OT: motherboard question, non-audio

[Bill Park]

I'm not usually looking for a bang for the buck answer. But the Rock and Roll Girlfriend is running ME on a 1.1 gig HP that will only handle 512 of RAM.

Now, the 1.1 gig speed would be fine, but I want to upgrade her rig to XP for a number of practical reasons.

I'm looking for the most cost and work effective upgrade. She really doesn't do much but word processing and internet, so speed is not an issue. I'd like to find a board that I can just drop in with a minimum of agravation. The current board in her HP is listed in er paperwork as an Asus.

Any suggestions on a board an memory compliment that would suit my needs?

Thanks,

Bill

[Microstudio]

You can just switch to XP using the hardware she has, it will work fine for what she uses it for.

I put XP on my mothers PC 555 AMD/ 300ish pc100 ram and it works great.

Just run the interface in classic mode.

[Mark Stebbeds]

Now, the 1.1 gig speed would be fine, but I want to upgrade her rig to XP for a number of practical reasons.

I'm looking for the most cost and work effective upgrade. She really doesn't do much but word processing and internet, so speed is not an issue. I'd like to find a board that I can just drop in with a minimum of agravation. The current board in her HP is listed in er paperwork as an Asus.

Any suggestions on a board an memory compliment that would suit my needs?



I don't see the point of a new motherboard just for more RAM, if you are only using it for internet and word processing. Is this an MS Office issue?

I'm running doggier computers just fine for wp, business accounting and internet. (but they are still W2K because I'm too lazy and cheap to upgrade) I'll buy a new computer before spend money on the dog.

My $.02

Mark

[Bill Park]

That is good to hear. I'll just upgrade her ram to the maximum, and go from there.


Thanks, guys.

Bill

[Cary B. Cornett]

You have to be careful about upgrading a mobo on a "brand name" computer. Some of them do "proprietary" stuff with their hardware, probably with, at least in part, the purpose of preventing "piecemeal" upgrades. I have seen stuff like this with both HP and Dell.

I understand Win ME is a dog of the worst kind, but are you sure you can't just install W2k or something? For the rest of it, I seriously doubt that, with any rational computer use habits, more than 512 meg of ram should be needed outside of serious MT audio or video production.

[Microstudio]

You have to be careful about upgrading a mobo on a "brand name" computer. Some of them do "proprietary" stuff with their hardware, probably with, at least in part, the purpose of preventing "piecemeal" upgrades. I have seen stuff like this with both HP and Dell.

I understand Win ME is a dog of the worst kind, but are you sure you can't just install W2k or something? For the rest of it, I seriously doubt that, with any rational computer use habits, more than 512 meg of ram should be needed outside of serious MT audio or video production.


My mothers PC is a Gateway and it had ME on it. XP had all the drivers already, formated and installed.....Oo I did add another HD...now she has just under 10 GB's of space....2-4.9 GB HD's.

Check out the manufactors website and see if you need different drivers and if you do download them...no big deal.

[Bill Park]

You have to be careful about upgrading a mobo on a "brand name" computer. Some of them do "proprietary" stuff with their hardware, ....

I understand and agree. I've worked around these issues many times, and i am confident that I can handle it this time, too. I was surprised that, from the paperwork, this appears to be an Asus MB. If that is the case, even on a proprietary BIOS or something, I should be able to get support. In fact, right now that is an issue for me... I haven't yet found the entry key combo to the BIOS. (sigh...) I'm going to hget the box over here, where I will have time to play.

Bill

[Bruce Callaway]

You have to be careful about upgrading a mobo on a "brand name" computer. Some of them do "proprietary" stuff with their hardware, probably with, at least in part, the purpose of preventing "piecemeal" upgrades. I have seen stuff like this with both HP and Dell.HP are famous for using propriety versions and drivers that wont work unless you do it their way. I have been caught by this on a new PC I setup only 18 months ago.

[Jay Q]

In fact, right now that is an issue for me... I haven't yet found the entry key combo to the BIOS.I recently upgraded my wife's HP from ME (undoubtedly the worst OS of all time) to Win2k. To enter the BIOS, I had to hit F1. I think you have to hit and hold F1 or maybe hit it repeatedly... anyway, you get the idea.

Jay

P.S. FWIW, my wife's needs are just like your wife's, but the machine is only a 700MHz with 384MB RAM, and it does absolutely fine -- much faster than ME was. Of course, I got rid of all the bells and whistles, and there're even more of those on XP, as I'm sure you know, so get rid of the useless fluff, and your wife should be speeding along quite happily.

[Brent Bennett]

I haven't yet found the entry key combo to the BIOS. (sigh...)

ALR F2
ALR CTRL+ALT+ESC
AMD F1
AMI DEL
AWARD CTRL+ALT+ESC
Award DEL
DTK ESC
Phoenix CTRL+ALT+ESC
Phoenix CTRL+ALT+S
Phoenix CTRL+ALT+INS


Hewlett-Packard F1, F2 (Laptop, ESC)

[Brent Bennett]

Also, some new motherboard designs have a jumper that disables access to the BIOS. This is more than likely NOT your problem.

[Bill Park]

THanks for the tips, guys. I'm sure that the answer is contained within these posts, and it is great to hear that I won't need to replace the motherboard.

Bill

[Pedro Itriago]

You are all really mean people, why do you bas ME so much? I still use that thing (I'm writing with it right now).

Actually, I still have it just to be able to run all the old stuff, including legacy hardware like (see another recent thread) my wavecenter isa. Yes I know, I should've sold that thing long ago but, what is a boy to do?

[Brent Bennett]

You are all really mean people, why do you bas ME so much? I still use that thing (I'm writing with it right now).


I go to Microsoft "software release" seminars due to my previous career (they still think I am working in that field). The corporate execs of Microsoft have openly stated - and I quote: "Windows ME release was the worst mistake we have made. That OS should never have been released."

I pass no judgement on them or the software ... only what I've been told. :rolleyes:

P.S. Pedro, I know you were only joking. Good luck with ME though.

Cheers

[johndale]

I never had any real issues with me. I ran Sonar 2 on it. I always wondered why the bad word on it. I really had no issues................