OT: Computer Problem

[Stuart Noble]

Might be a good idea at this point to post the exact model number?

[Adrian C]

Don't be suprised. It's the Tiscali Idiot.... Trying to yank some chains for a skit. Chances of him coming back to discuss anything technically worthwhile are nill.

However my 2 cents. any computer user receiving and passing on email in my opinion should be at least equipped and able to detect and drop retransmission of dangerous items regardless of operating system installed. It's called being nice to others....

:-)

[Roger]

The message from Clint Sharp contains these words:

Thanks but sadly I am in Keighley which is a fair distance from Manchester.

[Roger]

The message from Stuart Noble contains these words:

It is a Dimension 5150. Would any other details be useful?

[Roger]

The message from Roger contains these words:

I think I am going gaga. The creaking wreck I am using at present is running XP and SP1, not Win 98 as I thought. That was on my previous machine that I don't think will even connect to the Internet anymore although it will still fire up.

Not much help that though as that too doesn't have a system disk. I did however find a Win 98 disc for the earlier computer.

I see from XP help that I could run the recovery console from the set-up disc. Unfortunately ...

[Roger]

The message from Colin Wilson contains these words:

Thanks for the offer. Would that be something different to the Bart Disk that Stephen was offering and if so which would be easier for an ignoramus like me to cope with?

[andrew]

You wouldn't get out of your depth, it's been deliberately made to look similar to a windows desktop. The main thing is to allow you to save data off your hard disk.

Hard disks are so cheap now I'd buy another hard disk and a ide to usb converter (about 10 quid) and simply copy all the user files ("my documents") to the new hard disk before doing anything else.

I'll post you a copy of ubuntu 7.10 if you wish.

As long as you just use it to browse the internet there's little to lose and you can download files to a usb stick.

Andrew Heggie

[Andy Burns]

They'll send you a copy free

[Roger]

The message from Andy Burns contains these words:

problem.

[Roger]

The message from andrew contains these words:

Very kind of you to offer.

Would this be easier to use than a Bart Disk?

[Stuart Noble]

According to the manual

"Press CTRL and F11 to use PC Restore by Symantec"

which allegedly restores everything as it was ex-factory. Sorry, I don't know whether this is what you need or whether it has already been suggested

[Colin Wilson]

If it's a Dell machine, I can send you a copy of the XP disc I had to burn for my Dell Dimension 5150 machine (SP2) (May 06) - they stopped shipping them with the XP install disc, but offered to let you burn one - it's a complete OEM XP install disc.

If your machine originally came with SP1 I can probably knock you out a copy of the disc that came with a Dell Dimension 2400 (date?) - and if I can find it, probably one from a Dell Dimension 3000 (April 05)

[Colin Wilson]

YES !

(btw the newer version, 8.04 is out as of a few days ago)

[Colin Wilson]

Sure would - drop me an email with your address and i'll get one in the post to you - i'm copying mine for you as I type, i've got the same model no. :-)

Remove anything in capitals, and if you can, put "newsgroup" in the subject line to help it escape my spam filters :-p

[George (dicegeorge)]

re: according to the manual

NO - dont restore everything - it will wipe the data! which is worth more than the computer and software and everything if you're like me..

I understand that Ubuntu CDs dont include all the drivers they could, so that Ubuntu will fit on a CD.

I have several different releases of ubuntu and try them on new/old machines.

If a version of ubuntu doesnt work from the live CD then dont install it.

oh, thats after youve put in a new hard disk and taken out your windows one with the data on..

get an external USB case for your original CD if you havent a slot for it

[geoff]

In message , "George (dicegeorge)" writes

Do you think that you could conform to usenet convention and

a) contextually, rather than top post

and

b) not delete what you are referring to by putting it below your sig sep

pretty please ...

[Colin Wilson]

FWIW I also have the Dell Dimension 5150, and Ubuntu 8.04 works just great.

The only real issue I have stopping me from moving to it full-time is supporting windows games (Steam / Half Life) - I get glitches in the graphics, which might be a combination of issues, such as screen handling in linux / driver issues / wine / something to do with the way the ATI X600 Hypermemory shares RAM from the main memory pool.

One other minor issue is the rear sound output isn't active as standard, but the front headphone socket is (I use headphones 95% of the time anyway, so this isn't much of a problem for me)

The other thing with 8.04 is it includes wubi, which, if you happened to have a workinh windows install :-} allows you to install linux "safely" as a large file in windows, and gives you a boot menu so you can choose which to run. Uninstalling it is as easy as uninstalling any other windows application.

[Owain]

But according to uk.comp.os.linux, not particularly worth having.

Owain

[John Rumm]

Ah, well in which case the latest Bart ought to be able to build a disk from the machine even without the windows CD...

(you are going to tell me it does not have a CD writer now, aren't you ;-)

Yup, why they don't install it by default I don't know - it would make life easier since you often only work out you want it when you are no longer in a position to install it!

[Stephen Howard]

I wouldn't be so sure. If the OP ( with all due respect ) isn't equipped with the knowledge to solve or at least recover from the problem in hand, then throwing him into a whole new environment doesn't sound like a great plan.

The advantage of using something like UBCD or Bart is that it's a Windows environment - a positive advantage if you're trying to clean up a mess without the benefit of previous experience with other OS interfaces. Such disks are built specifically for recovery purposes and also contain Windows-specific tools that may help.

Regards,