help!! reformat laptop (compaq)

jamc · Mar 20, 2005, 03:44 PM

ok i just got a used laptop for cheap its a compaq 128 mb ram amd athalon 963 mhz or somewhere around there win xp home is on it right now but its really slow and full of spyware and viruses. I want to upgrade to xp pro sp2 but I am a little leary about having all the drivers ther is a partition on the harddrive with the compaq info on it but since Ive never formatted a laptop before. so could anyone give me a hand with where to start? PLS

Necrosis · Mar 20, 2005, 06:05 PM

Go to the Compaq site, and punch in your model number for drivers. It should list all of the XP drivers you'll need. However, with it being an older laptop XP should take care of the drivers.

jamc · Mar 20, 2005, 06:25 PM

that is what i figured but i wasnt sure and i didnt really want to be without a computer for a while thanks

Necrosis · Mar 20, 2005, 07:04 PM

You also might want to think about upgrading your ram too. Xp /w 128 it almost like Win98 /w 32.

eatingrich · Apr 27, 2005, 01:19 AM

out of interest how much ram should you have with xp? i have 256 shared, so actually 196 with 64ram for the graphics card, but i've always been paranoid its shit! for some reason i've always thought xp would run much much better if there was a full 256ram allocated for it to use, am i right?
in terms of playing games, would i be better putting the graphics to 32 or 64, considering the ram decreases too?

TJ- · Apr 27, 2005, 01:49 AM

i dont think you will be playing much games on that...

GNetX · Apr 27, 2005, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eatingrich

out of interest how much ram should you have with xp? i have 256 shared, so actually 196 with 64ram for the graphics card, but i've always been paranoid its shit! for some reason i've always thought xp would run much much better if there was a full 256ram allocated for it to use, am i right?
in terms of playing games, would i be better putting the graphics to 32 or 64, considering the ram decreases too?

Eatingrich, in my opinion, the games that you are likely to be able to play well on your laptop are unlikely to benefit too much from the extra video memory. I'm of the opinion that your case would benefit most from having as much memory for Windows and applications than used up reserved for graphics only. Incidentally, I'd be interested to know what games you do play currently on your laptop?

Technically though, XP runs (just about bearably) on 128mb RAM, though benefits hugely from having extra - the really significant benefits are seen with up to 1GB RAM. It is unlikely that "losing" 32mb of the system memory to the graphics processor allocation will cause much difference to the system speed; "losing" 64mb total may start showing signs of slowdown, but only really when your're doing something quite demanding on your PC, like multitasking or gaming. That would be the rationale behind my recommendation above for your particular case.

Judging by the dates of the original messages, this thread's initiator has probably sorted his laptop reformatting with ease by now - wasn't too bad was it?

eatingrich · Apr 27, 2005, 07:03 PM

cheers for the reply, i hate shared memory with a passion so i've always wondered which config would be best really

yeah i'm not into playing "new" games, primarily cos my pc's have never been good enough, so i'm usually many years behind!

i play emulators, speccy, commodore64, genesis/megadrive, master system and then recently old pc games run through DOSBox, but cos i think my CPU is packing in (i'm using a cooling pad to stem the damage but i think it can only do so much!) it turns off the pc when i run games on that for too long.

so yeah i don't expect to run brand new games, i was annoyed enough when i found out morrowind wouldn't run well enough because of the shared memory thing and i'd only just got the notebook then.

i didn't think that the games i'd be playing wouldn't need 64mb actually, that's a good point. though i suppose 'cos i'm using emulators i don't know if they'd benefit. to be honest i'm not seeing much difference either way at the moment, in which case 32 would be better to give xp more ram i suppose?

Randy P · May 2, 2005, 02:54 AM

Yeah more Ram...hey do you have the Genisis Emulator? I remember ShadowRun----the best game in the world....anyway just a nostalgic moment: I remember being 13 and pulling an all nighter playing that game with two of my buds.

eatingrich · May 2, 2005, 08:47 PM

i'll have to try get that game, yeah i use GENS emulator, first one i tried and it runs perfectly so i've stuck with it!

Mar 20, 2005, 03:44 PM	#1
jamc DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	help!! reformat laptop (compaq) ok i just got a used laptop for cheap its a compaq 128 mb ram amd athalon 963 mhz or somewhere around there win xp home is on it right now but its really slow and full of spyware and viruses. I want to upgrade to xp pro sp2 but I am a little leary about having all the drivers ther is a partition on the harddrive with the compaq info on it but since Ive never formatted a laptop before. so could anyone give me a hand with where to start? PLS

Apr 27, 2005, 01:19 AM	#5
eatingrich HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 159 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	out of interest how much ram should you have with xp? i have 256 shared, so actually 196 with 64ram for the graphics card, but i've always been paranoid its shit! for some reason i've always thought xp would run much much better if there was a full 256ram allocated for it to use, am i right? in terms of playing games, would i be better putting the graphics to 32 or 64, considering the ram decreases too? __________________ Check out my gaming blog for stuff about Windows Phone, retro gaming and Xbox - www.zombiesatemyxbox.com

Apr 27, 2005, 01:49 AM	#6
TJ- DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Infinity Posts: 3,679 Rep Power: 0	i dont think you will be playing much games on that... __________________ new sig comming soon

Apr 27, 2005, 07:03 PM	#8
eatingrich HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 159 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	cheers for the reply, i hate shared memory with a passion so i've always wondered which config would be best really yeah i'm not into playing "new" games, primarily cos my pc's have never been good enough, so i'm usually many years behind! i play emulators, speccy, commodore64, genesis/megadrive, master system and then recently old pc games run through DOSBox, but cos i think my CPU is packing in (i'm using a cooling pad to stem the damage but i think it can only do so much!) it turns off the pc when i run games on that for too long. so yeah i don't expect to run brand new games, i was annoyed enough when i found out morrowind wouldn't run well enough because of the shared memory thing and i'd only just got the notebook then. i didn't think that the games i'd be playing wouldn't need 64mb actually, that's a good point. though i suppose 'cos i'm using emulators i don't know if they'd benefit. to be honest i'm not seeing much difference either way at the moment, in which case 32 would be better to give xp more ram i suppose? __________________ Check out my gaming blog for stuff about Windows Phone, retro gaming and Xbox - www.zombiesatemyxbox.com

May 2, 2005, 08:47 PM	#10
eatingrich HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 159 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	i'll have to try get that game, yeah i use GENS emulator, first one i tried and it runs perfectly so i've stuck with it! __________________ Check out my gaming blog for stuff about Windows Phone, retro gaming and Xbox - www.zombiesatemyxbox.com

Mar 20, 2005, 06:05 PM	#2
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Go to the Compaq site, and punch in your model number for drivers. It should list all of the XP drivers you'll need. However, with it being an older laptop XP should take care of the drivers.

Mar 20, 2005, 06:25 PM	Thread Starter #3
jamc DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	that is what i figured but i wasnt sure and i didnt really want to be without a computer for a while thanks

Mar 20, 2005, 07:04 PM	#4
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	You also might want to think about upgrading your ram too. Xp /w 128 it almost like Win98 /w 32.

May 2, 2005, 02:54 AM	#9
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Yeah more Ram...hey do you have the Genisis Emulator? I remember ShadowRun----the best game in the world....anyway just a nostalgic moment: I remember being 13 and pulling an all nighter playing that game with two of my buds.