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I've been pondering on this thread since Gaussian posted his advice to bubble ..... I had always thought/believed (and this is my computer ignorance showing through) that when the computer booted that  it did its own checks (hence the brief screens we see during boot up that say x amount of ram etc) .... now I am doubting that bootup info ... as Gaussian wouldn't post info on a program to check ram if the computer had already done it during boot up ..... soooo my assumption is that during boot up the computer checks what is there but not it's ability to function ... example - it 'finds' a printer ... but until I print something neither I or the computer know if the printer will print ...... and that the same applies to the ram chips, they 'say' yes I'm here .. but haven't been tested and may not be functioning correctly .... is this right or have I got it all 'arm up'??