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The POS Dell

JdPower

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LOL,

So, I officially I hate Dell Computers. Well I know its not the dell's fault, but my girlfriends DELL is a POS. A K7 computer could run better then this thing. So, about a month ago one of my good friends came into town from New York (visiting Cali) and he's very smart with computers and worked on this dell and reformatted it for my girlfriend. Now last night she told me her computer is extremely slow (P4 2.0ghz, 512mb ram, unknown HD) so I restart and defrag. This defrag literally took almost an hr. to do and thats NOT normal IMO. After the defrag still same thing SLOW. Ran anti virus, and spyware programs and still same crap.

Alright so here is the questions, I want to reformat this POS do I need any drivers from DELL? I am not sure what model it is but its farely old computer from DELL. I did not see how my friend reformatted this comp and I don't want to bother him with this POS :D Any suggestions or things I could do to find out... Oh she does not have any manuals or CDs that came with the computer. Chicks... :banghead: hahah. If not its a loss cause and I am throwing it out the window like that one commercial! :nutkick:

J
 

Casheti

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Well if you have the original Windows disk from Dell that will have all the drivers on it.

Oh, just saw you have no disks....ummmmm, dunno then dude!

I don't really think you'd need any drivers anyway apart from ethernet and maybe the gfx card (if it has one)
 
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if you've formatted it and it is still slow then go out and buy a $60, 80GB hard drive from walmart, thats probably the problem.......
 

Casheti

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In Dell's there is an option in BIOS for the hard drive. You can set it to silent or performance. Set it to performance. My Dell does that :D
 

JdPower

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Alright well I'll see what I can do, if no the thing is going in the garbage! :laugh:
 

JC316

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But...but...but. It's a Dell DUUUUUDE. Is this windows ME, 2000, or XP? If it's XP, try just analysing the HD and see how fragmented it is, if it's really bad, it can take a long time, espically with a slower processor. It takes my XP2200 machine FOREVER to run the defragmenter.
 

HookeyStreet

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why dont you download EVEREST or PC Wizard, scan your system and make a note of all the installed components. Then search the net for any drivers you will need (ie graphics, motherboard etc) download them and make a CD/DVD containing all the software you will need to get the DELL up and running again after you format it ;)
 

JdPower

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why dont you download EVEREST or PC Wizard, scan your system and make a note of all the installed components. Then search the net for any drivers you will need (ie graphics, motherboard etc) download them and make a CD/DVD containing all the software you will need to get the DELL up and running again after you format it ;)

:D

Where is a +rep bar when you need it for this guy. Never thought about doing that. Thanks this I will do...

:toast:
 

HookeyStreet

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:D

Where is a +rep bar when you need it for this guy. Never thought about doing that. Thanks this I will do...

:toast:

Cool....so I am good for something :)

I would look for the following drivers:

Motherboard
Onboard graphics
Onboard sound
LAN
USB2.0

But tbh if you find an actual driver for your mobo it will probably include all that you need :)
 
Last edited:

rizzo

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You should just go to dells website. They should have all the drivers you need.
 

randomperson21

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rizzo's right there. i do tech work on dells of vasty varying ages at my school, dell's website has always worked like a charm. if not, google the device you are looking for +"drivers". that should turn up something.
and the best thing to do w/o spending any $$$ is a reformat. imho.
 
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Dell are supposed to be very good computers. I heard HP'S are even worse then Dell but I don't really know for sure. My HP is 2 years old and is running like a champ.
 

AshenSugar

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dell have a service tag on them, go to the dell site, go to support/driver section, then put the tag number in and it will take you to a page with all the driver files you need.

and yes long defrag times are common on systems that dont get defraged regularly, took my server 32hrs to defrag ones because the app i had been using to auto defrag it stoped working properly!!!!!!(supid O&O defrag sucks)

my advice for 3rd party defrag software is Perfect Disk, currently its the best choice, diskkeeper a step or 2 behind.

now remmber this is a dell, its a p4 at 2gz(slower then a 700mhz p3) and its only got 512 ram, so its not gonna be fast no matter what you do, ur best bet probbly is to have somebody check if its ATX for you then price cheap board/chip combos on newegg, if its atx based u could just throw in a via c7 1.5gz or 2gz rig(mini itx) and that would cover her needs and be one hell of alot faster/cooler then what its got in it now, and would save on the eletric bill to boot!!!!
 

randomperson21

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if bootup times are bogging you down, i'd highly recommend a m$ proggie called bootvis. essentially, it monitors the startup process on your comp and records what data is used off the hdd first. then, it moves all that data to the beginning of the hdd so its there on boot.
shaved about 30 sec off my boot time. as soon as it comes out of preboot splash, i have logon. no xtra services trying to come up either.

theres good instructions for it somewhere on this site, search for bootvis. i think aleccstar has some.
 

AshenSugar

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bootvis....hehe, they need a shutdownvis to figuar out why the longer windows xp is installed the slower it shutsdown :p
 

randomperson21

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ha! agreed. and why sometimes it just won't shutdown at all.
 

AshenSugar

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Video Card(s) x1900xtx 512mb+zalman vf900 cooler(kicks stock coolers arse)
Storage 80gb,200gb,250gb,160gb
Display(s) 20.1 in dell 2001fp + KDS visual sensations 19"
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Audio Device(s) ADI SoundMax HD audio onboard,using Ket's driver pack
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i left my buddys system shutting down one night as i went to bed, it was still trying to shutdown when i got up 14hrs later(had been awake for almost 3 strate days) i finnely gave up on it and backed up his main files and wiped the system, after reinstal including all the apps he had installed and used the system had over 4gb extra free space, i personaly think thats due to removing all the dell crap from it, he then gave the system to his wife and had me build him an amd system(he had been playing with my system and liked it), he recently upgraded the chip to a p-d (best one he could get) for her and put in 2gb ram kit, and its still slower then his 3800+ x2 with 2gb ram hehe, he may endup getting both of us K8L chips when they finnly hit the market(dual core versions not quad, no need for quad in home systems, spend the extra on another 2gb ram kit ;) )
 
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