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Thread ID: 66289	2006-02-17 12:41:00	PC Company Box upgrade advice.	Mantis (3703)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
431705	2006-02-17 12:41:00	A family member has a PC Company computer running a Athlon XP 2500+ . They have been haing alot of problems with it, and after a clean reinstall of the XP, then consulting the forums here, we narrowed it down to probably a faulty motherboard . From what I can tell it is an 'all in one' motherboard with on board video and sound . We are looking at replacing the mobo with a better, more stable one . And maybe also upgrading the psu to a 400w one from the 230w which is fitted now . I'm guessing that we would probably have to get a video card unless we find a mobo with onboard video . . . . I'm also guessing that The PC Company install disk's that have Windows XP Home on them will not work anymore since we are replacing the mobo and the disk's have the driver for the current faulty mobo . . . Would we need to buy another OS as well? We just trying to figure out if it is worth doing an upgrade, or to buy a complete new system? Appreciate the help . M .	Mantis (3703)
431706	2006-02-17 17:59:00	well actually you'd be able to use the 'recovery disk' that the pc co gave withthe puter cause all that is is the operating system and nothing else.....so no you dont need a 'new os'.......however if you are running a socket A cpu , (462 pin) you are gonna find it almost impossible to find a new motherboard for it........very hard to find now-a-days they're considered obsolete. HOwever in saying that, IF you can find one then there'll be a good chance of it having onboard video if that's what you want........if nto well......agp cards are pretty cheap these days..and yes.......upgrade that miserable powersupply 230 watts is stupidly low.....go for a 400 or thereabouts.. you may NEED to upgrade it anyway as a new mobo may have the fourpin plug powerfeed required and your old powersupply simply wont have this plug..	drcspy (146)
431707	2006-02-17 18:03:00	yoru athlon 2500 is a respectable cpu . . . . . IF you can get a new mobo it sholdn't cost you too much at all . I'd assume you are running ddr ram and that's ok you will be able to use it on a new board . I managed to get a socket A board a month or so ago . Look on trademe . a mobo should only cost you say $80 (all in one with video on board etc) you have the cpu and hdd so you'd just need a powersupply say another $80 then just bolt it all together and TRY to start it up with the current operating system . . . . . have your motherboard driver cd handy . with luck it'll boot thru to windoze and let you just install the drivers . otherwise if it blue screens you can either do a clean install or run a 'repair install' either way will work fine . Ive rebuilt several of these pc co puters in the last year or two as they are getting older now and weren't made withthe best quality parts . Mainly it's the motherboard that fails . I'ts nto a hard job to do at all and not particularly costly either .	drcspy (146)
431708	2006-02-17 20:02:00	Hmmm, I need one for work (also an Althlon where the mobo is faulty - ye old swelling caps) . Here is the result quick search of what I found available (it had to have ideally on-board lan,sound and video and support althlon 2000 for me) . pbtech ( . co . nz/index . php?item=MBDAS2050" target="_blank">pbtech . co . nz) some suggestions ( . windowsreinstall . com/winxp . htm" target="_blank">motherboard . windowsreinstall . com) on what you can do before changing - if you can actually still start it and keep it up for a while . Find a real XP Home CD too . Also try this (again if it boots at all) " Before you swap out the current motherboard go to device manager and select the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller and select your current storage controller . Right click, select update driver and select install from a list or specific location . Click don't search I will choose the driver to install and select the standard dual channel IDE controller . This will prevent the inaccessible boot device blue screen . With this method, booting the first time with the new motherboard should be done in Safe mode . XP will install the drivers it needs and you can install the new motherboard drivers . I would suggest accessing the motherboard web site to get the latest drivers and bios updates rather than use the CD media included with the MB . The CD is usually a couple of revisions behind the latest updates . "	gibler (49)
431709	2006-02-17 21:55:00	yes all good advice but some not necessary the pcco 'recovery disk ' is ONLY windows xp ...... and in all the rebuilds i've done and I've done a fair few i've NEVER had any trouble restarting the pc and loadign the drivers cept for a couple that blue screened those I ran a repair install ......no worries	drcspy (146)
431710	2006-02-18 04:17:00	The easiest way to figure out if the disk you have is a proper copy of XP is to boot from it, if it wants to install XP it is a proper one. Most that I have seen are the full version of XP, they have just been relabled.	Rob99 (151)
431711	2006-02-18 04:58:00	the pcco 'recovery disk ' is ONLY windows xp ...... and in all the rebuilds i've done and I've done a fair few i've NEVER had any trouble restarting the pc and loadign the drivers cept for a couple that blue screened those I ran a repair install ......no worriesI thought the PC Co recovery disks were keyed to the motherboard custom BIOS, and if you changed the motherboard (or updated the BIOS) then it rendered the recovery CD useless. Did they change this practice later on?	Jen (38)
431712	2006-02-18 05:21:00	odds are you will need to get a new cpu to match any new motherboard. to upgrade the PSU and to allow room for the new cpu you will need a new case. the odds are you wil proberly need a new copy of windows to. you might as well just go buy a new pc and sell the old one for parts.	tweak'e (69)
431713	2006-02-18 07:45:00	yes all good advice but some not necessary the pcco 'recovery disk ' is ONLY windows xp ...... and in all the rebuilds i've done and I've done a fair few i've NEVER had any trouble restarting the pc and loadign the drivers cept for a couple that blue screened those I ran a repair install ......no worries Ah well that's good.. I thought it might be some sort of restore ghost image.	gibler (49)
431714	2006-02-18 08:22:00	the problem is, while you can do repair installs, can you do fresh installs with a cd thats tied to a non-existing motherboard? PcCo are not the only ones to have this. some even tied it to the hardrive! try useing it to install on another pc, if it works on that your safe :)	tweak'e (69)
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