Increasing memory *HELP NEEDED*

[stirlinggaz]

hi all,
firstly, i must say (& have said before lol) i grew up in an age when computers were non existent (well, to the masses) & therefore know very little about them. (i remember the introduction of the bbc micro & it was reserved for the chess club members, you know the type, always carrying a violin case & loads of books)
anything i do know is self taught, & i get by, even using pc at work.
secondly i apologise for the wall of text, i seem to use 100 words when 10 would suffice.

anyhoo, my desk top (at home) pc was years old & was only working due to help from you guys in here (thanks to prawny & CaNsA), had no sound & was.....well...crap!
so i have bought a cheap laptop. its a a re-furbed Dell & has the following :
windows 7 (also came with a "recovery disc") intel 45 chipset,dual core, 2GB ram, dvd etc but only has a 80gb hard drive.

i have a spare 250GB (new) hd & want to put this in & might as well do it now before i have anything important saved.

so whats the best way of doing this?

i think i may have already made an arse of it. i know nothing about partitions etc but i seem to remember files being split into 2 locations?
with one of these was showing almost full & i think it may have had "recovery" in it? but now its gone lol.

yeah, i know, i should have backed up everything before i started playing around but hey ho.

i now have made a back up & saved it onto a usb stick.

i tried to make a "system image" but this cant be saved onto a usb stick, so tried to save it onto dvd's but tried a few dvd's & lap stop told me there was a problem with the actual dvds, even though they were straight out of the box.
i will buy some new dvds & try again but, if this doesnt work, how can i create this clone?

could i buy a cable/adapter thingy. save the "system image" onto the blank hd, externally,(using the cables/adapter)then remove the wee hd & stick the bigger one in & set it up this way?

i looked on ebay & the cables arnt expensive.
im presuming the only other way is to buy an external hd?
oh, i have a memory card slot, could i save it onto an SD card? i just thought of that so havnt tried it.
thoughts, suggestions please but mind, most computer jargon means nothing to me lol

cheers,
GAZ

[CaNsA]

You have a recovery disk?

Is that a physical dvd disc?

[b422063]

What I would do is just do a fresh install of Windows on the new hard drive using the existing key. (As a Linux user I've no idea how hard or difficult it will be to find/use your existing key)

Installed an OS really isn't that hard.

Edit: CaNsA I thought that it didn't matter any more now MS release their OS with ISOs? Download, burn and install. Again, not a regular MS user so unsure if this is 100%

[stirlinggaz]

[CaNsA]

remove small hard drive from laptop
fit larger hard drive into laptop.
boot from the recovery disc, google how to do this on a dell laptop if it doesnt automatically do it.
follow instructions.

[prawny1]

With acronis true image software will be able to clone your existing disc onto the new one if you need to save anything that you have on the laptop (programs, docs etc), if you don't have anything in particular to save you can just do a fresh install and pull stuff over manually.

You will need an enclosure or usb to 2.5" sata (or ide if that's the case?)cable for the new drive so that you can have acronis access them both at the same time, cloning has the benefit of not having to find drivers, reactivate windows (or office etc) and is generally far faster than a full reinstall.

burn acronis onto a dvd, you can install it on the current drive and run it from windows but burning it onto dvd is easier and you can use it as often as you need in the future, it creates a ramdisc on reboot if you install to windows so both drives are free.

once in the gui you will have options to clone the disc and dynamically resize the old partition to match the new drive. chose the option to leave old drive intact until you are sure the cloning is completed properly.

acronic is a paid software but most of the big hdd brands have a licenced versoin for their customers for free, just download a version that matches one of the drives you are working with (I have multiple brands burnt ready just in case) the basic functionality is the same.
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hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[prawny1]

Yeah the iso' are available but if you only have an oem key I'm not sure if they will activate (I think the iso's are retail images).

It is a good idea to go for the latest version though if your disc is vanilla you can get a sp1 disc and save a load of post install updates.

The ei.cfg file controls what version the iso will install if you delete it you get a prompt asking which version you would like during set up.

Microsoft have a tool for transferring the iso to usb (easier to modify one usb) but it can be a but hit and miss sometimes, what I do is mount the iso and copy paste all the contents onto a usb then just go into disk management and mark it as an active partition, most bios will boot it then.
____________________
hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[stirlinggaz]

[b422063]

Have a phone to take photos of the screen with the options presented. People like CaNsA will know what to select/type.

[stirlinggaz]

[fatjames]

[stirlinggaz]

hi,
this is becoming a bit of a mission!
i have had to re-assemble the old antique desk-top pc to post this, as i had ripped it apart for the trash.

ok, so here are the basic first couple of steps i have taken, also taking screen-shots at each step & uploading them to photobucket.
https://s1360.photobucket.com/user/stirlinggaz1/media/20150202_113849_zps2pkmtjaq.jpg.html?sort=2&o=0
am i right in thinking, if i post the link to where i put the pics in photobucket, anyone who clicks on it, can then see ALL the screen-shots i have put in there?

old hard drive removed from lap-top & new hd in. also the cd/dvd i got with the lap-top is in the drawer.
i boot from cd/dvd which leads me to System recovery options & i pick uk
i am then given the option of picking use recovery tools that can help fix etc etc or Restore your computer using a system image you created earlier
i go for the 1st/top option as i havnt created a system image (but regardless of what i pick, i get the same following screens)
as there is nothing listed in the centre panel, i click on Load drivers
i then get nsert the the installation media for the device etc etc which i guess is fancy computer jargon for "stick the cd/dvd in the drawer"? even though the the f*ckin disc is in the drawer?
i click OK & hear the cd/dvd spinning again & i am then greeted by the scary screen, the one that lists everything in System 32

where am i going wrong? remember i am a computer idiot!

cheers,
GAZ

[fatjames]

Ok,

It's either the disk is does not contain windows, only what the PC needs to fix windows already on a partition. Or, is the disk not bootable?

At this point, I'd be downloading windows and using your existing product key. You might be able to move the partition from one drive to another too, but that installing might not work either.

If you need a legit copy of windows* pm me.


*not legit.

Actually, is there not a .exe somewhere on the root of the disk?

double edit. It looks like you're trying to restore, but you have nothing to restore. Look through all option until one of them says new install or similar.

[prawny1]

https://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/15733-Win-8-x-•-Win-7-•-Vista-Multi-OEM-ISO-Project

I wanted to just upload the tool but bcf says .exe are not allowed as an attachment.

Go here and download the oem assessment tool it will tell you if you have factory activation flags in the bios and which version.

If you have slic 2.1 then you can either follow the instructions and crate a full multi brand oem disc or buy a genuine dell dvd from ebay for the version of windows you want (£5-10).

cloning will be far easier though imo.
____________________
hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[b422063]

Rename the file "file.exe.jpg" and then attach it. When the person downloads it they just rename it to "file.exe"

[prawny1]

If you still need it i dug out a dell copy of win 7 pro 32 bit you can have.
____________________
hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[stirlinggaz]

[fatjames]

[prawny1]

What model is the laptop, and what cpu is it? some of the upper spec cpu's can hold silly money but the slighty lower spec chips can be reasonable,

I got a t9300 for my old laptop it was the second fastest for my chipset at 2.5 ghz it made a nice boost in speed and cost about £30 last year, the top t9600 is only 100mhz faster but would cost about £40 more.

The later core 2 duo mobile chips also benefit from an early form of turbo boost where one core will bump up an extra 0.5 multiplier when needed, you can use programs to force both cores to run at the boost clock but you sacrifice speedstep etc from memory.

you will need to find out the chipset if you want to go over 4gb I know my 965 based core2duo laptop will accept 2x4gb dims but from reports only 6+gb will be usable and only at 667 speeds.

Also going over 4gb will need a 64 bit os.
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hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[prawny1]

[prawny1]

second try

ok so it seems renaming as a jpg doesn't seem to work, I can't download it after adding the attachment.

the only link I can find right now is this one

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=https://www.bios.net.cn/down/BIOSsggj/2009-12-04/448.html&prev=search

scroll down and you will find two links one for v3.0 and one for v3.2 I have only ever used 3.2 don't know how 3.0 fairs.
____________________
hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[stirlinggaz]

[prawny1]

A quick look at the spec sheet says max ram is 4gb but doesn't say if that is per slot or system total, so it will be a suck it and see on that front.

I would get 1 4gb dim of similar spec brand etc and try it alongside the original 2gb, if it recognises 6gb then get the other 4gb stick later double check the type you have before ordering as that chipset supports both ddr2 and ddr3.

You will for certain need the 64 bit windows if you go over 4gb though.

I will send you a usb with 64bit sp1 on as well as the 32 bit dvd, the usb is version selectable and will/should activate on any brand hardware that has the slic 2.1 licence table in the hardware adding the correct welcome screen and logo's etc.


The good news is you have the 1066 fsb capable chipset so you can upgrade to a decent cpu, the q9100 is clocked the same as yours but is quad core the downside is it will use 45W compared to your current 25W chip so might get a bit warm,

The more sensible option would be the p9700 it is only 28W but is clocked at 2.8ghz which would be far more usefull you can pick one up used for about £45 (q9100 is about £60) and is the faster non extreme edition chip for your laptop.
____________________
hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[stirlinggaz]

[prawny1]

4gb is plenty on a laptop imo, I suggested 1x4gb to test compatibility.

Is yours ddr2 or ddr3 type ram?

The stick will have either pc2 (ddr2) or pc3 (ddr3) printed on it followed by the speed rating,

I have a 4gb stick of ddr3 knocking about from an upgrade on my granddads laptop which you are welcome to if it is compatible, the spec says your laptop is a 2010 vintage so could be either.

You can watch vids on youtube for cpu upgrades, this one shows how to get to cpu fan etc for a keyboard replacement on an e5400.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WN8J18k2qc

the vid shows a shared heatsink between cpu + gpu and the use of a thermal pad on the gpu, you can generally reuse pads once if you are careful, some decent thermal paste will be all you need for the cpu itself, once the heatsink is off you have a screw lock on the cpu socket before it will be free to pull out.

You just drop the new chip in orientated correctly ensuring it is fully seated then lock the socket again, reapply thermal paste and if needed a new thermal pad, then screw the heatsink back down they are usually numbered for the tightening sequence.

You will see a definite benefit from going up to a decent speed cpu but an ssd would probably be a more beneficial upgrade for daily use,

this one is a complete strip down.

It depends on what you've laid out for the laptop whether it is worth doing ram, ssd AND cpu upgrades as it could end up costing as much as just buying a newer machine in the first place.
____________________
hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.