wiping hd clean

[XWrench3]

a while back, my wife bought the kids a used computer off from ebay. it was pretty slow, so i added 512k memory chip, and after that took it to our computer guy. it started much faster, but still is pretty slow on line. it is a Dell Dimension 2400. it did not come with a disc to reinstall the factory software. i was wondering if a cd for an e-machine would work on this computer. they both have XP , but i have no idea if software is interchangeable with different hardware. he recommended upgrading the processor, but in 5 months of looking on ebay, i have not found one with the specs he gave. we have Charter cable internet, so the connection is not slow. it has a massive 40gb hard drive, a celeron r 2.6ghz processor, with 1.5 gb of ram. i know this will never be really fast. but 15-45
seconds to load a normal every day web page is just terrible. the processor he recommended was a P4 2.4ghz 400mhz fbi socket 478. i have no idea how much that would help things out, but i am pretty sure a P4 is much faster than a celeron. at least that is what i have been told.

 

[Joe C]

An older pc like that one would take more cost to upgrade it than it is worth....imho
If you have the original hard drive it might have the recovery partition on it still, but do not count on it. You can see if this partition is still useable if you hit the Ctrl and F11 keys at the same time during post (or the Dell logo) when you first boot up your pc.
You can get more specifics about this hidden Dell restore partition here


Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition

Dell has supplied the user with a backup image made at the factory, and this backup is stored in the DSR partition. It is this backup that is restored from when the Ctrl+F11 keys are pressed.
A backup image must exist before you can restore from it. If Dell did not ship your computer with a DSR partition, you cannot restore. If you have deleted the DSR partition, you cannot restore. In these cases, you may still reinstall if you have the reinstallation media

Good luck

 

[Thorax_the_Impaler]

a while back, my wife bought the kids a used computer off from ebay. it was pretty slow, so i added 512k memory chip, and after that took it to our computer guy. it started much faster, but still is pretty slow on line. it is a Dell Dimension 2400. it did not come with a disc to reinstall the factory software. i was wondering if a cd for an e-machine would work on this computer. they both have XP , but i have no idea if software is interchangeable with different hardware. he recommended upgrading the processor, but in 5 months of looking on ebay, i have not found one with the specs he gave. we have Charter cable internet, so the connection is not slow. it has a massive 40gb hard drive, a celeron r 2.6ghz processor, with 1.5 gb of ram. i know this will never be really fast. but 15-45
seconds to load a normal every day web page is just terrible. the processor he recommended was a P4 2.4ghz 400mhz fbi socket 478. i have no idea how much that would help things out, but i am pretty sure a P4 is much faster than a celeron. at least that is what i have been told.

I own an old 2400 Dell Dimension tower and I'll tell you first hand nothing in that setup is worth upgrading if you hold it against modern computing standards. But if you absolutely insist on upgrading it, the processor he recommended is total crap; trust me my dimension is running it. For this machine I'd recommend a higher clocked pentium 4, around 3.0GHz depending on what you can afford. People on this forum tend to recommend against eBay, but you can get your hands on a "cheaper" P4 clocked higher for a modest price. Also, if you're going to bother upgrading at all, definitely throw in another solid GB of RAM (2GB opposed to 1.5GB). 2GB is just about standard for painfully basic notebooks, but if you're running XP you should get some breathing room with 2GB. Like I said, I don't recommend upgrading that tower, but if you really want to I'd definitely start with this.

EDIT: Go with the processor Joe C recommended. Here's a link for reference:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-North...CPU-/320843500998?pt=CPUs&hash=item4ab3c34dc6

 

[Joe C]

I do not think that the 2400 board can handle 800mhz that's on that cpu.


here are the specs for the 2400 board
Documentation

your best bet is a 3.06 P4 @ 533 mhz
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-North...CPU-/320843500998?pt=CPUs&hash=item4ab3c34dc6

 

[Thorax_the_Impaler]

I do not think that the 2400 board can handle 800mhz that's on that cpu.


here are the specs for the 2400 board
Documentation

your best bet is a 3.06 P4 @ 533 mhz

Cannot believe I overlooked that; thank you for pointing that out.