Your Worst Computer

By roadgeek9
in Hardware Hangout

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redeemed

Posted
Posted
My laptop: Dell Inspiron 6400; Intel Core 2 Duo T7400, 2GB Super Talent DDR2-667, ATI Radeon X1400, Hitachi 160GB SATA HDD, 15.4" screen (1440x900 res).

Lol I guess it's not too bad haha :p

I wish my best was like that :(

My worst is a Toshiba satellite lappy: Intel Celeron M 1.46 GHz, 256 MB RAM of which 32 MB is reserved for graphics [which are integrated ATI btw], 40GB Seagate (??) hard drive [~50% free], running Windows XP SP2. :pinch: ... *cringes at slowness :cry: *

It's still running some of the bloatware that it came with, although I disabled some startup items and installed avast! instead of NIS 2006.

I haven't reinstalled since April '07, which wasn't a proper reinstall; that was a restore to factory setting. I think I should look into formatting pretty soon :p

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beanboy89

Posted
Posted

Probably my IBM PS/2 Model 55SX. It has a 16 MHz 386, 2 MB RAM, and a ~20 MB hard drive. It still boots up, but can't do much because I have to replace the onboard battery chip. I have older ones, but they don't boot up any more.

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-Hiroshi-

Posted
Posted

I have no room to complain, after my 677Mhz Celeron with 320MB died, the torch was passed as the least specced computer (Can't call it worst, thing still gets more usage than any PC in the house as a file and print server) are these specs..

Windows XP Pro

2.0Ghz AMD Athlon XP+

1GB DDR-SDRam

80GB Seagate IDE HD

256MB Radeon 9550 AGP 8x

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Behemoth

Posted
Posted

<off-topic>

I'd try Debian (or another Linux distro) on my desktop, but it causes all of these stupid problems when used as a print server.

Try openSUSE - pretty easy to set up as a print server - here's a tutorial. Link

</off-topic>

Grand Master

Denis W. Veteran

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  • Veteran
Posted

Slowest computer still in service:

Sony VAIO RX755: Pentium 4 2 GHZ, 1 GB of RAM (can be 1.5 GB but I took out a stick for now, originally came with 512 MB), 200+60 GB of space, SB Live MP3 and Radeon 9200 (originally POS SiS 650/740 graphics and SiS 7012 audio chipsets). A Designed for XP machine, runs latest Ubuntu versions rather well, and does manage to squeak by in Vista except with no compatible WDDM display driver.

Older computers include my IBM Aptiva 2168A50 (Pentium 150 MHz, 32 MB of RAM, 1.6 GB of HD space, built for Windows 95 but can run up to 98 SE just fine) and this really old computer from Phoenix Technologies that sports a 6 MHz processor (12 MHz with the turbo switch :p) and probably 512 Kbytes of RAM? I think it ran DOS 2.0 or 5.0. Previous two computers were hand downs.

The VAIO's sitting nicely beside my current desktop, the Aptiva is resting behind me with a box on top of it, and that old POS is collecting dust in the basement. :)

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
Posted

An old HP with an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ processor with 768 MB of RAM, 200 GB hard drive (old 60 GB drive it had crashed), and a GeForce FX 5500 video card. I actually run Vista Home Basic on it, and it works rather well. Might be SLIGHTLY slower than XP, but it's barely noticeable. I gave that comp to my mother so it would get more use, as it's a perfectly good computer, and it's surprisingly running MS's latest OS well.

Proficient

hawker1986

Posted
Posted

Im afraid mine isnt awful and im just using it as testing rig, its not great though:

Celeron [email protected]

1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 667@800

Gigabyte P35 DS3R (with 2 broken RAM slots)

Generic 300W PSU

80GB SATA HDD dual boot XP/Ununtu

7100GS

Card Reader

Floppy

Sony DVDRW

Lian Li 6081A

Hawker

Enthusiast

FredEx

Posted
Posted

My worst is a HP Pavillion Laptop...ZV5405US. It has an AMD 3000+ and invidia graphics. It was okay for many months and then started running hot. Getting help from HP with it was a joke. It is a graphics chip issue, it runs way to hot under load. I ended up tearing into it, cleaning it up, using a high grade thermal paste and modifying the venting to allow easier air flow. That helped some. I also added a laptop cooler. Later the memory went on me, I then opened it up again (you can only access one SODIMM via the bottom) and I installed a matched pair of 1 Gig SODIMMs to bring it up to 2Gig. I had tried 4 brands before it would work without errors and it was not cheap stuff. At about 2 years old the display hinges cracked and the display would not stay up. I could get no parts at a reasonable cost, they would cost more than the system was worth anymore. Again I tore into it and halfway got the hinges working. If they are tight enough, the bezel cracks again, so they are a little loose and I use a metal bookend behind the display to hold it up. I retired it and my mother uses it to play games, mostly cards and things like Bejeweled.

I'll never buy an HP laptop again. :crazy:

Grand Master

MightyJordan

Posted
Posted

My worst computer? My current desktop.

  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.5GHz
  • 2GB DDR2 667 RAM
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB
  • Windows Vista Home Premium

Sounds like a dream setup to some people, but it's been a bloody nightmare for me. :(

I've been back and forth on the phone to tech support, and it keeps conjuring up new problems after solving the old ones. First, it caught a virus, which prevented it from starting up. I had to format it, but the only Vista disc I had in the house was one that came from my Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop.

It worked fine, for a short while. It then decided to freeze up entirely at random times. This problem was a git to sort out. Turns out in the end, it was the Belkin wireless adapter, so I had to set up a wired connection for it. Not a problem, but for some reason, I have to wait a few minutes after booting up for the internet to come through.

After that, a worse problem occured. It wasn't letting me install programs, or if it did install, it didn't install properly. Two days ago, on the phone to tech support for the billionth time, I was a very lucky git. I decided to see if Norton 360 was causing the trouble, so I uninstalled it and rebooted, and then joy of joys! It installed programs!

Sadly, it's entered another downward spiral. Yesterday, I was installing the latest NVIDIA drivers, then rebooted. Now, it won't start up at all. It keeps going into Startup Recovery, which keeps saying it can not fix the problem, and it won't load up System Restore. Even worse, the recovery disc I got from tech support isn't working now. :(

I have a feeling it's a hardware fault this time round, as I did a memory test, and when it reached the end, Blue Screen of Death!!! I am praying that it is a hardware fault, because that means I can get a replacement! :D

Grand Master

Knife Party

Posted
Posted
My worst computer? My current desktop.

  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.5GHz
  • 2GB DDR2 667 RAM
  • 1TB Hard Drive
  • NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB
  • Windows Vista Home Premium

Sounds like a dream setup to some people, but it's been a bloody nightmare for me. :(

I've been back and forth on the phone to tech support, and it keeps conjuring up new problems after solving the old ones. First, it caught a virus, which prevented it from starting up. I had to format it, but the only Vista disc I had in the house was one that came from my Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop.

It worked fine, for a short while. It then decided to freeze up entirely at random times. This problem was a git to sort out. Turns out in the end, it was the Belkin wireless adapter, so I had to set up a wired connection for it. Not a problem, but for some reason, I have to wait a few minutes after booting up for the internet to come through.

After that, a worse problem occured. It wasn't letting me install programs, or if it did install, it didn't install properly. Two days ago, on the phone to tech support for the billionth time, I was a very lucky git. I decided to see if Norton 360 was causing the trouble, so I uninstalled it and rebooted, and then joy of joys! It installed programs!

Sadly, it's entered another downward spiral. Yesterday, I was installing the latest NVIDIA drivers, then rebooted. Now, it won't start up at all. It keeps going into Startup Recovery, which keeps saying it can not fix the problem, and it won't load up System Restore. Even worse, the recovery disc I got from tech support isn't working now. :(

I have a feeling it's a hardware fault this time round, as I did a memory test, and when it reached the end, Blue Screen of Death!!! I am praying that it is a hardware fault, because that means I can get a replacement! :D

haha, i sympathize you for using Norton

although, the driver problems are easy to fix, just research the most stable driver for your hardware, the newest versions aren't always the best working :p

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