New to the Computer World

[chaosclown]

well ive already gotten the latest updates. except for the bios. wasnt really sure bout that. dont worry i didnt plan on downgrading the os. i was gonna upgrade to xp pro. however i think im fine for right now. i think tomorrow im gonna add some more memory. 512 added to the 128 only because i only see 2 slots. although sandra lite seems to think theres 3.

[nihil]

Hi, please try this tool for a second opinion.

It tells you about your hardware and gives a good analysis of your Windows updates/patches and whether the worked properly

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

[chaosclown]

thnx. well i guess that there is 3 slots. i just cant find the third one :comfused: i do kno that im good on security and im all upto date

[nihil]

I have checked and it actually has two memory banks. It shipped with 128Mb as standard

It will take DDR PC2100 memory sticks (266Mhz)

You certainly need more RAM to run Win XP decently.

[chaosclown]

wow old thread again. huh. i guess its safe to assume that this thread will stay open as long as i need help. good to know. i havent had any poblems recently. seeing how this was a new system. but i have come across some system instabilities. for one my windows components are being unitstalled one by one. first it was the standard windows games, then it was my volume control, and now my windows media player taskbar toolbar thingy. nothign major so far.

now i did notice that in my bios i can controll my cpu multiplier. i assume that this is for overclocking? i had no idea that u could overclock ur cpu from the bios. at first i didnt like intel. i was more of an amd kinda guy. but i can appreciate a good processor. any suggestions on overclocking my processor . much appreciated thanx

[Moira]

Yeah some motherboards allow you to overclock from the BIOS, others you'll find the multiplier is locked. The mind boggles at your windows components being uninstalled one by one ...... you must worry that soon you'll switch the PC on to find not a single component or program there

If you add them again, do they stay put?

[chaosclown]

woops sorry. ive been busy lately.

i havent really gotten around to reinstalling them yet. as it wasnt really a big deal. but nothing else seems to have gone missing. so it probably is safe to assume that if i do reinstall them they'll stay. that and i dont think i need to install any more system drivers. which might have been the cause.

however i have a new problem. the dreaded limited or no connectivity. i have a dlink dwl g510 wireless pci adapter that im pretty sure is up to date. the only way to connect is to restart the computer. i did notice that when one of the other computers are off line i can connect easily. i havent quite comfirmed this yet but i have a hunch. i dont no what really could be causing this but i was goin to try and roll back the driver and see if it made any difference. but before i do i want check with the gurus first. thanks

[Ouroboros]

wow im soooo sorry for not bein on in like 2 months. but i just recently got a newer computer. . i live in south carolina. but wow this is like a really old thread. that im gonna start again. haha. here are my system specs.

HP Pavilion 551w

256 ddr sdram
40 gig harddrive
1.6 ghz intel p4 processor
cdrw. just put in a dvd rom drive
nvidia vanta lt agp
4 expansion slots
gotta nice 20 in crt monitor
came wit windows xp sp2 but also have a windows 9 in 1 cd

everything i need to continue my research. so gentlemen. lets get back to business

and again really sorry for not gettin back to ya. very very busy. im home schooled. my moms got me workin through the summer.

That seems to be a good learning system, not too powerful, but not too weak.

First of all, you need more RAM. I assume it's SDRAM of the 184 pin variety. Buy a couple of 512MB (PC2100/266MHz would be top speed for your machine, I think) wafers and install them. Do it yourself...don't let some big box store charge you $30 for a 5 minute job.
Secondly, figure out the top speed processor that your motherboard will support...from the looks of it I would guess P4 2.2Ghz.
Thirdly, pick up a HDD with more room. You can get a 100GB HDD for about $40 or so. Look up SATA/PATA/RAID online to get an idea about what you are looking for. You probably want to go with SATA on your machine.

Playing with the hardware is fun as hell and absolutely essential to your learning how computers operate.

So, we're at about $250 to essentially rebuild the guts of your machine. Leave the soundcard and GPU alone for now, until you find the need to upgrade them.

I agree with the majority of posters here...if you have Windows, learn how to use Windows inside and out (file system, registry, etc). When you are ready to learn something new, try http://wubi-installer.org/ and install a working version of Kubuntu or Ubuntu Linux that runs inside a Windows folder. It modifies your MBR to sort of dual-boot Linux and Windows. It's not a true dual-boot, but it's close enough. Kubuntu is very friendly and will help you understand the Terminal, Package installer, and overall open-source environment that scares most Linux newbies.

Good luck and take care,

O

[chaosclown]

hi Ouroboros, and thanks for the much needed info. but now it seems that i have a major problem.

i noticed this morning when i woke up my agp graphics cards fan was makin this funny noise. granted it usually makes a funny noise and goes away. i think do to the fact that the fan is probably off balanced. but this time it didnt go away. so pop the computer open. (now a little while ago i wanted to try this multi monitor display feature. so i grabbed a spare s3 pci card that was laying aroun and use it. seein how the vanta im running is only agp compatible. after a big let down i never really took the s3 card out but just disabled it.) i noticed the s3 and decided to unistall it first. after doing that i shut down and attempted to fix the fan on the vanta. after hookin everything back up and booting up i noticed that the screen seemed a little off, started turning pink and windows finds new hardware. and ethernet controller and a pci serial port. which i assumed that it was my dlink pci adapter because the internet icon was not on. not being able to reinstall these two items i carried on to start a regular day. after a few moments the computer restarted by its self. then came the boot screen where it displays how to start windows. after selecting to start windows normally in mid boot it resests again and hangs a little with fans at full blast. same for last know config and safe mode. so thinking that something was conflicting hardware wise, because no beep code, i shut down and took out the dlink adapter. it booted up normally untill i tryed to uninstall the dlink drivers. at this time i also noticed that the power supply fan was not running properly. at this point i was very alarmed. after a force shutdown i was able to boo into safe mode and unistall the vanta adapter successfull unistall with no force reboot and after alittle while the fan started spinning again( i hadnt restart yet and i was still in safe mode) i did notice during those forced reboots the powersupply became hotter than usual. at this moment the computer is off. i was thinking of a fresh install of windows just in case it was windows. i havnt reinstalled anything yet. ill wait for some feed back from u all first. i need some major help with this one. thanks

[chaosclown]

haha me again. problem solved. thanks for all the help

it turns out was just a nasty virus. a little worm that kinda shutdown my whole computer. i usually run scans on everything that i download. it so happens it was on something that wasnt finished downloading. thats probably why i couldnt catch. but everything up and runnin 100 percent. thanks again. i think my internet even works again. peace out