Updating Windows, Other Components

[[KR]Alex]

Hello Everyone! im new to Tech Fourms but not new to technology.
I own a VERY old Dell Optiplex GX260 SFF (Small Form Factor) and i am attempting to update the OS to Windows Vista as it currently has Windows XP, Which is obsolete. Most technological guys know this.
Well i run into an issue with 2 WINDOWS VISTA ISO's. One i made myself with Boot.wim,install.wim and MicrosoftInstaller.exe, I made one with a torrent that i downloaded off the internet. For the internet one, It gave me an error that *Windows cannot copy old files* Basically it cannot backup the files that i have in Windows XP, With the one i made my self, The copying is also screwed, talking about the connection and ****.
I was like FML and i went to make the ISO on a DVD+R instead of a USB as i had been using. Guess what, The **CD** Drive cannot play a DVD... FMLx2.
Because i had owned a dell product before, AKA a Dell Inspirion 1545. I bought it brand new so it came with a SPARE Dell Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 DVD.
I didnt notice it was a DVD until it would load the DVD and it also said it on the labeling.
So what's my way to go. Buying a new DVD Drive is scored off, sorry. As the GX280 does'nt have ANY support of all sorts of DVD drives. Its IDE and the Floppy is IDE. FMLx3.
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Next Thing

Im planning on giving this a Asus GeForce 120 1GB DDR3 Low Profile graphics card from ebay, brand new from a seller called dabs_outlet (search : seller:dabs_outlet). I think that this is a PCI Express Card. Does the GX280 have a PCI Express card?
Why imma do dis? Cuz the pc has 8mb of graphics -_- It could sure use another 1GB... In the end this pc will be a gaming pc. Not a beast but its able to run my games in a very good framerate 'n' ****.
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Last thing
How much ram does this thing support? Im guessing 8GB of ram due to it being DDR2, not DDR3 and not DDR1/DDR but DDR2.

 

[carnageX]

Firstly... why Vista? If anything, should be Win7.

1. There are DVD drives with IDE connections and can be found relatively cheaply.

2. Yes, it has a PCI Express slot.

3. According to Crucial, it only supports 2GB max - though I'm sure that it could actually support more.

 

[[KR]Alex]

Firstly... why Vista? If anything, should be Win7.

1. There are DVD drives with IDE connections and can be found relatively cheaply.

2. Yes, it has a PCI Express slot.

3. According to Crucial, it only supports 2GB max - though I'm sure that it could actually support more.

1. Oh ok, Thanks. But as i said im pretty scored out.

2. Cool! Carnage, Would a 210W PSU support a graphics card like dat?

3. I know, Crucial are basing it off the PSU and power. I trust that you could have more as the REAL MAX would be 8gb of ram. I'd probably go for 3/4GB of ram.

 

[carnageX]

1. Oh ok, Thanks. But as i said im pretty scored out.

2. Cool! Carnage, Would a 210W PSU support a graphics card like dat?

3. I know, Crucial are basing it off the PSU and power. I trust that you could have more as the REAL MAX would be 8gb of ram. I'd probably go for 3/4GB of ram.

1. Found them on eBay for around $6 - $20.

2. Is that what you there right now?

3. Crucial is basing off of Dell's specified maximum as well as the Chipset/CPU limitations, not the PSU requirement. Everything is saying each slot can only hold 1GB max, and that the small-form-factor system only has 2 slots.

 

[PP Mguire]

Vista will make the machine slower.

If you have a USB flash drive that is at least 4GB then you can use Windowstousb to put the ISO on there and boot from it to install. In all honesty, the best OS for that slow machine is Windows XP anyways.

 

[[KR]Alex]

1. Found them on eBay for around $6 - $20.

2. Is that what you there right now?

3. Crucial is basing off of Dell's specified maximum as well as the Chipset/CPU limitations, not the PSU requirement. Everything is saying each slot can only hold 1GB max, and that the small-form-factor system only has 2 slots.

1. My small form factor doesnt support it. Its not the really thin one. Its small but not thin.

2. Nope. I have not got it YET but ill buy it once i recieve my monitor.

3. The system i have has 4 Slots. and its using 4x256mb. Im going to the CEX today to get a used 2GB DDR2 Stick of ram.

 

[[KR]Alex]

Vista will make the machine slower.

If you have a USB flash drive that is at least 4GB then you can use Windowstousb to put the ISO on there and boot from it to install. In all honesty, the best OS for that slow machine is Windows XP anyways.

XP is obsolete and it wont allow me to connect to the internet, I cannot even install the drivers. it gives me some errors...
PP, About booting off usb. I have. READ the thread properly.
I want to use vista as its NOT obsolete and its good enough to avoid tinkering with my performance.

 

[PP Mguire]

XP is obsolete and it wont allow me to connect to the internet, I cannot even install the drivers. it gives me some errors...

Sure, but you have to realize that Vista killed machines 3x more powerful than a single core Pentium 4 with more than 2GB of RAM. Sometimes you have to realize that some hardware just isn't good enough to run newer OS's. I have run Windows 7 and now 8 on a Pentium M with 2GB of DDR2 and the experience is lackluster to say the least. As to drivers, for XP all you would need to do is download them directly from Dell and they should work, if not see below.

PP, About booting off usb. I have. READ the thread properly.

Yea, I have, and I have not heard of any of the .exe's you're referring to. I gave you the proper tool to do such and it shouldn't error. For these and your "copying" problems you need to do a fresh format. That alleviates your backup, as I'm assuming by that you mean you tried doing an upgrade. To the copying files error, that is due to a badly written flash drive from the wrong software or a bad ISO. Either/or you need the proper tools at hand to do what you want to do in the proper way. All that being basically user error.

I want to use vista as its NOT obsolete and its good enough to avoid tinkering with my performance.

You use the term obsolete loosely. XP is EOL and simply doesn't receieve updates anymore. On the contrary though, Vista is also obsolete by definition that there is certainly better out there. If we want to go further, there are no official drivers for the hardware set for either 7 or Vista. Meaning if you don't want to use Microsoft generic drivers you're stuck using XP anyways, as per the Dell website.
Also, you speak of avoiding tinkering with your performance. Vista is a resource hog and will run slower on that machine because of it. You'll have to tinker with the OS just to get a faster experience. That goes for both Vista and 7. You'll need to shrink Vista down just so it doesn't eat up half the RAM if/when you upgrade to 2GB.

I'm not sure exactly what you're wanting to do with this machine, but even basic browsing of the internet is going to be slow on it. Trust me, I have almost the same setup in laptop form sitting in my bathroom. I don't call it the ****master for just one reason, it's seriously ****. Back in 2006 Vista ran slow even with a dual core CPU and 2+ GB of RAM.

On that note, you don't need to be rude. Rudeness doesn't exactly go very far around here.

 

[carnageX]

1. My small form factor doesnt support it. Its not the really thin one. Its small but not thin.

2. Nope. I have not got it YET but ill buy it once i recieve my monitor.

3. The system i have has 4 Slots. and its using 4x256mb. Im going to the CEX today to get a used 2GB DDR2 Stick of ram.

1. YOu said you had an IDE CD-ROM already - so just swap it out with a DVD-ROM.

3. Then you can go to 4x1GB. You can try 2GB sticks, but no guarantee that they will work.

Honestly, instead of Vista, you might be better off running a Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

 

[[KR]Alex]

Sure, but you have to realize that Vista killed machines 3x more powerful than a single core Pentium 4 with more than 2GB of RAM. Sometimes you have to realize that some hardware just isn't good enough to run newer OS's. I have run Windows 7 and now 8 on a Pentium M with 2GB of DDR2 and the experience is lackluster to say the least. As to drivers, for XP all you would need to do is download them directly from Dell and they should work, if not see below.

Yea, I have, and I have not heard of any of the .exe's you're referring to. I gave you the proper tool to do such and it shouldn't error. For these and your "copying" problems you need to do a fresh format. That alleviates your backup, as I'm assuming by that you mean you tried doing an upgrade. To the copying files error, that is due to a badly written flash drive from the wrong software or a bad ISO. Either/or you need the proper tools at hand to do what you want to do in the proper way. All that being basically user error.

You use the term obsolete loosely. XP is EOL and simply doesn't receieve updates anymore. On the contrary though, Vista is also obsolete by definition that there is certainly better out there. If we want to go further, there are no official drivers for the hardware set for either 7 or Vista. Meaning if you don't want to use Microsoft generic drivers you're stuck using XP anyways, as per the Dell website.
Also, you speak of avoiding tinkering with your performance. Vista is a resource hog and will run slower on that machine because of it. You'll have to tinker with the OS just to get a faster experience. That goes for both Vista and 7. You'll need to shrink Vista down just so it doesn't eat up half the RAM if/when you upgrade to 2GB.

I'm not sure exactly what you're wanting to do with this machine, but even basic browsing of the internet is going to be slow on it. Trust me, I have almost the same setup in laptop form sitting in my bathroom. I don't call it the ****master for just one reason, it's seriously ****. Back in 2006 Vista ran slow even with a dual core CPU and 2+ GB of RAM.

On that note, you don't need to be rude. Rudeness doesn't exactly go very far around here.

Woah, Okay i get your point XDDDD
By the way, im not rude. Its just im a bit tense while getting into **** like this.
Seriously, Ive tried EVERY FMMMMING Vista ISO out there that supports this poopbag of a computer. Im really out of options, 98%. If i cant fix any of dis crack, im stuck wid xp 4 life ;(
On the other hand, i may trade this for a optiplex 745 or sommin else.

Yea, I have, and I have not heard of any of the .exe's you're referring to. I gave you the proper tool to do such and it shouldn't error. For these and your "copying" problems you need to do a fresh format. That alleviates your backup, as I'm assuming by that you mean you tried doing an upgrade. To the copying files error, that is due to a badly written flash drive from the wrong software or a bad ISO. Either/or you need the proper tools at hand to do what you want to do in the proper way. All that being basically user error.

**** windowstousb. Man, when i used that **** just now, 20:11 GMT 6th october 2014 all it gave me was a [BOOT] Folder with a file called Boot_NoEmulation.img
Thats why the pc didnt want to boot off the usb. Im never using that crap of a software again. Any other software APART from that? I use Rufus, sometimes this other software that i forgot what its called. Oh yeah, I have ISO to usb and windows usb/dvd maker software. My last options is to try win 7 which im downloading, and ill also have a iso of debian i386 WHICH I REALLY DONT WANT! because i want to do some gaming on this with a GeForce 210 1gb ddr3 and 4GB of ram (Grand Theft Auto San andreas/Grand Theft auto IV/EFLC) and Linux has no GTA, no gaming drivers and ****. **** **** ****!!!! im running out of options! im about to lose my mind, Windows 7 has been gone for so long, im running out of time, i need a doctor.
Yah, im a doctor dre fan(soz for going off topic. I was bored out of my **** while righting this topicz, seriously my writing is better when it comes to my focusing if you really do know me.