Draco

On the surface it sounds like the XP mode would be an easier way to go. If I understand it properly, it would actually be running 7's features in XP compatibility, which means I would be taking fullest advantage available (through the old software) of the power of my computer. I found that I've forgotten exactly what I have in my computer. The processor is an AMD Phenom II X4 975 3.6 GHz. But it is Windows 7 Professional SP1.

So, question: If I disconnect all the other drives, won't that make the drive that I put XP into register as C: ? If so, will it switch back to F: when I plug the others back in? Also, how much of my 4 core processor and 16Gb of RAM will I be able to use with XP? I figure no more than 4 Gb.

At least that's what I think it's called. Hi all. It's been a long time since my last visit. I haven't had any problems with my "new" computer so I sort of drifted off. Nev knows me from the NKT, which is how I ended up here. Anyway...... I have Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on my C drive. Love it, except for one thing. It's not backwards compatible for a lot of older software and games, or so I've been told. I haven't tried to install and play things like any of my MechWarrior games (all the way back to MW3, which is/was a Win98 game) So I would like to have my old Windows XP Professional available for these things. Hard drive space isn't much of a problem. I have: C drive: 1Tb SATA E drive: 300Gb IDE (I think.... or else it's SATA because of the following) F drive: 320 Gb SATA (Unless I have these 2 backwards in my head. Anyway, one's SATA and the other's IDE) H drive: 1Tb external. I'd rather not use it though. I use it for storage of my pics and such. I would like to clear out the 320 Gb and then install Windows XP Pro on it. I have the disc. It can't be just that simple. What do I have to do to make things work properly? I want to continue to run the comp. with the C drive's Win. 7 Pro X64, since I have an AMD 3.2 GHz quad-core processor and 16Gb or RAM. When it's all done properly, the WinXP will only be tapping 4Gb of RAM, is that right? Help, please?

I got a 6 inch 40-pin IDE extension cable and installed it and my older IDE-type DVD/CD burner this morning. So now, the system has the originally listed AMD Phenom II X4 975 3.6 Ghz CPU with its massive Thermaltake cooler. The cooler has 2 fans, one of which is thermostatically controlled. It has never kicked in, as far as I know. Maybe it's because there's now a total of 6 case fans. There are a total of 4 hard drives, 3 internal, 1 external, total of 2620 Gb of storage space. 16 Gb of RAM. Internal card reader. 2 DVD/CD burners. NVIDIA GeForce GT430 graphics card. But I'm still looking for a sound card with the old MIDI port for game controllers that will work with Windows 7.

Spybot seems to be working for me. Maybe I don't go poking my nose into things that are even questionable, or something. But I haven't had a problem with spyware or malware for years. Oh, and I've been on the new PC with Win.7 Pro 64 bit for about a month now. Running AVG free for my AV, as well. Guess I do everything wrong.

As an afterthought........ I've run AVG free for literally years now, on more than 3 computers, with no problems. I just use them for antivirus. I use Spybot S&D for spyware. Again, no problems after many years of use. I know there's newer and by all reports, supposedly better free software out there. Nut I'm an ex-mechanic, and still live the mechanic's code: "If it works, don't fix it."

I found the instructions I was looking for. Did you solve this problem?

After looking through Ebay, I've found adapters that go from DB-15 plug to USB. That's what I need, but the cheapest I've found is still more than I want to pay. The adapter is higher priced than what I paid for the controller I'm trying to adapt. Sound cards with the DB-15 plug on them just aren't offered with drivers for Windows 7. A search of other forums has shown me this. So I'll get a good Win 7 compatible sound card and let it go at that.

While in Staples the other day, I met a man who was wearing a nametag that indicated he worked for Acer. He said he had built a BIG computer some time back and might still have an old long cable or two around. He was talking about IDE cables 4 to 6 feet long because of the size of the towers he had to connect. I guess they had them, "back in the day." This case has 4 hard drive bays in the bottom of it, and space for 3 optical drives on the upper front. SATA drives would be no problem, but IDE drives space out too far apart. I just hate giving up on perfectly usable equipment like that DVD/CD burner simply because it's of an older style. If I want to copy a CD, with 2 units I can go directly from one to another without the intermediate step of copying to the hard drive, even temporarily.

Thanks Nev. It looks like just what I need. It should add enough length without having extra cable to keep out of the airflow for cooling. Not that I seem to have an airflow problem. The case came with 5 fans, and the Thermaltake CPU cooler has 2 fans on it. One of those runs upon bootup, and the other hasn't kicked on yet, because the CPU hasn't gotten warm enough to activate it. (I'm adding 1 more fan down low, to get more airflow across the hard drives. There's not enough room in the bays for individual HD cooling fans.)

I have the new system up and running now. I'm using the new 1Tb SATA drive as my main (OS) drive, as well as the older 320Gb SATA and 300 IDE drives for simple storage. Only mistake I made was wiping XP off the 300IDE too soon. Lost my old Outlook Express mail. Oh well, such is life. Now onward and upward. I have the old IDE-type disk burner from my old PC, and would like to install it in the new PC. The only problem is this: The locations for the hard drives and the closest space for the disk burner are too far apart to allow me to use a standard IDE cable to plug them both in. I need an IDE cable with the drive connectors farther apart. I found a listing on Ebay for a Belkin cable that's 3 feet long, and wrote the seller asking the distance between plugs, but he hasn't replied. I'd really like to find a cable so that I could have a second disk burner.

I had a similar issue when installing a graphics card in my new PC. There is a setting in the BIOS that probably needs to be changed. When you did the system restore, it probably changed the BIOS setting back to where the comp is reading the onboard graphics instead of the card. This early in the morning (my time, mid-USA :)) I don't know where the install instructions are for my card, so I can't elaborate more than that. But I bet thefolks here like RandyL and Nev will know where to tell you to look.

Hello to everyone from my new PC! I finally took the time to "scavenge" parts of my old PC and get things together, and up and running. I love this new one so far, and not even Windows 7 Professional 64-bit has proven to be too much of a learning curve...... again, so far. Now, on to the latest thing. I won't call it a problem; I see it as more of a challenge. I'm looking for a sound card that will work with the aforementioned Windows 7 Pro 64-bit OS, that has the old 15-pin game controller port on it. So far, all I've found will only support up to XP. That's probably because those 15-pin plugs disappeared with the advent of the USB port, or thereabouts. :D Any other solution available to let me use my old Microsoft Force Feedback Pro joystick would of course be acceptable, like, is there an adapter out there that I've missed?

I'm salvaging pieces out of my old computer for my new one, as I mentioned. A man I work with might be interested in my old PC, minus the hard drive and video card because its 3.2GHz dual core processor would be a good upgrade for him over what he has. My old PC had XP on its drive, and his present PC has XP on it. If he were to install his hard drive in my PC, would he have to reformat the drive? I'm thinking yes, but I don't know for sure. The two processors are different sockets, so just swapping mine into his motherboard is out of the question. Besides, mine is already at 4Gb of memory.

Much as I thought. I'm still used to older systems where you're limited by that big ribbon cable. A total of 3 drives and that has to include both hard drives and CD/DVD drives. So with 1 IDE plug on the motherboard, doesn't that mean that I could use up to 3 drives on the ribbon cable? I know that Win7 Pro has an XP feature. Will my games work with it? A lot of them are currently on the IDE drive. If I left the XP on it, would Steam or the desktop shortcuts go to it? Like I said in another forum, Win7 will befinitely be more than just a little learning curve.