Computer idiot (me)

[emtmark]

My wife's laptop crapped out, hard drive failed. I pulled the old one out and went to the store. Got a new laptop hd and an Operating system. Went to install it and it say won't do it your a 32 bit system I'm a 64 bit program. Dammit! I want to use this as the garage computer that I can do work on cars n guns and not have to worry about getting grease n oil on it. I was on the hp site and Microsoft and cannot find a way to get "windows xp media center edition 2005" for which is the authentication code is on the bottom of my computer.
Does anybody have the disks that I can get this thing off the ground?
I hate computers!! Just want it to work?!
sad mark

[cid`]

so when you say you got a new hard drive and operating system.. you bought windows 7/8 at the store?

[dynamomark80]

just use the original OS disc that came with the laptop. if it is Windows you will find a sticker on the bottom of the laptop that has the activation code.

[emtmark]

Yes that is correct I bought over the counter software, windows something, 2 years ago. I'm just coming back to this project as the wifey poo is back at work and using the one working computer we have for that. We got the computer with software preloaded, no "disks" to speak of. I'm hoping somebody has the "disk" and will let me use it with my authentication code to get me back up n running. The old hard drive is still here and will probably fire up if spoken to gently and quietly however I'm at a loss at how to get the windows over to new hard drive/computer. That's why a just bought a newer version.
We pulled everything off we needed before I made the swap via a thumb drive and put it on her computer, this one is for me to dork around on.

[Jason95357]

Just get Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu Linux) (both free) and install. Works just fine for 99% of what you want, including browsing the web. I suggest the Long Term Support (LTS) version, which has support until 2017 (vs. the semi-annual releases which have ~8 mos. of support).

[bigmike82]

That's actually a really good point. If this is *just* a garage computer that you use to surf the web, get yourself Ubuntu (or Fedora Core if you want something that's not designed for kindergarteners [j/k {partly} ]). It's even got some pretty fun games if you want to just mess around. It's a really good OS for what you're looking for.

[Jason95357]

That's actually a really good point. If this is *just* a garage computer that you use to surf the web, get yourself Ubuntu (or Fedora Core if you want something that's not designed for kindergarteners [j/k {partly} ]). It's even got some pretty fun games if you want to just mess around. It's a really good OS for what you're looking for.

Hah, I'm a Fedora (Core was dropped after FC6) guy from way back, actually all the way back to Red Hat 5.2 (before RHEL) to RH9, then FC1-6, F7-12. CentOS is my personal distro of choice, and RHEL is what I use at work for desktops, since we have RHEL servers at work.

I just figured I'd recommend an easy Linux for him to install and use. Plus, Fedora isn't going to make him happy due to the relatively short lifespans (~13 months of support right after release), and both Fedora and CentOS are a pain due to lack of official good third-party repos (codecs, etc.). Sure, there are repos that kinda work, but breakage is still rather constant and there is a lot of tweaking you have to do if you want to use competing repos that don't play nice.

Linux Mint just works, and has all that third-party stuff baked in and ready to go. If it wasn't for my Red(Hat) roots, I'd be tempted too.

[emtmark]

Oh my god my head just popped! Codec?! Fedora?!
Are we talking about a bruce Willis movie the Hudson hawk and a hat?!? Fml!
If Linux which I have heard of can surf, print, create word documents and be truly easy to use then I will do it. Are there idiot guides? Download a disk somewhere or on a USB stick?

[bigmike82]

CentOS is my personal distro of choice

It's the only choice for my prod servers.

Emtmark: You can download Ubuntu from the Ubuntu website . Install it like you would any OS...just pop the disk in, reboot the computer and boot from the CD. Since you're having some difficulties with the computer anyway, might as well give it a shot and see how it turns out for you. You can find good advice on the forums of that same website. Seriously...just play around with it. The worst that can happen is that you end up not liking it and going back to windows.

[the86d]

Pear Linux OS FTW. I have been using it on my work PC for over 2 months now, and it has been more stable than Windows for VMs, and as a daily OS (even Betas worked better than Windows). It takes some getting used to, and if you hit network SaMBa shares, you have to tinker until you figure it out, but stable as sh!*. M$ OS's are NOT getting better, only more graphical, and less efficient.

Pear looks like a Mac, but with a ZERO price-tag, and you won't be investing in the other evil company, and you don't have to run proprietary hardware that cost a bunch more for replacement hardware if something dies.

Pear installs on just about everything, like Slackware, but I have had about a 80% failure rate when trying to install *buntu distros for one reason or another (HDDs don't detect, or installer locks up with other *buntu testing for me).

[remusrm]

go with ubuntu lts, is just the most popoluar right now and probably for the next few years... the little names will give you a head ache since they change too often. I myself use centos 6 since of stability but a bit harder to use but not to set up.

[emtmark]

Ok I've got some time today gonna give it a whirl

[emtmark]

Downloaded unbuntu lts? Long term support and am burning to disk

[emtmark]

Ok, put disk into laptop, hp flashes onscreen for a second then " invalid system disk, replace the disk and press any key"

I downloaded 707 mb of unbuntu to desktop the burned whole to disk and put disk in new hard drive computer?!

Dammit computer magic

[Darryl Licht]

My wife's laptop crapped out, hard drive failed. I pulled the old one out and went to the store. Got a new laptop hd and an Operating system. Went to install it and it say won't do it your a 32 bit system I'm a 64 bit program. Dammit! I want to use this as the garage computer that I can do work on cars n guns and not have to worry about getting grease n oil on it. I was on the hp site and Microsoft and cannot find a way to get "windows xp media center edition 2005" for which is the authentication code is on the bottom of my computer.
Does anybody have the disks that I can get this thing off the ground?
I hate computers!! Just want it to work?!
sad mark

First off watch out for so-called forum know-it-alls chiming in for a higher post count!

I've been in the computer business as a trainer, system builder, and consultant for over 20 years.

Your CPU isn't capable of running a 64bit OS, that's why the error message. The bummer is it is too late now and I doubt the store will allow you to return an open box OS. But you said it's 2 years old...

Additionally with WinXP you cannot use anybody else's XP CD's as you can with Win7 and 8 (unless you use their CD Key codes). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news... Also Win XP Media Center 2005 was really a specially tweaked version for PCs with TV tuners and television connections. Really just plain old Windows XP Pro with a few additions and tweaks.


If you merely want a garage PC for surfing and such, I go along with the suggestions of downloading and installing the Ubuntu version (distro) of Linux. Download Ubuntu here. Just make sure you get the 32 bit version. Don't be afraid of Ubuntu... it is very Windows like from the user standpoint and should suit your needs fine. If you need guidance with Ubuntu PM me.

If you have to have XP and are in So Cal PM me, as I have a few old unused copies of XP Pro in a drawer somewhere.