio continues normally, but video freezes up momentarily and then catches up.

The graphics card can be implicated in hesitations. As a preliminary check you could run the command in a terminal:

glxgears

and watch on screen the three cog wheels. If there is a hesitation observable, then it suggests the graphics card is implicated. If the running of the wheels is smooth for a minute or two, then one can't say for certain either way but prima facie, I guess the graphics card is passing this test. There are other things to investigate though.

To stop the cog wheels display, use the command: crtl+c, in the terminal in which the glxgears command was run.

 

[Condobloke]

However, I posted an update below.

where ?

 

[Brickwizard]

@Snort McDork

OK I am back from holiday and have my work manuals to hand [and my wife's crystal ball]

I can confirm the following from the maker's work sheets

Your machine was made Late 2014 for wind 7/8
UPGRADING
IT HAS 2 RAM SLOTS, each slot can take a max of 8GB so a total of 16 gb
The I4 CPU [4 core 4 thread] can be changed for a !7 4770 [4 core 8 thread]
It came with a plate spinner hard-drive as standard or SSD as a cost option
IT has a PCIe3 16 slot, this could [if not already in use] to install a NVMe on a PCIe adaptor,
IS IT WORTH UPGRADING
this depends on the cost of either new or used parts in your country
WHAT WOULD I DO
what I have on my prodesk
1]make sure you have at least 8b ram I upgraded to max 16 gb [2x8gb bars]
2]IF you have a spare PCIe 3 -16 slot add a NVMe on a PCIe adaptor [this will increase the read/write [and boot speed dramatically] [New full hight addaptor around 10 bucks and a New 250 gb Mvme 3-4lane from around 30 bucks us]
3 obtain a second hand I7 CPU and fit [around 40 bucks US]

NOTES
If you go with the NVMe option then there is no point buying a NVMe 4 or 5 as they will still only run at NVMe3 speed
If you opt for changing the CPU buy a second hand one from a trade supplier not a private seller

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS

 

[bob466]

I am a bit nervous about doing something in terminal, but I will try this.

Don't be scared of the Terminal because it's a very handy tool to do many things...the command I gave just shows this...

It won't blow up your system.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@Snort McDork :-

Has the mouse itself been checked ?....pull it apart and clean it out....dust and fluff etc etc ?

With regard to opening up your mouse, you say it's "sealed"? Mice DO look like this, because manufacturers usually hide the screws away from prying eyes.

Turn the mouse over. You'll see small "feet", or "glide pads" in places around the outside of the base. These are usually made of what's called PTFE.....a very smooth plastic with a "slippery" surface, so that the mouse will move smoothly when you use it. These are self-adhesive - stuck-on - and the screws are usually under these.

You need to use a knife of some sort - preferably with a rounded end - to carefully pry these off. They can usually be stuck back on when you're finished. The screws will then be exposed, and you'll be able to undo them.

IF the mouse is a rechargeable model, or a wired model, all the screws will be under these. If it's a battery-powered model that uses removable batteries, there will often be at least one screw inside the battery compartment......sometimes two.

Just be careful when you pull the two halves apart. Some manufacturers use quite complex moldings that can be a bit reluctant to release; occasionally you will need to use the tip of that knife to carefully work around the joint & release small clips.

Like any such task, the first time you perform it you will naturally be concerned that you might break something. Don't worry too much; these things are tougher than they look.

Putting it back together is simply the reverse of talking it apart. Experimenting with an old mouse that you don't use will give you confidence for when you try it for real.

It's astounding just HOW much crap and fluff mice collect over time!

Most YT videos tend to be about specific makes & models. This was about the best 'generic' disassembly video I was able to find. hopefully, it'll give you some idea of what to do.

Mike.

 

[Snort McDork]

The terminal just needs a bit of experience for a user to begin to feel comfortable. One needs to be very clear about using the terminal as root, and using it as user.

Using it as root, one ought to know exactly what one is doing. As user, using the terminal is less risky. One major aspect of using the terminal as user, is know exactly what one is doing when using the remove command: rm, so one doesn't lose what they may wish to keep.

That said, I'll address the issue mentioned in post #1:

To check the existing state of memory modules in the machine, the following command will provide all the information you need, and it's run as user:

$ inxi -v 8 | awk '/Memory:/,/PCI Slots:/' | sed '/PCI/d'
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 16 GiB available: 15.27 GiB used: 2.77 GiB (18.1%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 128 GiB slots: 4 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 32 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: Controller0-ChannelA-DIMM0 type: no module installed
  Device-2: Controller0-ChannelA-DIMM1 type: DDR5 detail: synchronous
    size: 8 GiB speed: 4800 MT/s volts: note: check curr: 1 min: 1 max: 1
    width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Crucial Technology
    part-no: CT8G48C40U5T.M4A1 serial: E8E39868
  Device-3: Controller1-ChannelA-DIMM0 type: no module installed
  Device-4: Controller1-ChannelA-DIMM1 type: DDR5 detail: synchronous
    size: 8 GiB speed: 4800 MT/s volts: note: check curr: 1 min: 1 max: 1
    width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Crucial Technology
    part-no: CT8G48C40U5T.M4A1 serial: E8E392F7

Note that the command may take a moment or two to produce its output.

The output tells you how many RAM slots, which ones are occupied and which are free, the speed of the RAM, the maximum memory that can be installed, the type of memory and the manufacturer or brand.

The above information is necessary to add a memory module, but the following considerations are also relevant:

Memory module sockets are usually arranged in parallel lines adjacent to the cpu, as shown in the diagram in post #2. A user needs to know which sockets to insert the memory modules in if there are more than one such socket. In the above example there are 4 sockets. The manual for this particular motherboard indicates which sockets should be used for varying numbers of memory modules. In this case the configuration is as follows where x indicates the inserted module:

                            Memory sockets
 
                    CPU      1   2   3   4
 
Number of modules:
 
1 module....................             x
 
2 modules...................      x      x
 
4 modules...................  x   x   x  x

Notice that if there is only one module, it is located in the socket furthest from the cpu, and when there are 2 modules they are not next to each other. These configurations may be counterintuitive but they are important to allow memory modules to take advantage of what's called Dual Channel Memory Technology when 2 or 4 memory modules are used, if it's available. It makes a difference.

Another consideration is when using multiple memory modules. To ensure optimal performance, they should be identical, which means that they should be the same type, same size, same brand and same speed. In the above example the details are:

Type: DDR5
Size: 8GiB
Brand: Crucial Technology
Speed: 4800 MT/s

The machine you have may only have two slots, which makes it easier to add a second memory module because there's only one place it can go. Note however, the optimal performance will be more ensured if both memory modules are the same as described above.

Okay. Here is the update.

And I'm not really sure what I did. I did mess with some settings, but I had some updates waiting, one of which was Firefox. After downloading it, it wanted me to restart, which I did.
Than after opening my work win-doze, I was watching a video, and it DID NOT FLICKER or FREEZE!!!
I really don't know if Firefox has anything to do with video performance, but it did not freeze up on me. Freaking amazing!!! So I'm not sure what caused the problem. I still plan on calling this tech dude tomorrow and see if I indeed do need to improve RAM to prevent this from happening again. My stress and frustrations have been washed away!!

 

[Condobloke]

but I had some updates waiting, one of which was Firefox. After downloading it, it wanted me to restart, which I did.

One of the updates may have been a Kernel update
That would have required the restart, not Firefox.

 

[Snort McDork]

Just thought I'd report back that things seem to working well on this end.
Dealing with personal matter that is depressing me, but as for this machine, running smoothly.
Thanks for the support.

 

[Mike-BTU]

Dealing with personal matter that is depressing me, ...
Thanks for the support.

Very sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing that with us.

 

[Brickwizard]

That would have required the restart, not Firefox.

you have to re-start Firefox [if uou are using it at the time] not the whole machine

 

[Snort McDork]

Yes, I just found out that it asks me to restart, and I comply gladly.