replace computer or wipe clean?

NiftyDigits

randm wrote: »

i think the floppy drive was optional, so no floppy discs. when i did try and do a back up a while ago it did mention putting in a floppy disc, no mention of backing up on to a cd.i thought floppy discs had been replaced by cd's.
i suppose with the memory it will be like putting a ferrari engine into a ford escort.!

Floppy disc was for updating the BIOS, as I'm not keen on updating it via Windows, with your unknown and poorly functioning setup. But we can do it with a USB drive or perhaps another method.
The idea is to update the BIOS without entering your Windows installs at all, so that a faulty Windows installation won't interfere with reprogramming.
The goal is to bring the machine up to date, whilst spending as little as possible.

No, the engine will stay the same. It will just remove one of the blockages.
Once we remove them all, it will feel like a different machine.

After you are sure that you have saved your data to the external hard drive, we can get started.

randm

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Floppy disc was for updating the BIOS, as I'm not keen on updating it via Windows, with your unknown and poorly functioning setup. But we can do it with a USB drive or perhaps another method.
The idea is to update the BIOS without entering your Windows installs at all, so that a faulty Windows installation won't interfere with reprogramming.
The goal is to bring the machine up to date, whilst spending as little as possible.

No, the engine will stay the same. It will just remove one of the blockages.
Once we remove them all, it will feel like a different machine.

After you are sure that you have saved your data to the external hard drive, we can get started.

hi, i have pm'd you.

NiftyDigits

randm wrote: »

hi, i have pm'd you.

Have replied.

Channel A(white securing clips) should contain the 1 GB modules. Channel B(black securing clips) the 512MB modules.

randm

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Have replied.

Channel A(white securing clips) should contain the 1 GB modules. Channel B(black securing clips) the 512MB modules.

hi i you cannot receive my pm messages until you clear some of your inbox! the white clips are the 2nd and fourth down from the top. it is a dimension . so do i need to take out the two that are in and put them in the black slots and then put the 2 new ones in the white slots?

NiftyDigits

randm wrote: »

hi i you cannot receive my pm messages until you clear some of your inbox! the white clips are the 2nd and fourth down from the top. it is a dimension. so do i need to take out the two that are in and put them in the black slots and then put the 2 new ones in the white slots?

As written in the post above yours.

Though of course it is the 256MB RAM modules that go into the slots with the black securing clips.

I hope that you have remembered to remove the machine from mains power and to try to not to handle the circuits on the modules.

randm

NiftyDigits wrote: »

As written in the post above yours.

Though of course it is the 256MB RAM modules that go into the slots with the black securing clips.

I hope that you have remembered to remove the machine from mains power and to try to not to handle the circuits on the modules.

okay, have fitted the ram, cut myself in the process. they weren't clicking in and i was really pushing hard, but i hadn't turned the pc on its side, so once i did that they worked. the pc is just going through its long start up, the manual says to wait until it mentions theres new ram, then go and check that its all on there. yes, its a good job i read through the bit in the manual before hand, non techies can be quite stupid you know. ! no electric shocks.

randm

well nothing's come up but under computer system properties it now says 2.97 ghz, 2.49 gb of ram:T am now going to go to the link in post 22 and do the back up to external hd if thats okay.

NiftyDigits

randm wrote: »

well nothing's come up but under computer system properties it now says 2.97 ghz, 2.49 gb of ram:T am now going to go to the link in post 22 and do the back up to external hd if thats okay.

Perfect. Afterwards we'll take care of the updating of the firmware and the OS install. How on earth did you manage to cut yourself??

randm

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Perfect. Afterwards we'll take care of the updating of the firmware and the OS install. How on earth did you manage to cut yourself??

trying to push the ram in! okay in the external hd there's now a back up folder with 47gb in it. does that sound right? how do i know that it has backed everything up. i just clicked on the box for back up.it had where to but did it as local disk instead of letting me choose the external hd name, but it must have worked for it to be on there now.

NiftyDigits

randm wrote: »

trying to push the ram in! okay in the external hd there's now a back up folder with 47gb in it. does that sound right? how do i know that it has backed everything up. i just clicked on the box for back up.it had where to but did it as local disk instead of letting me choose the external hd name, but it must have worked for it to be on there now.

Sounds about right. You had used about 56 GB of HDD capacity.

Now you are going to use Windows Easy Transfer to do another backup, but this one is for transferring your data to your new install.
The Acronis is for retrieving any bits and bobs that weren't transferred.

So, go to the Windows Easy Transfer page and choose the option for Windows XP 32 bit and follow the instructions to create a backup to the external hard drive.
Once that is done, we'll proceed with the new installation.
You'll need a USB Flash drive, at least 4GB in size for the new install.