Alpaca Portrait

I don't go to the Gigabyte website that often, but when I have I've never had any issues. Ever since I posted that link to my mobo the site has been really unresponsive. Yeah, I know it's a Socket 775 board. I vaguely remember looking at some socket AM2 boards at one point but in the end I went with Intel. My CPU is a Core 2 Duo E8400, and after doing some research I see they can go for $15 or less on the used market now (wow!). The cheapest upgrade with my current hardware would be replacing it with a Quad version. To upgrade to a Core i3/i5/i7 would be quite a bit more expensive. As far as how I use my PC, I think you might have been unintentionally misled by what I wrote. I'm not hard on it at all. Editing big .wav files is the most that it's asked to do. I don't use an aftermarket cooler, just the stock fans. System temp rarely gets above 42C, and CPU rarely over 32C. I'm not a big gamer and only have a Radeon x1550 video card. I have nothing against having a state of the art PC, and it's pretty cool to run a bunch of benchmarks and see awesome numbers, but to ugrade to the next level would require a new mobo and CPU, so probably at least $375-ish if not more, vs. installing Win 7 on what I have now. I have another question but it's eluding me at the moment.

??? There's a link in my post above yours to the Gigabyte mobo I have.

Thank you both for your replies. I checked out the links and on the surface things look promising. I will definitely look into things in more detail as I get closer to the attempted Win7 install. FYI, my current hardware will work with Win7, but I'm not sure if I want to use it or not. It suits me fine, and I'm not sure if the cost of going to more modern stuff will benefit me for how I use my computer. When I build a PC I do my research and choose parts that fit my needs, but after I'm done I stop following what's going on in computer technology, so I don't know what's out there and what I'm missing. My Gigabyte mobo is limited to SATA 2.0 and I think PCIe 2.0. USB 2.0 as well, but I know I can add an expansion card to upgrade to USB 3.x This is it, if anyone wants to offer any opinions on sticking with what I have vs. upgrading: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2629#ov

I have an original, unused Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade DVD (not OEM) that I bought back in 2009. Naturally it doesn't come with SP1 integrated since SP1 didn't exist at that point. What I'm wondering is, does Microsoft offer any kind of exchange program that would allow me to trade my non-SP1 Win7 DVD for one with SP1 integrated? All I need is the media, correct? The product key I have now has never been used. With XP (my current OS), I slipstreamed SP3 into an original installation source with one simple command line entry and that was it. I've been reading about integrating SP1 into Win7 and it's a different and much more involved process. The websites I've been on talk about using RT 7 Lite, and then when I read the reviews of the process everyone says RT 7 Lite is buggy and doesn't work, or that you can't use XP as the host OS to run RT 7 Lite on. They also suggest installing from a USB flash drive, but the ones I have are too small. Honestly, I'm just not motivated to jump through all the hoops if there's an easier alternative. Looking for suggestions, please.

I have an OEM copy of XP Pro that I've never used and I don't know what to do with it. What do you think the odds are that someone would want to trade a copy of Win 7 for it? Can you buy laptops with no OS in them? I don't have a laptop and don't really *need* one, but if I could get a no frills one for a decent price I guess I could install it in that. Any thoughts?

Could anyone explain why these 3 particular files are automatically listed for removal in nLite's Components section > Advanced where you can specify additional files to remove? I've always just left them there, but I'm curious as to WHY they're there. I normally don't add any additional files for removal, but in one of my nLite test builds about a month ago I added the names of all the user account pictures except for the one I knew I wanted to use, so just a bunch of 7kb BMP files. You'd think that woud be no big deal, but after installation I had all kinds of weird visual things going on. The desktop wallpapers were acting up, and I had several red errors in Event Viewer. The only difference between this nLite build and another one that worked perfectly was the addition of the user account pictures for removal. So it got me to wondering about the clock.avi, yahoo.bmp, and swtchbrd.bmp that are always listed there by default. Earlier today I did a new nLite build without removing these 3 files. Clock.avi is now in my Windows folder, but the other 2 files weren't found in a search, although they're listed in the TXTSETUP.SIF file. Thoughts about any of this?

Agreed. I was just looking at things from a price perspective.

What kinds of things do your parents use the PC for? Are they just browsing the web and sending e-mails? Do they even need a DVD-RW? If the motherboard can handle more RAM then upgrading from 320MB would be a huge improvement. Any why do they have 320 MB to begin with? Is it a 256 MB chip combined with a 64 MB chip? I was in a similar situation not too long ago. All my parents use the PC for is e-mail and web browsing, but they told me it was running really slow. My dad's friends send him all kind of e-mail with large attachments and the HDD was practically full. I set him up with a Yahoo e-mail account, forwarded the stuff he wanted to keep, reformatted and reclaimed 75% of the HDD space and it's back to running at a speed that's fine for their needs.

What's the preferred method for month-to-month updating of an already up to date system but you don't want to use the Windows Update website with Internet Explorer?

Please edit your thread title. Everyone knows this in the Windows 7 forum; naming your thread "Windows 7" makes no sense whatsoever.

Just leave it disabled for the install and then turn it back on immediately afterwards. The free trial version of XPlite will do it for you. http://www.litepc.com/xppreview.html

I've used Xable's update pack with zero issues. http://xable.net/

That should have been the subject line to your thread, not "Question" http://www.msfn.org/board/welcome-forum-t3...tml#entry269823

-X- is correct, at least from my experience. I had the same issue for quite a while until I changed the UnattendSwitch answer to Yes (from the default No). My unattended install now boots directly to the desktop.

Is there a reason you won't add more RAM to your PC? My friend has had a P4 with 512MB RAM for 4 years. This past weekend we tripled his memory when I put in a 1GB chip. He couldn't believe how much more responsive everything was. It was older DDR memory, but it was only $30.

He didn't say he stopped cleaning his registry 10 years ago, he said registry cleaning made a noticeable difference 10 years ago.

Beats, thanks, I'll give DriverGrabber a look. Niteshadow, his PC is a desktop, not a laptop. He doesn't have any recovery CDs, but that stands to reason according to what you said, since he has MCE 2004. I'll get his exact model number when I go over there, I don't want to rely on him to guess what it is. It's funny that you mentioned the recovery partition. I was on the phone with him last night and had him go into XP's Disk Managment console so he could give me some info about his HDD. The drive has 3 partitions. C: is 15 GB but only has 240 MB free space. D: is 121 GB and has 114 GB free space. Both these partitons are formatted NTFS. From my friend's description it sounds like C: is a primary partition and D: is a logical. But he also has a letterless 6 GB FAT partition labled "EISA Configuration." I Googled for info on this and have gotten a variety of different answers as to how to use this partition. 1. You use this partition WITH Sony recovery CDs to restore the PC to its original state. 2. You use this partition TO CREATE Sony recovery CDs to then restore the PC to its original state. 3. You use this partition to restore the PC to its original state. I'll read through your links and see what else I can learn.

I had never even thought of that scenario, but it makes perfect sense now. Update: I wasn't able to go over to his place today, he was busy, but I got him to take a picture of the sticker on his case and mail it to me. I thought he had XP Home, but according to the sticker he has Media Center. The far right side of the sticker is cut off in the pic, but I don't see 'OEM' anywhere on it. At the top above the product key it says this: Windows XP Media Cntr Edtn 2004 (1-2 CPU) Sony Corporation That's all I have for now. The earliest I'll be able to get over to his place is next weekend, but I'll check back in.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Jaclaz, I've read many of your posts in various threads and respect your knowledge. On my own PC I've followed your example and set it up with a small primary FAT partition and installed XP on a logical. I've also put Documents & Settings on its own partition, keeping the data separate from the OS. I've never had a problem with anything. I have 2-3 Ghost images I made at various stages of getting everything set up, and I have System Restore shut off. I had the data separated from the OS on my Win98 system as well, and if I ever had an issue I just loaded a disk image and was back in business in no time. That's what I was planning on doing for my friend. Do you see any problems with this? I don't quite follow what you said in your first paragraph. Don't slipstream SP3 into an OEM source, I get that, but are you saying not to install SP3 even after getting the OS reinstalled because of the Repair Install functionality? Honestly, I don't even know what a Repair Install is, I've never done one, I just reload a disk image as I mentioned above. How important is the ability to do one since I'd like to incorporate Ghost images into the mix? CharlotteTheHarlot, I have to admit, knowing all the ins and outs of activation is not an area of expertise for me. I've read topics that discussed what you mentioned in your post - utilities to get the product key from the registry - and I've never understood them. He's got a store-bought Sony with a product sticker on the case, so isn't the key in the registry the same as the one on the case? Why wouldn't it be? I agree with you that having a 2nd HDD would be a good idea, and I'll suggest it to him, but I want to make sure I understand what you're suggesting. Are you saying to install XP on a new HDD, and then take the original and either hook it up as a slave or put it on the 2nd IDE connector??? If that's what you're saying, I'd have to de-activate the primary partition on the current HDD before it becomes the backup, correct? I know how to do it, I'm just asking for clarification. Also, if XP gets installed on a new HDD, since the old one is still 'seen' as part of the hardware configuration, there won't be any problems with activation? I might be going to his place tomorrow, and if so I'll get a look at what his current HDD situation is as far as space used and hidden partitions, etc. Thanks for any additional info.

I'd like to help out a friend who has a Sony Vaio desktop he got several years ago (XP Home). I believe it has just one partition, and it's really bogged down. We're going to add more memory, but I'd like to back up whatever data he wants to save and then reformat and partition the drive with the data separate from the OS, and I'd like some advice on what to expect during the process. Except for my first PC I've always built my own, so I've always had all the necessary drivers for my hardware available. I haven't taken a really good look at his PC yet, but how do I determine what hardware he has and what drivers to have ready? I was thinking I'd use a system info tool like Everest to find out what he has and then go to the manufacturer's websites and try to find the right drivers. Is that the right way to go about doing it or is there a better way? I don't know if he has any recovery disks, so when it comes to reinstalling XP can I just use any copy of an XP Home disk and then use the product key on the side of his case? I believe he has SP2, so I'd like to slipstream SP3 into the source beforehand. Am I likely to have any trouble activating when I'm done? I read on another forum that there can be issues with slipstreaming a service pack onto an OEM CD, but I don't know why. Thanks for the help.

Excellent, thank you very much.

Thanks. I know there are 30 days to activate, but she and I don't live in the same city, so I was hoping I could take care of everything while I was there and not leave it to her to do by herself.

This might be a stupid question, but can anyone here verify if you can activate XP over the weekend or not? A friend's PC needs to be completely redone, so I'm going to reformat his HDD and reinstall the OS, etc. In the event that internet activation doesn't work I was wondering if phone activation was available over the weekend or just Monday-Friday?

That link confirmed what I've been thinking - XP users won't be able to buy an upgrade version of 7 and do a clean install without losing their XP install. That's why it's called an Upgrade version though, so that's understandable. I just wish they'd cut the price of the Full install by 50% for pre-order as well.

I thought I read that the 32 & 64 bit versions were both on the same DVD? Maybe not. I've read in several places that an upgrade from XP to 7 requires a clean install, but I'm suspicious of the way it'll actually be done. One post I read speculated that you'd have to have a valid XP running on a disk/partition and then start the 7 install process which would eventually format that disk/partition before installing 7, but at the same time nuking all traces of XP. Simply providing an XP CD as a valid source sounds too easy to me. If that's the case then anyone who knows anyone with an XP CD could make the move to 7 by only buying an upgrade version of 7 instead of the full install. So buy 7 Pro Upgrade now for $100 vs. 7 Pro Full for $300 later and still end up with the same end result? Sounds dubious to me.