Need advice on reformatting computer and installing XP O/S from our resident geeks.

Frys electronics ^ | July 30, 2004 | wildbill

[wildbill]

My 82 year old mother is buying a new computer. I found a cheap system (179.00) from a reliable retailer (Fryes) It has 1.6gherz Athlon motherboard, 128mb of ram, cd, 56modem and 40gig harddrive, yada, yada, yada--but it comes with Lindows installed. see url.

Is there any problem with reformatting and putting XP on the system? That's the question. No discussion of the evils of Microsoft, the Mac, or Lindows, or why I need another whizbang, please.

[MediaMole]

If you do want to reformat and install XP, I would recommend two things.

1. Add more RAM. Unless it is an ancient motherboard, you should be able to get 256mb of DDR RAM for under $40.

2. Partition the drive into two drives. 10 gigs for the system and software. The rest for data only. That way it will be easy to backup data and if you need to reinstall Windows, you don't wipe out the data on the other drive.

With all the nasty spyware and viruses out there, expect that the XP install will be corrupted at some time in the next year.

That being said, if she only needs e-mail, word processing and web access, consider keeping Lindows. It provides all the basics and is far less susceptible to viruses and spyware.

One hint. If you need to find drivers but don't know who made the motherboard, look for the FCC ID number on the board. You can plug that number into a search engine on the FCC website and get all the info on the board and manufacturer.

[Wills_Dad]

Make sure you have the drivers for any modems/network cards that are in the machine. They are a bit difficult to download if the device doesn't have the driver installed.

Regarding the HD - no drivers should be required.

Memory - get more - 256 at a min. - 512 is better.

About the OS - it is my preference to run Windows 2000 Professional but any Microsoft OS has problems.

One other thing - make sure you have the other software components to load on the machine before you start. Its really a pain to need to have to go back and reformat/reload just because you didn't have the anti-virus or firewall product when you first completed the install.

good luck

[Mannaggia l'America]

I upgraded the RAM in about 50 PC's at my kids school, and I used the generic memory at tigerdirect.com (called "Premium" by them, but it's generic). They had great prices and I had no bad sticks at all out of the 50 I ordered.

[TomServo]

Regarding the HD - no drivers should be required

Let's hope they're not ATA-133's or above.

[Reeses]

I found a cheap system $179.00

Keep in mind a legal copy of XP Home Edition will set you back $189.00. When XP first came out you had to contact Microsoft to get a key. I'm not sure if they still do that. It's not easy to install the same copy of XP on two machines and not have Microsoft find out about it.

[arjay]

I have read that 128 MB won't work well either. However, I have a very knowledgeable friend who runs XP with 129 MB with no trouble at all. If you are heavy on graphics, you need 256, but if your are only doing word processing and internet surfing, 128 may be enough.

[ABE]

Well, my one computer is an old Dell Pentium II 400MHz with 192 Megs of RAM. It runs XP very well - believe it or not.

Very few crashes and in fact it runs faster than my brother-in-law's Sony VAIO 1.8GHz with 512 Megs of RAM (Go figure).

As said before, go ahead and reformat. If you do need drivers, XP will have enough to get going and once you get online you can grab the rest. If you you do need more RAM, it's pretty cheap nowadays.

Good luck.

[Big Giant Head]

Kidding, let me tell you this, To run XP, Internet Explorer, Norton anti-virus, and Zone Alarm, assuming your mom will be surfing the net a little, take 242 MBs of RAM, with only 2 IE windows open. That's completely stripped of all other programs except her modem program, also necessary. Without an email program open.

Hmmm.... I'm running a PIII 700 with 192mb RAM and I can have several windows open, Zone Alarm, Norton, with a game running in another window, although no email program. I am not having any trouble doing this.

I'm also using PNY memory in my gaming computer and it's been perfect. Gosh, I feel like a rabble-rouser on this thread. :-)

[DB]

You can use more "memory" than you have physically installed, it's called virtual memory. When the operating system needs more memory than physically available it swaps physical memory data to the hard drive to free it up. That's all fine and good except it is slow. Real slow... And less reliable.

[Honcho Bongs]

I've got Windows XP Pro running on an old Compaq Presario with an Athlon 798MHz processor with 128MB or RAM and it works fine - reasonably responsive, but obviously not a screamer.

I don't think the people telling you it won't run on 128MB have actually tried it, but RAM is so cheap that you might as well bump it up to whatever your budget and the motherboard allow.

[savedbygrace]

Sure, it'll work . . . by the time you're 82.

;-)

Spring for DSL or cable. Cheap speed thrills.

[Big Giant Head]

I know all that and, well, it is all fine and good. It runs fast enough to play my flight sims. And it's as reliable as my other 'puters. It's not real slow unless your comparing it to screaming gamer machines with broadband.

[SupplySider]

Lot of good advice here. I would just add, before you start put in a CD and restart to see if it gives you the option to boot from a CD. If not, you have to go into the system setup (aka BIOS) and find the option to enable booting from a CD. Usually you get into the BIOS by pressing the delete key when prompted while the system is starting up. Then you just boot from the XP CD. Good luck!

[Malsua]

Tossing my hat in the ring as I do this for a living(check my homepage :))'

As others have said. XP will run on 128mb but it's going to be sluggish. You really should get another 128mb. Seriously. It's going to be worth every penny.

Definately do a windows update immediately and spend the next few hours getting all the patches. If on a Dialup, spend the next few _DAYS_.

At a minimum, get Spywareblaster. Available at www.download.com and install it.

I'd also suggest getting spybot search and destroy and install the immunize options for it.

If it's for someone who's new, go whole hog and don't tell the about Internet explorer. Download Mozilla Firefox and tell them that is how they browse the internet. At this time, it's going to be the best vector to avoiding spyware grief that you're going to have in a few months of a newbie hitting the internet.

Also get a virus program loaded. Avast has a freebie. Look it up on Google. It's better than nothing.

Good luck.

-Mal

[DoctorZIn]

128 ram may work but it will run slow. 256 should do the trick.

[DB]

From my experience with a friends 1.3 GHz XP machine running Norton AV and 128 MB or RAM - when you start IE and then quit and then start it again it takes a very long time, something like 20 to 30 seconds before its up again. After adding a 128 MB it is down to the typical few seconds.

[hoot2]

"sorry I can't help...except to bump for publicity... "

you don't have the drivers for his video card? (made in kosovo)
or his sri lankan sound card?
or his "one-button" mouse?

xp? 128mb ram? this could be n educational experience...

[Big Giant Head]

, something like 20 to 30 seconds before its up again.

Really? Wow. I don't have that problem. I can close my browser and reopen it in just a few seconds.

I get more annoyed by how long my win98 machine sits during boot up doing nothing but the WIN98 splash screen. 30 seconds exactly. No hard drive light, no cd or floppy lights, nothing. My life ticking away.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

Fry's? Reliable?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

But, seriously, I bought a refurbished eMachines from them, which promptly failed. They replaced it, so, like a sucker I bought a Great Quality (just like the linked system) from them. http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/001415.html

I bought additional Kingston RAM since then. Also since then it kept failing to fully start up for some reason. I switched the two RAM chips, which seemed to have worked for a couple weeks. Until earlier today when it restarted itself a couple times.

So, it might be a RAM problem, or a software problem. It might also be a problem with the GQ motherboard.

GQ is also built in (mainland) China. And, bear in mind my GQ is a higher model than yours. It cost a whopping $299 or so.

I don't know if there would be problems installing XP over Lindows, but you'd (presumably) still need to buy XP, so you might be better off just buying a system with XP pre-installed.

[Chode]

mine waits 30sec's too and for the life of me, i can't remember where it is set, but it's an option for that 30 sec wait... i saw where you set it once and just left it as it was but damned if i can remember where it gets set.