so I had to disconnect cable until I know how to get startup to work properly.

Ram sticks aren't being identified in pc properties so I guess they aren't in all the way? Wtf...was I supposed to hammer them in place?

ram has latches that should catch, if they're in you're good. check the ram at boot, may be a 32 bit issue

if the cable is IDE it may be the drives are on cable select and you attached the master to a slave, check in bios

The latches wouldn't quite catch, so I made sure they were facing the right directions...wondering if I hadn't pushed them in far enough

Still didn't go all the way down for them, maybe I got the wrong kind?

(2) 1GB 240-PIN DIMM 128Mx64 DDR2

(Upgrade for a Dell Dimension 5150 System)

If they can fit well enough to almost latch I'd be surprised if they're wrong. They usually need to be pretty level before the final push,

and can take quite a shove sometimes. It's a bit of a leap of faith the first few times.

Supposing I should try again, since I was apprehensive about pushing too hard before.

put a thumb on each end, I usually find pushing the latches up so they touch the sides of the DIMM make it easier too

Thanks, Flash! You're a god-send (or dog-send, depending on beliefs)!

agnostic so liking dog-send better, just saying.

a dog person so quite happy