ScrewUpgrading

Not offended. I suppose one reason is that anything can sit on Ebay for months until someone buys it, whereas on craigslist it'll get buried in just a few days. So in order to sell something there you either have to repost everyday, or else lower your price just to get rid of whatever you're selling. And it has Windows XP installed. So you're looking at either replacing the hard drive with a FAT32 if you plan to use Win9x, or else purchasing a Windows XP install disc if you don't already have one. (I don't.) Lisk Bishop says in Alien 3, "I could be reworked, but I'll never be top of the line. I'd rather be nothing." I'm sure that computer would be okay if it had the 1 GHz pentium, 384 MB Ram, and the best graphic card it could handle. I'm still tempted to buy it though, because it's the first one I've seen in years anywhere! Maybe he'll reduce the price in a week.

I'd buy that HP 7845 myself if it wasn't so overpriced. $120 bucks? Does that include the shipping too? What a joke. I couldn't sell my Dell Optiplex Gx-260 (2.8 GHz with 1 GB Ram) for any more than $50 bucks to the vultures on craigslist.

Thanks for the suggestions. I might try Gom again, since it been a long time. The "upgrade" that I found on MDGX, wasn't really sure what it's for or what it does. But I tried installing it anyway. Sorry to say it didn't help. I think the issure I have is that it's some weird codec that Media Player 9 doesn't support. Probably time for me to get a newer media player.

I remember having a "S3 Virge" graphic card that was pretty good for back then. Worked well under DOS and Windows 95, and I think Windows 3.1 too. You can probably find them pretty cheap now, and I'm sure there's drivers available somewhere. It beats the generic VGA cards that were common then. If I were you, that's what I'd get, only because I'm familiar with it and that's all I used. I remember playing lots of Carmageddon back then and the S3 Virge was pretty good. I don't know exactly what you need, but if you're looking for a decent video card that's better than VGA (256 colors 320x200; 16 colors 640x480), then I'd install a Cirrus Logic card. Make sure it's VESA compatible, and at least a Highcolor or Truecolor SVGA. I guess those are my two recommendations. Hope that helps. I haven't bought a video card in over ten years, mainly because computers now come with good enough graphics adapters and I'm not concerned with having the latest and greatest. But back then, just to view a Jpeg in more than 256 or 16 colors, you had to buy a graphic card. Times have changed though since the early nineties. Good luck.

I tried opening them using IrfanView 4.28, XnView 1.82.4, and Windows Media Player 9 but nothing worked. All I got was sound and no picture. Are there some updates for Media Player 9 that allow it to play .WMV files? I tried the "Gom Player" along time ago, but It didn't work either as far as I can recall. But I prefer Media Player 9 anyway. I was just wondering if anybody else had this problem, and if there's a simple patch or something to fix it. Thanks.

Sure, here it is: http://www.ebay.com/itm/120770582723?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 Just in case you wanted to know, the chip I got in the mail, it says, "SDR 16x 4 133 P3 128M AUM 2007." And on the chips themselves it says, "16x8/133 2007". I like upgrading too, but more along the lines of simply installing a newer version of a program. Well, I did add an extra 256 MB Ram on my computer, which was definitely faster than the 128MB originally. Good luck on the 486. What kind of software you planning to put on it? Hey, Technoid, I found my computer for sale on Ebay today. Which is pretty rare, because I check often... you know, for spare parts and sentimental reasons. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hewlett-Packard-Pavilion-7845-/190585275214?pt=Desktop_PCs&hash=item2c5fc4834e Can I half-jokingly sugguest you buy it and see how far you could upgrade it.... I'd be interested in knowing what could be done with it in a capable person's hands. Then after you're finished, could you post a quasi-instructional text (in laymans terms) for upgrading it. LOL. Wow, that's a lot of stuff to take in. I'll bookmark it for future reference, thanks.

My apologies, wasn't trying to be sarcastic. You just misunderstood me. I was simply recommending some browsers based on my own somewhat limited knowledge. I didn't really understand what you were talking about in regards to copying code from the clipboard in IE, still don't. And please forgive me for not being aware that it required javascript. Sorry for not being able to read your mind and know what you were talking about. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic about it though. I'm never sarcastic.

Well, enjoy your 10 year old web browser and your frequent crashes then. I already posted a link to Gmail's minimum browser requirements... so until I see otherwise, I'm going to believe Google.

Got the 133MHz chip in the mail today. Didn't work. Computer only takes HP Proprietary Ram in slot 1. Basically HP is full of sh!t when they say this computer is upgradeable to 512MB. And if they're wrong about that, then I'm not gonna bother trying anything else out. Hehe. Oh well.

That's why I don't play their game of upgrading and keeping up with the Jones'. I'm stubbornly going to use Win9x until I can't load a single web page. Plus, I can still use my computer for burning music cd's, playing games, and for managing my personal photos. It's also a glorified typewriter! I hear what you're saying. My opinion is that Microsoft will be dead within the next 10 years. Once the next generation of kids grows up without any knowledge of how to use a desktop PC, especially since computers keep getting dumbed down for the average Joe, Windows will be extinct. Just look at Windows 8 and it's new "Metro" interface. It looks like it's designed for a 5 year old. Once Windows 8 type interfaces become the norm, and whereby lots of the functions are done in the background without input from the user, you can kiss PC's goodbye. It's all going to be portable and in the cloud, I think. PC gaming will become antiquated just like using a Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, or other type of console. Everything will be used on seperate tablet devices that you carry around with you. In that sense, I think the PC desktop has already reached it's zenith. Probably with XP in terms of percentage of people who used it at a given time. Because PC sales have been declining for a while now. XP was probably the high point of the desktop era in that regard. Microsoft is just grasping for straws now, releasing a new OS every few years in a frantic attempt to try and keep up with the changing demands of consumers, who pretty much are moving away from the desktop. I see at as Microsoft's last ditch attempt to hang on to a market they once dominated. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if the internet morphs into one huge facebook page or something like that. Seeing as how most people have no interest in things beyond themselves and their little circle of friends. One huge online shopping center and facebook page for women. And all forms of "bad thought" will be censored by the matriarchy and their CIA henchman. Hehe. It'll be like 1984. Well, that sucks. Personally myself I wouldn't use IE6 in any shape or form. I don't have any problems with crashing, and most web pages load quick even on dialup. Here's what works for me: Firefox 2.0.0.20 (javascript off) K-Meleon 1.5.4 (javscript blocked) Seamonkey 1.1.19 (noscript extension, or else javascript disabled entirely) Opera 10.63 Turbo I just did a clean install of Window ME to get rid of all the Firefox 3 and Opera 11 stuff that was associated with KernelEx, and my system is very stable now.

What browser are you using then? I don't use KernelEx anymore (so no Firefox 3 or Opera 11), maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know. Every time I logged onto Yahoo I got the choice between upgrading to Beta (in which case it would tell me my browser is unsupported), or else using Yahoo Classic "Just This One Last Time." With the implication being that sooner or later Yahoo Classic would be gone for good. I swear that I recieved a message stating that after September 16(?) Yahoo Classic WOULD NOT be avilable. I simply got sick of it and deleted it. They can shove it up their @$$ for all I care. Gmail doesn't pyschologically terrorize me with similar threats every time I log on.

Maurice Duruflé - Requiem It has 9 parts to it, starting with the awesome "Introit." http://cuba.ija.csic.es/~danielgc/var/music/VUKK/

Drugwash said: That's great Not that I doubt your word, but I don't suppose you have a link in regards to google removing basic html email? I lost my yahoo account recently (at least from home), so did my mom, because we both have old computers with Win9x. So I made her a gmail account instead thinking that it will last a long time. Looks like I may have been wrong about that. Yeah, Windows 9x is running out of alternatives pretty quick.

Okay thanks, I didn't know about Ccleaner. Since this topic was started in 2007, some of the programs listed on page 1 aren't *exactly* the final versions for Win9x. I'm not sure if anybody has discovered the absolute last version of Foxit Reader? But the 4015 build is newer than the 3309 listed on the main page. I just don't have the time to go through the entire thread to find out. That's probably something I should do soon though

Supertramp - Crime of the Century

without KernelEx installed: Foxit Reader 2.3 4015 build. http://www.oldversion.com/Foxit-PDF-Reader.html

Technoid, it's weird you should mention the CPU, because today for the first time in my life I unscrewed the CPU fan and vacuumed out 10 years of dust buildup And it still works. Still has an annoying hum though, which I can't seem to isolate. At first when the computer is turned on there is a loud hum, then after about a minute or so it dies down, but it's still noticeable as slight background hum/vibration. When I press the sides of the computer case together it mitigates the sound somewhat. I'm gonna check for loose screws. All of the fans still twirl, so they work. I unplugged the power to the hard drive, and it wasn't the hard drive making weird noises, so it's okay. I'm conluding it's either a fan out of whack in the CPU or PSU, or some screw loose somewhere. Oh well. As long as it works I don't care. Oh man, after reading that article about swapping the CPU I'm totally going to try that! That would be sweet if I can get 1Ghz. Yes, I have a coppermine core in my pc. I was looking at ebay and found these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Pentium-III-1GHz-133MHz-256K-FCPGA-CPU-/260842799796?pt=CPUs&hash=item3cbb7142b4 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Pentium-III-1GHz-133MHz-256K-FCPGA-CPU-/190570279848?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c5edfb3a8 would something like that work? After taking out and putting back in the CPU fan, I think I could handle swapping the cpu, doesn't sound too hard. XXXXXX Speaking of floppy disks, I went into Office Depot and bought a box off 3.5" floppies and the guy asked me what I needed those for. I told him so I can boot-up older computers to DOS. And he said, "why would you want to bring something that old back to life." He looked at me like I was some sort of freak or something just because I was buying floppy disks (the only place in town that sells them, by the way). What a jerk. The guy at Best Buy simply laughed in my face and said no they don't carry floppies. I use my Windows ME boot disk all the time. It's the only way I can get into real DOS and run F-Prot and some other programs and games. Not to mention reformatting the computer. At another Office Depot/Max Store the guy told me to boot using a USB flash drive instead of floppy disks. Hello, this is an older machine I'm talking about (hence the floppies). I can't go into my bios and adjust it so it boots from the USB whatever. id***. And they look at me like I'm an id***. They don't realize that computers started before 1999. Oh well, that's my floppy disk rant. Oh yeah, the one box of 10 diskettes cost me like $8. Whereas my USB flash drive that holds 2 Gig was $16. Big discrepency there.

Thanks for the info, Rilef. I've already looked into updating the BIOS, but after reading various forums it seems that the patch does nothing for fixing this issue with the RAM. And messing around with upgrading my bios (is it reversible?), isn't something I want to do. I'm sure it's a flaw in the motherboard as I've read about people with the same model having to send their machine to HP to get it swapped out. Since this is an 11 year old computer, which I got for free, I doubt HP would give a crap. I might consider installed a graphics card, but only as long as it was verified, certified, without any doubt, 100% compatible with my computer. Like if it said on the box: "Works with HP model 7845." Or something to that effect. There's issues with the power supply and if you don't have the correct video card installed, you can zap your power supply, at least that's what I read on the official site. I've taken Technoid's advice and ordered PC-133 RAM from Ebay. I plan on upgrading my RAM from "100 MHz" to "133Mhz." Sure, maybe not the biggest upgrade, but I'll take what I can get. I hope it works

I was messing around with my computer and decided to install AVG Free Edition 7.5.524 to see what it would do to my computer, and also to see if it would detect any viruses that ClamWin missed. Besides being a gigantic resource hog and slowing my computer down by 50%, AVG didn't detect any viruses. Mind you, this was the outdated 2008 version, the last to work on Win9x. I've been using ClamWin for the last 3 years or so. Never had a single virus on Windows ME. (I should clarify what I just said: ClamWin has never detected any viruses, but that doesn't mean I'm virus free). So, I've decided there's no point in having Anti-Virus installed. All it does is drain system resources. I see no point in "signature based" anti virus software. By the time it detects something it's too late. You're gonna have to reinstall windows anyway. I have more faith in a good reformat than I do the ability of anti-virus programs to "repair" a virus infection. I was using my sister's laptop with Vista on it. She finally let me fiddle around on it for more than 25 seconds. Anyway, after some checking I noticed she had no anti-virus software installed. Only the Microsoft firewall that came with it. I decided to download some programs while she was busy to see how many viruses were crawling around on this 6 year old laptop. I figured her default browser (IE 8) would be filled with spyware and viruses. I downloaded ClamWin, SuperAntiSpyware, AVG2011. None of them found any viruses/spyware. Nothing. I promptly uninstalled them. Needless to say, I was quite surprised. She manages to get by on just Microsoft's firewall. It's all that's necessary. I figure if Windows Vista can get by on just using a firewall, being newer and more prone to the latest virus attacks, then Win9x could too. In fact, Win9x should be practically immune as long as you have a firewall and are careful of what you download. Correct me if I'm wrong. Seriously, shouldn't it be easier on Win9x b to "plug up all the holes" than Vista? Or am I missing something? So I removed Clamwin. Worthless piece of junk never detected anything anyway. And I just freed up 12 Megs of RAM. I'm never using an anti-virus program again, unless it's something portable and light, which can fit on a flash drive, or it's like Dr Web or Stinger ( i.e. single executable files). If you ask me, anti-virus programs are a virus in themselves. They're useless, they do nothing, they slow your computer down, they allows Anti-Virus vendors access to your computer. Sounds like a virus to me. I always suspected in the back of my mind that the people who write viruses probably worked at McAfee or Symantec anyway. It's a scam! I'm trying to get my computer as fast as possible and streamlined without useless crap clogging it up. So, adios virus scanners.

Cool, thanks.

Hehe. It's small and quick. Doesn't need to be installed, just unzipped. Sure, if you got a link to that MemLoad I'll give a try. Never heard of it before.

LOL. Yes, but it is going up in "vintage computer" value by the minute as well. Someday, I'll be able to sell it for upwards of $400 on ebay. If I can keep this thing running long enough, that is! Have you seen how much a working 386 sells for on Ebay these days? I've tried searching for more HP 7845's, you know, for spare parts and such (I'd like to have an entire fleet of these puppies), but they're pretty scarce. All of it's brothers and sisters are probably at the bottom of a landfill. I don't mind listening to you, you're very informative and knowledgeable, so go ahead and carry on. I don't mind.

I can confirm that it works on Windows ME. Worked just fine on my computer. In between using Tiny Firewall, Kerio, and Sygate, Outpost 1.0 has a nice blend of friendly user interface, and low memory overhang. Tiny and Kerio require more knowledge of making rules and knowing what programs are running in the background. You'll have to permit or deny all kinds of weird Windows processes from running. Sygate Firewall works good, has a friendly user interface, but it uses around 10 MB of memory compared to Tiny/Kerio's 2 MB in the background. Outpost 1.0 uses around 2 mb, has a very friendly user interface, and generally, in my opinion, less annoying than any of the others. (If you're wondering how I know the approximate amount of ram these programs use, it's because I use a small System Info tool called SIV. I recommend version 4.15 or older for Win9x). http://rh-software.com/

Technoid, I'd never thought of that. That sounds like something cool to try. Tomorrow I'll stop by re-electronics and see if they have any PC133 128 Mb chips. Would an extra 33 Mhz of ram speed really make a difference though? If it did, that would be pretty funny. That would be some pretty serious upgrade though. But it sounds better than NO upgrade.

Luckily, Windows ME auto-detects my BJ-200e printer. So does Windows 2000 Professional Okay, the ram thingy, I forgot. It says: "Crucial 256MB 168 Pin Dimm 32mx64 SDRA." "Synch, 133MHz, CL3, Lead free, PC133U-333-542-Z"" ^that's the one I have in my hand, I have a few of those. The ones inside my computer are: "PC100 256MB Ram, Synch, 100MHz, 168 Pin Dimm" and "PC100 128Mb Ram, Synch, 100 MHz."