question about xp operating system

My son's computer needs an operating system installed. My question is can I use the xp discs I already have? I had purchased a gateway computer back in '01 and along with it came the OS discs. I was told by the person that built my son's computer that those discs wouldn't work because they were intended for Gateway. I had mentioned that to a friend at work who assembles computers and he looked at me like I had two heads saying it wasn't true. Here's what makes me think I CAN use those discs. Isn't the hard drive the heart and soul of the computer? A few years back the hard drive failed on my computer. I bought an after market hard drive and was able to install the discs. Wouldn't I be able to install the same OS onto HIS hard drive? Other than having to do a lot of updates on the microsoft site wouldn't I be good to go?

 

You can be sure if you don't try.Try it!!!

 

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. But since XP became the operating system Microsoft uses, they have limited the amount each user can install windows onto a system. It's usually one unless other licenses were purchased. In my experience in trying to defeat the need to purchase additional copies of xp.
operating disc from other computers 95% of the time will not work on another system unless it is the same company, model. I'm not sure how they are linked to the computer but I don't think it is only the hard drive that keeps the information. Again like Goran said you can try, but don't get your hopes up.

 

XP that can be installed on any one computer comes as one disk, if you have more than one disk what you have is an OEM (original manufacturers) recovery disk set. Its meant for the Gateway computer only and its motherboard has an ID that the install looks for before it continues. With an entirly new system it will not work. But, like the other say, if you don't try it you will never know for sure. You can still buy XP pro at sites like Newegg for $135, I know its seems like alot for a kid but your options are limited and home is alittle cheaper but Pro is definately the way to go.

 

It turns out I think I'll be needing to try something for my own computer as well as my son's. Like I had posted, my computer was purchased back in '01. The mother board that came with it can only handle up to a 2.0GHZ processor. While I have been able to find 2.0 pentium4 processors they have all been of the 478 socket type. It turns out I'm lucky enough to have the 423 socket! I cannot find it anywhere! Usually I would prefer to upgrade my current computer rather than purchasing a new one. So far I have already replaced the hard drive (because I had to), increased my memory from 512MB to 1GIG, and purchased a new graphics card. Unfortunately I have already had problems with artifacting using that graphics card. I have tried without success to fix that problem without results....long story. Without purchasing a new motherboard I think I have taken this computer as far as It can go. The reason I have decided to upgrade is Spore. The only game I play on my computer is the Sims2, now I want Spore. One of Spore's system requirements is a 2.0GHz processor. I went to Tigerdirect.com and priced a motherboard, processor, 1GIG of memory, and a graphics card for about $235. Appzalien, you said a windows XP install disc comes on 1 disc. I DO have the operating system on one disc, other than 6 worksuite discs and one money disc but of course, they are not part of the OS. I have done quite a few searches and I cannot find, in definate terms, if I can use this disc. I was happy to have this disc because most people I know had gotten their computers in more recent years than I, and do not have an install disc. As I had mentioned before, I had put in a new hard drive. The two of the three things I had read online that I would not be able to do is change my hard drive or my motherboard with a restore disc. If I had copied and transferred the info from the original hard drive it could then be done. I don't think this was the case. While I am definately not a computer whiz, I was even less of one back then. A friend of mine helped me with it. I am pretty darned sure we just pulled it out and put in the new one. We reinstalled windows, I was starting from scratch, I THINK. I cannot ask my friend because he no longer is one. There was a betrayal of trust involving him and some of my family members. I'm not positive THIS means anything, but I did do a repair install AND a clean install recently with that disc without any problems - something I read online I would need an actual install disc for. I didn't even bother with worksuite or money. I'm living paycheck to paycheck here, as it is although $235 is a great price I will have to charge it and I would hate to have to add an additional $135 for another XP disc. As far as I'm concerned after the crap load of money I shelled out for that computer I paid for my genuine copy of WindowsXP!

 

The 423 socket is not a pentium socket, its for an AMD chip, yours may be a Duron which would be the lower end chip for that time, what you need to look for to replace it then would be an Athlon XP with as high a rating as your pc will allow. Sometimes if you upgrade your motherboards bios to a new version you can also upgrade to a higher Ghz processor. The 423 socket is also known as Socket A.

If your Graphics card is artifacting it could be defective, and you should RMA it while its still under warranty. Since China took over most of the electronics for computers, the return rate has risen dramatically.

Most of the computers I use are just as old as yours and not much higher in mhz. My ASUS A7N8X - Deluxe is from 2000/2001 and it has the socket 423 with an Athlon 3000+ which is actually 2.16ghz I believe. The Athlon processors are superior to the Durons in the speeds they can achieve. Usually both processors come from the same sheet when the're made and after testing the slower ones get the duron label.

If spore says you need 2.0ghz processor you should be ok what you have to watch is the shader model. I don't know if newer AGP cards can even support shader model 3.0, and many newer games require it. If I'm right AGP cards only go to shader model 2.0. If there is nothing wrong with your card it could be a power supply problem. If your PS is not giving out enough juice it can cause artifacting pixelization and crashes. So whats your power supply and what did your card recommend?

 

Appzalien, Thanks for your help! I know I'm not a computer whiz, But I know you're mistaken. I'm positive the processor I have is a 1.8 GHz pentium4 with a 423 socket. You don't have to take my word for it. Look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_4 the socket types are listed to the right. I have also included an attachment of a screen shot of Everest indicating what type of processor I exactly have. Unfortunately I have had the graphics card for over a year, I was a dummy and did not save my receipt, and I'm not even positive I registered it, but I think I did. I am not eligable for a replacement from what I've read on the PNY site. My game never crashed but I saw a lot of graphical errors that others described as artifacting. The card required a 300w psu and I replaced my 250w with a
550w when I bought the card.

 

Your right, I looked it up and the socket A is a Socket 462 not 423. I don't think I ever saw a 423 unless its the equivalent of a Slot A which they used for pentium 3's and might have carried over to Pentium 4 for a short time when it was first introduced. The Slot A was typically a stand up processor where the cpu was plugged into a card and then the card was plugged to the board like a pci slot would be but for the processor.

There is a place where you can move a slider to try and stop video corruption and artifacting but I can't remember where it is... I just looked it up and if you go to any blank spot on the desktop and right click properties then go to Settings > Advanced > Troubleshoot you can turn down the slider a little at a time to see if it helps. I've never used it myself and would be disappointed if I had to use it because I felt I was having to compensate for a deficiency in my card, but if it works so be it.

There is also a possibility you might fix it in the bios. I know there is a setting in many where it asks pci or agp first and setting it correctly can fix some problems. Also there is an Overclockers trick they use to get their system started in the event they go too far with their tweaking, which is supposed to automatically reset the graphics to default. I believe its hold the ctrl key while the machine is booting and it will reset the graphics.