Hi...I have a Dell Inspirion 1150 laptop, Windows XP with 512 memory.
Everytime I start my PC it comes up with a black page telling me I have decreased available memory and to push F1
It was working fine one day..the next this! At first I had a blue screen that kept flashing up then disappear quickly. I couldn't get on at all. Now I can get on but only if I push F1..plus it just hangs...the task manager even hangs..

Anything I can do besides take it to the shop? If so, do ya know how much approx?
My Father let me borrow it because I am on the road. I've never worked on the interior of a PC. I've heard something about a cracked mobo or the DIMMs aren't seated properly?

Please explain to me like I am five......Thanks!

Sorry to read about the troubles. I've moved your post to the Dell forums.

The first step is to determine if the "memory size decrease" is due to a faulty motherboard (mb) or memory stick (RAM).

Start with the RAM.
Start the machine and enter the BIOS and read how much memory the BIOS reports. Compare this value to the actual amount in the system.

Reset the BIOS to the defaults.

Restart the machine and see if you still have the error.

Report back to us after you have reset the BIOS.

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Layne P. Heiny / Administrator for Tux Reports Network

Please do not send private messages requesting technical support. Place your request in the proper forum and hopefully someone can help you.

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...hahhahah..as I said before....how embarrassing....could you talk to me like I'm 5? haha..How do you open the BIOS and do the rest that you said.? I've never had to do anything like this before....yikes..I'm so sorry... can i get.."step by step"? Ok..you can stop laughing.... Thank you!