I took the computer in and the tech whipped it open and told me what I needed.
The reason I was having trouble opening it was that only one side slides open rather than the whole case coming off as with all of my other computers.
I bought 512 MB of RAM brought it home and installed it to give me a total of 768MB. I tried opening a RAW image and had no problems.
Scampo, writing on BF, made this point >I somehow wonder whether just adding more RAM will solve the problem as when RAM is short, WinXP uses the hard disk to act as a "swap file" to make up for lack of memory. That said, these days 1gb of RAM will make programmes run more quickly.<.
As I said earlier, when I would open an image approx. 240 MB of my Ram would be in use. With the new RAM added, 350 MB seems to be in use. From that I conclude that exactly what Scamo mentioned was probably happening which in turn may account for my slow image processing.
The new RAM was listed online at $89 Cdn but at the store, on the rack, it was labled $69 but that turned out to be an error, $89 was the right price. I was quite prepared to pay the correct price but the store insisted on giving it to me for the displayed priced. Their policy apparently! Nice to get lucky! The tech. didn't charge for looking in the computer so rather a satisfying sequence of events.
Thanks for the input everyone. I'll post how things go.

"I'm not surprised you are getting "insufficient memory" messages if you are processing raw files on a machine with only 256MB of RAM."

I didn't know Windows XP could even run in so little memory. You live and learn.

Scampo/Steve is half right. Windows XP does have virtual memory paging, so if an application uses more memory than is available, it will page out to disk information it is not using. But, and this is a big but, the overhead is huge. Quite simply virtual memory paging can slow a system to a crawl. Really the best most effective way to speed up a PC is to buy more memory. I think 1 GB is the bare minimum with XP, and 2 GB is preferred. I would go for 3 GB but my damned motherboard only has two slots with a maximum of 1GB in each.

There is also the issue with Photoshop of where you put the swap file which can make a difference. (Google to find out.)

Quite right. Dell also have that requirement. I think it applies to DDR2 memory only and not DDR. (I think it is to do with the way the system addresses memory. With DDR2 it polls both blocks at the same time to speed up memory access.) DDR2 memory costs more but runs faster.

You need to be more precise about the model number of your laptop computer, it seems there are at least 3 different models in the 6000 series. However the basic model will take up to 2048MB (2GB) in 2x1024MB DDR2 PC2-5300 speed modules. Crucial price for 2GB = £117.49 inc. VAT at this web address: http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/list...o+V6000+Series

Doesn't need to be matching pairs, you can install single modules of your choice, each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.

Extract from Crucial web page:

Guaranteed compatible memory upgrades for your HP - Compaq Presario V6000 Series Laptop/Notebook.

• Maximum Memory: 2048MB
• USB Support: 2.x Compliant
• Standard Memory: 512 or 1024MB removable
• Slots: 2 (2 banks of 1)

Q: What memory goes into my computer, and can I mix speeds?

A: DDRII memory with support for DDR2 PC2-5300 speeds. Because DDR2 memory is backward-compatible, you can safely upgrade your system with any of the guaranteed-compatible DDR2 speeds listed below.


Q: How much memory can my computer handle?
A: 2048MB.
Adding the maximum amount of memory will improve performance and help extend the useful life of your system as you run increasingly demanding software applications in the future.

Q: Do I have to install matching pairs?

A: No. No, you can install modules one at a time, and you can mix different densities of modules in your computer. But if your computer supports dual-channel memory configurations, you should install in identical pairs (preferably in kits) for optimal performance.


Q: Does my computer support dual-channel memory?

A: No. Your system does not support dual channel.



Q: Does my computer support ECC memory?

A: No. Your system does not support ECC. Because ECC and non-ECC modules should not be mixed within a system, install the same type of modules that are already in your system.


Fitting is simple but requires the usual static precautions before you start.

Quote:

£99.99 ex. VAT £117.49 inc. VAT* http://images.crucial.com/images/res...ODIMMkit_2.gif 2GB kit (1GBx2) CT576512 DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • 1.8V • 128Meg x 64

Quote:

£49.99 ex. VAT £58.74 inc. VAT* http://images.crucial.com/images/res...-pinSODIMM.gif 1GB CT576510 DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • 1.8V • 128Meg x 64

Quote:

£51.99 ex. VAT £61.09 inc. VAT* http://images.crucial.com/images/res...ODIMMkit_2.gif 1GB kit (512MBx2) CT576514 DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • 1.8V • 64Meg x 64

Quote:

£28.99 ex. VAT £34.06 inc. VAT* http://images.crucial.com/images/res...-pinSODIMM.gif 512MB CT576515 DDR2 PC2-5300 • CL=5 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 • 1.8V • 64Meg x 64

nirofo.

My computer is a Presario 6000 desktop not laptop. It came with XP, 256 mb of RAM and has worked well up until the past month or so. It has been fast and stable until I started processing RAR files in DPP v.6 or in Picasa.
Perhaps someday I'll upgrade to 1 G of RAM but for now everything is working fine.
Thanks for the input.

Hi Snowyowl

Sorry for that, I just assumed it was a notebook, anyway here's a couple of links to the memory spec for your computer, depending on whether it's an Athlon or a Pentiun 4 motherboard.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/list...+processors%29

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/list...+processors%29

nirofo.

I use this laptop for convenience not for speed when processing Raw files, if you thought 256mb of ram would not work try useing 96mb :)

96mb ram

Jim

My additional memory seems to have sorted out my problems and the computer seems generally to perfrom better.