Ok, so I have my computer with a 1.1g Celeron and 40g hard drive. Timothy has a computer that has (IIRC) and newer/faster processor and a comparable HD but either the video card or motherboard is bad. Jason just brought me a computer which I believe to be almost exactly the same as mine, except it has a cd burner.
Both mine and Jason's have onboard everything; Timothy's doesn't.
What would be the best way to get me and Timothy going with decent computers? I want to keep the stuff that's on my HD and I want the cd burner. Should I just swap HD's in the two working computers? Then Timothy could have my computer but with the HD out of Jason's. Could I take the HD out of Timothy's old computer to double up on storage on mine?
Can I swap HD's like that?
Any advice?
Ok, mine's an HP Pavilion 510w.
Jason's is an HP Pavilian 9680C. It has a dvd-rom and a cd burner
Timothy's is a spare parts machine.
I just pulled the cover off the 9680C and realized that it doesn't have onboard video. However, the power supply is right in the way of all of the pci slots. I can't see how to get any of the cards out without pulling the power supply out.
If I figure that out, would it be safe to pull out the video card and try it in Timothy's computer to determine if that's what's wrong with his?
Windows is going to flip out if you swap hard drives and none of the hardware is the same. And if you are running Windows XP and do that you run the risk of awakening the activation monster. If you do it you're going to have to potentially install drivers for devices and crap like that. That isn't as bad as it sounds as long as you have access to the drivers that you need.
For Timothy's machine you can try the video card swap. It shouldn't hurt anything and you'll know pretty quickly if that's the problem.
So what if I just add the dvdrom and cd burner to my machine and give timothy the video card, assuming that's the problem and it works.
Would that work?
Will there be any use for the 3rd hd at that point?
You should be able to swap those out because CD and DVD devices typically use standard drivers. Windows shouldn't care in the least about those.
You could add the other hard drive as extra storage in either machine, though you likely wouldn't be able to run any of the software installed on it. If it were me I would add it and reformat it.
Quote from: ReBurn on November 18, 2005, 02:21:53 PM
You should be able to swap those out because CD and DVD devices typically use standard drivers. Windows shouldn't care in the least about those.
You could add the other hard drive as extra storage in either machine, though you likely wouldn't be able to run any of the software installed on it. If it were me I would add it and reformat it.
That's what I was thinking. Right now my 40g is partitioned and my music and vidoes are on one partition, with everything else on the other. I could copy everything from the partion (D) onto the new HD and wipe the partition, right?
Quote from: Jessie on November 18, 2005, 02:23:07 PM
Quote from: ReBurn on November 18, 2005, 02:21:53 PM
You should be able to swap those out because CD and DVD devices typically use standard drivers. Windows shouldn't care in the least about those.
You could add the other hard drive as extra storage in either machine, though you likely wouldn't be able to run any of the software installed on it. If it were me I would add it and reformat it.
That's what I was thinking. Right now my 40g is partitioned and my music and vidoes are on one partition, with everything else on the other. I could copy everything from the partion (D) onto the new HD and wipe the partition, right?
I don't see why not.
(this is jessie)
We got the cdrom out of my computer, but now we can't get the front of the case off of the other one. Any tips? We've moved all the tabs and all visible screws, but it just won't come loose. maybe this one is different and the stuff slides out the back instead of the front???
Quote from: ignom on November 18, 2005, 03:19:23 PM
(this is jessie)
We got the cdrom out of my computer, but now we can't get the front of the case off of the other one. Any tips? We've moved all the tabs and all visible screws, but it just won't come loose. maybe this one is different and the stuff slides out the back instead of the front???
You need to check his PMs while you're logged on. I think I saw DS giving him the eye once... they're totally doing it.
http://www.anfang.us/images/HomePage%20Featured%20Products/HP%20Pavilion%20DL912%20-%20Front-Back-Low%20Res.jpg
That's what the case looks like.
Alice, if they want to do it, I'll just sit back and take pictures like a good girlfriend should.
Ok, Jason got the cd burner out. Apparently that case is different and they come out the front. He's now attacking the dvdrom.
Sometimes it's nice to have a man around. Or at least to have help when I'm totally frustrated.
(jessie still)
Ooh. He figured out how to dismantle the whole thing.
My hero :)
You should do him.
Jessie wants to know if she puts the other hard drive in her computer does she have to put a jumper on it to make it slave and master?
Quote from: ignom on November 18, 2005, 03:42:09 PM
Jessie wants to know if she puts the other hard drive in her computer does she have to put a jumper on it to make it slave and master?
Look, we don't want to get into your role playing.
I asked her if there was another way to say it to avoid all the jokes that would follow.
There is usually a picture on the drive itself that shows the jumper configurations.
Yep, some sort of jumper configuration will be needed. But it isn't always as simple as slave and master. Some drives don't like to be explicity set to slave, so you have to put them in the cable select mode. Or some other such nonsense.
She has no idea what that means.
Is she hooking both hard drives to the same IDE cable?
She doesn't know. Should she?
Not necessarily. It all depends on the performance you want, relatively speaking. If it were me I would put a second hard drive in the slave position of the primary IDE channel. That's the one your main hard drive is usually hooked to. On the secondary channel I would arrange the CD-RW and DVD according to which ever one is going to be used the most. If you are going to burn more CD's than watch DVD's I would put put the CD burner in the master position and the DVD in the slave.
Jessie here again.
Ok, so I stole the cdr and the dvd rom and put them in my computer, removing my cdrom. I booted it back up with no issues except that I think I might need some sort of driver or some such for the dvdrom.
In Jason's old computer, I put in my cdrom and two sticks of ram from Timothy's old computer. Now, when I boot it, the HD just beeps at me. I just remembered that I put in the RAM. Might it be bad? I wonder if that's what was wrong with Timothy's all along.
While I wait, I'm gonna pop that RAM back out and see what happens.
I've yet to do any HD work. Ifigure I'll get the easier stuff out of the way before I tackle all of that. It's been a long time since I've been this far into the guts of a computer, much less three.
Ok, either the RAM wasn't in good and tight or it's bad. We're booting up now. Woohoo.
Bad RAM will prevent POST. So will improperly installed RAM.
They sent two guys from computer services in Fort Worth to our office today. I could channel them and help you out very little... because.. that's what they do. Not a damn thing.
Thanks for the input earlier, guys. I'll try installing the other hard drive at a later date. I did all the IT work for today earlier.
I'm always available for input.
I should finish working on the computers some day.
Maybe this weekend.