Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computer and XP

Using factory restore disc after factory set RAID 5 configuration change

lyam — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:51:54 -0800

Will changing/removing a factory (DELL) set RAID 5 configuration from a home desktop PC interfere with rebuilding the OS (XP Pro) from the factory restore discs? I have a home XP Pro system utilizing a RAID 5 array that was setup by the factory. If I want to rebuild the system, but reconfigure the hard drives as two independent drives, will I still be able to use the factory restore disk to restore the OS? I'm afraid that I only have access to XP from the restore disc (shakes fist at Dell). Thanks!

Boot Screen is all out of goose.

Cantdosleepy — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:28:17 -0800

Trying to install XP and Ubuntu as dual-boot on a Dell Dimension 3100. The first menu, where I select which operating system to load, is off-centre and starts halfway down the screen. Some of the bottom of the menu appears at the top of the screen. Which means some of the options can't be seen. Help! Example screenshot of the display error (this one during Windows setup)

At the bottom of the operating-system-choice menu screen you can see three different Ubuntu start-up options, but the menu disappears off the bottom before 'XP Home Edition' appears. Through trial and error I've worked out that you have to press the down cursor twice more after the highlighting disappears off the bottom of the screen if you want to select XP. I'm setting this computer up for a not-terribly computer-literate family, though, so that's not really an option.

Any ideas of how to realign this screen?

Why can I install Ubuntu but not Windows?

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:54:58 -0800

Why can't I install Windows XP Pro on my Dell laptop? I get an error message that says "acpi.sys is corrupted". I can install Ubuntu 8.04 just fine. I've searched various forums for this issue and haven't seemed to make any headway. I used (retail) disc to successfully install XP Pro on my sister's Gateway laptop just to see if it was a problem with the disc. It wasn't, and the install proceeded normally.

I updated the BIOS to the latest version and that didn't do anything. I've searched every BIOS setting for anything related to ACPI but can't find anything. I know ACPI is a power management setting, but there's nothing in the BIOS that says ACPI anywhere.

I've tried pressing F5 during the install to change the Hardware Abstraction Layer. I've tried every option there with no luck. I finally tried to install Ubuntu 8.04 and that worked perfectly. I just need to be able to install Windows to run a couple of applications that can't run under WINE/Crossover Linux/Other Emulators.

It's a Dell Precision Workstation M65 with 2 GB of memory, with the A10 BIOS version (formerly tried under A04 and got the same error). It used to have a corporate image of Windows XP Pro on it, but when I lelft my job I was locked out of the laptop (I used a live CD to back up all my data and then reformatted the drive). After that, I can install Ubuntu but I can't install Windows. Weird.

Any clues? I'm getting by with Ubuntu and Open Office, but I'd really prefer the option of running Windows here.

Why can't Explorer see the files in an external drive?

jackypaper — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:53:04 -0800

Windows Explorer can't see certain files within folders on an external hard drive. I'm running XP. I plug in a Firelite 40-gig external drive. Windows Explorer recognizes half a dozen .wmv files and three folders. However, it tells me that those three folders are empty, when in fact they each contain about 5 gig of MP3s and/or .doc files. When I hover the cursor above the folder, I'm told "Folder is empty." Okay, so I disconnect and plug the Firelite into my laptop, which runs Vista. Lo and behold, those folders are no longer empty at all, and all of my files are visible. What's going on?

Network booting & installing for idiots like me

saysthis — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:22:50 -0800

I have one of these with a corrupted Windows install, and a broken CD drive. It's network-bootable, but I've never tried that before. Google is giving me forums with information it would take hours to experiment with and sift through, and I wish I had the time to experiment myself.

There's data I'd like on the laptop, but I'll suffer a wipe if I need to. How should I go about this? Or can you point me to a friendly, step-by-step resource, I'd appreciate it so much I'll rename the newly installed system after my favorite answer. And that's a promise.

I'd rather not fix the CD drive. It would be expensive and useless at this point, since I'm selling the laptop in a few months ANYWAY. I just need it to hang on for a few more months while I scrape together the fees for its replacement.

How do I boot off of someone else's internal hard drive on my laptop?

senterstyle — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:00:13 -0800

Running XP on my computer, off of someone else's internal hard drive I'm trying to clean up a friend's desktop from a nasty virus infestation, so I snagged his hard drive out of the case. I am using an adapter to connect it via USB, but was wondering if there is a way to virtually (or perhaps boot off of) this drive. I know that it would be incompatible with my hardware, but I wanted to run some more things from my end, rather than driving to his home. He has XP.

Building a uber powerful gaming pc, need your help

spinko — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:03:44 -0800

Building a uber powerful gaming pc, what parts to buy as I don't want to be a sucker. Need your help. Intel Core i7 I currently own a Mac (macbook pro 4gb) for business, even through it is fast in bootcamp. I want better for MMO's and FPS games. This is strictly a gaming machine, and needs to be future proof. I haven't built a computer in 2 years, so I have gone abit rusty.

My budget is £2000 (~$3500) just for the box. I already have a 30inch Cinema display, so I want to play games at the natural resolution (2560 x 1600) with a good 60+ fps.

Here is my list of what I want.

CPU:
Core i7 940 (2.93ghz quad + hyperthreading) ~£470
I want to overclock this cpu as much as I can. I have seen this processor get to 3.4ghz with no problems. I will need a good Motherboard or fan to do this.

The extreme version, is it worth it?

Should I wait for a faster processor coming out in a few months?

HDD:
Raptor 300gb (10k rpm)
or
SAS Hdd's (15k rpm) I dont know too much about this, is it worth it?

Is their any benefit of having a solid state hard drive for bootup OS?

Im not too bothered about size, I don't need 1tb as I only need it for games (300gb max)

PSU:
750, 1000 or 1500 watt? do I need more power for overclocking? or is it just money down the drain.

Video card/s:
The new cards confuse me

SLI cards x2: Does this actually improve gaming performance, or shall I keep with a single 1gb graphics card? Nvidia or ATI?

Others:
Need a good Motherboard, memory (to match the mb) and video card.

Motherboard needs to be good for overclocking.

Also, I may go with Vista 64bit dual boot with XP 32bit. I have heard about something better than software dual boot. Cannot remember what it was.

Memory is limited to 3gb on XP 32bit, however can handle more that 3gb on Vista 64bit. Is it worth going for 64bit Vista for gaming or stick to 32bit non dx10 XP? (I went over to Mac due to Vista, last year for business).

Memory will have to match the top FSB if possible. Unless you cannot see any difference.

Anything extra that will improve performance?

Instead of building my own, could you recommend a pre-built spec. I live in Spain but go to the UK frequently. I know Falcon NW will ship to Spain for $400, but the benefit is the warranty, negatives are the power supply. However building it myself each equipment piece has warranty.

Thanks if you can help.

I feel like the Flash at a disco.

Shepherd — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:05:07 -0800

Why is MP3 playback sssuuudddeennllyy gggrriiinnddiinngg doowwnnnn? Until about six months ago, give or take, I could listen to MP3s on my computer pretty much regardless of whatever else I was doing. I did a pretty routine wipe everything/reinstall everything (XP Pro, upgrading from SP2 to 3 after the reinstall) back in May.

Recently, the MP3 player has started to grrriiinnnddd when I do pretty much anything on the computer. I've gone from WinAmp to QCD to Billy to try to minimize the program's CPU "footprint," but it persists. The songs start to stretch out, like HAL at the end of 2001 but with more digital artifacting. The MP3 players never crash, but stutter and grind to a halt, then slowly get up to speed, then start staggering again.

This happens when I open a program, or a document, or save something, or copy a file from one folder to another, or check my e-mail, or load a Web site like MetaFilter, etc. etc. Pretty much everything other than typing or moving the mouse -- and sometimes it just starts to spontaneously stutter as well.

I have an up-to-date Avast!, Ad-Aware and ZoneAlarm (free versions of all) showing no viruses, malware, etc. on my computer.

I've used the Ctrl-Alt-Del resource manager to see what's hogging resources, but the open programs like Firefox, Celtx, Thunderbird, etc. all clock in about 25K for CPU resources, and this "grinding" often happens when I'm running at about 50% of CPU in use.

Nothing on my computer has changed in terms of hardware since before and after this big reinstall and the consequent MP3 grind. No major software changes, either. It's really danged irritating. Is it SP3? General resource creep making all the programs that used to not kill my system resources suck up all my system resources? The difference between six months ago and now is extraordinary: I used to be able to just listen to music while doing whatever, and now everything makes playback stutter and stall.

I've reached the limits of my knowledge. Insight, folks?

Help my father troubleshoot a pesky virus.

micawber — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:37:54 -0800

ParentTechSupportFilter: My father has a virus. *sigh* before I send him to Geek Squad, what else should I tell him to do that he hasn't done already? I don't know how this virus arrived. A sibling suggested blame being cast in the direction of my mother, who probably downloaded something she shouldn't have. Note that my father uninstalled his virus software because he felt it slowed his machine down. *sigh again* He is running XP.

That said, my father has done pretty well: he booted up in safe mode, he removed the offending program. He tried to install the Yahoo (i guess there's Yahoo internet now? heck if i know) antivirus, but his computer tells him he already has virus software installed. He called Norton tech support and they talked him through various uninstall scenarios, and ultimately said what my first response was - it's in the registry.

My father went into the registry and 1) found the virus there and 2) couldn't see anything from Norton or McAfee.

Now it's in my hands.

I am not far from him but really don't want to waste a saturday on this, mostly because my father is extremely unpleasant in these situations. plus i don't know that i can actually help him any more. what else should i be looking for or asking? what else can i tell him to do - besides wipe the machine and start over, which he will absolutely NOT do?

Help me restore hope AND Documents.

TuxHeDoh — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:26:23 -0800

My parents computer crashed. I never determined the cause. It had XP on it. They've since bought a laptop, and want to recover documents from their desktop. They bought a hd enclosure. I connected the hd, and it's recognized, but it seems that the profiles must've been encrypted. I know that it's almost impossible to break the encryption, but want to be helpful, any suggestions? I have attempted to boot to USB, with the Desktops HD connected via USB, and I can get to the safe mode screen and such, but get a blue screen no matter what option I choose. Could I boot from a XP repair disc and then point it at a windows on the USB HD, and login with an account to export the encryption certificate? Any other ideas?

Automagic Update Ate My Connection

geekyguy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:41:06 -0800

WindowsXP laptop, performed an XP automatic update on itself and has since had no internet connectivity. Despite connecting and receiving an IP address. It connects to the wireless router.
It connected to the wired network I have access to.
Neither time does it have actual connectivity.

System Restore worked once but I failed to shut off the Automatic Update, (Honestly, I don't think I had selected it), and it updated again at 3AM. System Restore no longer works. Even attempting to use the same System Restore point that initially worked has proven fruitless.

I have loads of homework and don't have time to nuke it. Please help me restore the connection. So glad I have a Wubi Ubuntu on here, the connection is fine over here.

One version of Windows isn't enough, I need three!

Snyder — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:27:12 -0800

Will Windows 98 and XP run and dual boot (or, treble boot, I suppose,) with my new Vista running computer? I'm being given a slightly used computer that is currently is running Vista, but I'd like to bring over my hard drives from my current computer. Right now, I have two hard disks, one with Windows 98 and one with XP, and I have a dual boot setup. The computer I want to move them two is a Dell Inspiron 531S, an ACPIx86-based machine, with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2009 Mhz, 958 Megs RAM, and the BIOS is Dell Inc, 1.0.3 6/15/2007. This is all I can easily find out at the moment, since I didn't buy the computer originally and I'm not used to Vista.

To be brief, can I run a triple boot system with Vista, Win98 and XP with this hardware? My idea is to have the backwards compatibility of 98 with the robustness of XP, while Vista gets itself sorted out. Any adivce in that direction too would be appreciated. Thanks for the help.

XPSP3AMD6440003GBetc.

boosh — Fri, 30 May 2008 07:20:38 -0800

Games PC CPUFilter: Is it worth upgrading from an Athlon64 3500+ Venice to a 4000+ San Diego? (plus a bonus question on 3GB RAM in XP and dual channel memory). I'm considering upgrading my games machine. The current guts:

Abit AN8 Socket 939 motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice
2 x 1GB PC3200 CAS3.0 DDR
Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB (PCI-E)

And the upgrade that I'm considering:

Swap CPU for an Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego
Add an extra 1GB of RAM

I can't justify splashing out on a whole new mobo/CPU/RAM bundle anytime soon, nor spending silly money on a used FX-55/60 chip dredged from the depths of eBay, so it's pretty much this or nothing I think. But is it a worthwhile upgrade - will I see a noticeable performance boost? Really I've got three questions, and I can't seem to Google up anything approaching a definitive answer:

1: Is it worth going from 3500+ Venice to 4000+ San Diego (with its extra cache and extra 200mhz)?
2: Is it worth going from 2GB RAM to 3GB on an XP machine used for gaming?
3: If I add the extra gig, should I add 2x512GB or a single stick of 1GB? Currently I've got the 2x1GB memory running in dual channel and I've got two ports free.

Some additional info:
1: The OS is WinXPSP3, with the fat stripped away, running on a 36gb WD Raptor. I don't think I can make any performance improvements on the software/disk side.
2: This machine is only used for games - nothing else at all. I don't do any multi-tasking (there isn't even an AV program running).
3: I won't be upgrading to Vista for DX10. I don't play that many games and the ones I do play tend to be a few years old (Rome Total War, Oblivion).

So would one or both of these upgrades give the PC an extra lease of life, or would I be throwing money away for no real benefit?

Too dumb to figure out VPN on DD-WRT

billtron — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:40:40 -0800

VPNFilter: I like my home network, but I want to access it outside of my home. How do I set up my WRT54GL running DD-WRT v23 SP2 to do that? Versions of this question have been asked on metafilter zillions of times, but I haven't found an answer that I understand because of my tiny brain.

The specific desires:
>Wake on LAN for home computer, running XP
>Remote access and manipulation of files on home computer
>Possibly secure tunneling using SSH, although I assume this will in part be a side product of everything else; I don't need this yet but would like to have it in case I am using some shady wireless access point in the future.
>What other cool things could I do with my setup?

I know about Hamachi, but from what I can tell using DD-WRT makes Hamachi unnecessary. Is this true?

Send me to computer jail

snowjoe — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:54:07 -0800

PC Help again again. I have an old pc with windows 2000 server installed on a 20gig SCSI drive. I am trying to install a 40 gig IDE drive that has xp on it. I don't need windows 2000 server anymore so I want the computer to boot into xp but it isn't happening for me. What am I doing wrong? It is a D850EMV2 intel motherboard with 512kb of that super expensive ram. A custom built computer, not a brand name.

I removed the scsi card and uplugged the scsi drive and then plugged in the IDE drive. The cd drive was connected to the secondary IDE connector so I moved that to the primary connector and connected the middle part of the connector to the ide hard drive and the end to the cd drive. I also moved the led light switched to the motherboard from the scsi card. I get a failure to boot error message. I did nothing with the bios. I am not a computer guy but i sure would like to make this work. What am I doing wrong?

I put everything back the way it was and it boots into windows 2000 server fine. By the way I also tried to format the scsi drive but the os wouldn't let me.

Shouldn't I be able to do this?

User Migration between PCs

zephyr_words — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:21:20 -0800

What programs\packages are available that allow one to plug a cable into one pc, the other end to another pc, and then migrate the data? I know there are other better ways to do this but I'm specifically looking for a USB cable in-between the two PCs or a regular network cable. Something like this http://www.belkin.com/easytransfercable/advantages/

If you are aware of any regular programs that are very good at user migration (does not have to have the cable requirement) I would love to hear those as well.

XP to XP, Vista to Vista, XP to Vista.

Thanks a lot MeFi!

Help make my PC better.

wilful — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:00:57 -0800

My computer is sick. Please help (XP pro). I'm not terribly computer literate, but I'm not entirely clueless. My laptop's currently slower than it should be and I can't work out why.

2Ghz, 1 Gb RAM. The HD is 70% full. I've defragged it (that took a while), I have a firewall on my wireless router, I have up to date AVG virus checker, I ran Spybot, I turned the performance settings up, it's still slow to load programs and process things. What do I do next?

Help me fix my Windows XP

andoatnp — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:15:36 -0800

I reinstalled Windows XP on a Dell machine running Ubuntu and it won't run above 640 by 480 resolution and 4 bits. It's an 80gb hard drive with 2gb of RAM, and there is nothing I can think of that would cripple the system like this. Any idea how to get the system running like it should be? 1) I installed Ubuntu over the original XP that came with the machine 5 years ago. After it was running slow, I upgraded the RAM to 2gb. Then when I switched back to XP, it no longer works correctly.

2) The XP disk I used came from Dell, and I think they thought that I still had XP running on the machine. Would there be some sort of difference between the CD they would send me to reinstall XP on a machine already running XP versus on a linux machine?

3) At no point during the installation of Windows XP did it prompt me for my serial number. Did it somehow know that this was a certified windows machine/cd, and if not, should I have had to put in my serial number somewhere?

I've done the XP install off of the CD twice now, and both times got the same results When I go into settings, it won't let me chance the resolution or color settings, although when I first finished the setting, a balloon popped up from the task bar and said the resolution could be upgraded, but when I clicked that to run, nothing happened.

If there is any other information about hardware/software that would help, let me know. What's so weird, is that the machine was previously running XP fine, and all I did was increase the RAM, and now it doesn't work.

Any ideas on how to fix this would be a big help. Thanks.

Will someone marry my keyboard?

skylar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:29:26 -0800

I've just bought a Microsoft Wireless Entertainment Keyboard 7000, which comes with the matching mouse (8000). It works great with my Windows XP computer, as long as the computer is on. Once I switch the computer off and attempt to restart, the Bluetooth connection is lost and the computer won't start, citing the lack of a keyboard as the reason. Only by repeatedly fiddling and resynching can I get the computer started up. Can anyone suggest how I bond these three devices in permanent holy matrimony?

NTLDR is missing! YIKES!

D Dear — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:52:59 -0800

NTLDR is missing! YIKES! Running XP2 on Toshiba Satellite A105. Can get to "C" prompt with XP disk. Can't get to safe mode via F8.

I have an external HD with USB cable so, by some miracle, I can copy from my laptop *.* to the external drive, but system won't read USB anything.

I've been searched Metafilter "safe mode" -mac and "ntldr" -mac.

Please help. Thank you so much!

The Vista fails to inspire me

lukemeister — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:54:19 -0800

It's time to replace our desktop computer. After threads like this about the sluggishness of Vista, I'd prefer to get XP Pro, but it appears that some vendors, such as HP, only offer Vista. I'd rather not buy a computer with Vista and then install XP. Ideally, the new box would come with XP Pro and include a coupon for Vista that will still be valid in one or two years when Microsoft will presumably gets its act together. Does anyone have such a thing? Thanks and happy holidays! Related question: Most of the systems I've seen reviewed that run Vista slowly have 1 GB or 2 GB of memory. Does Vista speed up with more memory, and does the specific version of Vista (Ultimate, Über, Unter...) make a difference?

XP or Ubuntu?

heavenstobetsy — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:42:17 -0800

Help me decide whether to downgrade to XP Pro or move to Ubuntu from Vista. I tried to give Vista a fair shot, but I can't take it anymore.

I have a Dell Dimension C521 Desktop, 1GB RAM, AMD Athlon 64 2.40GHz.

I'm wanting to try Ubuntu but I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to Linux, I've been wanting to change that. Knowing that, would it be better to stick with XP or is Ubuntu easy enough to use that I will be okay after the initial adjustment? Pros and cons?

Also, I would be downloading Ubuntu, would it work okay if I burned it with something like CloneCD and used it as a boot disc? Or no?

Oh also I'd be using this computer for general surfing, emailing, little to no gaming. Also, my internet is wired, not wireless and I don't have any weird peripherals that would require specific drivers. Sorry if I'm leaving anything out here!

What was that password again?

al_fresco — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:02:03 -0800

In Windows XP, is there a way to see the password that is stored in the system to log into a wireless network? In OS X, this is easy – one just goes to Keychain Access, looks up the entry, and by entering an administrator password one can see the given password. Is there a way to do this in XP? I'm not a Windows person, so don't know where to look.

This is for a client for whom I set up a wireless network over a year ago. She created the password and it's stored in her system, as she connects fine to the network. She now wants to get another computer onto the network. I guess I need to start saving clients' passwords.

Keeping the Geek Squad Outta my Biznass

TheGoldenOne — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:05:55 -0800

How to keep prying eyes from the files on my laptop... My laptop is starting to give out. I have a 3-year service plan, so I'm going to send it in soon. However, I have a lot of ones and zeros on there I don't want some service plan geek checking out while my laptop is away. What do I do with XP if I don't want anyone to have any access to my personal files while they repair my computer?

What Flavor of Windows for My Next PC?

wintermute2_0 — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:26:18 -0800

Should I install Vista on my next computer or stick with XP? I'm planning on building a new computer before year's end. It will probably include a Core 2 Duo and healthy amounts of RAM (2GB) and disk space (400-500 GB). I can't decide if I should put Vista on this new rig or stick with XP. I'm completely satisfied with XP's stability and I can't think of a compelling reason to switch to Vista. And frankly, I'm concerned about running into performance/incompatibility issues with Vista.

What say you, fellow geeks? Should I stick with the tried and true or succumb to the new new thing? If I stick with XP, should I use my old copy of XP Home Edition or pick up a copy of Professional Edition?

And no, Linux isn't an option. I likes me some occasional gaming and I also use some critical software that is Windows-only.