ScuzzBlog: Diaries October 2026
Entry 9th October 2026: Post 1: Two XP PCs don't make for a Win7.
Two XP PCs don't make for a Win7.
This just may be the last time I mention the Win7 machine given
that after some fifteen years I have finally removed her from below
the table. I had located the XP desktop sitting as a flat slab on
top of the Win7 tower. It was no way to treat the poor thing so
yesterday I juggled things around and brought into service another
XP mini tower to prop up the XP desktop. Looks a bit odd but works.
I cleaned the tower and placed her just inside the door to the
next room.
Onward: So this is what I did yesterday for those who like diaries.
01: Located the target machine which is a blackbox Evesham machine
from around the 2005 era. She is the sister of another I have,
though the other is fitted with a white floppy drive. The images
of the case are of her sister.
The XP served its life as a machine mostly for the secretary in
an architects office. It still has much of what was on the computer.
I have barely touched the thing other than for fitting a second
hard drive and giving the machine the name Clara Veiga.
02: I first had to move a flatscreen monitor sitting above her.
03: I then extracted the box plus keyboard and mouse. The computer
Fern sits below this computer.
04: I swapped over the adjacent monitor that was sitting on top
of a Win95 machine so that I could better review Fern on the flat
screen I just displaced. The monitor is on a PC connector and not
DVI. The other monitor is DVI and the Win95 machine has no DVI.
So Clara's large flatscreen becomes redundant for now. I hooked
the Win95 machine up to an Iiyama CRT and checked the network
was working. Which it was. So I have two Win98s sitting next to
each other.
05: I dragged Clara kicking and screaming upstairs, remarkably
heavy for a small tin box.
06: I then had to unplug the desktop XP machine and move and then
extract the Win7 machine. Short pause as I sobbed my heart out.
07: With Win7 now out of the frame and discarded like an old boot
the very sexy Clara Veiga was swept into service on the floor
below the table.
08: I plugged in the Ethernet cable but had nothing but a stuttering
light on the switch. I suspected the card. I fetched another cable
and the result was the same. Gotta be the card. As a last attempt
I grabbed the cable from the laptop which I had only recently used
and would you believe it that fixed the problem. I have never had
a cable fail before, let alone two
09: With the Ethernet sorted I then powered up and she worked no
problem. Well except for being XP.
10: Next job was to hoist the desktop XP on top of the Evesham
computer and start connecting to the monitor.
11: I have a Samsung with all the connectors, so now I have plugged
into the Monitor 1 x HDMI to the rear for the DeLL Win10 machine;
1 x HDMI to the side for the HP Windows 11 crap; a DVI connector
for the Evesham XP; a standard PC connector for the XP desktop.
I leave the Ext SCART for retro machines like the Amiga.
All done.
Clara is a pretty busy machine and retains most of her original
software. There is no internet connectivity. She is a Pentium 4
running at 3.20 GHz 3.20 GHz what ever that means. She has a sound
card and graphics card plus Ethernet card. In addition to the two
IDE there is a strange tiny 10GB drive on a different bus. This
may have been a rescue disk. I have no idea. Its bonkers small.
There is a DVD-RW and normal DVD though this may be disconnected.
The internal floppy is just a blanking plate. The second HD
prevents use as a floppy bay.
To the front is a small panel with 2 USB and headphone socket.
XP looks the part but sadly is about as boring as an XP machine.
Oh wait ! Damn, and now I have two of them to contend with. The
system has an admin and main profile and the password is...
' whocares '. Seriously, like it matters here.
There is the customary Amiga Vault and a large SAMBA repository.
Clara Veiga sits atop Demon Towers maintaining her keen eye over
the XP machine. When she is not doing her nails. I am now
burdened with two of these monstrosities which I can assure you in
no way make up for the loss of the Win7 machine. For now they will
have to do. My only other choice was to move the Win98 machine
back or build a time machine. Sadly the large clock in Microsoft
Square stopped at the death bell of Win7 and the DeLorean has not
been seen since. One day we may see a return to a normal Microsoft
version of Windows but for now I have to struggle with 2 x XP.
PS I did check the network by copying stuff between the XP machines
and all was fine.
Two XP PCs don't make for a Win7.
|
