Newbie trying to Upgrade to XP Pro (XP Home Currently)

Okay my comp sucks.

4 year old processor, 256 RAM, and a full 80 Gig HDD.

So I bought a 250 Gig Seagate HDD and want to put it in my comp for more space.

I have legitmate Windows XP that is running on the current HDD and the install disc handy.

I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT DOING THIS, SO PLEASE EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!!!

1. So I need to know how I should do this to optimize performance?

2. How do I figure out what type of RAM I need to buy?

3. Does this web site look right?

http://www.basichardware.com/HowTo_Install_Hard_Drive.html

Thanks a lot!

I have the money and some of the parts to build a new comp, I could probably do it if you guys explain everything to me.

 

well to save time you could set the second 250 hardrive as a slave, but this depends, is the interface of the second hard drive IDE or SATA? IDE is the ribon type cable and SATA is the red thin cable. if your motherboard is SATA and so is the HDD then you will not have to deal with slave/master. But if your comp is IDE (i suspect it is due to the facet it is so old) you will ahve to turn the second HDD to slave. To do this look in the booklet for insttuctions on how to do so, each hard drive is different. once you set it to slave put the master drive on the end of the IDE ribbon and the slave on the middle connectior and the other end to the motherboard. Another possibility is if you have morethan one IDE cable in your comp you could set the second one as master also and just put it on the end of your other IDE cable, But if you do this you wil ahve to find a way to connect your disk drives to your open IDE slots.
I hope this helped!

 

Ultra ATA 133 IDE, but it did come with a new IDE Cable to use.

I want what is for the best performance, I think it would be better if I set up the new HDD as master and clone the data from my current master to the new one.

Please tell me what to do!

 

What you can do (adnd what the best to do would be) is to backup ALL of your harddrive, you can do this with the backup utility pre installed on windows, back up all of your photos, music, programs, EVERYTHING. this should save your files as a certin file (not sure the exact name of the file)Next copy the backup file to a CD or a flash drive .Now, open your comp, take your older HD out and put the new one in its place, start your comp up with your windwos install disk, install windows and once that is done, put in the cd or drive you put the backup file on. open the file with windows backup and KABOM! new larger hard drive with all of your files and programs.
any more questions?

 

Custom built compaq presario 8000 series, no idea what else except for dxdiag.

 

I NEED HELP PLEASE!

We hooked up the second 250 GB Seagate HDD as a slave and my comp dectected it and everything was fine.

Seagate had built in software to clone the old HDD to the new one, so I used that. It also had more custom installation instructions for us to print out to make the slave the new master.

The instructions told us to simply move the jumpers.

So my father and I moved the jumpers to the right positions (where Seagate told us to on the old one) and where master is on the new one.

My computer refused to detect the 250 GB HDD even when we:

1. Took the jumper off of the old HDD

2. Reset the IDE Cable so that the master went to the new HDD and the slave went to the old HDD.

3. There were 2 jumpers Seagate gave us: One is capacity limiting, my Dad broke one and we don't know which one he broke.

4. WE EVEN TRIED TO SET THE NEW 250 GB HDD TO SLAVE AND IT WON'T DETECT IT ANYMORE!

I'm highly hysterical and upset, THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN EASY PROCESS AND IT WENT WRONG EVEN THOUGH WE FOLLOWED THE DIRECTIONS CORRECTLY. Even though we cloned the old HDD to the new HDD, when we tried to boot with the new as Master, it never got to windows, just the flashing - in the top left of the monitor.

To get the comp to boot to windows, we had to unhook the old HDD and boot off of the old one.

I am worried that somehow our new 250 GB HDD broke during installation or we broke the regular jumper we are supposed to use.

The instructions say that if it won't detect the drive, you may be able to get it to detect the drive using system setup, we haven't tried that yet as my comp says to press F10 to get there and we don't get there.

I have windows xp home.

I NEED HELP GUYS, I'M REALLY UPSET HERE!

There is a 5 year limited warranty on the HDD, so I think I might have to call Seagate at 1-800-SEAGATE.

 

We removed the broken jumper off of the new HDD, my Dad thinks he can put it back together. We have another jumper, it is just one of them was a capacity lessening jumper and we don't know which one broke.

You say to take the jumper off of the old drive and put it on the new drive as master. Take the IDE Cable and put the master end on the new HDD and the slave end on the old HDD.

I don't know how to go into BIOS, I just know that when I turn the computer on it takes me to a screen that says

"These things have been updated"
80 GB NAME
CD-ROM NAME
CD-ROM NAME

"Press F1 to save changes" "If you are using Unix you may need to press f10 and go to system setup"

When the new HDD was a slave, it was detected, now the new HDD doesn't seem to get detected at all no matter what we do. It could be we broke it because it moved a little on us today while we were switching the jumpers.

 

OH GREAT NOW THE SOUND IS GONE!!

I tried to unplug and replug in all the plugs for the sound and it isn't coming on.

WTF ITS LIKE MY COMPUTER IS BROKEN NOW!!

God I'm so upset!

I can't even watch anime now, I hate technology, it never works right!

MY WHOLE DAY HAS JUST BEEN RUINED by the inability of my computer to function correctly and the incorrect instructions of Seagate.

 

Please help me get my sound back, I checked the control panel and everything seems to be in order except for that fact that I have no sound and my device manager said everything is working properly.

 

Reinstall the drivers for your sound card. Also check your speakers connections.

 

I suggest you reinstall the drivers anyway, especially if anything went wrong with the transfer process.

 

I am very desparate to try to get my sound back. I have been trying all the info guides I can find on google, but my computer keeps telling me everything is fine.

The only problems I seem to have is that I can't place a sound volume icon in the taskbar and when I plugged headphones into the computer, I still had no sound.

I went to system information and found my sound card. The name of my sound card (Creative EMU10K1 Audio Processor (WDM)) isn't listed in my device manager anywhere. It says the driver on it is 2005.

How would I reinstall the drivers for the sound card? I don't think I have the CD the speakers came with anymore.

 

You have checked through windows volume control right?

 

There is nothing there.

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to Entertainment, and then click Volume Control.

I HAVE NO VOLUME CONTROL, IT SAYS (Empty)

Maybe this is because of this

3. I can't place a volume icon in the taskbar, I get this error message "Windows cannot display the volume control on the taskbar because the Volume Control program has not been installed. To install it, use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel".

I have no idea how to do that.

I'M PUTTING THE 2ND HDD ON HOLD UNTIL I GET THE SOUND BACK! I play games and watch anime, I need the sound please!

 

Go to your control panel and choose 'sounds and audio devices' - go to Audio, and see what's in the Sound Playback and sound Recording dropdown boxes. If nothing, your sound card's not installed, no matter what the device manager says.
if you have no volume control program - say for example going Start-> Run and typing sndvol32 in the box, doesnt open a program, your volume control program is missing for whatever reason.

 

Sound Playback
SB Live! Audio [1000]

Sound Recording
SB Live! Audio [1000]

MIDI Music Playback
SB Live! Synth A [1000]

Is there a way for me to check to see if my sound card is built in or not, I don't know!

I can't run the sndvol32 (w/e) program, it says it can't find it.

Sorry for double posting and causing trouble DDp, didn't mean to ;(

 

What about doing what I suggested about the Volume control?
If it doesnt work, PM me with your email and I'll send you the program.