Originally posted by mr.j
one other Q: When having the RAM tested, do they have to pull apart my hard drive? I have a warranty (Dell) and I don't want to DQ it by having someone eelse do it?

Thx
No they don't need to touch the HD. If your computer is still under warranty have you called Dell support ? look in phone book and see if there's a Dell dealer near you....take it to them.

If you want to see if Windows really does have a page file go to disk defragment & see if there's a green line (unmovable files) thats the page file.

zErO and BB have given the correct advice so if your hardware checks out ok then it looks as if you need too do BB's last two suggestions..

D.) reinstall XP but use the repair the current installation option
E.) clean format, installing XP afresh with SP1

Good luck & let us know how things turn out