C
Chris
How best to tweak to run XP on an old machine?
I mean - really old!
Pentium 200 MMX; 64 MB; 6 GB HDD.
I mean - really old!
Pentium 200 MMX; 64 MB; 6 GB HDD.
B
Bruce Chambers
Greetings --
Installing any OS more demanding that Win95 or WinNT on that
antique hardware would be pointless; it'd be too slow to be useful.
Or are you just trying this as an experiment? If so, upgrade the CPU
to at least 266 MHz and the RAM to 128 Mb to meet WinXP's bare
minimums for installation.
Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH
Installing any OS more demanding that Win95 or WinNT on that
antique hardware would be pointless; it'd be too slow to be useful.
Or are you just trying this as an experiment? If so, upgrade the CPU
to at least 266 MHz and the RAM to 128 Mb to meet WinXP's bare
minimums for installation.
Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH
K
Ken Blake, MVP
In news:aLBplKFpm5uAFwZL@[127.0.0.1],
Don't even try. You are way below the minimum configuration, and
it will run terribly, regardless of how you "tweak" it.
Chris said:
Don't even try. You are way below the minimum configuration, and
it will run terribly, regardless of how you "tweak" it.
T
t.cruise
If your system's stats were higher, I'd recommend many tweaks. But, Windows
XP is not just an upgrade from the earlier Windows 9x versions. It is a new
operating system, and needs more system resources than your system has. The
first year of its release, Windows XP sales were well below expectations,
because for the most part it wasn't economically feasible to upgrade the
hardware AND buy the Windows XP upgrade. The bulk of Windows XP users that
year were people who purchased new systems which were designed for, and had
hardware requirements for the new OS.
Even at the minimum required 128 MB RAM, Windows XP doesn't run adequately.
256 MB is OK, and more than that would be better. A 6 GB hard drive is just
too small. Chances are that your sound card, or display adapter, or modem
are so old that there might not be Windows XP compatible drivers for them.
Any third party system utilities for Windows 9x that you're using will
probably not be Windows XP compatible. If you have to purchase the Windows
XP upgrade for about $100, and then spend for more memory, and a bigger hard
drive, and then have to replace a piece of hardware or two to make Windows
XP perform almost adequately on your system with a slow CPU (compared with
CPUs made during the past 3 years): You'd be better off buying a Dell
Online "As Advertised" $499 Pentium 4 2+GHz special on a week where they
offer free shipping, a free flat screen monitor, and a free CDR/CD-RW (the
Dell Online "As Advertised" specials change weekly), then spending almost
that much to run Windows XP on a system that really isn't capable of running
it.
XP is not just an upgrade from the earlier Windows 9x versions. It is a new
operating system, and needs more system resources than your system has. The
first year of its release, Windows XP sales were well below expectations,
because for the most part it wasn't economically feasible to upgrade the
hardware AND buy the Windows XP upgrade. The bulk of Windows XP users that
year were people who purchased new systems which were designed for, and had
hardware requirements for the new OS.
Even at the minimum required 128 MB RAM, Windows XP doesn't run adequately.
256 MB is OK, and more than that would be better. A 6 GB hard drive is just
too small. Chances are that your sound card, or display adapter, or modem
are so old that there might not be Windows XP compatible drivers for them.
Any third party system utilities for Windows 9x that you're using will
probably not be Windows XP compatible. If you have to purchase the Windows
XP upgrade for about $100, and then spend for more memory, and a bigger hard
drive, and then have to replace a piece of hardware or two to make Windows
XP perform almost adequately on your system with a slow CPU (compared with
CPUs made during the past 3 years): You'd be better off buying a Dell
Online "As Advertised" $499 Pentium 4 2+GHz special on a week where they
offer free shipping, a free flat screen monitor, and a free CDR/CD-RW (the
Dell Online "As Advertised" specials change weekly), then spending almost
that much to run Windows XP on a system that really isn't capable of running
it.
C
Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)
Don't - even - try - !
--
Regards:
Richard Urban
aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard
--
Regards:
Richard Urban
aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard
A
Al Dykes
It will work, but just barely, (I have an old laptop with 48MB running
w2k that does sonething useful for me). Setup can be painfully slow,
but once the system is set up it can be OK. It will run Internet
Explorer, and an email client. If you can scrape up $500 for a new
machine go for it.
Here's how to make the best of your machine.
- Do a minimal installation.
- Select NTFS file system
- Turn off the following services;
Automatic Updates
Messenger Service
TCP/IP Netbios Helper
Wireless Zero Config (unless have a WiFI adapter in the machine)
Upload Manager
Task Scheduler Server
Error Reporting
Remote Registery
Server Service
Computer Browser
- Turn off some of the GUI crap;
Start->Properties Select "classsic" IMHO
Start -> Control Panel > System -> Advanced
-> Performance -> Settings
Select "adjust for best performance"
- Set file compression attribute on c:\ (and everything under it).
This will buy you some disk spare back.
- Defragment.
K
Kenny
Dont listen to these people... I have xp running very well on a pentium
133mhz with 96 ram
I use that as a second computer for some simple tasks.... my main pc is 2.6
ghz
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
133mhz with 96 ram
I use that as a second computer for some simple tasks.... my main pc is 2.6
ghz
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
T
t.cruise
Some of the people, whose responses were against upgrading that old system,
are qualified to offer that advice due to their extensive knowledge of the
OS and hardware. You might be satisfied with the results that you got with
your install on your old system. But, you have no idea what the exact stats
of the original poster's system are, except that the poster has 32 MB less
RAM than you have, and a 6 GB hard drive. That 6 GB hard drive, which
between Windows XP, the page file, updates, System Restore Points, software
and utilities, and multimedia files, will quickly be bringing up low disk
space messages. Your "Don't listen to these people" could cost the original
poster a few hundred dollars to obtain substandard performance. When you
write "I have xp running very well on a pentium 133mhz with 96 ram,"
probably means that it runs. 64 MB of RAM was barely enough to run Windows
95, and Windows XP requires much more. What if the original poster has a
display adapter with only 4 MB or 8 MB of onboard memory? That hard drive
will be spinning, and the hour glass will almost be a permanent fixture on
the desktop. Take into account all of the variables before making a
statement like "Don't listen to these people."
are qualified to offer that advice due to their extensive knowledge of the
OS and hardware. You might be satisfied with the results that you got with
your install on your old system. But, you have no idea what the exact stats
of the original poster's system are, except that the poster has 32 MB less
RAM than you have, and a 6 GB hard drive. That 6 GB hard drive, which
between Windows XP, the page file, updates, System Restore Points, software
and utilities, and multimedia files, will quickly be bringing up low disk
space messages. Your "Don't listen to these people" could cost the original
poster a few hundred dollars to obtain substandard performance. When you
write "I have xp running very well on a pentium 133mhz with 96 ram,"
probably means that it runs. 64 MB of RAM was barely enough to run Windows
95, and Windows XP requires much more. What if the original poster has a
display adapter with only 4 MB or 8 MB of onboard memory? That hard drive
will be spinning, and the hour glass will almost be a permanent fixture on
the desktop. Take into account all of the variables before making a
statement like "Don't listen to these people."
K
Ken Blake, MVP
In
Either your definition of "very well" is different from that of
most people or you use your computer for little other than
playing solitaire.
Kenny said:
Either your definition of "very well" is different from that of
most people or you use your computer for little other than
playing solitaire.
R
Ron Martell
Chris said:
The very best you could possibly hope for would be that Windows XP
would "walk very very slowly" on that machine. It would never ever be
fast enough to consider using the word "run".
The slowest computer I have encountered in the past dozen years was a
Compaq with an 800 mhz CPU (4 times as fast as what you have) and 64
mb of RAM. It would take up to half an hour just to boot into
Windows XP and launching any program would take at least 4 or 5
minutes.
When I stuck another 256 mb of RAM into that slug the owner thought I
had installed a rocket inside it. It was actually usable.
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
K
Kenny
I have done my homework before I reply.
There have been many posters here that have said the same things as I do.
Many people are using xp on Pentium 200 Mhz.
The ram is the lowest possible, but he can buy some more ram and turn off
all the extra things on xp.
If you knew better, windows 2000 had a minimum requirement of a pentium 133
and 64 mb ram.
Xp is just an updated version of win2000, and if you know how to turn off
all the bells and whistles
you will see that winXP is FASTER than win98 on the same machine.
So dont try to teach me something that I know all too well.
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
There have been many posters here that have said the same things as I do.
Many people are using xp on Pentium 200 Mhz.
The ram is the lowest possible, but he can buy some more ram and turn off
all the extra things on xp.
If you knew better, windows 2000 had a minimum requirement of a pentium 133
and 64 mb ram.
Xp is just an updated version of win2000, and if you know how to turn off
all the bells and whistles
you will see that winXP is FASTER than win98 on the same machine.
So dont try to teach me something that I know all too well.
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
t.cruise said:
K
Kenny
You can browse, chat, send emails and use office on that computer.
I use it also as a thin client.
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
I use it also as a thin client.
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
I use it also as a thin client.
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
You can browse, chat, send emails and use office on that computer.Ken Blake said:
I use it also as a thin client.
--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net
A
Alex Nichol
Chris said:
Don't even think of it. Paint drying would be too fast - you would be
contemplating the growth of a stalactite
P
Plato
Chris said:
It's best to match as OS for an old PC based on the hardware available.
For that puppy
I'd put win95B on.
J
J. S. Pack
Wot he said. Most people haven't tried such minimalism, so they don't
really know how fast XP can be. See blackviper.com to get free .reg files
to turn off unneeded services. Turn off system restore (use ERUNT on a
schedule) and hibernation. Clean out the registry and optimize it w/ the
optimizer that comes w/ ERUNT. Use a much smaller and faster alternative
shell like bblean (free; learning curve required) or Aston (I like both
better than explorer anyway). Use XPlite to get rid of much bloat. Of
course turn off most startup programs. Bootup will still be slow but it's
likely you'll be able to email, surf, and wordprocess w/ tolerable speed.
Still, a bit more RAM would be awfully nice . . . .