Help!

[Spike88]

I have a Dimension c521. It came with an AMD Sempron 3000+ 1.8ghz. The motherboard has a AM2 slot. So I purchased a AMD Athlon 64 X2 60000+ 3.1ghz, which would nearly double my processor speed, and its a dual core instead of the single core. The new processor arrives in the mail today and I go to install it and its new heatsink(came with the processor). When I realized something that threw a wrench into my plans. The computer has a built in fan and heatsink. Thats fine and dandy, except for the fact I can't install the new heatsink.
Right now I'm kinda stuck. I cant' afford a new mother board, case, and graphics card(because my current graphics card is built into the motherboard). What should I do? :damn:

[AVGWarhawk]

To be honest, can the motherboard support the speed of your new CPU? It would seem to me you are putting a V12 engine into a go-cart. I have never seen a board with a build in fan and heatsink. Then again I have not seen them all. If the said built in fan went bad, how do you replace it? Replace the entire mobo? What mobo do you have?

[Spike88]

Actually I don't know the motherboard. I googled which one should be in here and it says the Dell HY175. But thats not the one in my cmoputer. Its a dell board for sure. The fan isn't built onto the board, its in the front of the case. The heatsink doesn't slid into a slot like it normally would. Its in a big plastic thing that hinges like a door onto the processor and over the fan.

[She-Wolf]

Spike, OEM boards (like Dell) are often customised so you cannot easily upgrade. If you go the Dell support site and put your model in, you can then view or download the manuals, and perhaps contact them to find out what to do.

[Reece]

Post a screenshot of the heatsink/fan assy.:-?

[Spike88]

Well, I ended up just putting the old heatsink back on and leaving the current processor. I guess I'll wait till I can get the money and buy a custom case/mobo/ power supply/ and graphics card.

Here's a diagram made by me(in paint) of the heatsink. Its not exactly accurate or to scale. :oops:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/Untitled-4.jpg

[Wolfehunter]

I wouldn't suggest it but duck tape works well in keeping things together...:D

[Spike88]

I wouldn't suggest it but duck tape works well in keeping things together...:D

I wonder if the warranty covers that. :lol:

I've decided I'll get this mobo for my new processor:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3939759&sku=P450-9120

[AVGWarhawk]

Now your talking Spike. Save your doe and get some good stuff. I have just finished messing with Dell, Emachines, Gateway, HP. Sure, you can get all kinds of good stuff already to go but you also get a bunch of crap loaded you do not need. I'm running my first computer build that has nothing but Vista 64. No hours spent deleting come on after come on. Right now, you got a good processor and mobo combo in the works. Build from them and load your OS.

[Spike88]

If I put my hard drive into my new computer will Vista work?

[Zachstar]

If I put my hard drive into my new computer will Vista work?
It will set off activation for sure.

There has been some success moving HDs over without a reformat. But often there are TONS of conflicts that cause extreme problems and some so deep that they are impossible to get rid of.

Reformat..

[bert8for3]

If I put my hard drive into my new computer will Vista work?
It will set off activation for sure.

There has been some success moving HDs over without a reformat. But often there are TONS of conflicts that cause extreme problems and some so deep that they are impossible to get rid of.

Reformat..

I'll second that, as I tried it last year. It was just no go on trying to boot up from the existing install on the hard drive and had to reformat and reinstall from scratch.

[AVGWarhawk]

Yes, reformat.

[CaptainHaplo]

A reformat is necessary. The last OS that was truly "movable" by moving your hard drive with reasonable success was win98. W2k introduced a much more robust - ie "thicker" - HAL that does NOT like to be moved. *HAL being Hardware Abstraction Layer*

This results in BSOD/Stop errors on boot in most anything 2000 or higher when the MB is different. While there is the outside chance it will boot, the guys above are dead on, your going to have so many failed to load drivers for devices and such your going to end up spending more time trying to sort it all out vs just a clean install and then adding in your favorite games/apps.

If you do reformat - use your current drive as a "backup and storage repository". Do it smart - things like download the appropriate service pack for the OS (always get the redistributable version) so you don't have to have open vulnerabilities while your updating the os. Go to the website of your antivirus make and get the manual update files to current. Same with drivers for your audio and video, as well as MB bridges if needed. That way - when you do rebuild - if your drive has either a storage partition with all this on it - or its all on a true second drive - your install and updating wont take as long.

Edit - another plus is the files run locally much faster when you don't have to wait on dl'ing them - so the rebuild is much faster.

Don't forget stuff like the Office SP if you use it, etc. The more you dl now and have available, the faster your rebuild will be when you do it.

Always do your install with the network cable unplugged (unless your doing a remote install) - so that open vulnerabilities are not exposed. With all the updates stored locally, you can have your OS up to date, your antivirus/firewall installed and fully "patched", etc before you plug in the cable. To many people don't realize that it doesnt take long for an "open" or default install machine to be seen and often attacked if its internet connected - update and secure yourself FIRST!!!

[Spike88]

If I don't have a Vista disk(my girlfriend doesn't know where she put it) what should I do?

[AVGWarhawk]

If I don't have a Vista disk(my girlfriend doesn't know where she put it) what should I do?

Get a new girlfriend. :rotfl: Buy a new OS. Not much else you can do.

[Thomen]

If I don't have a Vista disk(my girlfriend doesn't know where she put it) what should I do?

Get a new one from dell. Tell em you lost yours and they will probably send you a new one for a relative small fee. It will come without key, though ;)

[CaptainHaplo]

If its a dell - there is a sticker on the outside of it with the key for the OS - so he should have the key already on the box.

Just a note - always make sure if you have a cd - make sure you write down the key and file it away just in case. I usually write it ON the cd in perm marker as well as in an electronic document and a hard copy on file.

Also - for those that want to "roll back" to a previous operating system - remember than if you own a valid license for Windows Vista - it also licenses you for use of a singular "lesser" OS instead if you want. So you could own a vista license, never owned xp - but you are legally entitled to install xp INSTEAD of (but NOT in addition to) Vista on the single pc. It won't give you a install key - but if you install a lesser os instead - and keep your vista license handy - your legal. That means it covers w95 all the way up. However, for the "flavored" os's - the license only covers the equivilant - meaning wista home only allows xp home edition, not pro. It allows w2k pro but not server or advanced server.

People complain about microsoft - but they at least gave you rights to roll back under license.

[Thomen]

If its a dell - there is a sticker on the outside of it with the key for the OS - so he should have the key already on the box.

Yep.. I assumed that the sticker is still there. hehe

Also, Dell might ask for a Service Ticket number if they replace the disk. Said number can be found
a.) on another sticker on the box
or
b.) on a sticker in side the box.. usually somewhere on the mobo
or
3.) it should be listened in your Bios.

[She-Wolf]

You can also use such utils as SIW, from http://www.gtopala.com/ which is a free, legal and popular little tool to unhash the PID in the registry so you can write it down for future ref when you re-install, however, you will need to install using an OEM disk, preferably Dell, so that you can activate the OS once fully installed, a retail disk will probably not be accepted.

[Spike88]

If I were to get an Upgrade disk, and put this hard drive in, would I be able to reformat? Considering the upgrade is 100$ cheaper than the normal version.

[She-Wolf]

Upgrades usually require there to be a current operating system in place, though I think that there is a work around by which you can do a clean install on a reformatted disk by following a particular procedure, both for Vista and XP. Someone else might confirm that

[Spike88]

Upgrades usually require there to be a current operating system in place, though I think that there is a work around by which you can do a clean install on a reformatted disk by following a particular procedure, both for Vista and XP. Someone else might confirm that
But if I were to move this hard drive over with vista, and upgrade to a Home premium and delete everything else wouldn't that work? I know it worked with XP, whenever my parents work computers or our old computer which ran XP needed to be reformatted for whatever reason, it'd let us do so with the upgrade disk. Wait, whats the difference between a clean install and reformatting?

[CaptainHaplo]

Reformatting makes it a clean install.