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chas045

Help reinstalling windows.or other approach?

chas045
12 years ago

I have an old Dell inspiron8200,Pent4 win xp sp3, 1024memory-maxed out,40gb hdd. that I am hoping to boost up a little without much expense. I had bought an even older used inspiron from my tech guy who had loaded MS office. I traded up with him a couple months ago because the old one didn't have a dvd rw drive and the 8200 would have some more oomph.

I have been using the laptop to do internet stuff and some office programs, but I had an interest in editing old audio and perhaps video (lp's, 78's tapes, vhs) to get them on cd/dvd. The laptop mobility is needed to at least acquire the source material. I have a new copy of Roxio Creator2011 and unfortunately I have found that either due to glitches in my system or because it is just too small, that Creator won't load (all office programs run fine). It does install. It also loads(runs) on my other old dell dimension desktop with similar specs but 1.5mb ram and 60gb drive.

I've already spent more than I should, having the tech guy do stuff, so I am hoping that with your help, I can be pointed in the right direction toward improving my situation.

The Roxio people suggest that I may have a conflict and should reload windows. I guess that could be true (or Creator could be a big piece of bloated garbage). I don't have any Dell disks for windows recovery and don't understand how to use them, but I do see that Dell will sell and send out recovery disks or perhaps I could buy them on ebay/craigs list etc. I also see driver reinstall disks exist (roxio keeps insisting that my drivers are old but I have apparently loaded the newest ones that Dell provides but they don't show up on dxdiag).

I think I should upgrade my hard drive to 80gb (or more, although I hear that I might need an upgraded BIOS to see those bigger drives) if I can find a used one cheap. Presumably, that would put me in the position of reinstalling windows and drivers also. I do have an old laC drive and Acronis True Image PC Backup & Recovery that I have been using (poorly) for backup on my desktop. I suppose I could use it to hold my laptop files (however that's done?) while I switch drives. I think it has ghosting ability (that I don't understand) as well.

I gather that I could use the windows tag number on the back of the laptop, to authorize the recovery disk. However, I see that the tag is for win xp Home edition and my tech guy loaded win xp pro and I see that it is a different number shown on Speccy serial number. I guess he has a licence or cleverness, because microsoft recognises my system as a legal windows system. While I probably don't care all that much, would I lose xp Pro if I used the old number, or can I use the new number (I suppose I can?). I suppose in either case I would lose the service packs and have to get them from the internet??

OK: and after having you read all that, tonight I noticed that someone nearby has an inspiron 9600 with 60gb drive, but without a power source for $50 bucks. I don't know if the units take the same power supply and I don't know if it has any memory (but it could have 2meg) etc so it might be a big waste of money, but I thought I would mention it and check it out.

Any general or specific thoughts would be appreciated. I need to know if I am heading in the right direction, and perhaps you could point to specific links that would get me on my way.

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