That is a bit worrying are they duff made caps or just under rated ones?.
We have some real vintage machines around at some remote locations. They do very simple jobs just mail us id something plays up, years old are up for hours and perform as well as they day they were made.
OK guys, lets go back to square one where this enquiry started. If I go to WOC, say, looking for a box that has a M/B + memory and a PSU in it, which is all I need in that I have perfectly good DVD drives and a new H/D already, what ....
1 M/B do I go for ?
2 Do I need a video card ?
I did a trial run on WOC for such and ended up spending over =A3500, which doesn't quite match up with the =A3250 that was being quoted as typical.
You can reinstall Windows from any suitable source, possibly even an illegal copy, and then run ... KeyUpdateTool_enu.exe ... to enter the correct key from the label on the PC.
As an example, this PC is an old Dell Latitude 610 laptop, onto which I sysprep-ed my standard Windows 2000 build, the same build as I use on my desktops, which I then upgraded using an OEM XP SP3 installation disk which won't of itself pass as Genuine Windows*, yet it is now, using the above tool, authenticated as genuine XP using the original authentication code from the label on the bottom of the machine, and is fully updated, etc.
So I've got to use my original 2k build, with all the software painstakingly installed just how I wanted it, etc, as XP. This means that I've been able to install the drivers and software for my new mobile phone, and one or two more modern pieces of software, but without having to create a completely new build for XP. It may not seem much, but, AFAIAC, it's something of a coup!
It was acquired via eBay in the expectation of it being usable in its own right from a sh*t who left eBay the moment he'd sold it - it turned out that, being OEM, it could be only be used by the OEM firm on the original OEM software, and could not be sold on for use on different hardware, and anyway Microshaft will not now authenticate any new versions of XP, even those in sealed packaging for which the key was never used.
It may be possible to authenticate on a *different* PC *retail* versions of XP acquired second-hand, I'm not sure, but certainly *OEM* versions will only authenticate on the *same hardware* as originally authenticated upon.
A linux, or perhaps a Mac, user, presumably.
I'm still trying to decide what to do with my new Dell Inspiron R SE, which came with W8, but is now running W7. Now that I've got this one running XP, do I really need it? Perhaps not, and I hate the more recent versions of Windows so much that I only use the Inspiron for media playback. I might sell it on, but that would mean having to reinstall W8, or I might try to put Linux on it.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.