xp......finally

Post by **raztat** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:28 pm

im finally running on windows xp after 6 hours over 2 days on the phone with ailenware and 3 different xp disc, and many vista reinstalls and an overheating problem im finally on windows xp. only took forever.

Post by **Ack** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:32 pm

Hey, what was that overheating problem? I've been having heat issues lately, wondering if you might have had a similar problem.

Post by **roushimsx** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:40 pm

Buddy of mine has had an alienware for about the last 18 months or so and he's highly critical of them (both for hardware reliability and for support). His most recent problem was with the GPU overheating and needing to be replaced. Makes me glad I never sprung for a "desktop replacement" or a "gaming laptop".

Sucks to hear that you've been having problems as well, but thankfully you're all set now and whatnot.

Post by **peace4myheart** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:05 pm

I got an Alienware laptop too. It got overheated to the point that it will burn your legs if you put it on your lap. I didn't care until it keep on shutting itself down after 5 or 10 minutes. Anyway, I called customer service to get it fixed because I bought a two years plan. Those dumbass gave me such a hard time. They said I should have maintained it better and clean it on a regular basis. They even told me to open it up myself and check it out to see what the problem was. I told them that if I need to do that myself, then I wouldn't fu*king need to buy the 2 years insurance plan. I had to talked to the supervisor and he finally allowed me to send it in. They did send it back within 5 days and replaced one of the malfunctioned heat sinker. BTW, I had no problem installing windows XP on my computer. Actually, it was my brother who did it for me. I don't know much about that kinda stuff. Just know how to play games on it.

Post by **ImportBoy** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:11 pm

Yes...be wary if going for a desktop replacement laptop. Take into consideration your long term needs.

I bought a 17-inch HP zd8000 10 pound monster in the summer of 2005. It has a full desktop Pentium 4 3.0 GHz processor, 1GB DDR2 (upgraded to 2GB last year), and Radeon X600 Mobility 256MB dedicated video. The performance is excellent overall from basic word processing and internet to high end gaming. It plays recently games like Unreal Tournament 3 and Half-Life: Episode 2 without any issues and at high settings.

The bad thing is the unit has 3 fans and they can get really loud if the temperature gets high enough. Last few months fans had been getting louder and more often in use. I obtained a service manual for the unit online and completly dissassembled it. As I expected, dust and dirt caked was all over the system board, processor heat sink, and vents. After cleaning everything out and putting it back together the fans are running less and produce less noise. If you have an old laptop I'd suggest opening it up sometime for a cleaning.

Not to mention batterly life is only about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Now down to about an hour since I bought it.

Funny thing is I rarely ever play games on the thing, which was one of the main factors I was considering when I bought it. With that in mind I recently bought an EEE PC and have had no complaints with it. Does just about everything I need, long battery life, and cheap price. Not mention nearly silent operating use.

Post by **lordofduct** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:10 pm

This thread covers so many reasons why I refuse to own a laptop.

The only lap tops I get are very underpowered machines I use for very basic needs. Nothing impressive. And I buy them when they are considered old so they can be affordable.

Using a lappy for anything intensive is stupid in my book merely because what use is a laptop that can't be carried around because it dies in an hour or so. Put up with a small monitor, crappy mouse, horrible air flow, AND a dieing battery? No thank you.

Post by **racketboy** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:10 pm

Used Thinkpads all the way.

Post by **lordofduct** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:21 pm

racketboy wrote:Used Thinkpads all the way.

hell yeah

Post by **ImportBoy** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:45 pm

Used Thinkpads all the way.

Yep. I use to have an old thinkpad that had a Pentium 75 MHz, 40MB (!!!!) of RAM, 500MB hard disk, and built in modem. Nice bright screen, stereo speakers. Never had any issues. Ran DOS 6.22/Windows 3.1 on it. Does IBM even make thinkpads anymore or did they sell that buisness to Lenova or someone?

Post by **racketboy** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:27 pm

Lenovo, yeah.
Still pretty good though.
I just recently bought the last ultraportable IBM designed themselves, the X41
I'm loving it

Sorry to derail the thread -- best of luck with XP! (love that too)