Improving PC Performance

Bird · Jan 4, 2002

<font color=blue>Good luck with your upgrade Bird!</font color=blue>

Thanks, Billboe. I've been sitting here procrastinatin' 'cause the instructions say upgrading to XP takes at least 90 minutes. Allow enough time to perform the upgrade in its entirety. Interrupting the upgrade process can render your operating system - old or new - unusable. Now I figure if it takes them 90 minutes, I'll be lucky if it doesn't take me all day.

Oh well, I've got a day off today from taking my wife to the doctor nearly every day, so I guess I'll get started after another cup of coffee.

TerryinMD · Jan 4, 2002

Bird,

Prior to performing your upgrade, run the Microsoft compatibility checker. It's worth the time and effort. If the utility suggests that you shoudl deinstall something, do it. It will save you time and effort later on.

Also, check your printer manufacturers website for any XP updates.

Make sure that you let the install process get an updates, just let it do it's job.

I think you mentioned that you're using Norton Antivirus. If you are, good. If not, deinstall the other and buy Norton.

I'd suggest that you begin your install very early in the morning. This may speed up the file downloads from Microsoft. Not as many people hitting the Internet - ie kids not playing games. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif

Terry

MikePA · Jan 4, 2002

Also, if you are subject to the occasional power blips, make sure you're plugged into a UPS. It wouldn't be good if the PC loses power in the midst of the upgrade.

Devildog · Jan 4, 2002

Mike, Thats what I thought was causing all my problems cause we have a lot of power glitches here. We got one finally and and my CPU still does it but I think that might be what started everything.
____________________________________________
Take care, Jim

MikePA · Jan 4, 2002

Once or twice a week we lose power for just a second, enough to get the VCRs to blink 12:00 and knock the PCs down. I finally got UPSs for each PC as well as the TVs so they can ride through intermittant outages. The outages were independant of the weather and happened with equal irritation when it was sunny or thunderstorms in the area.

The other benefit of a UPS is it will smooth out the power. I use <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.apc.com>APC</A> UPSs but I'm sure there are other brands out there.

Not only don't the electronics like power outages, when not shut down properly, operating systems can get all messed up. When we really do have a power outage, the UPSs give me time to visit each PC and shut them down normally.

glennmac · Jan 4, 2002

egon, i dont even ski, but i'd rather do that, or almost anything, rather than try to install xp.

Egon · Jan 4, 2002

Okay you don't ski. Then how about class 5 in an open canoe.

Egon

Bird · Jan 4, 2002

Well guys, I started at 9:30 a.m.; WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!!!! Been working on it all day (hey, it's the first day I haven't had to take my wife to the doctor since the day after Christmas) and I'm no where near finished! The whole thing crashed (even though I followed Dell's instructions very carefully), had to spend some time on the phone with them. Finally had to just wipe out everything and start from scratch. I had made copies of all my data files and photos, but lost all my "Favorites" list and e-mail addresses (you might think of them if you try to upgrade, which unfortunately, I didn't/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif) Then had to also call my ISP. I've finally got it working, sorta, still haven't gotten the flashpath floppy adapter and the Iomega backup, and goodness knows what else, fixed. Just finally decided I had to take a break and look at TBN. I'll have another go at the other stuff when I get my wife back from the doctor tomorrow.

And I'd get arrested if I told you what I think of Bill Gates and Microshaft!/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

GlueGuy · Jan 4, 2002

May be wanting to call those guys in South California doing Lindows /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

TerryinMD · Jan 4, 2002

Bird,

All day... and it crashed! Yikes!! Sorry to hear about your problems.

This is very interesting. When I upgraded my machines from Windows ME I had some minor problems, but not an all day affair with the install crashing. I was up and running in less than two hours in both instances with all of the downloads, registration and activation, and restarts.

Is the disk a Microsoft product or is it from Dell? Maybe that might be the difference. Oh wait, let me ask you a question. Did you get the XP Home edition? If you did, did the PC hang upon restarts after installing? My wife's PC does hang on some installs when you are forced to do a restart. We typically have to power down the machine (a West Virginia restart in my neck of the woods) and then restart. No problems after a powerdown.

Terry

GlueGuy · Jan 5, 2002

Bird,

I've never had that kind of problem upgrading a machine to WinNT, Win2K, or WinXP. Of course, I've never done it on a Dell. All my experience has been on clones that I've built myself, or Compaq machines, or one Micron machine that I messed around with a couple of years ago. All of those have gone like clockwork.

Of course, I did a compatability check on them, but I presumed that if Dell were to offer an XP upgrade, they would have already done that for you.

One of the Compaq machines that I upgraded to Windows NT had a video card that was not supported on NT (but did work on Win98). Compaq listed the machine as "not supported" on NT (presumably because of the video card). I swapped that video card for another, and again, clockwork.

I would be very disapointed in Dell for pulling a shenanigan like that.

Bird · Jan 5, 2002

Terry, the upgrade consisted of several CDs, the prep tool and bios upgrade went OK; just took time (although what the instructions said and what actually appeared on the screen were frequently a little different). Then the installation of XP started, but about half way through, the screen went blank and the computer just died. When I called Dell, we simply turned it off, then back on, and I'd never be able to remember all the things he had me do before we finally got ME running again. At any rate, it wouldn't take the upgrade until we just wiped everything clean, then installed XP. For one thing, it seemed to hang up on the HP software that came with the printer that came with the computer from Dell. Anyway, we got it started installing XP and since that takes about 45 minutes, he told me to call back when it finished for them to tell me how to install some drivers. Well, it seemed the only one needed was for the printer, and after a long time of changing settings, we got it to print a "test page" and thought everything was cool. Then I discovered this morning it wouldn't print anything else. However, I finally worked that out myself, re-installed the software, changed a cable and the port used, etc. and think I've got it now. Now I've got to figure out how to get my SanDisk SmartMedia FlashPath floppy adapter to work (if possible)

Bird · Jan 5, 2002

GlueGuy, I was not impressed with the instructions that came with the upgrade (pretty brief and easy enough to follow, except what appeared on the screen was not exactly what the instructions had - maybe it was for a different machine), but at least the guys on the phone were easy enough to deal with and were helpful.

RickM · Jan 5, 2002

Bird,
Glad you made it back /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Don't forget to get the latest security updates for the XP soon. Here is a link that may help with the FlashPath. It looks like the Windows 2000 and XP drivers are the same. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_downloads.asp?Category=Accessories+and+Upgrades>http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_downloads.asp?Category=Accessories+and+Upgrades</A> The file size is just a bit over 1 Mb. I don't have XP and not sure I want it yet /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif. Hope this helps.

Bird · Jan 5, 2002

Thanks, Rick. I just downloaded it and after awhile I'll give it a try. I found two different ones at sandisk.com, but couldn't tell what the difference might be, so I sent them an e-mail, but haven't heard from them yet. This one you told me about sure sounds like it ought to work. I'll know by tomorrow. And I think (wouldn't bet on anything) that I've got this contraption about straightened out and running right now.

Well, that didn't take long to install and check it out./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif It works great! Thanks again, Rick. That was what I needed.

MaltbyMower · Jan 6, 2002

Don't know if I'll make more friends than enemies here, Bird, but I'm a test manager for, err... what did we call it... Microshaft. I actually own Windows 2000 service packs in Applicaiton compatiblity, printing and a few other areas. I don't own WinXP test yet but will shortly. If you keep having problems with printing or those apps, let me know and I'll see if I can help.

Bird · Jan 6, 2002

<font color=blue>Don't know if I'll make more friends than enemies here</font color=blue>

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gifSure hope we're all friends here, Brandon, and welcome to the group. There's definitely lots of things about Microsoft that annoy or irritate me (sometimes wish I had Windows 3.01 back), but I'd also be the first to admit that my own lack of technical knowledge is a major factor in my displeasure./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif And since it seems that computers usually require that you type exactly what you want, it really irritates me to find that printed instructions are sometimes not exactly right (in this particular case, I can't say for sure whether the problem was with Microsoft or Dell, but anyway Dell's technical support folks were pretty good to work with). And while I think I followed the directions properly, I couldn't swear that I didn't make a mistake somewhere myself.

Of course, it would be nice if the computer at least does the same thing under the same circumstances every time - good or bad - then you can adapt to what it's doing. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with Windows ME (never knew what to expect), so I'll see if it is with XP.

And now I think I've just about got everything set up and working, except for fax. With my last computer, I had a HP printer/scanner/copier/fax (printed in color, but everything else was black and white only), but now I have a HP OfficeJet G55 Printer/Scanner/Copier. It's not a stand alone fax machine, but in Windows ME there was something called Phone Tools that allowed me to send and receive faxes. I haven't figured out where there's anything like that in XP yet, but suspect it's there if I can find it./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

MaltbyMower · Jan 6, 2002

To set up the faxing, go to the print and fax folder from Start/Printers and Faxes. On the left hand side there is a set up faxing link. Insert your XP CD and fax away.

Good luck, hope you won't need it!

Bird · Jan 6, 2002

Brandon, I spoke too soon; not as close to having this contraption set up as I thought. I discovered that even though I had the printer printing right, the scanner didn't work. I went to HP web site and learned that before the upgrade to XP, you have to uninstall the HP software, then after XP is up and running, DO NOT install the software from the CD that came with the printer (won't work - yep, that's what I found out), but XP has the necessary drivers built in. Wonder why Dell never mentioned that? Anyway, I got that done and have the scanner working, too, now (at least temporarily).

As for faxing, I went to Start|Control Panel|Printers and Faxes|Set up Faxing at which point it said it needed a file "fxsapi.dll" from "E:\TEMP\W2k.i386" and to insert the XP CD, which I did (it showed the default drive to be "E" (which is now my hard drive with XP instead of it being drive C as it always has been before). The drives are now A=floppy, C=Zip Drive, D=CD, and E=Local (wonder why the change?). Well, I've tried both E and D and used "search" to try to find such a folder or file anywhere on the computer and can't find such. And I have two XP CDs; one is simply labelled as "Windows XP Home Edition" for distribution with a new PC only and the other is labelled as "Windows XP Home Edition" Upgrade. I've tried both; still can't find such a file, so the fax setup hasn't worked.

The upgrade package I got from Dell also includes an "application" CD labelled "For Installing/Reinstalling Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.1 Basic". It's not mentioned in any of the paperwork that came with it, but it appears obvious that I'm going to have to use it before I can burn a CD.