difficult install and poor performance

  • Thread starter Thread starter andy
  • Start date Start date
A

andy

I recently tried to upgrade my Windows 98SE to XP PRO and
had great difficulties, after some discussion i was told
it was because i had a TIME PC and was advised to do
complete reformat and install after changing the bios
chip.

got the chip changed and after 5 attempts XPPRO
installed.

unfortunatly some hardware such as scanner cannot be
installed on it have tried finding manu code and updating
drivers but this hads no affect.

unfortunatly performance/speed since reinstall has been
really slow cant open documents from desktop without
opening applications first and can't open some programs
unless login as admin.
am running with 256mb and 5oomhz processor this shouldn't
slow speed or performance down radically should it?

have been told the problem is due to cheap motherboard
used by TIME and that i should upgrade that and processor
to fix the speed/ performance problems?

is this my local computer merchant just trying to get
more business or a possible genuine reason for bad
performance?


any help advise much apppreciated
 
I don't know anything about the TIME brand, but many computers will not work
well with XP, especially those with a slow CPU (for example, 200 MHZ) and
not much ram (64 MB, for example). Microsoft has a program that will test
your computer for XP suitability, and it is included with the XP CD. It can
also be downloaded, but it is more than 50 MB in size, so a dialup
connection would take a VERY long time.
 
andy said:
I recently tried to upgrade my Windows 98SE to XP PRO and
had great difficulties, after some discussion i was told
it was because i had a TIME PC and was advised to do
complete reformat and install after changing the bios
chip.

got the chip changed and after 5 attempts XPPRO
installed.

unfortunatly some hardware such as scanner cannot be
installed on it have tried finding manu code and updating
drivers but this hads no affect.

unfortunatly performance/speed since reinstall has been
really slow cant open documents from desktop without
opening applications first and can't open some programs
unless login as admin.
am running with 256mb and 5oomhz processor this shouldn't
slow speed or performance down radically should it?

have been told the problem is due to cheap motherboard
used by TIME and that i should upgrade that and processor
to fix the speed/ performance problems?

is this my local computer merchant just trying to get
more business or a possible genuine reason for bad
performance?


any help advise much apppreciated
Click to expand...

Your man is correct in saying you need to upgrade but is wrong about
the reason.
Contary to belief there is nothing substandard about the motherboards
Time used. They may have limited expandability in that they used a lot
of on-board integrated components to save costs, bu that does not make
them poor quality. The job they are supposed to do, they do well
I presume your machine has an AMD K-62 500 processor. If so it has one
of two motherboards: an FIC PAG-2130 (uses VIA MVP4 chipset) or a
Microstar MSI5192 (uses an ALi 5 chipset). Neither are optimised for
XP and need tweaking with drivers to get any kind of performance. The
sound on the MSI board wont work properly in XP, while the display and
sound on the VIA board are only suitable for use as a typewriter - not
for gaming.
The truth is, Windows XP running on an 500 K6-2 is really not much
use. You need something at least twice that speed to get anything
approximating to useful performance, while 256MB is really only just
enough to run Windows XP - before you start loading multiple
appliations. As for games, forget it. Both these boards are four years
old in design, have outdated graphics and sound and wont cope.
You have two options: go back to Windows 98/Me and use the system as
an office machine, or trade it in for something modern. Just to rub
the point in, the lowest spec Time now do is a 2.2Ghz system with 64mb
graphics. You have less than quarter the processor clock speed, while
the current graphics will be 8 or 16Mb depending on which board you
have. No-brainer really : get a new machine. Dont bother just
replacing motherboard etc: odds-on bet you'll need a new PSU to cope
with the increased power drain of the new CPU, while you can guarantee
the four-year old hard drive and optical drives will fall over when
you transfer them
The big question is whether you buy from Time again, or someone else.
I know what I'd prefer, but then I'm biased and this is not the
correct place for that discussion!
One final point, whoever sold you the new BIOS chip was ripping you
off. The BIOS was easily upgradeable by downloadable flash files on
both these boards. In some circumstances those boards would need a
flash to run XP. But a new BIOS chip? No chance. You've been had
OldDemdike
 
Back
Top