RV Dream Journal - RV-Dreams Community Forum

darbyjudy · RV-Dreams Community Member

RV Dream Journal

darbyjudy · RV-Dreams Community Member

Well I have spent two day trying to figure out why I cannot view the RV Dreams Journal without the computer locking up. I even went so far as to purchase some softwear to check the computer. I can open all other journals but not this one. Am I the only person having problems. If so maybe it is time to purchase a new computer. Mine is quite old and I am running win 98. I use internet explorer 6. I would appricate any help anyone can give me. Or suggestions. I miss not be able to view Howard and Linda's journal daily.

Dave Buck · RV-Dreams Family Member

I haven't had a problem and I check it almost every day. I just checked and read the lastest post just to make sure.

Don't know what the problem could be.

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'd say it's time to get a new computer if you've never been able to use this site without any problem. The RV-Dreams site is setup very well and as others have said I haven't experienced what you are describing in the two years I've been folowing Howard and Linda's adventure.

If this is something that has recently occurred and you've been able to view all of RV-Dreams.com in the past with no problems, then something has changed within your computer, internet security program or your internet service provider.

There have been a rash of security breeches lately by hackers, so some internet providers my have turned up their security systems to a higher level.

FD5 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Check it daily with no problems. Good luck with your computer. If you are able to get into the chat room, Bill aka "The Shadow" has helped me with computer problems with my wife's computer, not RV Dreams site related. He is usually in there between 8:30 and 9pm central time.

darbyjudy · RV-Dreams Community Member

No I am saying I have used this for over two years reading it every day and then yesterday it would not open and also it would not open today. I tried to find a problem with my computer and so far nothing. I then went to the wifes lap top computer and it worked OK. Although she has much more memory that I do and it is a newer computer. The one I am having trouble with is old and running win 98, not a lot of memory. so I am thinking that might be the problem for that page has a lot of things running on it.

So I guess I should be looking for a new computer for my office. Thanks for the post.

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Howard's pages can have a lot to download from time to time. I have a T-1 connection at work and I've noticed sometimes it takes a couple of extra seconds for a page to load, I think it has to do with the ads more than photos or other items.

Try doing a disk de-fragment and disk cleanup to clear some of your memory and temporary files. It usually helps when memory is suspect.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Is there an alternate browser, like firefox, that will run on that Windows 98 computer? I don't know. I once had a problem posting to this forum with IE and Hughes.net and that was fixed by using firefox, but that was on a different computer.

If all you are doing is email and browsing you could try a Linux live CD (which doesn't touch your hard drive) and see if you can run Linux on the machine.

darbyjudy · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks Bill for the reply to my problem. Last night I defrag the c drive and then shut off all that I had running and was able to pull the page up. I beleive the problem is that I just don't have enough computer to open it up. There is a lot of stuff on that page with the pictures and all the ads, and a lot of the ads has streaming messages. So I think I am going to just forget trying to get the desk top to open it up and use the lap top. I will start looking for a newer computer. I would think with the economy the way it is that they will be some good buys. My problem is I don't know enough about what to look for and how much computer I need to buy. Like every one else I don't want to spend any more than I have to.

Speedhitch · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mine locks up on Chat??? Maybe something else is wrong...

Joe

Roz · RV-Dreams Family Member

Speedy,

We lock yours up on chat, so that we can own the room! Jenny, I told you he would never catch on!!! (hee, hee)

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Memory might be the problem as you think. I just brought up Internet Explorer (IE) on a Windows XP machine and ran task manager to monitor how much memory it needed. Most websites cause IE to take about 56 to 62KB of memory, but the RV-Dreams Journal needs 99KB. For most of us 99KB is not a problem, but with an old machine it could be.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Computer deals are out there. We were just at the Sam's Club in Yuma, Arizona and they had a complete computer with LCD monitor for $499 running Windows XP Home from Averatec. It used an Atom processor, so it wasn't as fast as a Core 2, but would definitely surf and do email. The actual computer was built into the monitor stand.

darbyjudy · RV-Dreams Community Member

Well today I have been playing with the computer again trying to figure out just why the RV Dream Journal was the only one to freeze the computer. I though maybe it was high CPU useage by the web page so I download a little utility that measures the cpu useage . Just as I suspected when I clicked to open the journal the cpu useage would go to 100% and stay there . I tried it on most of the other forums and web pages I use and none other was going near 100%. So Howard has got some ads that are really using us the resources when they open up. I don't beleive it is the pictures for they have always been there. So I guess I will either have to buy more computer or just forget the journal for a while. Although I really enjoyed it each day.

NorCal Dan · RV-Dreams Family Member

In the last couple of weeks I have had problems getting the forum to load. For me the problem seems to happen during the re-direct from RV-Dreams to activeboard. When I hit the link the site appears to start loading, but I just end up with a blank white page. Re-loading the page works sometimes but not always. I would blame it on my internet connection, but because it only happens on this site and no others I don't think the problem is on my end.

Thought I would mention it in case this sounds similar to what your experiencing. My computer is an iMac running 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB DDR2 SDRam and browsing with FF 3.0.

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

I had some trouble with site until I got rid of Macafee virus program and went to the AVG free. Not a real knowledgable computer guy but that was my experience.

Tim & Robyn · RV-Dreams Family Member

If you have free disk space you might try increasing the size of your swap file (virtual memory). You SHOULD get warning messages if you're running low on virtual memory, but you never know. Your CPU could be thrashing, paging bits of memory in and out from the swap file. But again that would be an indication of not enough real memory, which would seem to be the real problem if you're able to load the page after shutting everything else down. If it's possible to increase your real memory by adding SIMMs that are compatible with your machine, that might do the trick for less than it would cost to buy a new machine.

Howard · Host

Hey Darby,

Looks llike you are getting a lot better info than I can provide. smile

In the last few days, I replaced the "Map of Our Travels" on the sidebar, which was static, with a Google Map. That may have been just enough to throw your computer over the edge on loading the page.

Several months ago I changed the default settings to show only two entires on the main page - down from the ten we were showing. That helped some folks.

I'd love to remove all the ads, but then I'd have to charge a subscription fee for the Journal. That'd be fine with me if I got enough subscriptions to cover the ad revenue. biggrin

darbyjudy · RV-Dreams Community Member

Howard I downloaded a little utility called AnalogX NetStat live and it does show that you have a lot of content. Yes You are probably right the extra stuff just threw me over the top on this old computer. I am still using the first one I bought many years ago and it doesn't have a lot of memory. But I have did some things and now I can get the Journal to open up if I just don't get inpatient. But you know us old folks do get impatient some times. I do understant that you have to make a few bucks to keep doing this. If you do ever decide to start charging for the service unless it would be too costly you could count me in. I do enjoy reading about all the things that you and Linda do. Also enjoy the pictures. Thanks for letting me know why I started haveing the problem. I guess it wasn't a problem with my computer other than it is like me too old. Do have a great day. God Bless.