The Mother Board

[jcn]

Hi, it's a long story why, but my Toshiba laptop required a system reinstall. That was done from the recovery disk provided. It all works ok now but there is one problem.

The computer was bought in 2006; the recovery disk reinstalled a "service pack 2" version. Microsoft no longer supports XP unless it has "service pack 3", right?

So, what do I do?
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ASUS P4S8X motherboard.
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.53GHz Northwood.
3GB DDR.
Gigabyte R970 PRO Graphics Accelerator.
USB Modem for BB.
Maxtor 80GB hard drive.
52x CD ROM Drive.
Floppy Drive.
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
PSU, 420 W, P4.

[Mr T]

Make sure windows is activated, make sure the time and date is correct, make sure you are online then go to programs and click on windows update. It will take a while so leave it to do it. After SP3 installs, there are in the region of 127 further updates, so be patient.
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I have been programming on computers since the ZX81.
I am an apprentice trained Electronics Engineer with qualifications to back it up.
I have been repairing computers since 1996.
Yet to some people I still know nothing...

[Roach412]

you might have to literally google for a location to download SP3 from. that's exactly what i ended up doing when i did a clean install from a non-SP disk. needless to say it took a while. downloaded SP1, installed, downloaded SP2, installed, downloaded SP3, installed...then it would allow me to do the auto updates.

-Roach
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Lian Li Lancool First Knight Series PC-K59W
Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz
EVGA X58 FTW3 132-GT-E768-TR
EVGA GTX 560ti FPB
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB)
Crucial M4 128gb SATAIII SSD
Corsair Professional Series HX850 PSU

[Hardware Junkie]

Just get it from here and install it. I do it all the time.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=24

Technically Microsoft doesn't support XP any longer. They don't even allow IE9 or 10 to be installed on it.
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"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier

[evasive]

no more security patches after april 8, 2014 to be precise:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/endofsupport.aspx
_________________
We hate rut, but we fear change.



System error, strike any user to continue...

[jcn]

Thank you all for the replies; it’s taken me a while but this is what I did.

Tried to run windows update. Unsurprisingly it did not work, the error page showed suggestions to fix the problem but the page showed an error number on the top right of thee page. I used this error number in windows search and it reported the SP3 story as expected, then, a link took me to the SP3 installation page, the same one shown by Hardware Junkie above.

I downloaded SP3 on to a USB stick on this computer, as the other was unsecured. I installed SP3 to the laptop using the USB stick and tried windows update again. This time it worked, downloading and installing a large number of updates as Mr T explained.

After the above, update was run again, and again a further batch of updates was installed. I repeated this a few times until update reported that it was up to date.

When using the computer, it reported that it needed .NET Framework to work, clicked this update and now it works ok.

So thanks ALL.
_________________
ASUS P4S8X motherboard.
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.53GHz Northwood.
3GB DDR.
Gigabyte R970 PRO Graphics Accelerator.
USB Modem for BB.
Maxtor 80GB hard drive.
52x CD ROM Drive.
Floppy Drive.
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.
PSU, 420 W, P4.

[Karlsweldt]

Good to hear you are finally "up and running".
Yes, sadly, Win XP will be 'abandoned' next April. And the newer OS versions will not work with most older systems.. laptops or desk models. The minimal memory would need to be 1 GB or higher, and CPU speed higher than 1 GHz. Then too, disk space would need to be greater than 100 GB! Any system that won't meet the minimal specs will meet the recycling hammer of fate. Shame. Just too much "bloatware" in the newer OS versions.
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F@H.. to solve mankind's maladies.. in our lifetimes!

[jcn]

[Karlsweldt]

For any video setup to display HD graphics, you need a fast "engine" and more than 512 MB of memory dedicated to it. The on-board graphics designs have no dedicated memory of their own.. but a dedicated part of the main system upper memory is set aside for that use. But the CPU has to do double-duty in processing data and rendering the video images.
For an add-in card, you have the best results.
You might get acceptable HD video if you lower the refresh rate to 70 Hz or 60 Hz. Less strain on the video engine, but also less fine detail and smooth rendering. You need minimal about 8 megs per pixel "pipeline" for each video frame. Less than 12 "pipes" for video, the poorer the effect.
_________________
F@H.. to solve mankind's maladies.. in our lifetimes!

[evasive]

jcn: what exactly is that video card since I cannot find any reference for R970 being a graphics card?
_________________
We hate rut, but we fear change.



System error, strike any user to continue...