reseating the ram cleaned the contacts & made them work!

That is very possible. The seating of RAM can always be finicky.

I will look for your manual and post back any BIOS options that I may find.

I also see no such option for your computer:

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/.../c00244461.pdf

If you want to upgrade beyond 2GB I'd suggest 2x 2GB of new RAM which is not that expensive these days.

However 2GB should be all you need for that computer.

Thank you very much for your help,
but I have to sign off as I have an play to give.
Will sign on tomorrow for any further updates.

Again I really appreciate your help.

Cheers

No problem.

Let us know if we can help further.