WIN XP on older XPS

My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?

Thanks ... RonJ

wrote in message
...
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?




Dell should have said the won't support XP on the XPS T series PCs. In
general XP will run fine on you PC. There is a Check Hardware tool on the
CD, run it first to see if it detects any problems. Most problems would
come from things like sound cards etc. Also, it's been advised that update
you BIOS to the latest version.

So you know I have 2 xpst450's running XP. They both have Sound Blaster
Live cards and one only has 256Mb of RAM. I've updated the hard drives and
added an ATA100 card to the other along with a 1GIG processor and maxed out
the RAM. It too ran XP but has since been switched over to a basic file
server running Win2K server.

The XPST series is a good solid platform with some expandability and some
shelf life still left in it. Don't expect a screaming gamer but if all your
doing is Internet and office processing it's a good PC. Your real problem
now is the cost of upgrades like memory and processors. I wouldn't speed
too much money on things that I would be able to move to a new PC when the
time came.

--

Rob

"...I've updated the hard drives and added an ATA100 card to the other along
with a 1GIG processor and maxed out the RAM. "

Any computer you can buy today for a few hundred bucks will have better
performance. Can I interest you in some land?

--
Ted Zieglar
formerly "Rocket J. Squirrel"


"Robert R Kircher, Jr." wrote in message
...



wrote in message
...
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?




Dell should have said the won't support XP on the XPS T series PCs. In
general XP will run fine on you PC. There is a Check Hardware tool on the
CD, run it first to see if it detects any problems. Most problems would
come from things like sound cards etc. Also, it's been advised that
update
you BIOS to the latest version.

So you know I have 2 xpst450's running XP. They both have Sound Blaster
Live cards and one only has 256Mb of RAM. I've updated the hard drives
and
added an ATA100 card to the other along with a 1GIG processor and maxed
out
the RAM. It too ran XP but has since been switched over to a basic file
server running Win2K server.

The XPST series is a good solid platform with some expandability and some
shelf life still left in it. Don't expect a screaming gamer but if all
your
doing is Internet and office processing it's a good PC. Your real problem
now is the cost of upgrades like memory and processors. I wouldn't speed
too much money on things that I would be able to move to a new PC when the
time came.

--

Rob

It's not just the cost and time to install the upgrades. Make the tradeoff
between upgrading hardware and replacing a computer completely. Many people
have programs and data on the old system, and need to install or move them to a
new system. The software packages which supposedly move data and programs to a
new system do not always do a flawless job. As a consequence, the safer
strategy is to reinstalll all needed software (and don't forget its upgrades) on
the new computer, then move the data via a fast Ethernet connection. Some
programs will break when installed on the new computer with a newer operating
system, so potentially expensive software upgrades (see AutoCAD) are needed just
to get the new computer to the point where it will do faster what the older
computer was called upon to do.

In short, the tradeoff between upgrade and replace is not as cut and dried as
one might think. A half hour $150 upgrade may buy a couple of more years of
life out of a system, a bargain compared to your new entry-level $400 computer
plus the work and software needed to get it to do what one wants.

.... Ben Myers

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:11:19 -0400, "Ted Zieglar aka \"Rocky\""
wrote:

"...I've updated the hard drives and added an ATA100 card to the other along
with a 1GIG processor and maxed out the RAM. "

Any computer you can buy today for a few hundred bucks will have better
performance. Can I interest you in some land?

--
Ted Zieglar
formerly "Rocket J. Squirrel"


"Robert R Kircher, Jr." wrote in message
...



wrote in message
...
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?




Dell should have said the won't support XP on the XPS T series PCs. In
general XP will run fine on you PC. There is a Check Hardware tool on the
CD, run it first to see if it detects any problems. Most problems would
come from things like sound cards etc. Also, it's been advised that
update
you BIOS to the latest version.

So you know I have 2 xpst450's running XP. They both have Sound Blaster
Live cards and one only has 256Mb of RAM. I've updated the hard drives
and
added an ATA100 card to the other along with a 1GIG processor and maxed
out
the RAM. It too ran XP but has since been switched over to a basic file
server running Win2K server.

The XPST series is a good solid platform with some expandability and some
shelf life still left in it. Don't expect a screaming gamer but if all
your
doing is Internet and office processing it's a good PC. Your real problem
now is the cost of upgrades like memory and processors. I wouldn't speed
too much money on things that I would be able to move to a new PC when the
time came.

--

Rob

"...a bargain compared to your new entry-level $400 computer plus the work
and software needed to get it to do what one wants."

I don't have a problem getting a computer to do what I want. And no one
would confuse me with a computer engineer.

Eventually, the software that you want to use won't support your old
hardware well or at all. Better to upgrade before that happens.

--
Ted Zieglar
formerly "Rocket J. Squirrel"


ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
It's not just the cost and time to install the upgrades. Make the
tradeoff
between upgrading hardware and replacing a computer completely. Many
people
have programs and data on the old system, and need to install or move them
to a
new system. The software packages which supposedly move data and programs
to a
new system do not always do a flawless job. As a consequence, the safer
strategy is to reinstalll all needed software (and don't forget its
upgrades) on
the new computer, then move the data via a fast Ethernet connection. Some
programs will break when installed on the new computer with a newer
operating
system, so potentially expensive software upgrades (see AutoCAD) are
needed just
to get the new computer to the point where it will do faster what the
older
computer was called upon to do.

In short, the tradeoff between upgrade and replace is not as cut and dried
as
one might think. A half hour $150 upgrade may buy a couple of more years
of
life out of a system, a bargain compared to your new entry-level $400
computer
plus the work and software needed to get it to do what one wants.

... Ben Myers

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:11:19 -0400, "Ted Zieglar aka \"Rocky\""
wrote:

"...I've updated the hard drives and added an ATA100 card to the other
along
with a 1GIG processor and maxed out the RAM. "

Any computer you can buy today for a few hundred bucks will have better
performance. Can I interest you in some land?

--
Ted Zieglar
formerly "Rocket J. Squirrel"


"Robert R Kircher, Jr." wrote in message
...



wrote in message
...
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this
machine
nowdays?




Dell should have said the won't support XP on the XPS T series PCs. In
general XP will run fine on you PC. There is a Check Hardware tool on
the
CD, run it first to see if it detects any problems. Most problems
would
come from things like sound cards etc. Also, it's been advised that
update
you BIOS to the latest version.

So you know I have 2 xpst450's running XP. They both have Sound
Blaster
Live cards and one only has 256Mb of RAM. I've updated the hard drives
and
added an ATA100 card to the other along with a 1GIG processor and maxed
out
the RAM. It too ran XP but has since been switched over to a basic
file
server running Win2K server.

The XPST series is a good solid platform with some expandability and
some
shelf life still left in it. Don't expect a screaming gamer but if all
your
doing is Internet and office processing it's a good PC. Your real
problem
now is the cost of upgrades like memory and processors. I wouldn't
speed
too much money on things that I would be able to move to a new PC when
the
time came.

--

Rob

ben_myers_spam_me_not @ charter.net (Ben Myers) wrote in message
...
On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:11:19 -0400, "Ted Zieglar aka \"Rocky\""
wrote:

"...I've updated the hard drives and added an ATA100 card to the other
along
with a 1GIG processor and maxed out the RAM. "

Any computer you can buy today for a few hundred bucks will have better
performance. Can I interest you in some land?

--
Ted Zieglar
formerly "Rocket J. Squirrel"


In short, the tradeoff between upgrade and replace is not as cut and dried
as
one might think. A half hour $150 upgrade may buy a couple of more years
of
life out of a system, a bargain compared to your new entry-level $400
computer
plus the work and software needed to get it to do what one wants.



Exactly!!!!

Additionally, I've had way more problems out of bargain/entry-level $400 PC
then I've ever had out of solid PCs like the XPST including performance
problems. See: Shared Video Memory. Buy a $400 PC and you still wind up
spending the same amount of additional dollars to add more memory and better
video as you would have just fixing up that old XPST and your out $400 that
you didn't need to spend anyway.

Look if you want to play DOOM 3 or do real time video editing buy a new PC.
Spend money appropriate to you needs and invest the rest.

--

Rob

I'm running WinXP Pro on a Dell Latitude CPx (PIII-500) with no problems
whatsoever. It was a fresh install (no upgrade).

wrote in message
...
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?

Thanks ... RonJ

wrote:
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?


I have a Dimension XPS-R450 (purchased January, 1999) running
Windows XP Pro with no problems. I've upgraded to version 13 of
the BIOS, expanded RAM to 384MB, switched the primary HD to a
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9, and switched the OEM DVD-ROM
drive to a Samsung CD+-RW/DVD-ROM drive, and switched the
ATA ribbon cables to round cables with aluminum braided shield.
Everything else remains original equipment, including the sound card,
the Ethernet card, the ISA dialup modem card and the monitor.
Windows XP even had the driver for my circa 1999 Brother
Multi-Function printer/scanner/FAX. Software includes Office XP Pro,
MS Access server, and Visual Studio .NET - all with no problems.

*TimDaniels*

XP will run and work on that system. Don't expect a speed demon, though.
Frankly, the memory is below the generally recommended minimum (512MB) and
the CPU is going to slow things down. XP has a lot of overhead that is,
frankly, cosmetic eye candy that tends to slow a system like yours down.

Having said that, if you are the "surf the web and write letters" type of
user, you'll be satisfied.

However, for a system like yours, I'd suggest looking as Windows 2000
Professional. It's still a stable, supported and good platform. XP is
better, but W2K is, IMHO, better suited for a system like yours....

--
Regards,
Hank Arnold

wrote in message
...
My machine is an older DELL Dimension XPS T550 with 384 meg RAM. A
couple of years ago, DELL told me that WIN XP could not be installed
on my machine.

Has this changed? Will WIN XP instal without problems on this machine
nowdays?

Thanks ... RonJ