My Poor Old Computer

[Tramp]

My poor old Packard Bell imedia computer is finally dying. It was only a 256mb Celeron 20GHD that I had to upgrade to play AOD. Recently it has been freezing and also crashing to memory dump blue screen. It's HD was pretty full and I decided it was time I updated since it was 4 years old and is probably working an average of 10 hours per day. It is only a second desktop that will be going into my bedroom when the renovations are further along and as I have my bigger more powerful computer and it was only a back up for my Lorikeet Mix labels and sales and for the cage bird club files and festival files it does not have to be a super you beaut computer.

One of our retailers were offering an Optima for $799 but it turns out they have none in stock and it was a discontinued model in June last year. I ended up going to Harvey Norman Computers and got another Packard Bell imedia but a much bigger one than the old one. Been very happy with the old one as it has worked very hard over the last 4 years and has performed very well until recently. This is what the new one is. As I said not a super computer but good for a second back up that can be upgraded if necessary. Packard Bell S881 (http://www.packardbell.com.au/products/product_configs.asp?CID=1&MID=1&SpecID=417) Linkie

[Joseph]

Well, congratulations, and be happy with it, Tramp. http://www.tombraiderforums.com/images/smilies/wave.gif

[ 03. March 2005, 09:26: Message edited by: joseph ]

[Tramp]

Thanks Joseph it is a lot faster than the old Packard Bell and even the onboard graphics card is a lot better than the 64B Nvidia MX440 PCI. I am slowly copying all my information over to it and loading all my programs on. That will keep me busy for a while. http://www.tombraiderforums.com/images/smilies/wave.gif

[Quiver.]

For some reason I hate the all in one systems from Packard Bell. (also the systems from HP, Compaq)

[Tramp]

It's the ones from HP and Compaq (same company) that I don't like. You cannot upgrade them in any way shape or form. What you see is all you get. Packard Bell can be upgraded. They are also owned by NEC. At least that is the company situation here in Australia. It is also only a backup computer not my main unit. But while I am renovating I don't have room to set up the big system properly and I am waiting for my new workstation to arrive. At the moment my computer is on my coffee table and there is not much room.

[Quiver.]

It's possible to upgrade a packard bell?
I didn't knew that, I thought packard bell was also a "what you see is what you get" company http://www.tombraiderforums.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Tramp]

No when I got AOD I could not play it on the old computer but I was able to put in a graphics card that would run DirectX9 and Lara was talking like a chipmunk so I put in a Sound Blaster Sound Card which enabled me to play AOD even if it was a bit slow. There is also room inside the tower if you wish to put in a second HD. When I was looking at them yesterday the HP and the Compaq have a warranty seal so you can't even look inside without supposedly void the warranty. The Packard Bell has a sliding lock on the side cover and no warranty seal. Don't trust computers that you cannot look inside to see if you are getting what they claim is inside. Guess I'm getting a bit cynical.

Years ago I had a Compaq and I wanted to add a second HD. I rang Compaq and they told me it was impossible to add anything other than what was in there. No extra memory or ram nothing, there is just no space.

[Chug a Bug]

Originally posted by Tramp:
Years ago I had a Compaq and I wanted to add a second HD. I rang Compaq and they told me it was impossible to add anything other than what was in there. No extra memory or ram nothing, there is just no space. I don't believe that. I think they just don't want you poking around at what component's they have or havn't installed. Even if it was true I'd just get hold of larger case and transfer everything into that.

[Joseph]

It is partly true. Some months ago i added a second hdd (an old Quantum Fireball of 10GB) in a friend's pc, yeah again a Packard Bell. A midi case, and it has a small motherboard, 3 pci slots and 1 agp. Its cpu is an AMD Duron of 1,2 Ghz.
I had to drill extra holes for the screws in the bracket that holds the original hdd. But all went fine. Untill 3 months later, the added hdd died: a chip on its print burnt through. Original hdd still working. The cause could be a PSU problem.

Ages ago, i placed extra Ram memory in it, a agp graphic card, and recently a pci ethernet card.

[Tramp]

Chug a Bug I already had the computer open and I wanted to put a second hard drive in and also increase the memory. I wasn't going to do it myself and I told Compaq that. Not only was there no where to put an extra bracket for a hard drive their were no spare PCI slots and nowhere to put extra ram and no spare power plugs. This was also many years ago when I was first starting on home computing I really didn't know anything about buying a different case. This was in the days before towers.