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.


Comments (Page 33)
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on Feb 13, 2013

The product key didn't work. I had to call it in. Was there another one that you could PM me that went with this disk?

DoorTech: Yeah, PCI.

I have noticed that hard drive light blinks every other second when using Windows 7. This happened on my last build with Windows 7 some years ago. Is it normal? Will accessing the drive that much wear out the drive?

on Feb 13, 2013

kona0197
Is it normal? Will accessing the drive that much wear out the drive?

Yes.    No.

 

on Feb 13, 2013

kona0197
Was there another one that you could PM me that went with this disk?

Unfortunately no.....that was the only one...sorry. It had been installed twice already so that might be the case. I think MS only allows two installs before you have to get a new key.

on Feb 13, 2013

RedneckDude
Quoting kona0197, reply 210Well hopefully I will not have to call. Do they not have a way to do that over the internet? I don't like to call anyone usually. For some reason phones have always scared me.

You'll have to go to a site that will show you a list of numbers. You'll make a call that will have an automated voice asking for those numbers, then, it will give you numbers in return.

on Feb 13, 2013

I think MS only allows two installs before you have to get a new key.
Not.

on Feb 13, 2013

Well they didn't give me a new key. Just had me put in a bunch of numbers.

on Feb 13, 2013

kona0197
Well they didn't give me a new key. Just had me put in a bunch of numbers.

And if you did it correctly, they should have given you back a bunch of numbers, not a key.

 

Numbers that you would then enter into the page you still have open, the one you got the numbers from, (the ones you gave them).

 

Once that is done, it would activate your install.

 

on Feb 13, 2013

Assuming that the key isn't being used on any other machine.

on Feb 13, 2013

Yeah, that is what happened. All is well, Windows is activated.

On a side note I am thinking about disconnecting some of the case fans. Damn thing is noisy, and in the same room where we watch TV. Sometimes the machine makes it hard to hear the TV.

Machine took a full 5 minutes to wake from sleep this morning. The Pentium 4 only took a few seconds on XP. So I turned off hybrid sleep. Hope that was the right move.

I'm now tuning the EQ settings for music and reinstalling the rest of my programs.

on Feb 13, 2013

kona0197
I am thinking about disconnecting some of the case fans.

Well, don't come crying when it starts frying. Real computers need cooling and it isn't even summer yet.

on Feb 13, 2013

Well up here in Oregon in the Summer it rarely even gets into the 90s. Would not just the CPU fan and PSU fan suffice?

on Feb 13, 2013

That's what I called a new product key. It gets Windows up and running.

on Feb 13, 2013

kona0197
Well up here in Oregon in the Summer it rarely even gets into the 90s. Would not just the CPU fan and PSU fan suffice?

No. Case ventilation is a must.

 

Why is it so loud? Are cables in the way of the fans?

 

They shouldn't be overpowering the TV even at 100%.

on Feb 13, 2013

I have two huge blue fans in my case (one at front, one at rear), a third on the PSU, 4th on the CPU, a 5th and 6th on my dual GFX cards. Not loud at all. Do you have them pushing the air in the correct direction?

If you have one in front, and one in back, the front pulls air in, the back one out. Possibly, if you have them opposing each other they might get loud, dunno.

on Feb 13, 2013

RedneckDude
If you have one in front, and one in back, the front pulls air in, the back one out. Possibly, if you have them opposing each other they might get loud, dunno.

That is exactly how I have it set up. After looking around a bit it looks like the CPU and PSU fans are the two loudest. After I reboot I will make sure that AMD Cool And Quiet is turned on. That might help a bit. Not sure what to do about the PSU fan. It has a 120mm fan that pulls air in from the bottom, right about the top of the mobo.

Here are some pics:

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