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Can anyone help please? Major problems..

123578

Comments

  • Lizbetty
    Lizbetty Posts: 979 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Thanks for your advice. I must admit, I was naive - the chap was a friend of a friend and we knocked him down in price for the PC, it was really cheap in 2004 (he builds them in his spare time, rather than for a living), so I should have known there would be something not right. I just assumed everything was second hand, he will have no doubt thought I knew it was illegal software.

    The thought of getting into trouble for having this software is quite scary. :eek: I'm in the process of trying to download Open Office (which isn't going very well...it's slow and keeps coming up with errors, but I'm persevering!) and then once I've transferred my stuff I'll be deleting the Microsoft stuff off, it's daft to risk getting into bother for something we don't even need. And tbh, my pc is going so slowly that it's not worth keeping it on here, esp if we can't update it properly and get proper antivirus to work with it.

    Crikey. I think I've been sat here for days now.....
  • Personally, I'd get far more satisfaction from dropping that machine from a very tall building than trying to improve it's performance. :rotfl:
  • Donnie
    Donnie Posts: 9,862 Forumite
    There's a little bit of overkill going on here. You are not going to get into trouble for using the copied software. Especially as you didn't install it in the first place.
    Just don't advertise the fact. Fix the problem as soon you can afford to do so.

    The official answer would be to uninstall XP altogether and to install a flavour of Linux and to install Open Office. The reality is that Microsoft would probably prefer you to continue using their system and for you to pay for a licence.
    So, do so when you have the cash at hand. :)

    You are not going to be prosecuted. Apart from anything else, they can't find you.

    What we can't be seen to be doing, is encouraging anyone to use software without a licence or posting ways to get around purchasing a legitimate licence.

    So, I'm encouraging you to purchase a licence as soon as finances permit.

    Until then, don't worry too much about 'getting into trouble'.
  • Donnie
    Donnie Posts: 9,862 Forumite
    Lucyeff

    Rather than spending any more money on software, fix the problem with the RAM or think about running another Operating System.

    You going to continue to have problems with software installation and execution until you install more memory.
    You should also check your Hard Drive for problems before you purchase the memory. Once those two tasks are completed, you can look in the software situation.

    As long as the machine is in working order and there is sufficient RAM; 256MB minimum, though 512MB is recommended, your machine should be ample for purpose.

    If need be, we can talk you through using another OS, but other than memory, don't spend any more cash on that machine.

    Better to save up and buy a new or refurbished machine with an XP licence.

    It makes no sense to pay £95 for a licence, when you can purchase an 'as new' machine with a licence for £160.
  • Browntoa
    Browntoa Posts: 49,612 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    theres a current offer on a brand new Dell base unit for £188.07 ...:)
    Ex forum ambassador

    Long term forum member
  • Fonz_2
    Fonz_2 Posts: 393 Forumite
    Donnie wrote: »

    You are not going to be prosecuted. Apart from anything else, they can't find you.

    Until then, don't worry too much about 'getting into trouble'.

    Unless you've asked advice on setting up a forklift training business on the boards before and feature in the yellow pages? ;)

    I'm not saying anyone on here would do that, just that it's not quite as anonymous as you'd like to think!
  • Lizbetty
    Lizbetty Posts: 979 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Hi everyone!

    I've just typed this out twice and my pc keeps crashing so apologies for any typos as I'm rushing to get it done before it happens again. Grrr.

    We've decided to take Donnie's kind advice of putting more memory into our pc as it's so slow (751mhz 192mb of RAM), we're hoping to get it up to 512 pieces (?!) instead (ish) to stop me tearing my hair out.

    We have heard that you just buy something and slot it into your pc, which sounds like an ok job to do ourselves, but we don't know the best place to buy memory, what we're looking for or which bit of the pc it would slot into.

    If anyone has any advice on this, we'd appreciate it so much, as we're trying to do it as cheaply as possible so taking it in somewhere to get it sorted is not really a possibility at the moment unfortunately.

    Thanks in advance everyone. Again, I can't tell you how much we appreciate everyone's help with this, it's so frustrating. :(

    Best wishes

    Luce
  • http://www.crucial.com/uk/ run the Scanner or enter your computer make and model to find compatible memory. Then compare prices with www.ebuyer.com (who are usually the cheapest).
  • Donnie
    Donnie Posts: 9,862 Forumite
    I use Funky Giraffe: http://www.funkygiraffe.co.uk for memory purchases. You can compare it with http://www.ebuyer.com if you wish.

    I use CPU-Z to get Motherboad and memory info: http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
  • Lizbetty
    Lizbetty Posts: 979 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    CPU-Z 1.40.5 report file
    Processor(s)


    Number of processors
    1
    Number of cores
    1 per processor
    Number of threads
    1 (max 1) per processor
    Name
    AMD Duron
    Code Name
    Spitfire
    Specification
    AMD Duron(tm) Processor
    Package
    Socket A (462)
    Family/Model/Stepping
    6.3.1
    Extended Family/Model
    7.3
    Core Stepping

    Technology
    0.18 um
    Core Speed
    752.0 MHz
    Multiplier x Bus speed
    7.5 x 100.3 MHz
    Rated Bus speed
    200.5 MHz
    Instruction sets
    MMX (+), 3DNow! (+)
    L1 Data cache
    64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
    L1 Instruction cache
    64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
    L2 cache
    64 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size

    Chipset & Memory


    Northbridge
    VIA KT133A rev. 03
    Southbridge
    VIA VT82C686 rev. 40
    Graphic Interface
    AGP
    AGP Revision
    1.0
    AGP Transfer Rate
    1x
    AGP Side Band Addressing
    supported, enabled
    Memory Type
    SDRAM
    Memory Size
    192 MBytes
    Memory Frequency
    100.3 MHz (1:1)
    DRAM Interleave
    4-way
    CAS# Latency (tCL)
    2.0 clocks
    RAS# to CAS# (tRDC)
    2 clocks
    RAS# Precharge (tRP)
    2 clocks
    Cycle Time (tRAS)
    5 clocks

    System


    System Manufacturer
    VIA Technologies, Inc.
    System Name
    VT8363
    System S/N

    Mainboard Vendor

    Mainboard Model
    8363-686A
    BIOS Vendor
    Award Software International, Inc.
    BIOS Version
    6.00 PG
    BIOS Date
    12/18/2000

    Memory SPD


    Module 1
    SDRAM, PC133 (133 MHz), 128 MBytes, unknown brand
    Module 2
    SDRAM, PC100 (100 MHz), 64 MBytes, LG Semiconductor

    Software


    Windows Version
    Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
    DirectX Version
    9.0c


    This is what came up Donnie, thanks for the advice - hope I've done it right?

    Still having problems with pc doing half hour 'chkdsk' before it powers up properly. Sometimes it says it's set to do it, sometimes it says it's recommending it and it deletes files (I'm afraid it doesn't mean much to me so I haven't remembered which files it's deleting :o ). Is this something I can correct myself?

    Thanks again! :T

    Luce
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