To install or not to install, some suggestions please

[leon]

Good morning and a happy New Year to all.

However i do have a question about re-installing XP on Alice's old lappy.
She has had this Lappy from new and it has served her well, however it was time to move on and she now has a new lappy with Win 10, and all seems to be going well.

This makes me come to to old XP lappy which i might add is slow, full of junk and games and God only knows, so I have decided to run the original disc through it and clean install it so to speak.

Good Idea, or not, or do i get a version of Win 8.1 and install that, so what would be a good way to clean it up and have a reasonably good operating older lappy.

I presume service packs come into play as well.

Thanks in advance.

Leon

[glend (Glen)]

XP support is fading fast, i would go with WIN 8,1 and make sure you turn auto updates OFF.

[Nab (Darren)]

Unless you need something specifically windows - maybe try a Linux option like fedora for example. You will get better performance from the laptop and essentials like Stellarium run well.
Cheers.
Darren.

[leon]

Yes Glen you are correct in saying XP dose not get support anymore and 8.1 may be a better choice.
However this older Lap Top will not be used for anything specific other than doing some photo processing.
I am just wanting to clean it up so it performs a bit better, it wont even be internet user friendly anymore.

I have tried deleting programs with some success, however some wont go anywhere, so i am just looking
for a clean hard drive and a OS that we like and works well without any need for updates.

Darren I have never considered what you suggested but will certainly look into it, Thanks Indeed

Thanks Leon

[Derek Klepp]

Can,t help Leon but when in JB the other day I was told that Windows 7 has no backup anymore perhaps trying to sell the latest and greatest to me.Just make sure you copy all those photos before doing anything.

[leon]

Ah yes Derek, all photos are backed on external drives safe and sound, and i realise there is no support for XP anymore, just want to clean up the machine and start again, so to s[peak, i do have the installation disc and activation numbers.
Just wonder if this is the easiest way to go.

Leon

[speach (Simon)]

Microsoft won't end security updates for your Windows 7 PC until Jan. 14, 2020.

[sil (Steve)]

Properly reformat the drive, ubuntu, winXP and win7 are all good. Just make sure its 32 or 64bit to match the laptop CPU.

[bojan]

XP and old(er) lap are good enough for GoTo and such...
Problems with newer OS is, some older software doesn't work on them.. either because of incompatible drivers or whatever... So it is good idea to have older systems.
I still have w'95 and DOS 6.22 on 2 my older machines.. one of them will be dedicated to telescope control (Bartels system).

[leon]

Thank You again for your suggestions.

Leon

[leon]

Well i went for it and reformatted the old XP laptop, and after some setting up and installing some software it is running at a hundred miles and hour, very pleased and look at all that space i have now .

However there is one issue and that is it will not find our wifi setup, I have tried all sorts of things and looked it up on the net with the desk top but nothing is working.

So here we have a Dell Insporin 1520 Laptop with a fresh install of winXP, everything else works fine but it will not find a wiFi connection.

Any suggestions please

Leon

[bojan]

Try Dell website for device drivers...

[skysurfer]

Use Ubuntu. It runs a lot faster.

Version 16.04 is new and supported.

I installed Xubuntu 16.04 on an old 2009 Sony VAIO pre-installed with Windows Vista.
I retained the Vista partition and used only 30GB for Ubuntu.
Result: the laptop is much faster.

The Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos folders in the home directory can be symlinked to the original Windows partition, thus retaining your data.

The install of Ubuntu has an option 'Boot Ubuntu alongside Windows'.

[leon]

Thanks for your suggestions.
I checked out the Device Manager and found that one particular section called Other Devices had a yellow question mark next to it.
I opened that up and in side this section were a number of yellow marked areas.
These included as listed

Base System Devices
Base System Devices
Base System Devices
Base System Devices
BCM2045
Ethernet Controller
Network Controller
DCI Device
SM Bus Controller
Video Controller

So I presume this is the problem, so how do we get this sorted please.

Leon

[CJ (Chris)]

Hi Leon,
the Dell setup discs that came with the machine would have the drivers that were current when you purchased it. If you don't have the discs the machine might have a Dell Service Tag number on it somewhere. UK machines did from around the XP era. If you have that number, the Dell website should have a record of the drivers for that exact machine, which you should be able to download and install.

[leon]

Thanks Chris as it happens i do have all the discs that come with the machine when new, and i have installed all the software from these discs, including the driver and utilities disc, but that has not helped.
I will install this disc again and see it it will make any difference, thanks for your suggestions.

Leon