Is upgrading Win 7 from 32 to 64 bit worth it?

[Delboy]

I currently have a 2008 vintage Toshiba laptop with an Athlon 64 dual core TK-57 1.9GHz processor with 2GB of RAM. Originally it had 32 bit Vista installed and I upgraded to Win 7 32 bit about a year ago without realising it had a 64 bit processor. So I was wondering whether I would see much improvement from a 64 bit OS?

The computer regularly crashes and always has since installing Win 7 so a new install was part of the reason for the upgrade thought.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Unless you're using more than 4GB of RAM then no you won't notice an improvement.

As for the crashing, I would test your HDD for errors with the drive manufacturer diagnostic utility, and also test your RAM with Memtest86+

 

[beers]

The computer regularly crashes and always has since installing Win 7 so a new install was part of the reason for the upgrade thought.

Sounds like something else is wrong with your PC.

As above, I'd stick with 32-bit in that environment. All of your applications use more RAM in a 64-bit environment, so you get slightly more usability with such a small quantity on 32-bit.

 

[Delboy]

Unless you're using more than 4GB of RAM then no you won't notice an improvement.

As for the crashing, I would test your HDD for errors with the drive manufacturer diagnostic utility, and also test your RAM with Memtest86+

Its got slightly worse lately, I randomly get horizontal lines (like a TV off station) for about 10 seconds then the computer restarts, which can be inconvenient!

I have no idea which HDD I have or how exactly to test it or the RAM. Any advice/links would be helpful but I will start to search the site/google.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Does the machine lock up when the video issue occurs? If so I'd say chuck the machine and buy a new one.

 

[Delboy]

Does the machine lock up when the video issue occurs? If so I'd say chuck the machine and buy a new one.

Its random but if the computer is left until it goes to sleep it will often crash as soon as it wakes.
Sometimes it will crash just after I press shutdown :-/

 

[Delboy]

Ok I have run a HDD test and it found no problems.
I have down loaded and run Memtest86 twice and the computer switched off half way through test 6!?

 

[voyagerfan99]

It wouldn't just turn off in the middle of the test unless the computer overheated.

 

[Delboy]

The first time I ran it I wasnt paying that much attention (although I did notice test 6) and it just shut down. The second time I watched it until it shut down again half way through test 6. I restarted the computer without problem and carried on. Its never shutdown due to overheating...

 

[johnb35]

What brand of drive do you have and what drive test did you run?

 

[Delboy]

I have just run it again and it switched off at 5% of test 7 this time!
Can you clarify which drive you are referring to (HDD, USB?)
As I understand the default Memtest86 test runs 13 tests of the whole system, unless you mean version and I would have to run it again to take note.

Actually the user manual says version 4.3

 

[johnb35]

HDD. Actually a hardware failure will also make a system turn off. I've seen bad hard drives cause this. When the system crashes, does it give you a blue screen or does it just reboot?

 

[Delboy]

Its a Toshiba HDD2H04 120Gb 5400rpm.
Normally when it crashes I get lots of broken horizontal lines across the screen like a tv just off station. but when the Memtest86 is running it just goes blank and silent :-/ it doesnt reboot.

 

[johnb35]

This sort of sounds like a video card issue. Since this is a laptop, then we are talking about integrated video on the motherboard. It may be time to put this machine to rest.

 

[Delboy]

Oh dear that doesnt sound good, It crashes about once a day or every other but other than that it works fine. I can play online videos without problem, youtube etc. You dont think its a RAM problem then?

 

[johnb35]

It could be. Do you have more ram you can try?

 

[Delboy]

Unfortunately not, I was hoping the Memtest would confirm, I have had a look on ebay and I can buy 2 x 2Gb for about £20 -£25 which I dont mind if its going to fix it but a bit wastefull if it isnt :-(

 

[StrangleHold]

2008, how long has it been since you cleaned the dust out? Heat, maybe.

 

[C4C]

2008, how long has it been since you cleaned the dust out? Heat, maybe.

So much dust was clogging up my old laptop before I cleaned it out (little brother's now)... and it sat on a desk for it's whole life..

I second finding a video on taking it apart to clean!