My old XP box is close to death; the problem may be with the power supply. Options?

Discussion in 'hardware' started by Fly, May 13, 2017.

  1. login123

    login123 Registered Member

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    Hi, reality & Fly.
    A bit of clarification, fwiw. I use Powershadow, not a vm. Fortunately for me, no particular skill is required. :)
    Discussed at length (962 posts) here:
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/power-shadow.161735/

    If you DO use Powershadow, set your firewall to block Shadowtip.exe and Shadowsetting.exe.
     
  2. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Hi login123

    WoW!

    One of the best programs to ever find it's way into the XP scenery IMO. Was a great alternative to Deep Freeze for sure.

    I used to use Powershadow with EQSecure HIPS w/Kerio 2.15 and no resident AV was necessary, just the occasional online sweep for good measure.

    I think I have had quite enough of Microsoft pushing and pressing to Upgrade to the newest and safest next O/S release.

    For pity's sake i'm only just now settled in very well and comfortable with Windows 8.1 which by the way took a very long time to accept coming from a really feature packed XP with all the security and automation ever needed.

    I envy you guys who hold on those XP boxes and have refined them so well over the years.

    Fact is if I ever get my hands on a powerful enough 32 bit laptop that doesn't look like a relic, I wouldn't mind having an active XP system again because I still have apps for them as well as the net still hosts-a-plenty useful 32 bit programs.
     
  3. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    I, too, am sick and tired of of MS nagging and prodding.

    The amount of specialty tools and applications for XP is staggering. And I'm not quite prepared to abandon all that. Microsoft would need to pay me for time involved in migrating everything over. OR at the very least make it quick and hassle-free, which I know it won't be.
     
  4. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Yeah right what?

    The data, whether it is in the native format of modern systems or not, XP handles it all with aplomb. And the tools available on it It also supports serial and parallel ports with more transparency - since modern os'es and motherboards are "trying" to make that legacy stuff go away. XP, to me, has less stuff to get in the way.

    XP is the superior choice for the task at hand. Never said it was the superior OS, or that modern systems are inferior. Simply that XP does the job better than the rest. With less distractions.
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2017
  5. NormanF

    NormanF Registered Member

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    Best operating system Microsoft ever built. That's why a lot of people still run it for all its flaws, since nothing else supports older hardware as well as it does.

    The newest Windows is a lot more secure and can take advantage of the latest technologies but nothing beats XP for looks, reliability and performance.
     
  6. boredog

    boredog Registered Member

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    Check out the second comment on this link. https://arstechnica.com/security/20...t-used-leaked-nsa-exploits-weeks-before-wcry/
     
  7. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    :eek: You realize that makes no sense, right?

    W10 running on the latest technology hardware will run circles around XP which cannot take advantage of latest technologies. If you have an XP system that outperforms a W10 system, the problem is not with W10.
     
  8. boredog

    boredog Registered Member

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  9. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    It takes me less (much less) mouse movements and clicks to accomplish something in XP than it does in 7/8/10. Additionally, as OS product lines/brands mature through time they bloat up. So all these new technologies and performance enhancements get buried under pretty graphics, social media functionality, and more mouse activity.

    As soon as a new instruction set for a CPU comes out. Developers and the internet together find a way to bog it all down.
     
  10. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    Sadly, that is not true. The UK's NHS was devastated because they still use XP systems throughout.
     
  11. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Sad enough state of affairs, yes. I also feel that if Win10 was as desirable as XP & 7, then 10 itself would be the whipping boy. It simply hasn't had enough market penetration to warrant the attention. Yet.

    If Microsoft would make a decent product from the ground-up, then it wouldn't need to be patched on a daily basis. I can't count how many times people have jumped ship to Mac or Linux when confronted with that annoyance.

    ---

    XP may not be for the masses anymore. And that's ok. But remember all Microsoft Windows systems need babysitting.
     
  12. boredog

    boredog Registered Member

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    I still have 3 unopened XP PRO I could problem still sell since there are still so many users.
     
  13. Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright Registered Member

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    :confused: I sure don't see why. I think it is just because you have not taken the time to get used to the newer versions. That's not a criticism - just an observation made many times over the years. There's always a little learning curve with something new - then it becomes intuitive too.

    It takes me the same number of mouse clicks to open a Word document in W10 as it did in XP. Or to click on my browser icon and open my home page.

    W7's desktop and start menu is very much like XP. And you can make W8 and W10 look and feel just like W7 with Classic Shell or Start8/10. Though people I've talked to who took the time to learn the new W10 interface claim it is totally intuitive to them now.

    I use Start10 so my W10 desktop and start menu looks and feels like W7. And I have the old XP style Quick Launch toolbar on my W10 desktop too! :)

    In fact, when an XP system comes into the shop now, navigating around feels archaic and clunky.
    IMO, XP was the greatest Windows at the time. Vista was a total flop (I never migrated to it). Then W7 came along and it became the greatest ever. W8 was actually a great OS (in terms of the programming) but because of the marketing and management totally misguided decision to shove the W8 "Metro" UI down our throats, W8 bombed disastrously.

    W10 is actually the best Windows yet, but it still suffers from the W8 fiasco. If folks would actually give W10 a chance (with hardware designed for W10), I honestly believe most people would really like W10. And I say that as a hardware guy. Today's hardware technologies are amazing. But it takes a modern OS to truly see that. And W10 does.

    I am not a fan of W10 because I like W10. I am fan of W10 because I love my modern hardware!
     
  14. login123

    login123 Registered Member

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    Hi Fly. If that were my computer, I would try the following before abandoning it or installing a different OS.
    I don't know if you already tried any of this, if it's posted I missed it, but in any case this list pretty much exhausts my knowledge of hardware / startup problems.
    1. See if it will start in safe mode.
    2. Try discharging the capacitors. Unplug the power cord then press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. Then try 1. again.
    3. Replace the CMOS battery. Then try a normal start or 1. again.
    4. Do number 2 again, then unplug anything that will unplug from the motherboard... RAM, vid cards, power supply, etc. Look at the contacts, they should be shiny. If they aren't, polish them with a pencil eraser ... don't use an eraser with grit in it and don't get the crumbs in anything. Try to power up.
    5. Look at the capacitors on the motherboard. They should not have bulged tops or look somehow deformed or leaky. Baaaad sign if they do.
    6. Make sure all the thermal paste is still good. Not so easy, maybe for the shop to do.
    7. Do number 2 again, then beg or borrow a known good power supply, your repair shop will probably know which one, and try it.

    Gee, depressingly short list. :) Probably others know more.
     
  15. login123

    login123 Registered Member

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    Yes indeed Easter. It is a remarkable software, and didn't get very much press back in the day. It's sort of like running win xp from a live CD or something. All "shadowed" changes gone when you restart.

    The information in that old topic is still valid. The Tucows link is still good, I checked the hashes, and the registration key still matches the one I have stored. Version 2.6 does not need to phone home to activate.

    I did a google search and found that the authors now say it works up through win 10, but didn't save any of the links. I will never try the new versions. Win 7 is the last windows version I will invest any time in. If I can get it locked up as tight as win xp, then that's it. If not, then it's time to get acquainted with the penguin. Not looking forwared to that, but win 10 lost my vote when the little red x actually started whatever it was supposed to close.

    I don't mean to rattle on about Powershadow here, might be a bit off topic, but if Fly gets that computer going again it would sure be a software to consider.
     
  16. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Ordinarily I don't think any of us would have too much of an issue transitions up the chain of Windows series platforms if they would have just exercised some basic common sense in taking us peons concerns and reasonable expectations seriously enough to prove they are a tech company with drive, purpose, and hinged by the right perspective instead of IT'S OUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY.

    And the added upgrade soon or it will be aggressively pushed to through the internet into your system come what may.

    For all the flack I used to read about Bill Gates back in the day i'm of the belief now that he would taken a more sensible route then the one that's become policy since he left.
     
  17. Reality

    Reality Registered Member

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    I've used AomeiBU and MacriumR but open to exploring other things. Thanks.

    @EASTER
    Same here. I have those ones with the holograms - an XP Pro and XP home. However I had to slipstream SP3 into XP Pro as the XPSP1 disk gave me a few issues at install. I've also kept a stock pile of installers for this and that. These days you have to watch everything you install that it doesn't include hitchhikers. Many of my old installers don't have that.

    @NormanF
    The thing is, secure from who? I need to be secure from MS's itself. MS is doing everything possible to build a permanent umbilical cord from you to it and back again. A hotline if you will. Thanks but no thanks. Forget that some people say they don't collect private info. THEY DO - AND pass it on to the NSA. Worse is some of intels bag of tricks with their CPU within a CPU that bypasses firewall, OSes and everything else, all without you knowing. THANKS BUT NO THANKS. It is a sad day when people just roll over to all this in their droves and don't care because they're willing to trade their intimate lives for the next glittering piece of eyecandy.

    @boredog
    I saw that too. It's a bit hard to know who to believe. All sorts of things being said. In the end the best defense is prevention rather than cure (in this case making sure we take extra measures like using Sandboxie). Here's an excerpt from deBoetie's post (but read the whole thing) (post 14).
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...-leaked-nsa-hacking-tool.393973/#post-2674849
    If people wont go willingly off XP, then some "situation" needs to be engineered to make them want to go.
    Count me in guys about the pushing and prodding which has the opposite effect on me.
     
  18. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Yes I believe that too. Whoever is currently in charge is lacking the vision and sensibilities BG had.
     
  19. Keatah

    Keatah Registered Member

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    Decent 1st-line steps. Perhaps inspect power connector and make sure it isn't burned and has a secure fit on the contacts.

    I've seen them overheat and everything then goes kaplooey! Heh..
     
  20. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    I couldn't agree any more than that analogy you use to describe it.

    I long since got rid of those bulky desktop cases for more convenience with lappys and really do want to find or if I have to have someplace BUILD a really strong laptop just for 32 bit.

    That way I can once again enjoy those automations and such which is been sorely missed. I really thought Microsoft with their Agent Characters and the like would press ahead with some better form of AI than Cortana? Give me a break.

    I dunno. With Bill Gates (and many of us too) going into the twilight years you kind of wonder if he might do things much differently than how it is now with M$ or not.
     
  21. Reality

    Reality Registered Member

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    Well, 2nd biggish power cut in a week and 3rd in what, a month. Brown-outs yet again - so glad for my UPs, which sqwarks day or night when you might not otherwise know you're on low voltage power, putting other house hold items at risk - so, 3 cheers for my UPs. :thumb:

    Fly, as Keatah says worth checking about signs of burn marks. Also what login says, yep bad caps not good. My second old XP home computer had that and I believe I posted a pik of that some months back in this hardware forum.

    The re-seating of cables is good advice. Just be aware in doing so, it may be the last time before one of them may give up - like IDE connectors and ribbon cables which are pretty clunky, get in the way, get bent, block air flow and so on. Case in point: a couple of days ago was fiddling with the internals of my W7Pro computer (no name brand) which I had given to me some months ago. I was delighted to see in addition to sata it had an IDE connector on MoBo and so I hawked a cable out of one of my dead computers (still lying around BTW), and was able to hook up my old IDE drives. PSU is a bit low powered so I only had one HD connected at a time just in case. I wanted to access the other drive and after hooking it up, well I got a stop error and all sorts of drama. Had to do hard shut downs because of some sort of loop it got itself into. Duh, when all else fails it's usually something simple....like I'd inadvertently dislodged the sata cable (for system drive) - As we all know somethings can lead to others. I couldn't get either of my IDE drives working after that - until I ratted out the other spare IDE cable. Now it's back to how it was. All that to say with hardware some times things can be so obviously simple, or the simple can turn to the worryingly complex and then all be resolved when there's a few spare parts to use in the process of elimination.

    Not sure if it's already been mentioned, but have you checked the motherboard light. When I had this power button issue mine still lit up.

    @EASTER, all the best with your LT ventures. I've always loved my full DT because there's more room for a learner to see whats going on. I love the idea of a LT but thought they were basically no go zones for those with sub-average skills such as myself. Ironically though, my first taste of tinkering involved successfully rescuing a 4GB HDD from a family members LT that had a rough end but was built like a tank. My HP SFF is much more compact than a DT but I managed OK and installed 2 HDs in it. I couldn't believe how heavy it was for its size. Apparently these business computers have better and longer lasting components than consumer grade PCs. I never even considered that until I wondered why this HP is built like a brick wall.
     
  22. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Thanks. And hope all gets back to normal again on your end too.

    Hardware on the LT's I went with seem to be lasting very well. Always worked with SWF flash and still do, some heavy graphics here and there, so if all that load was good enough for the old systems then I expect at least the same performance if not better on recent units.

    Kinda like the idea now of changing out those THIN hard drives where on the towers was always a wiring maze since I used to series those to run multiple drives stack inside cases of course.

    Looking to find when there's time for a (2) HD LT. That would be the butter on my bread I think. LoL

    Enjoy reading your experience with yours so don't ever let up. There's a lot to be said and enjoyed about those old XP's after all :thumb:
     
  23. Reality

    Reality Registered Member

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    Ha ha I don't think things will ever be normal as long as I hookup to the internet! :) but truly whether it's my old MS small business software which includes Word and Excel which I really like or just the OS itself with some 3rd party utilities, I'm a happy camper. I just don't need all the latest and greatest eye candy and excess baggage-ware. I've delved a little into Linux (did the 2 USB tails thang for Windows OS) but I am by no means a dab hand and would need some hand holding to do Linux as a host system. A lot of time needed that I am short on.

    Been keeping an eye on this ransomware fiasco and as you noted in the thread, wannacrypt-ransomware-worm-targets-out-of-date-systems WildByDesigns post was sure interesting. I read that link and if what the guy says is true and that MS admits they know of no XP system encrypted then there is a whole lot of spin going on o_O. Even though it's never wise to let ones guard down, I am skeptical about what really lies beneath this pile of trouble. I'll be really interested to see what transpires when all the kerfuffle dies down.
     
  24. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    That little tidbit if it holds true speaks some volumes right? Not to say but XP properly tightened is been proven to hold it's own and I for one can attest for some excellent 32 bit security apps that can seal things up probably better then recent versions.

    There are tools a plenty for digging deep into windows 32 bit kernel which is exploit land for those systems so it's not like discovered hitchhikers can't be let off at the next CLICK of unloading too

    And tell me about the time we're short on. Do you realize how long it took many of us just to get a firm enough handle on windows even if they would have released only a couple of new versions, let alone the many different, service packs rollouts for upgrades etc.

    We would have to live to be 500 just to take all that in if you followed their series up the ladder for any length of time.

    Back to the ransomware fiasco. It's incredible the extent of how far the makers of it are willing to go but the good news as always is that Up Pops new innovations to smother those potential intruders provided PC LT users pay attention to the latest security available to them.
     
  25. Reality

    Reality Registered Member

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    Hi EASTER, yes my thoughts on why they keep the ball rolling so to speak with this constant update update update routine is engineered to be that way on purpose. Totally agree about the time factor - I mean what average person is going to be able to handle all this anywayz? What they (MS et al) really want is to be your nanny and "manage" your computer for you so you can "stay safe". Yeah maybe safe from others but not from them. Again THANKS BUT NO THANKS. o_O I read stuff about how they (google) wanna manage your HD. No way. These days if I run a utility (preferably portable) I test it offline and see how it behaves about wanting to phone home. If it tries that business I'll get smartsniff going, get their ipaddress and block them in Kerio.

    Itman just posted some more interesting stuff about XP and this ransomeware racket.
     
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