Dying PC, New PC

Bogframe

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
May 8, 2000
Posts
2,823
Loc
Brooklyn, NY USA, Right Near Coney Island, The Bro
My 1997 Compaq Deskpro 2000 is showing signs of senility. Let me give you the specs to start off.
It's a Pentium II 266MHz; 384 MB RAM (3x128MB); primary HD: 3gigs,322MB free; secondary HD, 20 gig, not partitioned (I don't know how). The first problem I have is that I don't know how to separate the OS from the rest of the stuff in the C drive. If I could do this, I could move the "stuff" to the D drive and I might be able to keep this sucker running a while longer.
I have a friend of a friend who for $1500 could build me a PC with a P4 3.8gig processor, a gig of RAM, 200 gig HD, sound and video cards and other things that went over my head.
Question:How can I tell what can be moved from the C drive to the D? I won't be able to get the new supercomputer until at least New Years.
 
My opinion... and I'm sure there are those who differ... Buy a Dell. Visit their site, build it the way you want it it, get a 3 year warranty and see how it checks out. Everybody has a friend that will build one for a deal and then more often than not they end up with a put together junker with a multitude of issues. I'm not saying that it is going to happen but I too considered that option and have bought 3 systems from Dell and never been happier. Any issues I have had, and they have been few, have been addressed immediately and timely. Check it out and then go with your gut... maybe your buddy is Bill Gates... maybe there won't be any issues... then again...
 
lets see, you are using a P2 266hz. That tells me you are not a gamer. ;)

Other than data files is there anything else that you want to save (DOS programs)? If you want to transfer data files that is a snap. And if you have any of the original program disks they can be reinstalled, assuming they are not on 5 1/2" disks! Mike might have a remidy for that.

Look at Mikes postings for Dells in the $300-$400 price range. You will be amaised at how fast modern computers are in comparison.
 
I've used Dell also for quite a few years. Although I had a few problems with the early ones with the power supply going out within a year, the last couple including a notebook have performed very well. I would recommend them highly.

You have definately got your moneys worth on the compaq your now using.

Rock
 
If you go to Dell, make sure that you use their Small Business Division. And look for a 3 year on-site service package. When you get your new computer with XP installed, go to Accessories, System Tools, Files and Settings transfer Wizard. Follow directions - you will find an option to get software for older versions of Windows to install this function on your old computer. This is an excellent feature that transfers all kinds of useful things, like email settings, cookies, favorites, etc.

Pat :D :D
 
If it's really the primary drive that's crapping out, download a free utility called HDCopy. It will copy EVERYTHING from one drive to another - including the operating system. (It was also copy any garbage or problems.)

Then, either by adjusting some jumpers or, in some cases, by swapping the data cables, the secondary drive becomes the primary boot drive.

You will need to partition and format the other drive first. If someone hasn't explained how to do that by the time I get home, I'll do that tonight or in the morning.
 
This is one of the reasons that I sometimes wish I wasn't such a luddite! If I knew how to tell the OS files from the rest of it, I could transfer the rest of it to the D drive, but partitioning would definitely help as the D drive is not only bigger, but it spins twice as fast.
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Seth: Ron's pointed out your best bet, which is just copy your C drive to the D drive using that utility, swap cables and jumpers, and boot your 20gig D drive as the new C drive.

Unfortunately, just copying stuff over to your other drive for your applications generally doesn't work, since the apps are installed and registered with the system in a specific location.. moving them around tends to break stuff and can be hit and miss per application.

As far as partitioning the drive goes, usually you only need to do that when you want to break up a large physical drive into smaller virtual drives.. e.g. make your 20gig D drive into a 10gig D and a 10gig E - technically D and E are the same physical drive, but the OS thinks they are two. If you can currently see and save files to your D drive then you don't need to do anything else to it. If you can see it but can't write to it, then you probably just need to format it (which installs the file system for the OS onto the drive).

And Ron's suggestion is also good considering that your D drive is faster too - by moving the OS to the D drive and making it the C drive, your computer will also boot and run much faster too.

I would have your friend start you off on that route and have him help you swap the drives. Also, unless you're running some serious CPU-hungry applications, I wouldn't spend more than $500 on a new PC. And if you did spend more than that, make sure it's because you upgraded your monitor to something high-end, not the PC. That system he quoted you is for gamers who need the extra 17.8 frames per second when they play Quake 3 at 2AM in the morning.
 
The only reason I mentioned partitioning the D drive is, I bought it as a 20 gig drive, but my computer only recognizes it as 12.7 gigs, so what happened to the other 7.3 gigs?
 
That doesn't surprise me at all with older Compaqs, though only recognizing 12.7 gigs is a little unusual (if I remember correctly the limit was 8.4 gig for older boxes and then around 32 gig for boxes circa 98-99).

To be absolutely sure I'd have to take a look at the bios and drive to make sure that it's truely a 20gig drive and that it's been recognized by the bios appropriately. Pre-98 CPUs don't all have the nice auto-detect drives features, and it may be that it's just not getting setup correctly (the right number of heads, cylinders, and whatnot).

When I google "compaq bios 12.7 limit" I don't get any hits that mention a hard bios limit for campaq PCs other than 8.4, but Dave's probably right in that updating the bios might be necessary to be able to use the drive to its full capacity. You can also check Campaq's website to see if there's any technical support still on there for your model. You can also google the drive model to get the correct bios settings and compare to what you have in your bios.

If all that fails partitioning the drive might work, but I can't be completely sure. Usually that only works when the OS has a hard limit as the partitioning is essentially a software hack on the drive. If the bios is capping the size of the drive then partitioning probably won't work as the bios still won't be capable of using that extra capacity regardless of how it's mapped out. Then again, I'd have to try it to be 100% sure.

Good luck!


I think what people on here have been not-so-subtly trying to tell you that it just might be cheaper and easier in the long run to go out and buy a new PC.
 
I have bought several Dells over the years and all are still working fine. Not one problem.

My sister had a friend build hers and she has since replaced it twice going on three. I think I converted her to Dell this time.
 
When my son bought a rebuilt Dell a short time ago, I bought the HP I had given him for graduation two years ago.

I added a Lightscribe DVD burner, pulled the memory, disk drive and DVD Rom out of a recently deceased HP, installed a secondary 160-gig hardrive and ended up with a very usable machine for only about $900. :eek:

New is almost always cheaper these days, but he couldn't have bought his Dell if I didn't buy back his HP. It worked out fine for both of us.
 
I checked out the dell site, and with the 3.2 processor, it's over $1500 for the same price, I could have the 3.8. As for the bios, early on I was having probs with this computer, and the place that fixed it installed something called EZ BIOS
 
BogMan, I feel your pain. As far as your friend's friends price, check this Hot Rod out. HP/Compaq xw4200 Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz (HT) / 1GB DDR2 / 160GB SATA HDD / DVD±RW Dual-Layer with LightScribe / NVIDIA Quadro4 280 NVS Video / Windows XP Pro / Convertible MiniTower Workstation Bundle Price: $1099.99
That is a monster of a computer for a grand and leaves room in your budget to buy a flat screen monitor. It also has the help center and support online from Hp. Mercenary Pc builders never answer thier phones after they get paid. Just a warning from a friend.
 
Hi Seth,

With a P4 3.2ghz, 19" LCD flat panel monitor, 1 gig of ram, and 160mb HD, I came up with $809 after $100 rebate. E-Value Code: 6W300 - 3d47w7

With a P4 2.8ghz, 19" LCD flat panel monitor, 1 gig of ram, and 160mb HD, I came up with $619 after $100 rebate. E-Value Code: 6W300 - 3d30w7b

2.8 chips are the most economical now for the price. Anything higher will come at a premium.

A new sale will likely start Monday with better prices.

Happy shopping!
Mike
 
I'm with Mike.

It's going to be the "end of quarter" time in a week or so, and hopefully a blowout package will appear to help Dell hit their 3rd quarter sales target.

I want a system for the new Lifesaver POS from Atlanta. It needs to bundle a flat screen too (15" or 19"??) and a suitable printer of some sort. Any suggestions on screen size and printer type for a POS station?

Oh, and a long ethernet cable, right Mike?
 
Hi Don!

Yea, there havent been any decent specials lately but VERY soon

I suggest getting the ethernet cables at Staples or similar. You can get a 100' for about $29. I don't suggest wireless technology for pos terminals because of its reliability and poor security.

We use 2 monitors on our LifeSaver and PIF server machine (at the counter). The 15" LCD faces us and the 17" LCD faces the customer. As far as screen size, anything above 15 will do, but bigger is better. I'd love to have one of those huge Plasmas they had in the booths in Atlanta!

For printing, I suggest an inexpensive laser printer. Lasers are fast and efficient. They'll often go about 8000 pages per cartridge and have a low cost per page. Inkjets are too expensive and slow for a POS, with a much higher cost per page. The only exception is if youre using the visualization system and have the images printing on your receipts in full color. In that case you'd want an inkjet or color laser. The lasers start at about $75, and many of them also include a scanner and fax machine. We have a Brother multifunction under our front counter which handles faxes and all printing, and love it. There's an older laser in the back (on the Wizard) that servers as a backup, in case this one fails. We have had the brother for 3 1/2 years so far and it runs like a top.

I'll post when I see another Dell bargain.

If you have any tech questions about setting up that new software, feel free to jump into the live chat as a help resource. I'm usually there during business hours, and know both products inside and out.

Mike
 
Be careful when selecting a printer. They all will give you the Page-per-minute specs and look fast, but the critical spec for a POS printer is "time until First page out." I chose a very fast printer (ie. a good PPM number) but it takes a while to get the "first page" (the key one you want on a POS station) to come out.

i'd pay extra for a "quick first page."
 
That's good advice!

With some of them you can adjust the time until the printer "hibernates" to save power. The warm up time can be up to 20 seconds for that first page. Our brother printers are set to 99 minutes of inactivity before they "go to sleep". Some will hibernate in only 5 minutes.

Our next purchase for the POS will be a thermal high speed receipt printer for cash transations. We had a couple in our booth in Atlanta and I liked! The workorders will still print on the laser, after it warms up.

Mike
 
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