The "Joy" of PC: Windows Hell

[rbmrtn]

We don't call it wintendoze for nuthin

The memory issue maybe not windoze fault. I have a number of old PCs ( even back to an XT ). The mixed memory boards many times will see and support certain size modules and total amounts of memory and not the same depending on which slots are being used. Plug in a 1gb stick and it only sees 512kb in the slot.. that is the BIOS and memory controller. Sometimes a BIOS update will fix this, sometime its just physical limitations of the hardware.

In W95 it actually ran on top of DOS. The installer actually loaded a DOS driver for the CD drive and then installed windows. So after it was installed yea sometimes you had to reinstall or rescan hardware for windows to install a CD driver. Sound cards were problems too. Ah.. Plug-n-Pray

Swapping keyboards with XP was a problem too. If you unplugged a PS/2 you had to reboot to get it going again. Swap to a USB and reboot... it would take XP 10 minutes or more to recognize and load a driver for it but it usually worked, just had to wait on it.

I have see the numlock issue, seems to be something in W10, UEFI and fastboot. This a pretty good writeup on it, How to Enable Num Lock Automatically When Your Computer Boots

[marko]

Respectfully, have you ever thought of a Chromebook?

I had been a Windows user for over 20 years. PC crashed almost 4 years ago, lost half my stuff and coupled to the 'prejudicial software approach' of W8, I said "never again"; bought a Chromebook for $289, migrated my files (Excel, Word, etc) to Googledocs.

Never looked back!

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound ... I spent quite a few hours looking at the Task Manager, trying to see what process was active. To make a long story less long, suffice to say that it was the god-d*mned Windows Update that was stirring things crazy. What worked for me was to download and install Win 7 Rollup Update after SP1, the so-called KB890830. Immediately after instaling this and rebooting, I saw a HUGE improvement...

An important correction: it was not KB890830 patch that fixed the problem. KB890930 was a MS Virus Removal tool, which was not of help here.

The Win 7 Rollup Update is essentially Service Pack 2 (SP2), which contains all the updates since SP1. It is faster and better than letting Windows Update chugging through all the hundreds of little updates. It's KB3125574 for 64-bit version.

See: How to Update Windows 7 All at Once with Microsoft’s Convenience Rollup.

See: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125574.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim584672 Windows 7 update is broken. It hangs and hangs saying it is updating, yet it never finishes. I did a clean reinstall and after hundreds of updates it finally finished, it took forever...

The Rollup Update would save a lot of hassle. In fact, it fixed the problem that I somehow got with updating piecemeal through the years. The link I provided above shows how one could immediately apply these rollups on top of SP1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbmrtn ...The memory issue maybe not windoze fault. I have a number of old PCs ( even back to an XT ). The mixed memory boards many times will see and support certain size modules and total amounts of memory and not the same depending on which slots are being used. Plug in a 1gb stick and it only sees 512kb in the slot... I have see the numlock issue, seems to be something in W10, UEFI and fastboot. This a pretty good writeup on it, How to Enable Num Lock Automatically When Your Computer Boots

About the memory compatibility, I do not blame Windows for it.

Thanks for the Num Lock info. I will read it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko Respectfully, have you ever thought of a Chromebook? I had been a Windows user for over 20 years. PC crashed almost 4 years ago, lost half my stuff and coupled to the 'prejudicial software approach' of W8, I said "never again"; bought a Chromebook for $289, migrated my files (Excel, Word, etc) to Googledocs. Never looked back!

I have so many PC hardware and software that I cannot abandon now. I have 6 desktops still running, and these are newer quad-core or dual core machines, not the older single cores. Two of the desktops have been reconfigured to run server software. I have way too much invested.

At one point, I looked into switching to Linux, starting with the servers. Turned out that it had some compatibility problems with Windows, so I abandoned the efforts.

By the way, my wife is using her Android tablet more and more. She needs no IT support from me on that. In fact, I bought it for her, but have used it so little I do not know all of its features.

[ERD50]

Seriously do some checking into whether Ubuntu Linux (I like the Xubuntu/XFCE variation) runs well on those computers. There are some occasional hardware issues, most can be resolved with a little tweaking, but a search will usually come up with the status for a particular model.

Xubuntu/XFCE variation has low demands so runs well on older PCs and has a more 'windows-like' desktop interface.

update: I cross posted with this:


At one point, I looked into switching to Linux, starting with the servers. Turned out that it had some compatibility problems with Windows, so I abandoned the efforts.

Just wipe windows. That makes the linux install easier. On the machines that I kept windows on as a boot option, I've never used it (though I do have other MACs in the house).

-ERD50

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff ...That keyboard issue is ridiculous. Hope I can remember it in the future. Does the same thing apply to mice?

Yes. In fact, one of the configuration changes I tried was going from wireless KB + PS2 Mouse to PS2 KB + PS2 Mouse. The PS2 KB did not work, but I lost the Mouse too. Had to reboot via the power switch.

By the way, the wireless keyboard appears to Windows as a USB keyboard, because the receiver plugs into a USB slot.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Seriously do some checking into whether Ubuntu Linux (I like the Xubuntu/XFCE variation) runs well on those computers. There are some occasional hardware issues, most can be resolved with a little tweaking, but a search will usually come up with the status for a particular model. Xubuntu/XFCE variation has low demands so runs well on older PCs and has a more 'windows-like' desktop interface. update: I cross posted with this: At one point, I looked into switching to Linux, starting with the servers. Turned out that it had some compatibility problems with Windows, so I abandoned the efforts. Just wipe windows. That makes the linux install easier. On the machines that I kept windows on as a boot option, I've never used it (though I do have other MACs in the house). -ERD50

The compatibility problem I talked about was using Linux-based file servers with Windows machines.

I have many older HDs of 100GB or 200GB to install Linux on for testing. Installation was no problem, but I would lose my Windows application software collection I know well over the years.

[photoguy]

Your old software won't work under a VM?


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

[GrayHare]

NW, thanks for posting that saga, it'll help solve the inevitable occurrence of similar trouble by someone else. Operating system updates are like street drugs, you never know what you're getting.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy Your old software won't work under a VM?

Don't know. I looked into Linux many years ago. The Wine project back then was in its infancy. Have not checked since.

[Sunset]

So once you turned off the fast boot and got the machine to see the new keyboard, and did a reboot, can you turn the fast boot back on ?
Would it know to use the new keyboard and not revert back to the installation keyboard?

[ls99]

Surely NW Bound can't have been bored the past few days. Resume normal breathing.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I have so many PC hardware and software that I cannot abandon now. I have 6 desktops still running, and these are newer quad-core or dual core machines, not the older single cores. Two of the desktops have been reconfigured to run server software. I have way too much invested. At one point, I looked into switching to Linux, starting with the servers. Turned out that it had some compatibility problems with Windows, so I abandoned the efforts. By the way, my wife is using her Android tablet more and more. She needs no IT support from me on that. In fact, I bought it for her, but have used it so little I do not know all of its features.

Just curious here, but what in the world are you doing with so many computers now that you are retired? Are you running a business that requires server access and mega data storage? Are you hosting web sites?

Take note on what your DW is doing. Maybe you can find some middle ground and slim down to 1/3 the Win desktops and a Chromebook (Boy, do I love my Toshiba Chromebook!).

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Just curious here, but what in the world are you doing with so many computers now that you are retired? Are you running a business that requires server access and mega data storage? Are you hosting web sites? Take note on what your DW is doing. Maybe you can find some middle ground and slim down to 1/3 the Win desktops and a Chromebook (Boy, do I love my Toshiba Chromebook!).

I think he is heating his house with them ...

I know we find our "computer room" gets about 5 degrees F warmer than the rest of the house when running just 2 machines all day.
Now I suspend mine whenever I walk away.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset So once you turned off the fast boot and got the machine to see the new keyboard, and did a reboot, can you turn the fast boot back on ? Would it know to use the new keyboard and not revert back to the installation keyboard?

Ah hah, a very apt question. I thought about it too, but was too anxious to move on to fixing my Win 7 laptop, so just pushed the whole Win 10 affair aside and did not investigate.

Just now, did an experiment, and turned the fast boot back on. What's great now is that it remembers both keyboards and can work with either one plugged in. How about that? The boot may be perceptibly slower, but still a lot faster than slow boot.

So, Win 10 still has some redeeming quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Just curious here, but what in the world are you doing with so many computers now that you are retired? Are you running a business that requires server access and mega data storage? Are you hosting web sites? Take note on what your DW is doing. Maybe you can find some middle ground and slim down to 1/3 the Win desktops and a Chromebook (Boy, do I love my Toshiba Chromebook!).

No Web site hosting. Until I quit 4 years ago, these machines were capital equipment to support my consulting work. And I still have several older machines back from the failed startup days.

The server setup was to provide network storage for file archival purposes for both past technical data and now personal MP3, photos, etc..., as well as networked PC backup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset I think he is heating his house with them ... I know we find our "computer room" gets about 5 degrees F warmer than the rest of the house when running just 2 machines all day. Now I suspend mine whenever I walk away.

I use my laptop the most, and do not leave my desktops on all the time, not even the servers. In addition to the 2 PC-based servers, I have 2 smaller 1GB standalone NAS, one of which I leave on 24/7. Been thinking about converting it to a SSD.

By the way, my machines are "distributed" through the house (connected with 1 gigabit Ethernet), so no concentrated heating.

[NW-Bound]

By the way, the older PCs I had from the failed startup days got some special peripheral add-ons, such as IEEE-488 bus interface to control lab instruments, flash memory cards on PCMCIA (remember those?), etc... Gosh, I have not turned them on for more than a decade. These PCs also had peripherals that were expensive back then, such as Sony DAT drives, Exabyte drives, etc...

PS. Besides the 6 still running desktops, I have my beloved laptop, and my wife is also using 3 netbook PCs in addition to her Android tablet. She left the netbooks through the house, so has one handy when she needs it. They do not burn much power, and do go to sleep. Two of the 3 netbooks were eligible for Win 10, and have been updated.

[jim584672]

I hardly ever use Windows on bare metal now. I have Virtualbox in Ubuntu which runs Windows if I need it. Also Wine in Ubuntu will run most simple Windows programs without a problem. A big plus is no worry about viruses with Linux.

[dixonge]

I'm planning on going into retirement w/ 2 Android phones, two Win10 laptops and one more portable device, probably an Android tablet. Also a media drive and backup drive. But that's it! Keeping it as light as possible, as repairable as possible. But then we'll be traipsing around South America with no particular home base, so...

[Beldar]

Join us NW_Bound, come over to the dark side.

[dixonge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim584672 I hardly ever use Windows on bare metal now. I have Virtualbox in Ubuntu which runs Windows if I need it. Also Wine in Ubuntu will run most simple Windows programs without a problem. A big plus is no worry about viruses with Linux.

I just gave up on Linux, again. I have a large scanning project and there are evidently NO drivers that function with my scanner on Linux. Plus a genealogy program I purchased awhile back, Windows only. The reasons I had to keep dual-booting back over to the Windows side just kept growing, and I finally just deleted the linux partition and gave it back to Windows. This might be the last time I get angry and try to abandon all major OS'...