Decent laptop 289.99 for first 250 cust [CLOSED]

MyUserNamesTaken

GibsonSt19 wrote:

Good for you mate. Now you can get yourself the extra RAM and maybe a wireless card.

Already got those!


Just been in to my local Currys. They've said to bring it in on Monday and they'll call PC World to see if they can exchange it there - would save me a 50 mile round trip.

GibsonSt19

djrobmac wrote:

I have just done it.

As per desktop.

Change bios to boot from CD first (bash F2 when the laptop first comes on)
whack in the Windows XP disc
save changes and exit the bios

Delete both partitions and install it on one fresh partition.

After the setup completes the first step and reboots dont forget to bash F2 again to change the boot sequence to boot from Hard Drive first.

Rest is easy.

Bingo! NO PACKARD BELL branding at all, not even the Horrible splash screen that pops up just before xp finishes loading up.

Download all the drivers you need from https://www.packardbell.co.uk

A clean laptop is a happy laptop.

Thank you for that my friend. On the drivers side of things, what will I need?

Or should I say, what did you need when you formatted and reinstalled?

Whirly

lellie wrote:

if you unscrew the panel on the back, the bigger of the two, you'll see the 2 ram slots, the mini pci slot and the processor heatsink, it's as easy as undoing 6 screws, popping off this panel, putting the card in, and screwing it back down.

Sorry If I sound stupid but I'm new to the laptop game. I unscrewed the six screws and tried to "pop off" the cover...the damn thing wouldn't come off! I got my fingernails under the small lift flaps but when I tried pulling up it just bent the plastic cover. As I don't desperately want to mess up my new laptop I thought I'd ask before I tried to force it - is there a knack to getting off the cover?

calibrax

djrobmac wrote:

Change bios to boot from CD first (bash F2 when the laptop first comes on)
whack in the Windows XP disc
save changes and exit the bios

WARNING - as the Packard Bell laptop deal does not include a Windows XP CD, you would have to already own one in order to do this.

Steve

MyUserNamesTaken

Whirly wrote:

Sorry If I sound stupid but I'm new to the laptop game. I unscrewed the six screws and tried to "pop off" the cover...the damn thing wouldn't come off! I got my fingernails under the small lift flaps but when I tried pulling up it just bent the plastic cover. As I don't desperately want to mess up my new laptop I thought I'd ask before I tried to force it - is there a knack to getting off the cover?

You have to force it a bit. Ease it off clip by clip, as it's held down by 4-6 clips. Work your way around until all the clips are out. I've had mine off twice now (once to install the ram, and just now to remove it again as the laptop's going back to be replaced). You'll also have to force it back on one clip at a time, too.

MyUserNamesTaken

calibrax, that's not actually true. A legitimate licence key for Windows XP Home edition comes with the laptop, therefore you can borrow someone else's cd to reinstall the OS.

calibrax

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

calibrax, that's not actually true. A legitimate licence key for Windows XP Home edition comes with the laptop, therefore you can borrow someone else's cd to reinstall the OS.

I know, I wasn't talking about the legality of it - the licence key is on the bottom of the laptop. I was just saying that if you don't have a physical CD, there's not a lot you can do... !

There are a lot of people on here new to PCs and I'd hate for someone to reformat their machine then find that they havent got a CD to put XP back... personally I think it's crazy for Packard Bell not to supply a CD with the machine. Having a backup partition is a good idea, but no use if the hard disk implodes

Steve

MyUserNamesTaken

calibrax wrote:

I know, I wasn't talking about the legality of it - the licence key is on the bottom of the laptop. I was just saying that if you don't have a physical CD, there's not a lot you can do... !

There are a lot of people on here new to PCs and I'd hate for someone to reformat their machine then find that they havent got a CD to put XP back... personally I think it's crazy for Packard Bell not to supply a CD with the machine. Having a backup partition is a good idea, but no use if the hard disk implodes

Steve

Ahh...I follow you. Yep, it's terrible that PB don't supply any back up cds. Chances are, though, that most people here are already using XP on the pcs they use to access this site, and probably have the cd to go with it. I don't see the point in reformatting when you can remove most of the PB crap without needing to go that far. I'd rather keep the partition for now, as the laptop is a second computer. I've got 300GBs of hdd on this pc (and will be adding more, as I'm running out of space). 160GBs of that is an external HDD, which can be used by the laptop should I need more space on that.

djrobmac

wrote:

I don't see the point in reformatting

You wont say that once youve done it.

Its faster, no rubbish to get rid of & it gets rid of that horrible purple splash screen.

Its worth it if you have the know how.

Anyways, I got Pro on now anyways.

djrobmac

GibsonSt19 wrote:

Thank you for that my friend. On the drivers side of things, what will I need?

Or should I say, what did you need when you formatted and reinstalled?

From the support/downloads/E6 page @ https://www.packardbell.co.uk

Realtek ALC655 Audio drivers

Synaptics touchpad driver (not totally nessesary)

Smartlink modem driver

ENE CB1410 CardBus driver

Via/S3 Unichrome Pro IGP video drivers

Via Rhine 2 Fast Ethernet Controller drivers

Thats all you need matey.