Hard Drive and or memory issues ??

MercMad

Hi folks,
I have searched the site and looked at the "sticky" topic.......that list is great....well done !

Anyway here's my problem, firstly I know very little about comuters but on the unit at home I have started to get all sorts of problems and I wondered if I can simply install a new Hard Drive.

Basically I regularly get the blue screen and messages that "there is not enough memory, close some applications and retry" or the thing just freezes. Recently I tried to install Norton 2004 so I could download a Windows update but it keeps saying the above messages and crashing !

The unit in question is old, and before you all laugh, my point is to find a cheap solution or else bite the bullit and buy a new one. Its a Gateway (first sin I guess) and the model is Gp200, pentium 2, it runs Win98...............and thats all I can remember !! Anyway I purely need this to use Word 2000, a Printer, a Scanner, IE6 and Outlook Express..........and obviously the Norton.

Thats it !

I can save all My Documents so what do I need to buy, and can I just reinstall Windows etc and work away !

I realise this is simplistic so ANY and ALL advise (including f8ck off ) will be greatly accepted !!

Optikus

You are having memory problems probably due to lack of space on your harddrive, i am guessing. So a new harddrive is what you need.You can install this as slave and keep you original harddrive as boot up drive with all your old files. When its at slave it will just show up in My computer as another drive with what ever space depending on the drive obviously. You can just use this new location to install your new apps and store files. Alternativly your older drive (by the sounds of it) is probably slower like 5200rpm and you might be getting a newer 7200rpm or even a SATA but i doubt your old gateway board supports that. So you can install windows on this new drive, use your old as slave and copy then need files over in My computer then reformat the other, and use it for general storage. So remember when buying a new drive to get a IDE drive rather than the new SATA (unless your board supports that). Also buy some extra Ram will help things. Could you plaese post the make and model of your board and how much ram you have.

StRiKeR

how much ram have you got? and how much space left on your HDD? tbh your PC is very out of date mate! why not just build a new PC altogether, you wont get much support from almost anything that are around these days!

MercMad

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah a new hard drive seems the best option. Anybody suggest what and where, I wouldn't no what to look for !

Could you please post the make and model of your board and how much ram you have

How do I find out what I have at the mo'

KdjaCL

Norton is your problem , uses mad amounts of ram which you dont have a lot of.

Upgrading ram may be costly and difficult, so maybe one of the cheap PCs in the for sale board may be of use to you (unelkoscoesroes sp?) would be good and cheap.

how much do you have and how mcuh can you fit in ?

kdjac

RE*AC*TOR

True norton is a hog on ram. An absolute bastard. Try mcafee or sophos, much lighter. If you're hardrive is really full, try getting rid of some unwanted stuff. Defragment the drive as well. I'd try all the above before spending money, if you only use th ecomputer for internet/email/office. Otherwise, I think you'd be better off getting a cheap second hand pc in the range of P3 600MHz and up, or a very low end dell or something.

Optikus

If ya can give me the model number its a gateway so it shouldn't be to hard to find out. Probably with an 8Gb hard drive so you will deffintly need to upgrade, i have games that size. I would recommend a Segate or Westen Digital drive and the bigger the better. But just let me check out the board first before you get anything just to make sure it compatable.. never mind getting rid of stuff and defragging thats just a short term fix for a 8Gb, an extra drive is needed as you will want new apps and games and probably want to store music, movies ect. As for Norton 04 is a bitch for hogging resources i would reccommed 03 edition.

MercMad

Okay I dont want games or music just the above !

So do if I get the various numbers on the casing you'll know what Mhz and Ram it is and what I need ?

I'll do that and post inthe AM

Thanks !

Optikus

No problem mate.

MercMad

Okay so i finally found some numbers on it !

This is all I have,
Gateway 2000
G5-200
Lot.Nr. 732266
Pentium Inside

I opened up the case and tried to find numbers from the Hard drive but all I got was this, GIRA14472DD, Part # 4000287 !

Any use ??

Optikus

Ok i cant find any info on what motherboard your PC uses unless you can get the make and model of the board.. you could chance buying a IDE 40GB or whatever size you want install it and see if it works, you might need to update the BIOS to do this. But even if it cant handle a drive of that size, you can still bring it back and get a refund. I'd say it would be fine with an old 8GB which you can pick up cheap enough, think someone is selling a few on here.

Optikus

I just found out that the board has two memory slots with a max of 256mb.. so you could buy 2 sticks of 128mb, if you are going to do this it 66mhz SDRAM you need.

MercMad

Well thanks a lot for that !

What does this mean in laymans terms and could you provide a link to a retailer so I can just order up and hope for the best ?

jessy

for as little as €360(inc vat) you could get a decent system that would meet all your needs

http://www.jaguarcompsys.ie/systems/index.htm

MercMad

To be honest I'd like to both do it as cheaps chips and also learn about what I have to done !! I mean if I have most of the gubbins and I can just buy some component card or whatever then I'd do that !

However if you think this is beyond my scope based on what I've said then now is the time to tell me ..................thanks !

wideband

Heres the ram you need, just copy the link.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.asp?Mfr+Productline=Gateway+G-Series&mfr=Gateway&cat=RAM&model=G5-200+(UK+Model)&submit=Go

The Gateway G5-200 (UK Model) has a maximum capacity of 256MB.You can achieve notable performance gains by upgrading to the 256MB maximum. This will require that you replace the modules that are currently in your system.

MercMad

Thanks for that link.........that seems great !

Now..............what do I do when I get it.............or shall I just get it anyway and ask when I run into trouble ??

Optikus

Your system is pretty dated and even with it upgraded to its max you will soon run into problems when using todays apps, so i would recommend a new system for you. However if you are short on cash and want to take the upgrade path here is a link for the memory
this is one stick of 128Mb so you can get a max of two, your PC has alreadt got one stick of 32Mb so you will need to remove that before installing these. As for your Hard drive it is only an 2Gb and i can really recommend you get anything higher than that unless you want to risk it not being compatable.. so if your running a version of windows with USB support (98se and up). An external HDD could be an option for your storage.

Optikus

MercMad wrote:

Thanks for that link.........that seems great !

Now..............what do I do when I get it.............or shall I just get it anyway and ask when I run into trouble ??

Its pretty simple when you see the ram you will know..Just look inside the case and locate the ram,which is in slots on the board, you should see it vertically aligned on the Motherboard with a white catch above and below it.. Push these catchs back and it will release the ram for you.. When installing the new ram make sure it the right way round, it only gose in ione way so if you force it and its the wrong way it will brake.. you can tell which is the right way by looking and aligning the notches in the ram. Once aligned insert into the slot on the board push in firmly the pull the catches forward to secure the ram.

kmb

Is this your pc?
Similarly, Gateway 2000's entry-level machine this Christmas is the G5-200 (£899 + VAT), a 200MHz Pentium MMX-based desktop with 32Mb SDRAM, 2Gb hard drive, 24max-speed CD-ROM drive, 15-inch monitor and software bundle including Microsoft Office 97Small Business Edition, Encarta 97 and MS Money 97.
If it is forget about a harddrive larger than 8 gig as it is doubtful it will detect it.It may even have a limited capacity of 2 gig.40 gig is defo out.
Best thing to do is ask in the wanted for ram to suit this.There is bucketloads i dare say around.
whereabouts are you based?


Regards kieran

MercMad

Thanks for that Optikus..........I AM learning albeit slowly !!

Hi Kieran, yeah that description sounds very like what I have. I am based in Dublin !

Sorry toa sk a stupid question ( another one ) but where is the "Wanted" and "For Sale" section ?

skywalker

cant get over how everyones solution on this thread seems to be buy a new pc.
your not listening to what the guy wants. all he wants the machine for is

MercMad wrote:

Word 2000, a Printer, a Scanner, IE6 and Outlook Express..........and obviously the Norton.

tbh if you cleaned out the hdd properly (obviously saving your important docs first!) then 8 gbs should be fine space wise as long as you dont have tonnes of other programs installed, and arent storing thousands of large word docs.

Optikus wrote:

But even if it cant handle a drive of that size, you can still bring it back and get a refund.

this in particular is terrible advice. a lot of places wont refund you if you just buy the wrong part.

kmb

Hi,Skibum is selling:2 X 64MB PC100 SDRAM €10 each

This could be the answer to your prayers.


see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=195908


regds kieran

Just check your motherboard and see if the ram slots are black and not white(edo type)

Optikus

skywalker wrote:

this in particular is terrible advice. a lot of places wont refund you if you just buy the wrong part.

Its actually the LAW for shops to give a refund, albeit not for the buying wrong thing... what i normally do is ASK in the shop first. Say "hey i want a new harddrive for my old pc , but im not sure if this one one is compatable, would it be possible for me to return it in a few days if this is the case"... Most shops will say yes no problem.

ZENER

It doesn't seem too clear what size the existing hard disk is, can anyone say for sure ?

I've recently had several GW2000 Celeron 433 and PII 300 machines with 6 and 10 GB type hardisks. Before spending any money on these check something first. Gateway always created 2 partitions on their drives, 2GB for the first and the remainder of the drive for the second. What usually happens is that the second partition is left empty while the first fills up with programs, files, temp internet files, and temp documents!! On all the Gateway machines I've had this year this has been the case.

My suggestion would be to look in My Computer to check if there are one or two partitions - C: & - if so use Partition Magic to make one large one and make it FAT32. Of coure if the drive is only a 2GB model then ignore this and clean it up setting 10MB as the Temp Internet Files size and a fixed Pagefile size of 2XRAM amount.

ZEN

skywalker

Optikus wrote:

Its actually the LAW for shops to give a refund, albeit not for the buying wrong thing... what i normally do is ASK in the shop first. Say "hey i want a new harddrive for my old pc , but im not sure if this one one is compatable, would it be possible for me to return it in a few days if this is the case"... Most shops will say yes no problem.

hang on a second, how is this "THE LAW" (it is the law that you must be offered a refund for faulty goods, not goods which do not work with some other random part you have. ) what you originally advocated he do was go out and buy a hard drive and

Optikus wrote:

if it cant handle a drive of that size, you can still bring it back and get a refund.

now if he'd followed your advice and the hard drive didnt work in his machine he'd be left with a hard drive that didnt work, and most likely no, he wouldnt have got a refund.

so yes i did my "homework" as you put it in your bad rep.

MercMad

My suggestion would be to look in My Computer to check if there are one or two partitions - C: & - if so use Partition Magic to make one large one and make it FAT32

..........I recall that there does seem to be more than one "partition" ( I dunno what this means) and one seems to be totally empty ! I will confirm later !

I dont know what "Partition Magic" is though ?? How do I make it FAT32 ?

Also the temp internet files would be practiaclly empty as its only ever been connected to about 10 websites in its life, and theres possibly only about 100 word docs on there !

skywalker

go in through the start menu into settings > control panel > ad/remove programs (think its called that its so long since i used 98, anyway its the 3rd icon in)and see what programs you have installed. these could be taking up a lot of space unneccessarily.

ZENER

MercMad wrote:

..........I recall that there does seem to be more than one "partition" ( I dunno what this means) and one seems to be totally empty ! I will confirm later !

I dont know what "Partition Magic" is though ?? How do I make it FAT32 ?

Also the temp internet files would be practiaclly empty as its only ever been connected to about 10 websites in its life, and theres possibly only about 100 word docs on there !

The first thing is to figure out the size of the hard disk in MBs (MegaBytes) or GBs (GigaBytes).

Click START > Programs > MSDOS Prompt.

You will be presented with a window containing

C:\WINDOWS>

type

fdisk

and press enter,

press Y then enter if asked "Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N) . . . . ?"

You will then see a list of options numbered 1 to 4 and a prompt to

Enter choice : [1]

One of the option (Usually 4) is to "Display partition information."

type it's number and press enter.

The next screen will list the Partitions available on the hard disk, there will be at least one called "C:". Keep pressing the ESC key to exit and don't change anything other than described above. Post and let us know if there are any more and we can figure out what to do next from there.

ZEN

kmb

If you press tab button on left at boot start and then pause button when you see hard drive detection it will show hard drive type,copy it down on paper and advise us please.

Regardless what you need is more ram first as your programmes seem ram hungry.



regds kieran

ZENER

Not necessarily, the apps he's running should be fine with the installed RAM, it's possible that the drive needs looking after to give the OS a contiguous space in which to place the swap file or even move it to the unused partition if one exists. Throwing RAM at a system running low on HD space will not cure the problem. Swap files tend to be double the physical RAM size on Win95/98.

ZEN

kmb

Is this your board?http://www.sell.com/26Q62

Can you go into my computer,right click on c:(hard drive )and go properties and say whats on the left sideof your hand side of your screen.

And zener if he wants to run norton surely he will need more than 32mb ram and still use other items like scanner!!

I know exactly what the swap file is and does but what message is he getting?Ram
Otherwise he would get the mesage running out of space and will it compress files?

regds kieran

kmb

Here ya go:
Timeline of the G5-200


Don’t fall in love with out top-rated system this month – it has already been discontinued. Luckily, it has been replaced by a faster PC at the same price. Still, we were interested in just how much a PC changes over it’s lifetime, and examined some Gateway 2000 advertisements from 1997 to see what the differences were from month to month. As expected, we found the trend toward better components and faster speed to be accompanied by a drop in price – usually because a new chip had been introduced that takes over as the high-end model, thus pushing down prices.



G5-2000
January ‘97
February ‘97
March ‘97
April ‘97
May ‘97

Price
$2,499
$2,499
$2,499
$2,449
$2,399

Memory
32 MB

SDRAM
32 MB

SDRAM
32 MB

SDRAM
32 MB

SDRAM
32 MB

SDRAM

Hard Drive
2.5 GB
2.5 GB
2.5 GB
2.5 GB
3.2 GB

Modem
33.6 Kbps
33.6 Kbps
33.6 Kbps
x2

Upgradeable
x2

Upgradeable

Monitor
17 – Inch
CrystalScan
17 – Inch
CrystalScan
17 – Inch
CrystalScan
17 – Inch
CrystalScan
15 – Inch

Case
Mini-tower
Mini-tower
Mini-tower
Mini-tower
Mini-tower

Printer
None
None
None
None
None

Notes
Introduction of MMX chips on January 8
First Price drop coincides with introduction of Pentium II processor on May 7, 1997


See this its better:http://dmsweb.moore.sc.edu/philipoom/gateway.htm

ZENER

kmb wrote:

Is this your board?http://www.sell.com/26Q62

Can you go into my computer,right click on c:(hard drive )and go properties and say whats on the left sideof your hand side of your screen.

And zener if he wants to run norton surely he will need more than 32mb ram and still use other items like scanner!!

I know exactly what the swap file is and does but what message is he getting?Ram
Otherwise he would get the mesage running out of space and will it compress files?

regds kieran

OK! Calm down will ya !! I know at least 3 people running Pentium 166MHz with 32 MB of RAM with a scanner, printer and Winmodem - so it is possible. Apps include Office 97 SBE - I.E 5.5 - Outlook Express - and utilities like Acrobat and winzip.

These people use the computers to keep in touch with siblings who have moved abroad. I've suggested on several occasions that they should consider upgrading to something more modern - but no they're quite happy with what they've got. For virus protection they use trendmicro housecall once a week. Not ideal I grant you but for them it's fine. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that this chap was in a similar situation and was trying to help while saving him money and hassle as he does not seem too technically savvy - no offence mercmad - thats all !!

ZEN

duridian

To tell you the truth MercMad, in a situation like this I really think it might be wise to get someone more tech savvy to check this out for you in person ie. call round and have a look at the pc for you. If you said where you are located, maybe someone from the boards would be fairly near you and could take a look at it. There is no sense in spending money on bits that you can't be sure will work with your pc (and maybe you don't even need) and as your needs aren't too demanding it may be possible to just "spruce up" your pc for you as it is at present, making it work better for you again.

MercMad

These people use the computers to keep in touch with siblings who have moved abroad. I've suggested on several occasions that they should consider upgrading to something more modern - but no they're quite happy with what they've got. For virus protection they use trendmicro housecall once a week. Not ideal I grant you but for them it's fine. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that this chap was in a similar situation and was trying to help while saving him money and hassle as he does not seem too technically savvy - no offence mercmad - thats all !!

............I am in this situation. As I said its a home PC but other folk use it, purely for Word doc's with printing and scanning. I'd like to set it up for email and internet browsing but need some kind of AntiVirus.................thats where I ran into trouble with the Norton stuff !

I'll get the other info on it in a day or two when I get back here !..............Thanks guys I appreciate your time and effort. BTW I am in North County Dublin FWIW !