Yahoo Mail Problem

[Chim]

The day before yesterday, a friend tossed me a problem to fix for him. The thing is, it has to do with his Yahoo Mail, which I don't have and have never had Yahoo Mail. Thus, I know nothing about Yahoo Mail.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from the wife of my friend. They fixed the problem. But, I'd like to see if anyone here knows WHY the problem happened. This, because the way they fixed it unfortunately involved a bit of atomic bombing overkill. 

Here is the situation that existed the last 2 days as was explained to me:

My friend could suddenly NOT access his Yahoo Mail at his HOME computer. After entering the Password, the computer would just hang there at the hour glass. Eventually it would display a Not Responding message. Yet he could access his Yahoo Mail from his WORK or any other computers other than his HOME computer.

However, his wife could access HER Yahoo Mail from that same HOME computer.

Not that I thought a Virus would be the problem, but I had them run an Anti-Virus Scan just to rule it out. No Viruses were found.

My friend then had a thought. Apparently recently he sent MANY photos from his Cell Phone to his Yahoo account. I'm not sure if like to some Photo Service or to his Inbox via E-mails. I just understood that he sent TONs of photos to his Yahoo. He was wondering if maybe THAT could somehow have been gagging / locking up his HOME computer when he tried to Log On into his Yahoo account.

I'll point out to you the difference between his HOME computer and all the other computers on which he COULD access his Yahoo Mail. The other computers on which he COULD access his Yahoo Mail, were no doubt fast, powerful computers with plenty of RAM. His HOME computer, I happen to know that while it IS a decently fast Dell computer with a Pentium 4 ... it has ONLY 256 Meg of RAM. They DO have High Speed Internet ... just an underpowered computer as far as RAM is concerned. It has Windows XP.

Anyway, as per the phone call yesterday, my friend apparently while at his work, accessed his Yahoo Mail from there and wiped out all his E-mails and the "TONs" of photos. He then called his wife to try and access his Yahoo Mail from their HOME computer. It worked!

So, what was the deal? How does Yahoo Mail work? Aren't you supposed to be able to FIRST Log In in a carefree manner BEFORE Yahoo Mail even thinks of gagging because there might be too many E-mails and / or Photos? And WHY could my friend access his Yahoo Mail just fine from other presumably more RAM-equipped powerful computers and NOT from his ONLY 256 Meg RAM HOME computer, which like I said, does have High Speed Internet?

Should ONLY so many photos be sent from a Cell Phone over to Yahoo Mail at a time?
Or should there theoretically be unlimited amount of photos you can send from a Cell Phone before opening up your Yahoo Mail?

[CharleyO]

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While I do not have Yahoo email neither, most web based email accounts do have a limit to the amount of email that can be received and stored in the email account. Photos use up lots of space in such accounts. Since his home computer was so very low on installed RAM, it is most likely that the home computer locked up when it was out of installed RAM as well as out of virtual RAM while trying to access a mail account with tons of photos.

A computer running XP with only 256 megs of RAM is running on the bare minimum of RAM. The computer needs at least 512 megs of RAM and even that will be too little in some cases.


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[Chim]

Thanks, Charley!  Logically it just about HAS to be the lack of RAM.  It would explain why all other computers were able to access the account just fine.

What still puzzles me is why it happens immediately upon trying to Log In?
It's as if upon a person Logging In, Yahoo Mail will immediately try to load ALL E-mails & Pics that are in the person's Inbox.  Maybe it does try to put them in a queue or something along those lines.

Well, lack of RAM is no doubt somehow in the equation.  I'll tell them to keep in check the amount of E-mails and especially photos that are E-mailed.

[CharleyO]

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You are welcome, glad to help.

By the way, most RAM modules are relatively cheap these days ... depending on the RAM type.


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[YoKenny]

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You are welcome, glad to help.

By the way, most RAM modules are relatively cheap these days ... depending on the RAM type.


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Its a Dell and it probably use its own proprietary RAM modules that ain't cheap.

[roro]

Crucial has Dell RAM Module for a good price.  There are probably cheaper ones around.
I found a 2 G RAM modules for my Dell Inspiron for only $39.95 there.
http://www.crucial.com/#


RoRo

[Chim]

I tried since months ago to find RAM for that computer.  It must be some obscure model that uses some Non-common RAM because I just couldn't seem to find RAM for it.  Even in the Dell website with its RAM Finder, I believe I couldn't even find that computer.  Seemingly all other Dell computers were in there except the one for which I was looking for RAM.  I think at the time, I only found one place Online that supposedly had the RAM for that computer, but it wasn't cheap.  I think it was like $100.  I finally gave up.  I preferred finding the RAM at an actual store I walk into or at least at the Dell website.  I'm too leery of shopping Online.  I've never done it and am not tempted.