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#61
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I'll go back and review the Thunderbird
instructions and configure it. As you say it can be used as a backup when Google isn't working. So there's no immediate rush on it. It seems my best alternative short of buying a newer computer is to buy another 8200 on eBay and swamp all the new parts HD, power supply, 2.0 card, video card, Ethernet card,and DVD player. What do you think? Also, 'if' I were to buy a new computer what would you suggest?? Another Dell or a used Mac or ? I can still use the 15 inch flat monitor so all I need is the computer itself and cost is a factor. This is a intended as back up for the 8500 should it develop problems (like the 8200) so that I can still communicate Robert |
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#62
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
I'll go back and review the Thunderbird instructions and configure it. As you say it can be used as a backup when Google isn't working. So there's no immediate rush on it. It seems my best alternative short of buying a newer computer is to buy another 8200 on eBay and swamp all the new parts HD, power supply, 2.0 card, video card, Ethernet card,and DVD player. What do you think? Also, 'if' I were to buy a new computer what would you suggest?? Another Dell or a used Mac or ? I can still use the 15 inch flat monitor so all I need is the computer itself and cost is a factor. This is a intended as back up for the 8500 should it develop problems (like the 8200) so that I can still communicate Robert Dell Dimension 8250 8200 Memory 2GB (4x 512MB) PC800 40ns 400/533 RDRAM Samsung $44.09 Motherboards - $20 to $40 range Complete machine - $170 + shipping on 32 pounds - if I spotted this in a yard sale, I'd offer $100 tops, or even less, because the machine has a single core p4, and it's not a jet liner. The advantage of a whole 8200 machine, is slightly less stuff to move around. But for a fair chunk of change extra. And with all Ebay stuff, you don't really know what shape it's in. A 32 pound item, if sent by United Parcel Service, could receive a rough ride. Motherboards are fairly safe, if shipped as just an empty motherboard. If you leave a couple pounds of passive heatsink bolted to it, it might be harder for the seller to properly secure it before shipping. For a motherboard alone, you expect it to be put in a standard "foot square" antistatic bag, and then they can use any abusive packing material they want (regular Styrofoam peanuts with lots of static charge on it). The large heatsink on the 8200 motherboard Northbridge, will also make it harder to pack (not flat). The RAM should similarly be properly packaged. It should at least have some sort of static protection. Even if it is a disk drive bag, with the DIMMs kinda rolled up in the material. ******* So what could you do in place of that ? A more modern machine with a Core2 and WinXP used. That's bound to cost a bit more though. There could be some off-lease machines kicking around. The only danger with some of this stuff, is the seller loading a pirated VLK version of WinXP, because when the seller got the machine, the original hard drive had been removed by the company that had owned it. This one has a buy-it-now price of $160. http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Compaq-60...#ht_3061wt_962 A quick Google, when I include that model number and "leaking caps", I don't get any hits. The specs of the machine cover a wide range. And the one I picked at random from Ebay, uses an E8400, the same CPU I'm typing this on (dual core, 3GHz). The graphics slot is likely to be PCI Express. but the Q43 Northbridge would also have chipset graphics, good enough for non-game usage. http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/p...r_na-c01865794 The disadvantage of SFF, is if you wanted to fit a graphics card, the chassis will only accept low profile or even low-profile-short video cards, which don't exactly grow on trees. Video card makers tend to charge more for low-profile, at least for older bus standards, and a low-profile-short, due to obscurity, might be very expensive. The chassis is not a "plaything" that I would like. I like a full sized case, with some room to work. I don't want to be forced to use a laptop optical drive ("slim") for example. The smaller the computer case gets, the closer to a laptop it becomes in terms of maintenance. But in terms of a purchase experience, that one for $160 might be a bit lighter to ship. When you received it, you would take the side off first, do a visual inspection in case any cards have come out of their slots. Make sure the RAM is pressed down, the fans turn freely with a push from your finger. And so on. Also, check the 120/240 red slider switch on the power supply, and make sure somebody hasn't moved it to the wrong position. Paul |
#63
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
So your suggestion would be to loose the
8200 in favor of the HP. The only issue I see is that it's in Canada and I've had shipping problems with Canada before. It takes an awfully long time for the item to arrive. However, I see your point. So it seems the 8200 is gone... I would have to re-arrange things and there's not allot of horizontal space so I would have to put the APC surge protector on top of it. Would that matter? Either that or on the floor in front of my feet. Also, this unfortunately has to wait for awhile since I need to divert funds for something else that just came up...... In the meantime I'll play with Thunderbird and get back to you asap on this. Thanks, Robert |
#64
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
hey, guess what? I'm typing this on the 8200 !@!@!
After my post I decided to try once more and so I booted into Safe Mode with Networking and it worked! Once there I did a System Restore which worked. So the 8200 is back up!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thoughts/Suggestions? Robert |
#65
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
hey, guess what? I'm typing this on the 8200 !@!@! After my post I decided to try once more and so I booted into Safe Mode with Networking and it worked! Once there I did a System Restore which worked. So the 8200 is back up!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thoughts/Suggestions? Robert You're in a better position to judge what happened than I am. I can't even guess. Don't forget to do your scans and keep the AV/adware tools up to date. Paul |
#66
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I have no idea what happened,.. I've given
all the info I had. The screen went black and I could not get it to respond so I had powered it off and until today it didn't boot normally and nothing we tried worked including mrimg, and the Linux CD and then today everything worked. That's all I know. The very first thing one I was up and running was update all the A/V tools. So my 8200 is still in the game.... Now that it is,.. is there some component or software you would like me to check so I don't have this boot issue or screen going black again? Robert |
#67
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
I have no idea what happened,.. I've given all the info I had. The screen went black and I could not get it to respond so I had powered it off and until today it didn't boot normally and nothing we tried worked including mrimg, and the Linux CD and then today everything worked. That's all I know. The very first thing one I was up and running was update all the A/V tools. So my 8200 is still in the game.... Now that it is,.. is there some component or software you would like me to check so I don't have this boot issue or screen going black again? Robert I think by now, you must have a pretty good idea how limited software is on computers. Lots of stuff requires observation, intuition and guessing. We know there's something "intermittent" on the 8200, but I can't guess what that is. I can only think of a few examples of really good, low level hardware testing. My Sun computer had a diagnostic routine, that tested things for you, instead of running the OS. And it could actually find stuff. The Windows and Mac programs that claim to do hardware testing, have been pretty feeble by comparison. A waste of money. Paul |
#68
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Well, the problem with the 8200 just
came out of nowhere. Up to that point it had behaved fine. I normally just power it up and do the updates and that's all except for those few times when the 8500 was having problems and then I used the 8200 for what it was intended. Honestly this screen blacking out and not coming back was the first time its happened and everything else that followed. I know powering off may not of been the best thing to do then but I saw no other option. Why it started behaving erratically I don't know? Remember that problem I had and when I cleaned the front of the old floppy drive it did 'something' and the problem went away because I apparently nudged something back into place? All I can come up is that it was some sort of glitch because now it acts like nothings happened. Thank goodness for Safe Mode and System Restore. Robert |
#69
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
p.s. by updates I meant updating the
A/V programs and then run scans. Robert |
#70
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I'll monitor the 8200 for awhile
but if nothing happens would you advise buying the DIMMS you found on Amazon or any other upgrades or just leave it as is? Thanks, Robert |
#71
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
On 05/03/2016 23:37, Mark Twain wrote:
I'll monitor the 8200 for awhile but if nothing happens would you advise buying the DIMMS you found on Amazon or any other upgrades or just leave it as is? Thanks, Robert Frankly, you have been having so many problems with your Windows XP machine that you would be better off buying a completely new machine pre-loaded with Windows 10. Windows XP newsgroup is almost dead and it is only you posting problems here. People have moved on to bigger and better things like using Windows 10. -- 1. /*This post contains rich text (HTML). if you don't like it then you can kill-filter the poster without crying like a small baby.*/ 2. /*This message is best read in Mozilla Thunderbird as it uses 21st century technology.*/ |
#72
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
I'll monitor the 8200 for awhile but if nothing happens would you advise buying the DIMMS you found on Amazon or any other upgrades or just leave it as is? Thanks, Robert I'd probably want a matched pair of PC800-40 to use as a "swap" for the pair you're using right now. Just in case you need to do some testing some day. I consider 1GB to be good for a general purpose WinXP machine. More RAM comes in handy if you're a gamer. WinXP with only 512MB, is a bit on the tight side (can only run about three big apps). Right now, I have (4) DDR3, (2) DDR2, (1) DDR400, (2) good PC133 as examples of my spares. I also own FPM and EDO RAM, but don't recollect the exact inventory. Usually on those, the leftovers might be sets of eight. FPM is "Fast Page Mode" and EDO is "Extended Data Out". Back in those days, and before that, DRAM was horrible stuff. Couldn't take any undershoot on the address bus, and using series resistors to make decent looking signals (so-called "dampered RAM"). I've never owned a RAMBUS machine like your 8200. That's one flavor of RAM I missed entirely. Paul |
#73
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Frankly, I don't like Windows 10
and there are plenty of others who agree with me. The problems I've had on the 8200 are recent and that computer has lasted 16 years. Not a bad record. Robert |
#74
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
I'm not a gamer but doesn't more RAM
increase the speed of whatever application I happen to be working on? That why I always thought my 8500 was so fast? If I'm understanding you correctly your saying that even with the 8200 up and running I'm still better off buying another computer for my backup because of it's limitations. I certainly don't want to use Windows 10 OS as suggested and if I buy a HP won't I be buying basically the same thing as the 8200? Maybe I should consider used Macs? Robert |
#75
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Dell 8200 HD problems:
Mark Twain wrote:
I'm not a gamer but doesn't more RAM increase the speed of whatever application I happen to be working on? That why I always thought my 8500 was so fast? If I'm understanding you correctly your saying that even with the 8200 up and running I'm still better off buying another computer for my backup because of it's limitations. I certainly don't want to use Windows 10 OS as suggested and if I buy a HP won't I be buying basically the same thing as the 8200? Maybe I should consider used Macs? Robert The example machine I picked out for you the other day, had WinXP on it. Being a used machine, anything is possible. Newer machine could have win7/win8/win10. And the Win7 ones would be fast running out (at least for new machines). If you do a search on "new computer with windows 7 professional" you'll get many hits for refurbished machines. These would be computers from businesses, where their three year lease is up, and the machines are being put out to pasture. ******* RAM helps, up to a point. If you only had 256MB of RAM on the 8200, then the slowdown experienced would improve when you got to 512MB. But for WinXP OS, once you install 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, there really isn't a speed difference. Just a different in the max size of program you could attempt to use. For example, if you used Photoshop every day, you'd want to put all the RAM you could in the machine (to prevent Photoshop from using its scratch disk as a RAM extension). The fact the 8200 CPU has one core, and it has a relatively low clock rate, makes it a loser compared to the CPU you've got in the 8500. It's a lot like the single core CPU in my laptop - slow. Paul |
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