Hi,


I have a Compaq Presario S6500NX pc with an Asus A7V8X-LA motherboard. THis board has the Via KM/KN 400 chipset.
Although I have never had any problems with this computer other than replacing the Micro ATX Case, I would like to know if in the near future I had to replace the motherboard and I choose another Asus with the same chipset I would still be able to use the same recovery disks that I'm currently using. It just reloads windows XP Home edition with a lot of program that I use and the best part is that there is no activation and this is what I like the most.

Thanks in advance

Selby

Expect the hard drive to fail first.

The restore disk sucks selbio, and your new mainboard will come with cables and a driver disk.

Don't get a via chipset for your socket A cpu, get an nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, or a more modern variant, (I think 1 exists...).

The nForce2 is going to be a top performer for a while yet and will do fine until you go to 64bit.

nForce2 runs best if 2 similar ram sticks are used in dual channel mode, they take 400mhz XP3200+ cpu's and should be able to run overclocked semprons for cheap gaming power should you decide to stick with socket A for a while.

You really need a copy of WinXP and then you will finally be free from the compaq syndrome.

After you get it all set up and going good, make a disk image and VOILA! , you have your own custom restore disk if you want.

As for the via chipsets, they take the via 4 in 1 or whatever they are called now...... it's a "fit's all" driver for via chipsets.

The thing you are going to need is any drivers for hardware that came bundled with your compaq PC, such as scanners, printers, video card, sound card etc.

The original drivers may be able to be extracted from the setup disks, but you could probably find newer drivers seperately on the internet.

When a normal windows disk loads, it prompts you to enter some info and finishes up with a new default desktop. It will load any drivers automatically for your hardware that  it has in it's database and then prompt you for drivers it cant find. At this stage, it's best to cancel everything and run the mainboard driver disk setup util, this will install the mainboard specific drivers.

Next, load any other hardware drivers you have and run the Service Pack 2 setup installation here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245...

Next, get your firewall and internet security in place, disable automatic updates and you are ready to get online again. Don't let auto updates overwrite all your drivers and screw up your new install.

It's best if you start collecting drivers for all your hardware and get that download above, (it's huge), and then you'll bet set to go when you upgrade the board.

You can test installing the hardware drivers just prior to the changeover to get the hang of it so you dont mess up the new installation. It doesnt matter if you screw up your old windows. This way you can test the drivers and get to know the correct procedure beforehand.

You don't need to get stuck on asus boards either if other quality boards are available. There are many very nice socket A boards out there.

Quote:


Could you give us one good reason why we should let an automated system modify our PC's operating system when it works perfectly "out of the box" since SP2 Autopilot? I'm bewildered as to why anyone would want to do that unless there was some specific problem.

I can see why a business organisation might want to comply out of "duty of care" but for the average home PC user, I really don't see the point.

Are there still any gaping security holes that MS want us to patch up? I for one don't think much at all about the MS firewall, the security center or any such automated hogwash and promptly replace all such nonsense with some decent freeware that gets the job done properly.

Is MS update really most beneficial to MS for marketing purposes after they read all of our configurations?

As long as the Op Sys is doing it's job and not causing any loss of performance or malfunction, I stand by my comments. But please, enlighten me if I've missed something relevant, as all I've seen in my experience, after SP2, is people having hassle after hassle with auto-updates.

I don't think there was or ever will be again a comparable op sys to SP2 as far as "out of the box" compatibility and functionality. It wouldn't pay MS to make that mistake again, and I suspect they are working very hard at this moment to remedy that situation.

Since installing SP2, my clients, friends and myself have enjoyed a rare reprieve from the paranoia of having all that "Critical" worry and bother hanging over our heads, so what are we missing out on that's so important and why should I rejoin the masses in total dependance to the MS website?

If MS gets back to the Bad Old Days of multiple critical updates all the time, (and they probably will) I'll then seriously consider using another op sys, (or possibly just keep using the perfect one I already have, unless they figure out some way to wreck it).

I'm sorry, I went overboard again.........  
I've had a lot of horrendous experiences with auto-update in the past, and it's not at all forgotten yet Autopilot.

My situation is not the norm, as it were. I am always striving to cut, chop and otherwise subdue the operating system, third party software and applications to their most meagre bare essentials in the constant struggle to maintain some measure of system performance in the face of all the automation imposed on us all by the software developers.

In recent history, I and others like me have in some measure been supported by the software writers it seems, as they are now nearly always providing an option to turn the automation in their programs off if desired. This is a good current trend and is rather decent and professional of them I think. Not everyone does this however, and it's still a battle to keep things clean on the PC.

I used to enjoy downloading all kinds of utilities and apps, trying them out etc, but it all ended up a huge nightmare, and I'm very choosy about installing anything anymore. (I no longer format my PC twice a week)   

Well, all that longwinded rave brings me to a point and here it is:

Since installing SP2, disabling auto-updates, getting rid of my anti-virus automation and  disabling as much automated garbage as I can find, my formatting is now confined to system builds and not in response to some errata in my Op Sys. I don't seem to have problems anymore and I can concentrate on flying online, designing, researching and, well, expressing myself here for example! 

That's just the point though, are there any critical updates to SP2, and if so, why aren't they critical enough to have affected me in over 18 months of faultless SP2 usage?

I'm certainly exposed to security threats, with only basic knowledge of Internet Security, but so far I haven't had any events "that I am aware of". This is not a light statement, as I host an online flying server and voice comms on my dialup connection, every byte per second needs to be tweaked to make that possible. I would notice any bandwidth loss, not to mention that zonealarm firewall would put on a big song and dance should someone/something try to connect to my PC.

What the heck is so darn critical then? It's mass hysteria as far as I'm concerned and it's fueling a whole security industry, which is largely, as far as home PC owners are concerned, totally unnecessary.

90% of folks will get by fine on a freeware, software firewall alone as security.

Most people are boring, there is no need or glory in hacking into Joe Blogs PC. But if a hacker worms his way into  a well defended and famous network, he is an underground hero.

People dont write viruses to circumvent or cripple small freeware companies either, they target Norton or Microsoft based systems and the like. If you are using those services, or other major players' software etc, then you should expect trouble. Home users can afford to "stear clear" of the big boys, as our data is not critically confidential, at least it shouldn't be...... no-one is going to get State secrets from us right?

All that the majority here are concerned with is that we put a lot of time into our PC's getting things the way we like them, and at some considerable cost for some, to obtain our precious data.
The fear of losing all our efforts to date is what compels us into the security spiral, shoring up our little machines like some deviant superpower would.

Look, the viruses etc. that do the real damage are the ones that are new and rampant and there is no immediate knowledge or cure for, that's WHY they do so much damage.

In most cases, any known security won't deal with a new and real threat anyway.

I am constantly both amused and annoyed by a very common event, I haven't got a name for it yet........... but it occurs nearly everyday while I'm interacting with people online, and it probably happens to most of you out there.

You are busy going about your activities on the PC when all of a sudden you get ripped straight to some application trying to do a useless update, in fact,  I suspect a lot of people spend half their productive time keeping everything updated!

This update activity interferes with our lives constantly, and is an outright nuisance in plague proportion in online gaming rooms and servers, causing lag, disconnections and other interfering symptoms. It's pathetic and intrusive.

Compare all the time spent on obtaining a false sense of security to the possible downtime a virus would cause and it's not worth it in my opinion. Data can be backed up securely on a seperate hard disk once a week for example, and a hard disk is a lot cheaper than the multitude of professional security programs on offer.

Not everyone will agree with this philosophy, I don't expect them too. But for those willing to embrace it, you will find some freedom and peace of mind.

Quote:


Because people like us are a tiny tiny minority of the hundreds of millions of people using MS Windows.

The majority are totally clueless about internet security and in the case of these millions, the_ autopilot is quite right.
That's why Auto Updates, Security Centre, Windows Firewall are on by default.. If they weren't most people would be infected within five minutes of connecting to the internet and they would rapidly infect everyone else.

I use Custom feature of auto updates so I choose what I want t install like security fixes etc and just uncheck any drivers.

You need some drive imaging software such as Norton Ghost; as far as avoiding activation, you better ask Microsoft if that's ok first.........