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Patch reliability is unclear. Unless you have an immediate, pressing need to install a specific patch, don't do it. |
Setting up (in work shop) an older Dell 8200 (Service Tag G7VWZ01) with a new HD and have Win2K Pro and Win XP HE. Have a lot of experience with W2K pro and none with Win XP. The Dell has only 512MB of memory now.
The question is which OS may serve best. I have no experience with Win XP and have heard some bad ‘mouth about it. Comments please and thanks a lot.
……..
Ray/FL
Ray,
I’m assuming that this is a standalone, i.e. not connected to a LAN. In that case I’d choose XP as the OS. It is still supported and has all the latest security patches available. Also, a much larger base of programs to run on it including a whole raft of free stuff that works great. Of course, this is My Opinion and I’m sure you’ll get lots of others. YMMV. 
Ray,
It may take a while but be sure you run windows update over and over {rebooting after each cycle even if it doesn’t force you to} until it tells you that there are no more critical and/or important updates!
Ray,
If my old memory is working {the stuff between the ears} the Dell 8200 had RDRAM? If that is correct you’re in for a big surprise. I had an old Dell, I think it was an 8200, with RDRAM I was going to upgrade for VISTA. Found out, via Crucial.com, that it would cost me 2K to upgrade to 2Gb of RDRAM. Needless to say that computer was donated and I got a brand spankin’ new Dell with Quad core processor, larger faster HD, better Video Card (to handle Aero), etc. This machine is the one I’m now running w/Win-7 64Bit just fine. So you may want to rethink the upgrade. Just another note, if you do get a new machine check out how many memory slots it has and how much memory Dell puts in it. I did the research and bought this machine with the minimum, then immediately ordered 4Gb from Crucial. Had the Crucial memory when the Dell was delivered, tossed the dell memory in the parts bin and installed the Crucial. All for much less money than Dell wanted for an upgrade to 4Gb.
Ray,
Byron is correct. I entered your service tag at the dell site and it showed you are using 400 MHz RDRAM. Your machine has 4 slots {memory goes in in pairs} and the max memory the machine will handle is 2Gb. For Win XP 1Gb should be just fine if you add one of the sets offered at the site Byron provided you should have more than enough to have a responsive system. Unless you do some very memory intensive tasks like creating videos and/or editing large photos in TIFF or RAW formats then you may want to get two sets and chuck your current ram.
Edit: Here is the link to the Crucial entry on your machine, they don’t have any in stock but the link has some good information about your machine and memory in general.
Ray,
Win XP is a ‘Plug N Play” operating system, meaning that XP actively hunts for devices within your computer & wants to install the drivers to those devices when installing. A lot of the time, XP is wrong in it’s selection of drivers, ok? But, XP still installs these drivers, therefore conflicts arise & cause complete havoc with your computer, like wanting to go into Safe Mode. Safe Mode is the computer’s way of telling you something is wrong & it protects itself, so you can fix it. Just a reminder, when doing troubleshooting in Safe Mode, only the most basic of computer components will work. CD ROMS or DVD ROMS will NOT work in Safe Mode.
I believe what is happening now, is that your Device Manager is ‘overloaded’ with an excessive amount of devices listed & they are ‘conflicting’ with each other. One question, did you install the device drivers for your Dell? As I stated earlier, WinXP does tend to ‘find’ it’s own solutions to device drivers & sometimes XP is wrong, ok? Sounds strange, but installing a new HD & your OS is basically the same, as building your own computer from scratch. One of the most important points, when installing an OS from scratch, is to remember after the install, to make sure that all of the devices on your computer have their own drivers installed. Dell has a “Recovery CD”, if you still have that CD find the ‘drivers’ & install them. If, you did use your Recovery CD, XP still tries to find ‘certified drivers’ & will list them in Device Manager. Believe me, this can be frustrating getting this issue resolved. Been there, done that. But, when you learn how to troubleshoot this issue, it honestly is well worth it.
If, you didn’t use the Dell Recovery CD, then go to the Dell website, type in your Service Tag Number & download all of the device drivers for your computer model. If, possible download drivers onto floppy disks, if the amount is less than 1.4MB. I know…Floppy Disks???!!! This old standby come in mighty handy when trying to troubleshoot in Safe Mode, since only the Floppy Disk works in Safe Mode, ok? If, you don’t have any old Floppy Disks around or the size of the download is too large, than put them on a CD, so you can install the drivers meant for your computer. Trust me, it can be done, I have repaired Dells for family & friends, & that is the first place I go for device drivers, since most have lost their Dell Recovery CD. You can also find out what kind of memory you will need to try & upgrade it. You might not be able to upgrade your memory, many times older motherboards have memory limits. So, if you want to know for sure, check that out at Dell’s website. 
If, you have never ‘messed’ with Device Manager, it can be scary. However, in my experience “Nothing ventured, Nothing gained.” My feeling is, so you screwed up, you can always re-format your HD & start from scratch. In all honesty, that is how I learned to troubleshoot Windows Operating Systems installs. I can’t tell you how many times, I installed & re-formatted my HD with Win 95, but it was this frustration that taught me how to troubleshoot installing operating systems. Yes, Win XP is more complicated than win 95, but basic installation troubleshooting is very similar. It was Win 95 that taught me well.
Look at your Device Manager in Safe Mode. Check all of the categories by clicking on the + sign. When you see a whole list of devices, especially those that look really strange to you, remove them. Sometimes, you have to remove every device listed in the category, to make headway. Especially look at Network Adapters, Display Adapters, Sound, video & game controllers & Monitors. System Devices also, is a culprit, but that is a really tough one to correct, unless you have ‘fixed’ the other categories.
Not sure, if I have helped you, but I really do think this is what is happening to your computer, at this point in time. 
Mickey aka MmeMoxie
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