New PC - Mac or Other?

Malc - no need to apologise! - I fully expected someone to say this - it was just something I had heard or read somewhere at the time and didn't want to take any risk. I'm really glad that this misconception has been scotched - at least for the benefit of others - I have XP, as I said, and will stick with it until I have to fork out for W7.

Angela - no need for you to be sorry either! I'm really glad to have the confirmation that GMax is OK in W7, with support for XP ending soon and the (possible) need for me to learn something new again! Rather W7 than Blender, I think. (Now I'll wait for the comments about Blender - but I've heard them all before, especially from someone I have known very well for many, many years ...)

Ray

Hi Ray,
I am having serious problems with this PC, a nightmare this morning. I tried that Malwarebytes as I already had it on the PC, updated it and then ran it. Everything was incredibly slow, I went and made a cuppa while it was starting then when I began a scan it ran for 15 seconds and locked up, not only that but the whole PC, had to use the Tower Case button to shut it down. Did that 4 times so I gave up on it....
Then the bloody PC refused to go online, claimed some vital file was missing in Windows... After a fight I got it back working again but I had to do my emails on my laptop...
I think it's time for a disc wipe and reinstall. Spent half of last night and into the early hours this morning transferring everything over to E:/ drive which is a completely seperate drive, not a partition. Got back into Explore as well earlier and checked all files needed were off or copied from C:/ so about ready now. God only knows if it will work when all is done... probably not is my guess.

Don't hold your collective breathes....

Angela
 
Good day, Angela,

This doesn't sound good.

This could be more than just fiddly software. I'm glad you've backed up your data. Reinstalling may help, but my not-so-nice warm and fuzzy feelings are telling me it's a failing or bad hard drive or memory.

Good luck,

John
 
Good day, Angela,

This doesn't sound good.

This could be more than just fiddly software. I'm glad you've backed up your data. Reinstalling may help, but my not-so-nice warm and fuzzy feelings are telling me it's a failing or bad hard drive or memory.

Good luck,

John

Well the PC is 5 years old so that could be it... Luckily I have a laptop to work with but I am not keen on those, too small and fiddly for me and it has Win 7 on it.... Eeeeek! Still, I have used it in the past for making Gmax models on and TC3 runs on it as well as 2004, 2006 and 2010.

Don't happen to know where OE stores all my mail data do you? I found OE in Program Files but that folder doesn't seem to have and mail stuff in it. I have a mile of it I need to keep...

Angela
 
Well the PC is 5 years old so that could be it... Luckily I have a laptop to work with but I am not keen on those, too small and fiddly for me and it has Win 7 on it.... Eeeeek! Still, I have used it in the past for making Gmax models on and TC3 runs on it as well as 2004, 2006 and 2010.

Don't happen to know where OE stores all my mail data do you? I found OE in Program Files but that folder doesn't seem to have and mail stuff in it. I have a mile of it I need to keep...

Angela

Outlook express?

http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/oetips.htm

Cheerio John
 
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270670

Try that and see how you get on. It's possible to back it up to a USB stick as well.

Thanks John

Thanks again John, you can tell what an idiot I am at this...

Another thing ocurred to me, if it is the C:/ drive going down and that is a possibility, I need a new one, so shouldn't I try to match that to a 5 years old system? I am assuming I cannot just go an get the first one I spot... haha...

Angela
 
Honestly, if money is not a problem, get yourself a nice power mac, make sure it has "boot camp", and dual boot that thing with MAC OS and Windows 7. That would really give you the best of both worlds. Use MAC OS for all your email and web browsing, anything you do not need Windows for. Should work really well.

Paul
 
Honestly, if money is not a problem, get yourself a nice power mac, make sure it has "boot camp", and dual boot that thing with MAC OS and Windows 7. That would really give you the best of both worlds. Use MAC OS for all your email and web browsing, anything you do not need Windows for. Should work really well.

Paul

If you read the thread you'll see money is an issue.

Cheerio John
 
Thanks again John, you can tell what an idiot I am at this...

Another thing ocurred to me, if it is the C:/ drive going down and that is a possibility, I need a new one, so shouldn't I try to match that to a 5 years old system? I am assuming I cannot just go an get the first one I spot... haha...

Angela

Make a folder on your big drive then just copy everything in sight on the c: drive into the folder, I seem to recall you have enough space to do that. Switching a drive isn't impossible but you need to know what the interface is and then you'll have to reinstall the operating system, if its going to the gun club I'd let them worry about it.

Locally I use an external usb drive and win 7 backup to back up my drives. It's nice it will even reformat and reinstall the operating system together with all the other files on c:.

Look at SSD drives, they are more reliable than hard drives and not that much more expensive these days.

Cheerio John
 
Hi all,
Writing this from my laptop.... which I dislike as things are a bit small for me.

Latest development is that my Desktop refused to shut down, only a button push will do that so it looks as if the drive is failing.

John, There are things on my C;/ that need removing and the Registry is most likely shot as well so a reinstall would be the best way to go. I am wondering if all my old emails on my server are storedd elsewhere, like with my server and not on my PC. That seems to be the case with Yahoo because when I open that everything appears on this laptoip the same as on the Desktop..... So logging onto my server might mean all is still intact.
Then the probelm of resetting up the connection to my server raises its ugly head, did that goodness knows how many years ago so cannot remember the process. I don't think it was a disc, but still can't bring it to mind how the link arrived on my PC.
Oh well, first a new drive...

Angela
 
Is there outlook Expess in W7? I can't find it - but I did find the searech facility top right, or at least I think that was it. That never found it either...!
My server mail is set up in OE. I tried their Webmail (fireflyuk) but that can't be what I am looking for as it was empty. All I need is email...

Anybody?

Angela
 
Angela,

the email client for Win7 is LiveMail, part of Windows Essentials, which you can DL from:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-live/essentials

Outlook Express seems to have been replaced, although I gather that Outlook has made a reappearance in Win8. Can't confirm that, as I have no intention of getting Win8. Seems to me that every alternate Windows OS is good, with the in-betweenies being experimental betas for the next one. XP and 7 good, Vista and 8 not so good.

Anyway, Windows Essentials is free, so try it and see if it suits. I use it, along with Security Essentials and am well satisfied.

Best of luck, and thanks for all your lovely assets.

Regards,

Ken
 
With the updates XP prefers more memory than it used to get by with if you have less than 4 gigs I'd add memory to take it up to 4 gigs.

John

I have a 4GB RAM installed in my WIN XP, but, it only uses 3.25GB maximum as my XP is 32 bit, even if Angela fits a 4GB RAM stick into her PC she only be able to utilise 3.25GB out of it anyway, just a thought.......

I've only just read your thread and being an avid XP user for 10 years now and pooh poohed all the modern Windows OS ever since, as Microsoft will no longer technically support WIN XP after April 2014, I'll have to purchase a new computer next year anyway, so, I'll have to say goodbye to XP and probably go with WIN 7 64 bit.

As well as all the other advise thrown at you Angela, I have used PC Specialist before, available on-line, they're up in Lancashire, as well as being able to choose what various items you want them to put in any PC / Laptop you choose, they also deliver to your front door, for a small charge, saves having to go out in all this wet weather we seem to be having lately, just another thought.......:)

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
 
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Found a drive.... How about this one :-
SataIII LN50172 500GB Seagate 8GB 2.5" SSHD slim 7mm Sata 6Gb 5400rpm 64Mb Cache for £58.18 inc VAT

There are some high flying ones about but as this PC is going to be given away to my friend and all it will be used for is filing it should do the trick.
Will to cables be the same?

Angela
 
With the updates XP prefers more memory than it used to get by with if you have less than 4 gigs I'd add memory to take it up to 4 gigs.

John

I have a 4GB RAM installed in my WIN XP, but, it only uses 3.25GB maximum as my XP is 32 bit, even if Angela fits a 4GB RAM stick into her PC she only be able to utilise 3.25GB out of it anyway, just a thought.......

I've only just read your thread and being an avid XP user for 10 years now and pooh poohed all the modern Windows OS ever since, as Microsoft will no longer technically support WIN XP after April 2014, I'll have to purchase a new computer next year anyway, so, I'll have to say goodbye to XP and probably go with WIN 7 64 bit.

As well as all the other advise thrown at you Angela, I have used PC Specialist before, available on-line, they're up in Lancashire, as well as being able to choose what various items you want them to put in any PC / Laptop you choose, they also deliver to your front door, for a small charge, saves having to go out in all this wet weather we seem to be having lately, just another thought.......:)

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

I've seen XP running on a machine with 512 mb of memory, when SP3 arrived it didn't run at all well until we upped the memory. These days most machines have dual channel memory which means in terms of memory sticks two 2 gig sticks makes most sense.

I'll quote newegg.com prices 256 mb $26, 512 mb $40, 1 gig $22, 2 gig $35 you need two of them, there is actually some 2 gig memory sticks for under $20 floating around so 4 gigs makes reasonable sense, you can't buy two 1.6 gig sticks. Some motherboards will allow 3.5 gigs by the way, some will allow less.

Trainz can use 2 gigs max, the operating system likes 512 mb so your choice is either 2 gigs or 4 gigs, on 2 gigs you restrict the amount of memory that Trainz can access and at 4 gigs the operating system will use extra memory to buffer the hard drive.

If its being passed on it doesn't matter too much but memory is fairly cheap these days but may not be in the UK. There is also a risk tha the machine might die when you open it up to put in more memory. It's only happened once to me on a fairly expensive server that someone thought they'd be kind to me and add in memory for me without talking to me first.

Using a small specialist might be 5 cents more than ebuyer and generally speaking a larger volume machine will be better thought out per $ than a one off build.

Cheerio John
 
Found a drive.... How about this one :-
SataIII LN50172 500GB Seagate 8GB 2.5" SSHD slim 7mm Sata 6Gb 5400rpm 64Mb Cache for £58.18 inc VAT

There are some high flying ones about but as this PC is going to be given away to my friend and all it will be used for is filing it should do the trick.
Will to cables be the same?

Angela

I prefer Hitachi or Toshiba, ebuyer has them for around 40 quid for 500 mb, Seagate have reduced their warranty to two years recently, as have Western Digital. Traditionally Hitachi drives were very reliable and Toshiba brought up part of the brand when they were taken over I think by Western Digital.

Does Belarc tell you the current hard drive? You can get the type etc from that just in case its an IDE drive.

Thanks

Cheerio John
 
I prefer Hitachi or Toshiba, ebuyer has them for around 40 quid for 500 mb, Seagate have reduced their warranty to two years recently, as have Western Digital. Traditionally Hitachi drives were very reliable and Toshiba brought up part of the brand when they were taken over I think by Western Digital.

Does Belarc tell you the current hard drive? You can get the type etc from that just in case its an IDE drive.

Thanks

Cheerio John
Yes, I did run Belarc and I remember seeing IDE somewhere on the PC in the systems settings. But I don't think it was in the drives, could have been I suppose but I am nervous about starting the PC yet again due to shutdown problems, it won't...!!
This is the Belarc detailas.
Drives: 600.12 Gb Usable HD Cap Memory Modules 3072 Mb usable.
471.70 Gb HD Free Space Installed memory

HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N (Optical drive) Slot 'XMM1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'XMM2' has 1024 MB
HDS7240KLAT80 [Hard drive] (400.09 Gb) -- drive 0, Slot 'XMM3' has 1024 MB
s/n KRFA2CRAHZGUBD, rev KFAOAC6A, SMART Slot 'XMM4' is empty
Status: Healthy
HDT722520DLA380 [HARD DRIVE] (200.05 GB) -- drive 1,
s/n VDK51GTF04VARL, rev V44OA9BA, SMART
Status : Healthy
Display
Standard Floppy Disck controller ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series [Display Adaptor]
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Standard d]Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (2x)

The above is as it is laid out. I think this covers all drives. It states both drives are healthy but I am having all sorts of problems with the PC locking up when trying to run Malwarebytes (4 times!) and now it refuses to shut down normally, so something is terribly amiss. Both Avg and McAfee came up clean on both full scans so no virus. That must lead to a failing C:/ drive I would have thought. Mind you the Belarc scan was done 2 days ago (I think, time means nothing to me and I lose track of it) and things have got considerably worse since then.

What do you think? As i said before, I am a complete dummy at this.

Angela
 
Found a drive.... How about this one :-
SataIII LN50172 500GB Seagate 8GB 2.5" SSHD slim 7mm Sata 6Gb 5400rpm 64Mb Cache for £58.18 inc VAT

There are some high flying ones about but as this PC is going to be given away to my friend and all it will be used for is filing it should do the trick.
Will to cables be the same?

Angela

That's a laptop 2 1/2 inch drive and will need additional brackets and possibly some sort of cable adapter depending on what laptop it's supposed to fit,
and adds complication. You need a desktop 3 1/2 inch, however looking at you last post probably a reformat and reinstall may be all that's needed.
 
Yes, I did run Belarc and I remember seeing IDE somewhere on the PC in the systems settings. But I don't think it was in the drives, could have been I suppose but I am nervous about starting the PC yet again due to shutdown problems, it won't...!!
This is the Belarc detailas.
Drives: 600.12 Gb Usable HD Cap Memory Modules 3072 Mb usable.
471.70 Gb HD Free Space Installed memory

HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H10N (Optical drive) Slot 'XMM1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'XMM2' has 1024 MB
HDS7240KLAT80 [Hard drive] (400.09 Gb) -- drive 0, Slot 'XMM3' has 1024 MB
s/n KRFA2CRAHZGUBD, rev KFAOAC6A, SMART Slot 'XMM4' is empty
Status: Healthy
HDT722520DLA380 [HARD DRIVE] (200.05 GB) -- drive 1,
s/n VDK51GTF04VARL, rev V44OA9BA, SMART
Status : Healthy
Display
Standard Floppy Disck controller ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series [Display Adaptor]
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
Standard d]Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (2x)

The above is as it is laid out. I think this covers all drives. It states both drives are healthy but I am having all sorts of problems with the PC locking up when trying to run Malwarebytes (4 times!) and now it refuses to shut down normally, so something is terribly amiss. Both Avg and McAfee came up clean on both full scans so no virus. That must lead to a failing C:/ drive I would have thought. Mind you the Belarc scan was done 2 days ago (I think, time means nothing to me and I lose track of it) and things have got considerably worse since then.

What do you think? As i said before, I am a complete dummy at this.

Angela

I'd go with what Belarc says, modern drives will attempt to read the drive up to ten times before giving up. Twice is sort of nothing to worry about. What Belarc does is checks the drive to see if its been trying to read many times since when you try to read a drive six times or more its an indication that the drive is failing. The drive itself records this information. If its mainly once or twice then the drive is fine. I think Win 7 actually checks this and can give a warning the drive is likely to fail but it wasn't part of XP.

What my interpretation of your drive is at the moment is the fridge or freezer has come on just as the machine was writing to the drive, that lowered the voltage just enough to cause one or two 1s or 0s not to get written to the drive. Technically known as a brown out, a good UPS can protect against this. So the drive physically is OK but the files on it are corrupted. Reformat the drive and reinstall the operating system and you should be fine. The other problem with XP is if you turn it off on the case switch then some deferred writes don't happen, again leading to corrupted files.

Cheerio John
 
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