how much ram should you have when hooking up a wired router?

The amount of ram shouldn't matter. A router doesn't use a PC's ram, in fact a router doesn't even need to be connected to a pc at all to work (if you use wireless). This may be an problem, instead, with the installation program having compatibility issues with WinME. I'd say skip the installation CD and just use the router's interface. You can get to it by typing the router's ip into a web browser. Check the router's manual to see what its ip is.

RAM is not the issue, you have plenty. Yes, Windows ME was so bad that Microsoft stopped supporting it even before they stopped supporting Windows 98. The crash could be many things, but the biggest problem with ME was the way it handled peripheral devices and its lack of success in allocating the interrupts (conflicts abounded). My initial guess is that a driver or application you are trying to install is not Windows ME friendly. If the computer runs normally without the router installed then that is my first guess, since a router does not have an internal affect on the computer, it's the Network Interface Card, or NIC(Unless you are using a built-in network connection which in ME's case, is worse).

If you are running ME your computer is probably old with an older motherboard and chipset. Also, if you are trying to install a wireless router it won't work on Windows 98, and may be a disaster on ME as well.

Your RAM is irrelevant to the router. It's likely that your only problem is Windows ME is crashing your computer when it uses your network card. Windows ME support was discontinued after 6 months of it being released, because the OS is so shitty. If you have 383 MB ram and no hardware issues separate from this, upgrading to Windows XP will probably solve quite a few problems. Don't forget to make back ups.

The amount of RAM on your computer will not in anyway affect the usage of a router. The router is wholly independent device, with its own processor, RAM, and operating system.

If it is a memeory problem you can test it by increasing the available virtual memory. If that doesn't solve it, it's not a lack of memory.

Adding more memory probably wont fix your problem. You might want to see if there is an updated driver available for your router.

you could add some RAm into your computer to shared for router to take effect!

Have fun!

you have enough ram sa this is not the problem

whay don't you try win xp

enyway try to reset the router ,check the cables etc.