Help Boggz Wipe His Computer

posted on June 18th, 2011, 6:34 pm

Congrats on the successfull reinstall! 

BARON!  We miss youooououuou!!! 

Mah, I check the forums daily, I just dont post 
When u cant play the game, your bound to run out of clever stuff to say 

posted on June 20th, 2011, 2:34 am

Try to figure out what hardware your computer has inside a check for updates for it on the MFG's websites windows is usually behind on drivers.

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 1:11 am

YAAAARRRRR a little update for those of you who have been kind enough to help me


  My wipe / reinstall has been frsutrating, but even more frustrating was that FleetOps ended up actually running SLOWER than it had been previously.  On top of that, my CD product key did not function correctly and I could not authorize my copy of windows  .

  After calling Microsoft and entering more numbers on my phone than I thought my phone would allow, it turns out that I had incorrectly assumed I was running XP Home Version.  Turns out I'm running XP Media Center Edition  and that's why my key wouldn't work.  It also goes to say why perhaps things weren't working as smoothly as they could - since the hardware and drivers needed are not likely the same for both editions.

  BLEH.

  On to more wiping

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 3:38 am

I recommend Linux, but it will only be of use to u once Tunngle actually works in Linux (I think you'll hav a new comp by then, but possibly not.) A Linux distro specifically designed for older computers is a lot better than XP. Certain games dont work well on WINE tho, which makes dual booting a good idea (one partition for Linux and one for Windows, choose which at startup.)

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 6:01 am

Ouch.  Well, have fun wiping AGAIN and installing XP AGAIN.  Hopefully by now you know the process.

A final word on drivers:

People will often suggest that you get all your drivers together before you reinstall, because in the old days you had to do that.  However, with any Windows XP or later this is no longer necessary.  Even if it can't utilize your video card and sound right away, it will automatically download usable drivers for those systems after you install.  There is only 1 driver that you absolutely need and that is the Ethernet driver so you can connect to Windows Update.  Since it's so important, I can almost guarantee that this driver will come with the operating system.

Now, once you're DONE installing windows, that's when you want to look at new drivers.  If you see any slowdown at all, look up the specific video card and sound adaptor you have, then go to their company website and see what proprietary drivers are available.  In some cases you can find 3rd party drivers that actually work better for gaming, but don't go looking for these unless you're sure the manufacturer's driver is inadequate.

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 8:03 am

Hey Boggz, once you get media center edition running, to get fleetops running as expected, you may need to find update drivers for your motherboard. These should include updates to your graphics cards since it is integrated. Don't just rely on the device manager update button, this isn't updated I have found in the past. Search for your motherboard make and serial (the numbers Elim was asking for should help) and find the latest drivers for it. That should see you back to former glory and hopefully better.

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 8:10 am

snip...
There is only 1 driver that you absolutely need and that is the Ethernet driver so you can connect to Windows Update.  Since it's so important, I can almost guarantee that this driver will come with the operating system.
...snip

Installing windows 7 RC on my flatmates new computer was fun, the ethernet adaptor was actually newer than the OS, so it didn't have the correct driver on install. Fun times looking for the driver on my laptop to get his internet working. 

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 8:17 am

Hey Boggz, once you get media center edition running, to get fleetops running as expected, you may need to find update drivers for your motherboard. These should include updates to your graphics cards since it is integrated. Don't just rely on the device manager update button, this isn't updated I have found in the past. Search for your motherboard make and serial (the numbers Elim was asking for should help) and find the latest drivers for it. That should see you back to former glory and hopefully better.

Good advice .

  Right now I still have XP Home installed from the ISO.

  Mort and Primi helped me find the most current and up-to-date drivers from ATI/AMD (the company that made my integrated graphics card), but sadly there is little to no difference in performance.

  I really am wondering if, since this computer was built to have XP Media Center installed on it, the change to XP Home will cause problems with the Hardware.  Never can tell with laptops

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 8:51 am

hi,

get xp pro sp3, it'll work best. there is no difference in hardware support between the xp editions afaik, the home and media center editions are missing several features and suck seriously, but the underlying system should be the same. maybe you could get your hands on a student edition of xp, those are usually key-free. oh and one thing to consider in terms of performance: get a (small) ssd. it will put your hamster on steroids. there are different interfaces though, you need the right disk for your bus. what's the hp model number, if i might ask?

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 9:28 am

SSD'd you say?  I confess I don't have any experience with those.  I've found that adding hardware to laptops is extremely ... difficult  .

  The model is:

HP Pavilion dv5000

  That's a link the the product on HP's website.  It's a purchase from 2007 when I traveled to Europe to study/play and needed something that would travel well.  Again it came with Media Center Edition, but if you say that doesn't matter then that's fine.

  I have still to validate my version of XP that I'm running.  I'll sniff around for a Student XP ISO

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 10:38 am

You can use an external SSD Boggz, just plug it into a USB drive and put all your games on it.

If your laptop is supposed to have Media Centre, why does it have a Home Edition Key on the bottom?

Also, it is very important as people suggest to get the Service Packs for XP. Service Pack 2 is extremely important, and I think 3 is a little better. Basically, keep running Windows Update to get everything you need like security updates.

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 12:23 pm

i've just asked my hardware dealer to recommend me a ssd for you, i'll post his reply. it may not be possible with your notebook's hdd interface. if it is, you're looking at an investment of roughly 100€ for tiny 40gb, but it'll be worth it.

@mayhem: you're absolutely right about the service packs, but i'm not sure about the external ssd. i think usb 2.0 is too slow for that, but i could be wrong.

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 12:32 pm

Ah yes I did not consider that.

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 2:22 pm

Boggz, if you do decide to change your harddrive, the most useful guide would be the one available on the HP website. http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00700959.pdf

posted on June 22nd, 2011, 8:06 pm

hardware guy says: any 2.5" ssd will do.
i'd take the old drive to the store to be sure.