XP and a New Puter ... It's a Whole New World ...WOW

vanity | 01-01-02 | mercy

[mercy]

It sorta just snuck up on me. My old nanao monitor started winking at me, the ole gal felt like dropping by Comp USA and the next thing I know I'm rolling out the door with a new VAIO tower, a Samsung syncMaster flat screen LCD and a Canon bubble jet (there goes my buy American bluster).

I wasn't going to do it. Really. The thought of venturing past my garden path was too scary. The ole Dell XPS 200 and windows 95 was so .... well, familliar. I was afraid taking the leap would be just too painful. Boy was I wrong. Mama was in the mood to spend money and ya just can't go against that flow. Might not happen again in a coon's age.

Been hearing not so good things about Dell and the prices have been plunging so that one has to wonder about what they're putting in those things these days. Besides I wanted the security of just being able to walk the box into the service dept. if I had a prob and actually getting the thing back in days rather than weeks. The Sony seemed like a solid machine and not a conglomeration of god knows whose parts. The flat screen just knocked my eyes out. XP made my old OS look like a cheep 40's cartoon. So I jumped.

Despite my desire to get in a dig at Bill Gates whenever possible I'm going with 'internet exploder' for now. doesn't seem so bad and I'm not really missing Netscape ... yet. (I may pinch him a bit by dropping Office and going with Corel) I haven't had any trouble with XP whatsoever. I've deleted some junk they had in the box and I've added several programs. I'm all over the net and not a glitch. ON THE FIRST DAY. I can't believe I waited so long. I love the whole package. AND for some unknowable (for me) reason my internet connection is chunking along at twice the speed of before though my dialup connection is the same lame ole 28k and I already had a new top line modem in the ole box. Go figure.

So if any of y'all out there are like me and afraid of the change .... don't be. It's wonderful.

[Incorrigible]

Nevermind! Now my link is working too.

I better reboot!

[ironman]

"Easiest way to transfer files is take the hard drive out of A and install it as slave hard drive in B. B is your new computer! Just drag and drop what you want to keep onto your new computer. When finished remove slave hard drive and put back in A. "

I used the "transfer wizard" to transfer files and settings from my old Dell running NT to my new top of the line Compaq running XP. Estimated time to transfer was 9 hrs so I did it overnight. When I woke up the old machine was locked up, couldn't reboot at all. Sounds like hard drive failed so I installed a new one and still can't get it to boot. I consider myself a power user and I'm frustrated!

[Amelia]

I'm not sure what happened, unless it was a combination of rebooting, and perhaps it didn't like at least one of our "through the wall" connections? I sure am glad you guys were here 'holding my hand', at least figuratively, and I really really appreciate all the suggestions. (Of course I'm not done yet, but at least I know it WILL work!)

[Amelia]

My husband bought the hub I have currently...I wasn't sure if it was a good one or not; he is a very good electrician but not much of a computer person at all! I'll definitely take a look at the one you suggest!

[dennisw]

Screw settings. Do what you have to do on that one. Files are 100x more important. Just get your files ( that you have labored over) pulled over to your new hard drive. Make your old hard drive slave for a short while. I have NEVER used such filer transfer software

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the note !

That is what I had been reading, that the AMD processors were outperforming the P4 and were less money!

Any thoughts on the dual processor boards?

I have been doing a little reading on that!

MSI seems to have a new one with a review here:

MSI K7 Master Dual CPU AMD 762 MPX Chipset Motherboard Review

[Amelia]

It finally works! I did have to set up the file sharing on the old computer....once I get the old files off, I don't really want my son & his friends messing with them, so I don't think they are gonna get full access to MY computer! :)

[Bogey78O]

Is it working upstairs? Or is it only workign downstairs?

[Amelia]

Right now, I have both computers connected directly to the hub, using the cords that came with the hub. We wired the house with Cat-5, so they should plug into the wall & connect a little more neatly - I'm not sure if there's a problem with some of the wiring, or perhaps one of the connectors, or if it just decided to work.

I thought I'd get my files off before I started troubleshooting that.

[Bogey78O]

I'm a certified phone tech. The first thing you need to do is check the internal splice at the jack. Make sure each wire is forced into it's terminating point/lug and that it's not loose. When you ran the wire did you kink it or cut through it? Also make sure each cable connecting it to the hub is good. Check each one to see if it works before lugging it upstairs.

[Amelia]

Man, I wish you'd answered the phone when I called technical support! The guy had me check to see if the card was installed correctly (yes), see if the lights were on at the hub (yes), and then referred me to a web page with TCP/IP instructions that did what the Wizard had already done!

I don't think we kinked or cut any wires, but my husband wasn't sure he'd installed the jacks/connectors correctly.

Is there any way to check the connection from upstairs to the hub without lugging a computer upstairs & plugging it in?

[Amelia]

When I woke up the old machine was locked up, couldn't reboot at all. Sounds like hard drive failed so I installed a new one and still can't get it to boot.

Can you boot from a floppy or CD? If so, can you then read the files on the old machine? Did most of your files transfer before it locked up?

[Bogey78O]

Sorry, I don't work tech support. I work in the field with telephone lines. But it's the same thing really in principle.

They make test tools to check the integrity of the connections. Not sure the cost or where you can get one.

A few more questions though. Is the wire a straight shot? Meaning jack to jack no splices or stopping points?

What type of jacks did you use? Do the wires screw down or are they pressed in? If they press in make sure they are fully pushed in and the sheath is broken where it's pushed in so there's good enough contact. Also check the colorcoding. Brown striped and orange striped get confused all the time.

But check each patch cable first. If this all pans out then there is no obvious problem and it'll be a little harder to troubleshoot.

[Bogey78O]

Possible software fault caused it to crash. Try booting to disk and try checking the registry.

[Rowdee]

...'because they wanted to keep supporting all that old DOS software'...

Does this mean Windows XP does not allow for the usage of any DOS hardware? I currently use Windows 95 and am looking to get a better computer (this one is the last Packard Bell anything that enters my portals). I have several programs in DOS....mainly my Accounting package....I don't want to give it up.

[Amelia]

Good questions!

Is the wire a straight shot? Meaning jack to jack no splices or stopping points?

Yes.

Do the wires screw down or are they pressed in?

They are pressed in. There's a tool to do that, too, I think. (I didn't do that....)

But check each patch cable first.

Those seem to work, at least when they are directly connected to the hub...

[Bogey78O]

Bring it upstairs and givce it a try is my best guess. It ought to work. If not it's in the houses wiring.

[Paul C. Jesup]

You got good taste. Just note, I suggest you get Windows 2000 Professional. W2K Pro was designed to run dual processor motherboard and can run up to 4G's Ram. And make sure this motherbroad supports a comstumizable bus speed and a CPU bus speed that goes upto at least 166 x 10 (1666) that is the bus speed of the 2000 XP AMD CPU.

By the way, how much does this thing cost?

Also, I suggest you either wait for the 2000 XP AMD Processor to come to market or buy the motherbroad now, with two Duron 1200 CPU, they are really cheap.

Here is a comparison of the AMD Duron 1200 CPU and Intel Celeron 1300: Intel vs. AMD Celeron 1300 vs. Duron 1200

One other thing, you might want to wait before you buy some DDR Ram, it has double in price since I bought some a month ago. I bought 2 sticks of 256 Megs of 266 Mhz Ram for $40.00 a price. Now the same DDR Ram for $80.00 dollars each. Also, when you buy Ram make sure it is 184 pin 266 Mhz DDR Ram. By the way, Kingston (I think that is spelled right) does make a 1 gig stick of DDR Ram.

I suggest you wait till Febuary, when computer hardware comes way down in price, before you buy most of your computer hardware.

Building a computer is not hard, just read the motherbroad manual before you try to build it.

And finally, make sure ALL the computer hardware and software you buy, is under warranty.

[ironman]

Can boot from floppy to DOS but machine won't boot from the NT setup CD becaue it can't find the hard drive.

[SamAdams76]

Some DOS programs might work if they have compatible PIFs. Best thing to do is go to Microsoft's website and run the compatibility test. They will tell you what hardware/software on your system is incompatible.