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Karl_db View Drop Down
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Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Old Tosh Laptop
    Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 7:21pm
Might as well make a thread for this, although I started mentioning doing a fresh install of XP (Toshiba version) in this thread:

Linux Mint 10 - PCNet-Online Forum

Right now...it's doing an image restore using Image For DOS (Terabyte).

I restored the original XP from the Toshiba restore disk.  Slow. It uses Ghost...a very old version.

It didn't wipe out the data partition as I thought it was.  But no options to choose what it would restore. By the time it was finished...well...I think I bought it in 2004. Dozens of junk programs. Probably a half-dozen just for America Online. A quarter of the desktop taken up by icons for garbage programs.  Hours of uninstalling stuff...and more hours weeding out leftover folders and crap.

In the long run...until I figured out what to do...sometimes the devil you're used to is better than the devil you ain't. LOL  (Trouble locating keys. Getting asked to register six year old programs...and some don't want to take "no" for an answer...gee.)
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Apr 2011 at 8:08pm
Not 2004....July 2005. That's still six years of changes, updates and upgrades to catch up on.

Note to self: Update image backup before next try. Otherwise if I have to restore the image again...I'll have another 16 updates from Microsoft to wait for.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 3:36am
Not exactly "OS crash" but close...and appropriate.
http://www.gocomics.com/9to5/2011/04/18/
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Joined: 22 Mar 2008
Location: USA, Georgia
Posts: 15255 		  Quote Randy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 3:56pm
I'm spoiled by Windows 7 and Linux Mint 10.  Just did the full backup with my and my sweetie's laptops using Windows 7's backup app.  And Linux Mint just works beautiful for me.  It has a large part of what I install already included.  And to think how easy Windows XP used to seem compared to Windows 98 or 2k.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 4:47pm
Yeah...that's true (XP easy compared to 98).  Win7 is a lot easier. But most of my frustration is with the OEM restore disk version.  I just about made a list and took a screen shot of all the junk.  I'm glad they don't crappify them like that anymore!
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 4:47pm
Oh...I'm revisiting Mint site next and may try it again.  
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Joined: 22 Mar 2008
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Posts: 15255 		  Quote Randy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Apr 2011 at 7:47pm
Have you ever tried this utility?

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 3:36am
Oh yes...I remembered that....after I'd manual uninstalled everything and ran a reg cleaner.

Don't know if I'll leave it like this...but Mint 10 did install last night without a hitch.  Not sure if it was just "luck" or if my plan worked.  I decided to download it again and burn it using the old Toshiba burner....so it would be reading the same disk it burned. So I had to do the CD version. (This laptop just has a DVD ROM.)

Then afterwards I clicked the "upgrade to DVD version" on the welcome screen.

Nice. Not sure if I'll leave it as the only OS on this laptop...and the hard disk is really too small for dual booting. (My online life is documented in a note program that I've used for....probably the last decade. It's very simple...but has logins and all that good stuff in it.  I'm near lost without it.)
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Posts: 15255 		  Quote Randy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 6:42am
I've just started using Evernote.  Is that the note app you started using?  I've found it to be simply amazing.  I use it on Windows, Linux and my Android phone.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 5:54pm
Notewonder is what I've used forever:
http://www.ariesoft.com/note_wonder_overview.htm

I imaged Mint tonight and threw on XP Pro. Or tried to.  I'm beginning to wonder if it's just this laptop or if something is going out. (I ran Spin Rite a second time...it shows 4 cabling errors...whatever that is.)

An error has been encountered that prevents Setup from continuing.

One of the components that Windows needs to continue setup could not be installed.

The request could not be performed because of an I.O device error.

Installation Failed: D:\I386\asms. Error Message: The request could not be performed

because of an I/O error.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 5:56pm
Thanks for the tip about Evernote. Sounds nice to run it cross-OS.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Apr 2011 at 6:30pm
I'm starting to have my doubts about the DVD ROM on this machine. Most of the searching for the install error messages seems to point to that as the cause. (Bad DVD drive or a bad install disk. The disk was virgin...no scratches or stuff. And I did clean the DVD drive the other day.)

If I was smart...I'd probably renew my searching for a place to replace the youngun's HP laptop, get it fixed...and get my good dual core back.  (Though to be honest...for what I do 90-percent of the time...all I need is something lightweight, good battery, and multi-core to handle today's internet.  Most of the time I'm just browsing, reading...you know....)
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Posts: 15255 		  Quote Randy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 5:24am
If you have one of those adapters that lets you connect a hard drive via USB, they also work on internal DVD drives.  Just used one this weekend to burn a disk from my sweetie's laptop.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 4:19pm
Off the top of my head...I can't remember the boot options..but I don't think USB is one of them.

Hard disk.
CD Drive
LAN
and ??? something else. I'll have to check.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 4:09am
The forth boot option is floppy driver, which I don't have.

I tried several more times to use the XP Pro install disk last night. After the first fail, I restarted and tried using the "repair" option. Nope...errors later on.

For the heck of it, I even tried installing Win98.  I'd found the disk while looking for an XP disk.  It doesn't seem to like my hard drive. Something about not being able to read the last cluster on C Drive. Are you sure it's set up correctly...yada yada. Then runs a scan and finds lots of errors.

I think I'll remove the HD tonight, use the adapters to connect to the desktop and do a full format and scan. (It is a branded Toshiba hard drive, but doesn't seem to have any OEM tools that will work on it. )
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 4:15am
BTW...got an good (cheap) sources for laptop ATA-6 (or PATA) hard drives?

I've been searching and the cheapest is about $56 for a 80GB...and the same places sell 500GB SATA for the same price. Sigh.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 11:53pm
Well. Removed the hard drive, connected it via USB adapter to the desktop. Ran a disk check...lots of errors. Used a utility and did a low level format of the whole drive. Reinstalled the drive in the laptop and threw in the XP Pro install disk and...something or other redundancy error. (Searches said either bad DVD drive or bad DVD.)

Found my original XP disk. Doesn't even have SP1 on it. It installed without a hitch. Evidently I the XP Pro disk I bought years back is a coaster.

Don't know if it's going to work yet. I have some drivers downloaded from Toshiba. And I used a driver backup program to save third party drivers. Too late to play more tonight.  Good night Gracie.... 
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Apr 2011 at 9:37am
It's pretty well updated and all that. Backing (imaging) now...then I'm going to throw Mint 10 back on it.  I'm thinking of getting a little bigger hard drive and dual booting. I "think" I can restore the image to a different hard drive and let Windows take care of any differences in that. I think.
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Posts: 29264 		  Quote Karl_db Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2011 at 3:51pm
My biggest challenge right now with XP installed seems to be finding an anti-virus that doesn't suck the life out of it. Freebie of course. I've tried Avast, which I was using before. AVG. And MS essentials. MS essentials doesn't do too bad except on downloads with Firefox. Not sure why...but it can take a half-minute or more for it to finish scanning downloads...and bogs down the system while it does.  (Even saving images, like comic strips.)
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Posts: 15255 		  Quote Randy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Apr 2011 at 5:55pm
Antivir is another one I've used now and then

http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

You have to put up with some pop-ups advertising for the paid version, but it seems to run pretty well otherwise.
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