Help with configuring a new laptop...

Mana · 4 Feb 2006 at 13:25

Hi there,

hmm just realised that i sound like Gibbo

hehe anyway, back onto the main topic... A friend of mine recently sold me his one week old Compaq Presario M2000 for the bargain price of £270. Unfortunately, the idiot has lost the installation discs and so i am lacking in drivers etc... Now i think that the gfx card in this laptop is an ati x300, can i just download catalyst drivers from the ati website and install? Will that be enough to get the advance gfx driver options up?

O yes, forgot to mention that when i got this laptop i did a full format and reinstalled windows xp. As a result i feel that the touchpad is a little too sensitive, is there anyway to configure its sensitivity in windows or do i have to download the specific compaq drivers. I have searched the compaq website and cant seem to find the right drivers for the m2000. does anyone have this laptop or knowledge of where i can download the drivers from?

Finally this laptop only has 256mb of ram, atm its still pretty nippy due to the fresh install but i know that after a while things will start to slow down a lot. Does anyone know any windows tweaks that can help keep winxp lean and mean on256mb?

Thanks in advance

toontoon · 4 Feb 2006 at 13:43

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...est_page=product&dlc=en&product=433559&os=228

uknorthboy · 4 Feb 2006 at 13:51

Also the manual here http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?cc=th&product=500512&lc=en

Mana · 4 Feb 2006 at 14:15

thanks guys, gonna check out that link... Managed to get the ati drivers installed fine off the ati website.

just checked device manager and the only drivers left to install are the 56k modem driver, the sound driver and some network driver, but not sure what that is as the inbuilt network card was detected by windows

anyway, thanks for the links guys, going to check them out now

bryn · 4 Feb 2006 at 18:29

The Driver Heaven mod tool lets you use the latest ATI drivers instead of the last update your laptop supplier kindly made 3 years ago. Works for me on a Fujitsu Siemens.

www.driverheaven.net/patje/

--
Bryn

Mana · 5 Feb 2006 at 16:20

thanks for all your help guys...

turns out that this laptop wasa m2000z cto, found the right drivers and stuff on the manu webpage.

also it turns out that this motherboard has intergrated ati graphics and so it was just a simple case of just going to ati's webpage and downloading the latest catalyst drivers for intergrated motherboards. Have catalyst 6.1's installed now

.

one final question, does anyone know how to upgrade laptop memory, as this has 256mb and thats way less than what i have been used to working with... do i have to send it back to the manufacturer? or can i buy laptop memory (are there different types) and install it myself. any idea how much to upgrade to 1gb ram?

thanks in advance

BigDom · 5 Feb 2006 at 16:36

Normally you can add a Memory module, have a look through the manual for the type you need as they are not as consistant as PC ram.

Mana · 5 Feb 2006 at 17:02

cool, just had a look through the manual and it shows how to open and install memory. will buy some memory tomorrow.

just enabled wireless networking, dont have wireless internet in the house and yet still picked up 2 unsecured wireless networks. is this a common thing that happens, people not securing their wireless network?

i guess however that they could possible hack into my pc when i am using it, better be careful about what i save on this pc eh

BigDom · 5 Feb 2006 at 17:05

yes unsecured networks are VERY common. I've borrowed them once or twice myself and as long as you have a good firewall on the lappy they are technically safe to use... not sure about the legal implications of borrowing someones net connection without permission but well if they where bothered about it they'd secure it

.