I done it again!

[TechnoMage]

I had a spare 120 GB SSD that I wanted to put someplace where it could make an improvement.
So I took a deep breath, and went to work, extracting the old Toshiba 160 GB spinner out of my Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook.
The HD is down inside, mounted to the bottom of the motherboard, and not easy to get to.
An hour later, I had the SSD installed inside the Netbook, and fired it up, and it even ran. Voila! And I only had three screws left over.
Then I gave it a fresh install of Windows 8.1/Pro/x86 and it's running a lot faster today than it did with its original 160 GB spinner.

So now, what to do with a 160 GB Toshiba spinner (HD) with Windows 8.1/Pro/x86 already installed on it?
I unplugged the SSD in my Main desktop PC and plugged in the little spinner. I hit the GO switch and watched for sparks and smoke.
Well, that didn't happen. But it did humm a little, then I got a message on the screen that Windows 8.1/Pro/32 was setting itself up.
It was the same series of messages that one gets during a normal 8.1 install. (I've never had any OS that would do that, before.)
I didn't have to go fishing for my driver disks either. 8.1 installed all the drivers I needed for all my hardware, even my Epson printer,
and my NVIDEA video card.
That little Toshiba spinner performed a lot better in my Mini Mainframe (Mid-Tower Case, Desktop) Computer, than it did in that little Netbook with only 1.5 GB of RAM. My Desktop PC has 8 GB of RAM, and a 6-Core, AMD CPU. After mounting that little spinner in an adapter frame, and sticking it into a drive bay, I noticed that now I've got seven drives in my desktop PC (Pac-Man, Mid-Tower, Case).
All that happened between supper and bedtime! Just another day in the life of a retired computer tech.

Happy Thanksgiving!
TM

 

[billmcct]

Dude, UR off the wall cool. However. I know U luv Win 8, but sorry I Luv Win 7 even more. And since M$ forgot how to build an operating system, and the fact that I'm 81yo and pushing 82 real soon, GUESS I may get to die before I ever have to use Win 10/11. Geeze, all they do is break rubbish every update.

 

[strollin]

I did a transplant of a 64GB SSD into my Acer Aspire One netbook about 10 years ago (no screws left over). That netbook originally came with XP but I upgraded it to Win 7 and then Win 8.1. As I recall, it ran much better with Win 8.1 and the SSD then it ever did with XP and the original spinner. I recall there being some limitation of the graphics hardware when running 8.1 on that Acer. The limitation wasn't severe enough to prevent 8.1 from running but prevented it from running at the default resolution that 8.1 wanted.

 

[TechnoMage]

For years, I said that I'd die with Windows 7 on every one of my PC's. But, it came with one very poor driver pack, and every time I'd install it (Win-7) I'd have to dig out all my driver's disks, to get all my hardware working. That was always a real PITA! But like so many others, I thought that Windows 7 was the best thing since sliced bread.

Then, one day, just for kicks, I downloaded and installed Windows 8.1/Pro/64 to a spare HD. It was good, and installed without me having to dig out even one driver disk, but after I installed the Classic Shell, it was GRRRRRREAT!
Since Win-7 had been giving me some problems, maybe due to some sabotage from MS Updates, I tried Win-8.1 to see how it would work as my every day OS. Hence, here I am on the Windows 8 Forums. There are actually other forums for those who don't like Win-8.1, for whatever reason, which I can't imagine.*

* Way back when MS first released Windows 8.0, I jumped on the forum for 8.0, and before long was asked by the forum owner, to be a moderator. The forum was being overrun by spammers, hackers and just plain buttheads. Myself and one other moderator, had to ban dozens of those miscreants every day. Finally the forum owners closed that forum.

That first effort by MS to write something better than Windows 7 was one horrible failure. Most users agreed, and wanted no part of it.
Realizing that they had shot themselves in the foot, MS released Windows 8.1, which I and many others thought should have been called Windows 9.0. Regardless of the less than perfect name, 8.1 became a winner for myself and those who were willing to give it an honest try.
Granted, it was still not as user friendly as Windows 7, but adding the Classic Shell took care of that problem. It does require some user Setup, which I'm sure many users are not up to, but when it IS properly set up, 8.1 is every bit as user friendly as Win-7, and with many new benefits.

As an old Tech, I'd love to sit down with anyone who says they don't like Windows 8.1, and show them what it can be like when properly installed, tweaked and tuned for maximum user friendliness.
I've always stayed with Microsoft and I've run every MS OS since MS-DOS 2.0.
And as much as I do love Win-8.1/Pro, 32 bit or 64 bit, if forced to do so, I can also use Windows 10 or even Widows 11.
10 and 11 are so much alike, that all my tweaks and tune up tips that work on 10 will also work on 11. I have both installed and running just fine on several of my test PC's.

At first look, I thought Windows 11 was a real FUBAR! But, with a little poking around, I determined that every thing I didn't like about 11, was all just part of the new GUI, and could be tweaked and tuned to more closely approximate the look and feel of Windows 7. WOW! Who would'a thunk it?
Of course, the Classic Shell is a must.

I'm sorry! I do like to talk. And I've got 42 years of experience in personal computers to talk about.
Here's wishing y'all a very Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[TechnoMage]

Still under the banner of "I did it again!" :

I have an old eMachine that has two IDE ports on the Motherboard as well as four SATA ports.
It was quite the PC in its day. Also has seven USB ports (USB 1, of course). It also has a DVD player and a 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive.

Well, after scrapping out several really old PC's this past year, I came up with two old IDE hard drives.

So my latest endeavor was to connect one of those old IDE drives to my little old eMachine and install Windows 8.1/Pro/x86 to it.
WOW! ZOOM! Knock me over with a feather, it actually worked! I had forgotten just how slow and noisy those old IDE drives can be.
Win 8.1 installed just fine, and everything worked, EXCEPT, for the sound. The little speaker in the system tray had a big red X on it.
The sound chip on the motherboard requires the old "AC-97 Sound Driver". I tried to install it manually, to no avail.

So, while poking around in the Control Panel and making some settings, to mouse, power, etc, I opened up "Sounds" and clicked on one of the default sounds, and hit "TEST"....it Played! The red X was gone, and all the sounds played. A music CD also played just fine, using the Windows Media Player.

What made the Sounds start working is beyond my limited knowledge of Windows code. I could only guess that the Windows installer had actually installed the AC-97 Sound drivers, but failed to turn them ON. HUH?
So now, I've got a fully functional 20 year old, Samsung, 60GB, IDE hard drive, running Windows 8.1/Pro/x86, warts and all.
I had forgotten just how slow and noisy an IDE drive could be. :ROFLMAO: Especially, when I've gotten used to the SSD drives, that are FAST and QUIET.
Just another day in the life of a retired Computer Tech.

 

[TechnoMage]

New Problem:
It just started a few days ago, and driving me nuts!
When I boot up Win-8.1, my little speaker icon in the system tray has a RED X on it.
If I just hover my cursor over it, the message says that "the Sound Service is not running". ??? WTF???
However, if I click on it, then click the volume slider, I hear a 'clunk' and the red x disappears.
From there on, the sound works normally.
So my question to the Experts, "why the red X on the little speaker when I first boot up?

Any ideas would be SO welcome.
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
TM

 

[Teeotsa]

New Problem:
It just started a few days ago, and driving me nuts!
When I boot up Win-8.1, my little speaker icon in the system tray has a RED X on it.
If I just hover my cursor over it, the message says that "the Sound Service is not running". ??? WTF???
However, if I click on it, then click the volume slider, I hear a 'clunk' and the red x disappears.
From there on, the sound works normally.
So my question to the Experts, "why the red X on the little speaker when I first boot up?

Any ideas would be SO welcome.
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
TM

Maybe check "Windows Audio" service, should be set to Automatic.

 

[TechnoMage]

No matter what I'd do to solve the problem of the disappearing speaker icon, including a System Restore and even a Ghost Restore, I just got fed up with fighting with it.
I have Windows 11/Pro/64 on a bootable flash drive, and I've already installed it successfully on several other PC's, including one old Laptop. So I decided to give it a try here on my everyday PC, to replace Win-8.1.
Skipping all the gory details, I did save all my data files, to external drives, and then I installed Win-11/Pro/64 on this little SFF Acer desktop. After several hours (and days) of tweaking and tuning, and re-insalling programs, I'm finally running Win-11 as easily and happily as I ever did on Win-7 or Win-8.1. And, 11 even looks like my previous OS's. It takes a little work, but it's doable and it looks great.
**** Many of my programs were getting old and had not been updated in years. This clean install gave me the opportunity to go on-line and download the very latest versions of those programs.
All of those new program versions, are safely saved to my Utilities Flash Drive, for future use.

As this new install has progressed, I've made several backups of my C: partition, using my old, faithful and trusty "Ghost". Only takes about 20 minutes.

Almost simultaneously, to my Win-11 install, I've also installed Windows XP to an old IDE Hard Drive, running on an equally old "eMachine". It's just FUN, to play with the OLD OS's. I had forgotten all the fun I had with XP, years ago. As luck would have it, I still have all my old Tune-Up tips and Tweaks for XP. It's "dé·jà vu" all over again.

Happy Holidays, Mates,
TM

 

[TechnoMage]

Update:
The SAGA continues:
On Friday the 13th, 2023, the motherboard in my 8 yr old PC died. RIP!
I can't afford a new (or even a used) motherboard, so I did the next best thing.....
I pulled out the OS drive, from the now defunct PC. It's a little 250GB Crucial SSD, with Windows 8.1/Pro/64 on it.
I transferred it to a little HP Slimline desktop PC, that I refurbished several years ago. (BIOS date 2008)
On Boot, Windows 8.1 said something like "Please Wait" and began the process of setting itself up to run on the new PC. A few minutes later and after a RE-BOOT, Win-8.1 was running as smooth as it did on the old PC, where it had originally been installed. (both computers have AMD cpu's in them)
Since then, I also found out that the little HP, will boot from an SD memory card, or even a drive in my 'Sabrent' Docking Station.

On the original HP Slimline, it was set up with a slide out drive bay, that could hold only one 3.5" hard drive.
Well, now I've got two tiny little 2.5" SSD's installed in there. One SSD has my Win-8.1 on it, and the other....
Wait for it.......Windows 11/Pro/64.
There is one problem....the motherboard has only two SATA ports on it, originally for one HD and one CD.
So I just took the SATA cable off of the CD drive and put it on the second SSD.
Can you say, "Dual Boot"?
If I just hit the power ON button and do nothing else, the PC boots up in Win-8.1, but, if I want it to boot to Win-11, I just press the ESC key on Pwr ON, and from the Boot Menu, I select drive #2 with Win-11 on it.
Now for the Magic, that TechnoMage is famous for.
I have several spare hard drives laying around with OS's on them, from my old, dead, PC.
If I put one of those drives in my "Sabrent" Docking Station, turn it ON, and select it from the Boot Menu, then the little HP will boot off of that external HD and as soon as the OS sets itself up for this PC, it boots up like it was always there.

I've done this with several of my old HD's to see if they have something on them that I want to keep, or if I just want to reformat them, for data drives.

Just another day in the life of the TechnoMage (Technical Magician).

Cheers Mates!
TM

 

[TechnoMage]

I'm not sure why, but I'm sure that there are folks out there who think that a Computer Tech never has computer problems. Well, that just Ain't So!

Friday, I had a my second PC crash in a month. The little HP Slimline, desktop PC that has become my "Main" PC refused to boot. I did all the normal stuff, to get it going, to no effect. Arggg!
So, with nothing to loose, I really tore it apart. My PSU tester said that the PSU was putting out voltages well within spec's. When it would boot to the BIOS, I Ran the Internal diagnostics from the BIOS. Running the RAM test, it got up to 88% and stalled out. ??? It just froze!

For the first time ever, I took out the CPU, and exchanged it with one that I had in my parts dept. So with a new CPU chip and fresh heat sink grease applied, I put that all back together. Then I pulled the two sticks of RAM and buffed up the edge connectors with a buffing bar, and then wiped them clean with alcohol on a clean cloth. (I've saved tons of ram, by just cleaning it)

Once the PC was all back together, and with a little Prayer, I hit the ON button! VOILA! She booted right up, like she did when new.
I'm sure that many would have thought that failing to boot, or locking up was a Windows problem. But in this case it was not Windows but the motherboard itself.
This little PC has already been hit by lightning, at least once, and the PSU was blown out. It was in that condition when I first got it, some years ago.
Today, the old girl is back up and running like a kid again.
Cheers Mates!
Happy Valentines Day,

 

[Mike Lynch]

"Running the RAM test, it got up to 88% and stalled out. ??? It just froze!"

After failing this test, why wouldn't you just have reconditioned the Ram and rerun the test?

 

[TechnoMage]

I really dunno! Maybe, because it wasn't all that long ago that I thoroughly cleaned the ram.
Actually, based on past experiences, I think that my work on the CPU did more to get things going again than cleaning the ram....again.
To be continued!

 

[TechnoMage]

The SAGA continues!
My old desktop PC has been sitting under my work bench, since the motherboard crapped out on me several months ago. Since I could not afford a replacement motherboard, I had written the old PC off as a lost cause.
Then one day, a couple of weeks ago, a really good friend gave me some money and told me to go ahead and get a replacement motherboard so I could get my old computer up and running again.
I'm leaving out a lot of details, but I did find a suitable replacement motherboard, with CPU and 4GB of RAM for under $100, on eBay.
Now I have my PC rebuilt, with a new case that I've had in reserve for several years. I feel like a little boy with a new bicycle.
I know that sounds simple, Right? Well nothing ever goes quite that easy, eh? For instance, the first PSU that I installed, lasted for about an hour, and then quit. The second PSU, is a used one, now several years old, but it worked that day and is (PTL) still working. The only thing better than a brand new, state of the art PC, is one that's well broken in, and past the time of Infant Mortality.
Well, my rebuilt PC seems to really like Windows 11, in spite of the fact that the motherboard and CPU are approaching ten years old. And with an 8-Core AMD cpu, 8GB of Ram and a 250GB SSD, it really runs GOOD!

 

[spapakons]

I have seen a third-party kernel for Windows 98 (kernelEx) that allows you to run some Windows 2000 and XP programs (such as Firefox 4.0 or newer) in Windows 98. It would be great if such as kernel for Windows 7 and 8.1 existed that would make it fully compatible with Windows 10/11 applications (at least if you could fake Windows version to use them). Anyone knows something? Please do talk.

 

[TechnoMage]

I'm not sure where you're going with that thought. There is virtually nothing that I ran in Windows 8.1, (or even Win-7) that I cannot run in Windows 11/Pro/64.
Admittedly, with some of the programs I like to run, I've downloaded updates to those programs. But then, I always like to keep all my programs up to date anyway. So there's nothing new there.
I may still be running some things that I did run in Windows 98. My backup program, "Ghost" comes to mind.
I realize that doesn't work for everyone, but "It works for me!"

 

[spapakons]

Office 2019 and 2021 require Windows 10 or 11. Also some games require Windows 10 or 11. With a patched kernel we could fake Windows version and use them. In Windows 98 with kernelEX this is done from Properties, Compatibility tab. Instead of defining an earlier version you define a later version such as XP.

 

[TechnoMage]

Ah yes, the old Infamous "MS Office". I gave up on that with Office 2007, when it seemed like it was trying to take over my PC. lol
After UN-Installing it, I did a registry cleaning and got rid of 30 MB of left over garbage in my registry.
I've only used Open Office or Libre Office, since then.

 

[TechnoMage]

Back in the saddle again.

My friend, who gave me money for a new motherboard, for my Main PC, had a bit of bad luck himself. His own motherboard quit working.
And since I no longer build new computers, he bought a new one from a local shop. Then he gave me back the Mid Tower Desktop PC that I had built for him some years ago.
So here I sat, with another desktop PC with a blown motherboard, but with a good PSU, CPU and NVIDIA video card. And, 8GB of DDR3 RAM.
The CPU is an AMD Athlon 8 Core, a very fast and capable CPU.
So, I went shopping for a compatible motherboard, and I found one on eBay.
So, skipping all the gory details, I now have another working Mid Tower PC, running Windows 11, just fine! In fact, , , I'm on it now.
Not one part in it is New, but as long as it runs, I really don't care.
Actually there is ONE new part.....the CMOS battery.

And the saga goes on,
Cheers Mates,
TM

 

[Teeotsa]

It would be great if such as kernel for Windows 7 and 8.1 existed that would make it fully compatible with Windows 10/11 applications (at least if you could fake Windows version to use them). Anyone knows something? Please do talk.

For Windows 7, there is VxKex.

GitHub - vxiiduu/VxKex: Windows 7 API Extensions

Windows 7 API Extensions. Contribute to vxiiduu/VxKex development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[TechnoMage]

I don't have a clue!

Now, if someone could come up with a way to run Windows 11 on a 32 bit cpu, they could make a fortune.
I have 12 PC's and only half of them have 64 bit CPU's.