Refurbish desktop Hard or within reach ?

[David]

Its ok relax Im not after a great deal here is the situation.I have one fairly new pc.one notepad,and another machine which is about 4 ours old.p4 new fans new mother board but not a lot of memory as some of you may already know.

Now instead of just putting memory on,which I did intend to do.This machine has other issues.It wont write to DVD or burn,it did before and engineer changed it,the machine is black and he put a white one in,,,nice.

Now I could put it in a skip,but my daughter uses it and I think there is life in this.
I am thinking of refurbishing it and also changing the case etc.
When I got this machine there was no OS.so no disc although the windows is legal etc.can I back this lot up in some way..just yes or no,s as Im evaluating.
Any secondly it it fairly straight forward to change the things. I know memory etc,but things like the DVD etc.or am I being too ambitious..
I have not put this in help as its just me thinking about this job and whether its got a good chance of success....

[Rik]

Without a Windows CD you might have problems, David. If you're just thinking of a cosmetic refurb, eg case, DVD drive etc, you should have no problems, but if you were planning to go further and upgrade major components, then it would probably entail a fresh installation of Windows. That would not apply to just adding memory, though.

[David]

I don't  think this would be needed as it had a new motherboard and fan etc only 11 months ago so I think its just cosmetic,speed,DVD writer and case really Rick,

[Rik]

What do you mean by speed, David?

[David]

Just memory really rick speed I thought that was the pen 4 processor did this job. really I think it fast enough so I will stick with simple as she is only 9 and I just want it upgraded for her .

[Rik]

How much memory do you have at present?

[David]

I think its 512 or  500 odd and there is another slot for another card,this is the same pc as we spoke about with Midtown Madness thread Rik.so I think I can double that have not looked for the number part yet

[Sebby]

What you've got to watch out for is that you don't start spending as much as a new budget PC would cost.

You could quite easily put some extra RAM in; another 512MB should be fine for XP.

Is there a license sticker on the side of the case? If not, there are programs to get the license key from your current installation, then you can borrow an XP disc off of someone - that is perfectly legal. The issue might be that it was an OEM version of XP, so if someone lends you a retail version, it won't accept the key. This may also help.

[David]

yes thats near enough and hence the question in reality I could get her a budget one for 250 so thats what I am trying to gauge.
Yes there is a license sticker on there Rik with a number which I have in the past entered on Microsoft's website to get a download or something (could be a player) but that went through ok.
The other alternative if this would prove too costly would be to keep the spares like the fan etc 

[Rik]

My own view would be it's not worth changing the case. I'd add some RAM, put a black DVD drive in and, if the case and PSU will support it, an extra HD.

[David]

Thanks Rik..for once you dint go mad with my bank card.....hmm

[Rik]

I'm saving that for the spec on the new machine.

[LesD]

Since it is XP we are talking about, so that we know where you are starting from, go to:
Start
Help and Support
Use Tools to view.......
My Computer Information
View general system information about this computer

This will show you the:
Machine Specification
Processor information - including the speed
The Operation System - the version of XP that you are running
General Computer Info - including your IP Address so don't paste it here
Memory Capacity
Hard Disk Capacity

There is a way to find the details of you optical drives but I will have to look this up when I get home.
Aging memory cells and all that! 


Ah no, I know go back to: 
My Computer Information ....... then go to:
Find information about the hardware installed on this computer

Towards the bottom you should see the optical drive data (CD/DVD ROM/Burner)

(That was almost an edit) 

[David]

Thanks Les will post info soon 

[David]

The only info I have managed Les is

Pent 4cpu
280 GhZ
512 RAM

[Rik]

Double or quadruple the RAM, David, and that machine will go a lot faster.

[LesD]

280 GhZ

David you have the fastest P4 I have ever come across!   

I think you mean 2.8 GHz and that's still no mean beast. 

If you found the info you quote from where I sent you at View general information the Hard Disk Drive capacity is there too towards the bottom so you may have to scroll down to see it.

[Rik]

David you have the fastest P4 I have ever come across!   

You should see the refrigeration unit!

[Inactive]

David if you have CC Cleaner Installed, that will tell you the info that you are seeking at the top left of the page.

I have a Pentium 4, I doubled my memory to 2GB, as in 4 x 512 's, it flies now, you would probably be better off using 2 x 1GB modules.

[LesD]

You should see the refrigeration unit!

What do you reckon Freon or water cooled with radiators.   

I agree with Rik on the memory front. How much to go for would depend on the memory slots you have available from my point of view because I would definitely be reusing the 512 MB module myself. 

I run XP Pro with 2 GB of RAM with a 3.2 GHz Hyperthreading Intel P4 and not being a Gamer it rarely gets out of first gear!    My other machine has 1 GB of RAM with a 2.4 GHz P4 and it runs sweet as a bird.
Take a look in your motherboard manual at what RAM you can install and in particular what type you need.
If you don't have a manual you can probably download one from the mobo manufacturer's website. 

[Rik]

What do you reckon Freon or water cooled with radiators.   

Water-cooled with rads around the house. It's hell in summer.

[Glenn]

As previously posted by Noreen, SIW, http://www.majorgeeks.com/SIW_System_Info_d4387.html with get all the system details including any passwords and keys on the PC

[Sebby]

Take a look in your motherboard manual at what RAM you can install and in particular what type you need.
If you don't have a manual you can probably download one from the mobo manufacturer's website. 

I always find the Crucial system scanner useful if the manual isn't easily accessible.

[Simon]

Whatever you decide to do, David, it's relatively easy, as long as you make sure you get the right components.  If I can do it, a blind monkey with half a brain could! 

[David]

Maximum Memory Capacity:  2048MB
Currently Installed Memory:  512MB
Available Memory Slots:  0
Number of Banks:  2
Dual Channel Support:   Yes
CPU Manufacturer:  GenuineIntel
CPU Family:   Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz Model 2, Stepping 9
CPU Speed:  2799 MHz

This is the info so far