So the computer finally is showing it's age
Monday, January 14, 2013 by kona0197 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
It's taken me awhile to start this thread, sorry. I know this may end up in flame wars. Again I am sorry.
So everyone knows my situation. Well those close to me on this site do. My computer is finally showing signs of how old it truly is. Keep in mind my computer has a Pentium 4 processor so I am guessing this setup to be almost ten years old. The problem, even after a few friends helped me here with a new hard drive and more memory, is the rest of the system. The processor can't keep up with the newer operating systems. I'm having a hard time just running XP. Found out the other day my DVD Burner drive is almost dead as it will read disc sometimes and other times it will not. Monitor is on it's last legs as well. Hard to read anything and the brightness is going out. It's an old CRT Dell monitor that is almost as old as the tower.
As Starkers had told you this computer is my main way to communicate with the things that are important in my life. So I was hoping someone out there had a few newer parts I could install to extend the life of the machine a bit. Nothing special. I already have DDR2 memory and a newer hard drive. Just need a few other things.
So carry on. Discuss I guess.
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Reply #182 Monday, January 21, 2013 5:46 PM
Okay......7 is coming. You do know how to dual boot.....right. (Dumb question)
cause I got no idea 
Reply #184 Monday, January 21, 2013 6:12 PM
Wizard do you have my address?
I got the DVD Burner in today. So far so good!
Reply #185 Monday, January 21, 2013 6:32 PM
Guys I don't want to go to far off topic but I had an issue. I thought I would install the new DVD-RW drive in the system I have so I could play a few games that I have on DVD. The old drive would not read the disc. After installing the drive and looking in my BIOS settings the drive is there and working fine. The problem is that XP itself does not show the drive. Any ideas on a fix? Was looking forward to playing some games to kill some time.
Reply #187 Monday, January 21, 2013 6:40 PM
Yeah I do. Thanks!!
Dual booting with 8 can be problematic....be warned. 
Reply #188 Monday, January 21, 2013 6:48 PM
Windows is still not recognizing the drive. I did everything in that article. Any other ideas?
Reply #189 Monday, January 21, 2013 7:38 PM
Kona, put 7 on it until you get 8. 7 will see the drive.
You can legally run 7 for 30 days before it has to be activated. By then, you'll have 8, or a product key for 7.
You can get 7 from MS all day long. The OS is free, it's the product key that costs you.
XP doesn't have sata drivers, by default, so maybe you just need drivers.
Reply #190 Monday, January 21, 2013 7:40 PM
Also, did you run the FixIt file from Microsoft?
Reply #191 Monday, January 21, 2013 7:55 PM
Yeah I used the FixIt file from MS. It could not find the DVD-RW drive. Funny thing is that BIOS says it's there and the drive can boot bootable CDs and DVDs when the machine is turned on so this is a Windows XP issue. I would load 7 but the game I want to play only works on XP. I've tried it on 7 with no success. I have the SATA drivers for XP installed. Without them my hard drive would not work.
Any other ideas?
Reply #192 Monday, January 21, 2013 9:15 PM
I believe it is not showing up due to your old board. You have a sata dvd plugged into a ide plug? when you get your new old board, you should have no trouble
Reply #193 Monday, January 21, 2013 9:18 PM
Okay,try saying that again,.
Are you using a adapter to run your sata to a ide plug, could be the problem.
Reply #194 Monday, January 21, 2013 9:50 PM
Had a different thought, are you using a masterjumper setting on your hard drive or cable select? set to master and the dvd to slave or cable select on both, might help.
Reply #195 Monday, January 21, 2013 9:55 PM
The hard drive has a SATA interface. The DVD-RW drive has a SATA interface. My motherboard has 4 SATA connectors. The hard drive is plugged into one, the DVD-RW drive into another. This isn't a matter of a master/slave mess up. In fact the DVD-RW drive has no jumpers. It is a simple matter of Windows XP not recognizing the drive.
Reply #196 Monday, January 21, 2013 10:26 PM
O kay , but I run xp with a sata dvd with no problems. Does it register during post?
Reply #197 Monday, January 21, 2013 10:28 PM
I run xp pro by the way, incase there is a difference that way.
Reply #198 Monday, January 21, 2013 10:31 PM
Never mind Kona , I see you posted already that it shows in bios. Sorry.
Reply #199 Tuesday, January 22, 2013 1:26 AM
Hmmm, that might be a problem due to Microsoft's inability to assist me. According to their Sydney rep I cannot make a purchase for your region, and the one I am able make here will not provide you with the correct product key for your region.
There is another way, I just need to contact doortech1 via PM to arrange something. Thing is, I have to go out for an hour or so, but I will sort something out when I get back.
Reply #200 Tuesday, January 22, 2013 1:40 AM
Thank you Starkers for the update. By the way guys I started a new thread about the DVD-RW issue so we don't derail this thread to much dealing with the issue. Here is the link:
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Reply #181 Monday, January 21, 2013 5:35 PM
Should be.