Pc wont go online

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:55 am

LOL - running XP with only 64mb of ram. That is bare minimum. Might be better off installing win2k on that old rig unless you can increase the ram to 256.

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:33 am

Yeah I know. It had xp on it already so I dont want to down grade her. I only have 1 stick of 128 laying around and it got errors on it too. What to do what to do......bah...old pc's...gotta love em tho

Err · Post by **Err** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:19 am

You could try hooking up the HD to another PC and installing XP. Then, transfer to the old PC and see what happens.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:31 am

Err wrote:You could try hooking up the HD to another PC and installing XP. Then, transfer to the old PC and see what happens.

He'd probably end up in the same boat he is now..

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:43 am

Err i did think of that too. It just puzzles me why it was working(OS wise) before I started all this and now nothing. Thats what i get for tinkering lol..Ill come up with something.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 12:04 pm

I have all kinds of sticks of that old memory, alot of 32s, but I know I have some 64s and a couple of 128s perhaps.

I hate to suggest purchasing new stuff, but there comes a time when a person needs to just buy a new one. With new laptops and desktop being around the $400 range, it is hard for someone to argue against something new that works. Sure they aren't great, but most people just need the basics.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 5:22 pm

Spray the ram socket with contact cleaner (ideally) or WD40 (at worst) and re-insert both RAM sticks. I've seen plenty of errors on old PCs due to bad or corroded RAM socket contacts.

What version of XP you installing? If it's an old pre-SP1 copy it may not support the hard drive controller properly. I'd use an SP2 CD. Get the 9-in-1 (sometimes also called 12-in-1) XP installer CD on torrents. It installs any flavor of XP (Home, Pro, Retail, Upgrade, OEM, etc). Just use her CD key.

FRANKLY, unless she's really hard up for money, I'd tell her to buy a $500 PC at Office Depot. Check the specs for her and make sure it has at least 2Gb of RAM. Even the cheapest 2008 P.O.S. budget PC is going to seem like greased lightning compared to that old PC.

Heck Office Depot has a $450 laptop on sale that's not badly loaded for a budget PC. Take the bloatware out of it and it's probably fine:
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/9 ... 10US-15-4/

Another option. TigerDirect has some pretty good deals on refurbs: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... _H24-KR706

There's an HP desktop on that page for $349 with XP Pro and 512Mb. Budget PC, but that's all she needs, and it'll be a hell of a lot better than what she's got.

I would never install XP on a system with less than 512Mb. It's pointless. Even Win2K SP4 will run like a pig on anything less that 256Mb although with judicious services tweaking you can get it to run barely acceptably with 128 if you have the patience of a saint.

You're beating a dead horse. Tell her it's time for a new PC. For all you know something on the mobo is failing and maybe that's the reason for the original problem as well.

MRCOMPUTER · Post by **MRCOMPUTER** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:05 pm

Office Depot has a decent Compaq tower for $249.

http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/office ... edepot.com

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 6:39 pm

Need to add a Gig of RAM to that. 1Gb is not enough for Vista, not even Home Basic, plus it's also probably got shared memory with the vid card. Still, a ram upgrade won't cost much.

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:32 pm

Shes a little old retired lady and drawing SSI. Im trying to do all I can for her. I guess Im a softy at times. Ive already recommended she get a new one but she just cant afford it. Im cutting her a deal on my labor just because I want to see the little lady smile. Maybe I shouldnt get that like when its business but I cant help it.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:55 pm

Don't you at least have some memory to swap out? At least to make sure it is not that. Some people can't afford a new one, you might be able to scrap together something if you feel the effort is worth it to you.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:59 pm

Yeah I know. I put aside old PCs with Win2K installed for charity giveaways like that, but push come to shove she can probably afford that $249 tower at Office Depot. Yeah it'll run Vista like a pig with only 1Gb but I bet it'll be like greased lightning compared to her old rig.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:05 pm

That thing is overpriced. $250 no monitor and after $110 in rebates? Bah... It is hard for people to come up with that kind of money. Social Security for many people is like $600 a month.

blade_146 · Post by **blade_146** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:55 am

the only memory I had was a stick of 128 and it got memory errors when trying to install windows. I finally got xp installed on an old hard drive I had but for some reason it didnt want to play nice with the huge drive she had. Someone had put a 320g WD in there last year I think. Once I got it formatted it wouldnt install for crap. Not sure why but that struck me weird. I got it going about 11 last night but jeesh is it slow. It works though so what can I say. Thanks for the responses guys. You guys are a huge help when I have questions.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:13 am

That large drive will be a problem. An XP installer before SP1 won't recognize large drives and some old mobos also don't like large drives.

If you can get any more RAM in there, it would be a big help. However with SP2 there's little chance you can get the RAM use below 200Mb with an AV app installed.

Some services you can disable:

- Indexing Service (do this properly: right click drive, disable, go into Computer Managerment -> Services and Applications -> Indexing Service -> Directories -> Double click each directory and uninclude it from catalog. Then disable the service)

- Wireless Zero Config (if she's not using wireless)

- WebClient Service

- Fast User Switching Service (make sure to disable Fast User Switching in User Accounts first)

- Clipbook Service

- Remote Registry (XP Pro only)

- Security Center (this is actually a resource hog on an old PC and not really necessary - your AV app will tell you if it's out of date)

- Themes Service. Yeah, you get the uglier Win2K desktop, but it's faster.

You also want to turn off most of the Visual Effects in Performance Settings.

Install FoxIt Reader instead of Adobe Reader.

Do NOT use any wallpaper. Your average 1024x768 wallpaper eats 2Mb or RAM.