My win7 machine died
Now I'm using win8.1
Sunday, May 7, 2017 by Chasbo | Discussion: Personal Computing
Last week my old Compaq win7 machine gave up the ghost. It was a solid computer that was in service since 2009. I never really had to do anything but use it all that time. It just powers off randomly. I'll have it looked at eventually. Maybe it's not a big deal.
I was lucky because my daughter had an HP computer hidden away in her closet that wasn't being used. It's a desktop and she never liked it so she got herself a laptop and has been using the laptop. I offered to buy the desktop from her and she said sure. It's no big whoop compared to some of the rigs I read about here at WC. All I need is a machine that will run WB, OD, Cursor FX etc. This one can do all that but it has win8 on it. I immediately purchased start 8 and the newest version of Icon Packager.
The little bit of learning to navigate win8 has been a breeze. Having Start8 makes the process easy. It's like I never left Win7. Yeah there's a little of this and that but no biggie.
Being that the computer sat in a closet for over 2 years the update process took some time. Since I got it going there has been something like 200 updates plus getting it to 8.1.
So I am up and running. I have to rebuild an extreme amount of wallpapers and widgets. I have a lot of things backed up but the way things were, well it was a little out of control. Time to start fresh. I enjoy it. Change is good.
The thing that is the most time consuming is rebuilding the music library. That was not backed up.
Reply #2 Sunday, May 7, 2017 5:46 PM
Pull out and re-insert every expansion card [whatever sort] and likewise with the ram.....
If you have it...use contact cleaner on the....er...contacts....SPARINGLY
...or use an eraser ....GENTLY
Get rid of any dust....anywhere within the case [also gently].
Reboot...
Reply #3 Sunday, May 7, 2017 6:21 PM
Since the rig came with 8.1 you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade
Reply #6 Sunday, May 7, 2017 6:56 PM
Since the rig came with 8.1 you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade
I didn't want to move off a 7. If it wasn't for my daughter I wouldn't have any computer right now.
I think I would want to go to 10 in a clean install. Not a upgrade, you know what I mean?
Reply #7 Sunday, May 7, 2017 7:01 PM
I think I would want to go to 10 in a clean install. Not a upgrade, you know what I mean?
Once the rig has been registered to 10 (via upgrade, etc.), a fresh install is possible. Just choose "I have no key" when asked, once installed it will self activate.
Reply #8 Sunday, May 7, 2017 10:13 PM
Hey Chasbo, I've been building and repairing computers since 1996. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering and was an Instructor at the National Institute of Technology in Cuyahoga Falls , Ohio, for nearly 5 years. I will repair your Computer free of charge other than shipping cost if you wish. I have tons of spare parts littering my shop. I only offer this to you because you are a member of the community here. You can send me a private message if you would like.
-- Ace --
Reply #9 Monday, May 8, 2017 9:04 AM
Hey Chasbo, I've been building and repairing computers since 1996. I have a degree in Electrical Engineering and was an Instructor at the National Institute of Technology in Cuyahoga Falls , Ohio, for nearly 5 years. I will repair your Computer free of charge other than shipping cost if you wish. I have tons of spare parts littering my shop. I only offer this to you because you are a member of the community here. You can send me a private message if you would like.
-- Ace --
That is wonderful AceMatrix. I appreciate it. Let me try what Jafo suggested first. If that fails I may take you up on your offer!
Reply #10 Monday, May 8, 2017 1:22 PM
Its likely the Power Supply.
Or possibly a heat issue. Running some type of program watching/logging heat would figure this out right away. Could be as simple as taking heat sink/cooler off and re-applying thermal paste and putting back together.
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Reply #1 Sunday, May 7, 2017 4:55 PM
My laptop and desktop both are running Win8.1 it's almost the same as 7. I would suggest downloading OldNewExplorer to make explorer easier to navigate.
Oh yea I forgot this might be helpful in moving files around, 2 reg files that are added to your right click menu. One is Copy To and Move To. They come in handy. https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-copy-to-move-to-on-windows-vista-right-click-menu/ . It says Vista but it works on 8.