Decent laptop 289.99 for first 250 cust [CLOSED]

sheffix

I think I'm right in saying there are no instalation disks for XP with our laptop, so could someone help?

I would like to do a fresh install of XP to get rid of some of the clutter on this notebook which I think is slowing it down. Start-up takes ages. Does it speed things up?

Can anyone point me in the direction of how to do it? Is it straightforward? If I haven't got the disk how do I reinstall it? (Is XP machine specific cos I've got it on my PC and have the disk for that but would it work?)

Any help gratefully received.

debs626

sheffix wrote:

I think I'm right in saying there are no instalation disks for XP with our laptop, so could someone help?

I would like to do a fresh install of XP to get rid of some of the clutter on this notebook which I think is slowing it down. Start-up takes ages. Does it speed things up?

Can anyone point me in the direction of how to do it? Is it straightforward? If I haven't got the disk how do I reinstall it? (Is XP machine specific cos I've got it on my PC and have the disk for that but would it work?)

Any help gratefully received.

Your disk for the other machine should work

Just set your laptop to boot from cd (press f2 just as the machine is starting). Pop in your windows xp disk into the cd drive and restart the machine, follow the instructions to format your hard drive and away u go.

It should speed up you machine but I recomend more memory too.

Tojo_Ralph

OK.... I have a problem

Having put all my MP3 music onto discs (using Roxio) before cleaning up my old laptop, and giving to daughter, I have now tried to put them onto the PB.

The problem is, the drive thinks they are audio discs, doesn't recognise the disc names (all labelled MP3-01, MP3-02 etc), and whilst acknowledges discs are full, won't play them or let me view files.

Any ideas why?

Anything to do with the burning software?

I tried the discs in works PC's and no problems.

Ta

MyUserNamesTaken

Tojo_Ralph wrote:

OK.... I have a problem

Having put all my MP3 music onto discs (using Roxio) before cleaning up my old laptop, and giving to daughter, I have now tried to put them onto the PB.

The problem is, the drive thinks they are audio discs, doesn't recognise the disc names (all labelled MP3-01, MP3-02 etc), and whilst acknowledges discs are full, won't play them or let me view files.

Any ideas why?

Anything to do with the burning software?

I tried the discs in works PC's and no problems.

Ta

If the files are MP3, then you'll need an MP3 player to play them (Windows Media Player should do it!). Have you tried right clicking the drive and selecting a program to open them with? If all else fails, download Winamp and see if that will play them. It shouldn't be your burning software. It really sounds like your laptop is lacking the software to play the files (is WMP corrupt?)



I picked up laptop number 3 today - just deleted the partitions, installed the wifi card and antennae and the extra ram. Currently watching it reformat and install WinXP. Will see how this one goes. On the plus side, they've given me a new receipt saying I paid £579 for this laptop!

Tojo_Ralph

MyUserNamesTaken wrote:

If the files are MP3, then you'll need an MP3 player to play them (Windows Media Player should do it!).

All the MP3 files are in separate folders, with title and artist, which I guess I should be able to see, even if on opening I couldn't play the contents?

That said, maybe I should Open Windows Media Player then and let it configure itself..... ..... As I had forgotten that I need to do that.

On opening WMP, it wants to configure as default player etc, etc and I had simply closed it and thought.... "I'll do it later"

It's the E6100, and so far, so good,

MyUserNamesTaken

Well,up and running. Oddly enough, this E6100 has a different HDD than the old one. Not only that, it didn't have Splinter Cell showing as an exception on windows firewall. Everything's back up and running, but now my minipci wifi card has developed the same problem as others on this thread have experienced. It's dropping. Think I might try the minipci card recommended for this laptop by PB.

djrobmac

zaccy wrote:

I tried to get the Mini PCI card that PB fit but drew a blank on UK suppliers. In the end I have opted for Intel's brand new Pro wireless Mini pci 2915 a, b and g card.
Ebuyer now have them in stock at £21.40 inc VAT

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6938342347&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=84079

A seller on Ebay (at £30) reckons this card will run with AMD Semprons...I'll let you know when I've tested it.

Let us know how you get on!

The reason I didnt bother with that card is that its only got a third of the range (12m) compared to the other ebuyer card (30m)

See specs http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/wireless/prowireless_mobile.htm

djrobmac

zaccy wrote:

Yep I looked at those figures before I ordered it. They are a tad confusing but if you read the last set of figures quoted the Indoor range is exactly the same as the 2200bg card "100 ft (30 m) @ 54 Mbps".

I read some blurb somewhere about having "a" is useful for getting a WI-Fi connection in the States and as the seller on ebay says this card is not just for centrino/Intel I decided to give it a go.

Opening my eyes a bit more and yeah, ur right! Same specs under the 'g' details.

FINGERS CROSSED (whats the ebuyer delivery date for ya?) I'll check back soon

Howdie

djrobmac wrote:

Opening my eyes a bit more and yeah, ur right! Same specs under the 'g' details.

FINGERS CROSSED (whats the ebuyer delivery date for ya?) I'll check back soon

I got one of these from ebuyer and fitted it last night, I found the reception to be similar to the 2200 card that I have ie if I move more than 20 paces from the router there is difficulty in finding a network.

djrobmac

Howdie wrote:

I got one of these from ebuyer and fitted it last night, I found the reception to be similar to the 2200 card that I have ie if I move more than 20 paces from the router there is difficulty in finding a network.

Thanks for the feedback Howdie.

Unless someone here finds a solution I think i'm gonna forget about the whole idea. I returned the 2200 back to ebuyer for a refund and have been using my Belkin PC card ever since (not one dropout, 54Mbps always)

Oh well, nice idea while it lasted.