Відео

Normally yes, I never usually shutdown computers in the way shown in this video (I usually use the Start menu), but because the camera was placed in an awkward spot that made it hard to use the mouse and keyboard, I wanted a quick way to shut it down gracefully. I adjusted the power settings in Windows to treat the physical power button as a power off button. This way, a quick press and release of the power button (like I did at 1:51) ended up sending a shutdown signal and made Windows go through the proper shutdown procedure as if I did it through the Start menu (which is why you could see the "Windows is shutting down" screen near the end of the video). If I held down the power button instead, then the computer wouldn't have sent the shutdown signal and it would have immediately turned off without doing a proper shutdown, which is the non-advised way of doing it like you mentioned. Thanks for mentioning it!

​@@ComputingCanuck Thanks for clarifying, so if you were to shut down your computer through the Start menu, there would be a wrong shutdown signal?

Hello! I hope you're doing well too! Unfortunately, I have not encountered that particular error with my Vostro laptop, but I have seen it caused by certain things before. You can try these fixes out if you wish, but please know that I am not 100% certain if these things pertain to you, and the cause of your error may be completely different. -BIOS settings. While testing this on my laptop, I've ran into many issues with DOS and earlier versions of Windows (not the incorrect opcode one, but other ones). The only resolution I found was to disable functions of the laptop in the BIOS. Luckily most of Dell's BIOS versions are awesome and allow you to turn off nearly every feature/hardware device you can think of, and when I did that, it fixed a lot of my issues. If you go into the Dell BIOS, turn off/disable whatever you can that isn't 100% needed (once you get an idea of what each setting is). I don't remember ALL the things I turned off, but some of the many things I disabled were: Audio/speakers, Wifi card, ethernet port, multi-core support, hyperthreading, Intel Speed Step, PC Card/PCMCIA Card, FireWire port, setting AHCI to IDE/Legacy, etc. After I finished turning all that (and more) off in the BIOS, I had to re-install DOS and Windows from scratch, but it worked fine for me after that. That's why I made all those changes to the BIOS *before* I started recording. -Installing MS-DOS via USB. I've sometimes seen FreeDOS (and MS-DOS) freak out when installed using a USB stick. If you installed DOS with a USB stick, I would try a different method. -Incorrect DOS version. Very rarely I've seen the version of DOS cause that specific error. You didn't specify which version of DOS you're using so I can't say for sure if this is an issue, but I personally used the (unofficial) version of MS-DOS 7.1 and that worked for me. -Incorrect DOS configuration. If your version of DOS loads an expanded memory manager (such as EMM386 and other similar ones), I've seen that cause issues sometimes. I would check and make sure that your DOS is only loading HIMEM and no other memory managers (If you have a lot of RAM in your Vostro though, I would still load HIMEM but turn off checking the RAM at startup). While I can't guarantee that any of these will fix your issue, I hope it at least points you in the right direction. Good luck! :)

No worries! It is an actual PC! It's a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop. You can see the laptop display its manufacturer (Dell) and its model name (Vostro 1400) between restarts throughout the video!

@@ComputingCanuck Fair enough thank you for the info! 😄

Thank you! :D

Yes! It's pretty wild how the installer remained largely the same since Vista (especially when compared to the pre-Vista installers which had some pretty major design overhauls between Windows versions). Although from what I've seen, the next upcoming major version of Windows 11 (24H2) finally changes the installer's design and gets rid of the "checklist" that the Vista installer introduced.

@@ComputingCanuck If I had to theorize why Microsoft stopped updating the design of the installer, it's probably because less and less average consumers are actually installing Windows themselves. These days, computers are usually preloaded with Windows which generally wasn't the case many years ago. Therefore there isn't any reason to update it since it just works

That's a neat theory, I never thought about it like that! Personally I always believed it was partly due to changes in design trends throughout the tech industry. Since in the Vista and pre-Vista days, designing interfaces for people was all about skeuomorphism where the interface appeared "real" and had more "friendly" elements to them (which is why I think the earlier installers up to Vista/7 had more colours, more icons, and more visuals to them). So I think as the industry shifted to the "flat" design (aka the "metro" design in Microsoft land) they changed the installer to match that design trend by keeping it simple, and changing it only slightly from Vista by dropping the aero elements. Now that Microsoft is shifting from Windows 8/Windows 10's "Metro"/flat design to Windows 11's "Fluent" design, I'm guessing that's why they're changing the installer starting in the upcoming 24H2 release.

I used a program to force a 32-bit Windows installer to upgrade with a 64-bit copy of Windows. There's more info in the description and/or during the video after the installation of Windows 7!

It definitely would be! If I ever decide/get the time to make videos on a regular schedule (and if I get the money), it's definitely a purchase I would consider making! For now though, I'll stick with my ol' reliable(ish) early 2010s camera :)

Correct. You can't run every single Windows version on the same computer, you know.

Oh wow, that's a neat feature!

@@ComputingCanuck yeah it could control the fan,show the temp,HDD activity,speaker volume(I think it had a speaker something which died or there was a option for it which I guess he didn't install or it was prolly the system volume and even the power,I guess it meant how much voltage the PC was getting,it was just a bar tho,pretty cool feature fr and yeah the display could change colors but it was mostly blue then

I looked it up, and that looks like a really cool case! Must've been an awesome-looking PC!

@@ComputingCanuck yeah,2000s cases were on a different level,the case had 2 cd/DVD drive covers,the ones which flip open with the drive when it opens like on this Sony Vaio,but they weren't there later prolly fell out and went missing or were inside the case

If I ever need more resources for that PC in the future, that's exactly what I'll do. The specs of the VAIO list it as supporting 2 GB of RAM at max so with 1 GB of RAM already in it, another 1 GB of RAM would be perfect.

@@ComputingCanuck exactly another 1 GB ram will make it great,but I suggest having ram in all the 4 channels,like each slot containing a 512 mb ddr2 stick,the more channels,the more better will be the performance

​@@ComputingCanuck and yeah if you want you can add a SSD along with the HDD and install windows 7 seperately on it,you'll have 2 operating systems,I wonder who r the guys who replace HDDs but yeah sadly some ppl don't like em anymore yet I ain't never gonna stop using HDDs,a PC should have HDDs more than sata ssds but yeah this is for those older PCs which dont have the NVME slot in the motherboard,HDDs are built to last for long and they got a sound which just isn't nostalgic yet adds personality to PCs,specially older ones like this which are loud I prefer em,HDDs got rly quieter now sadly but yeah bcz some ppl get irritated by loud noises wether it's the fans or the HDDs or both,windows xp just needs upto 4 gb ram to work fast as heck,but yeah that is if its supported by pcs and Motherboards of custom builds,i saw other asus motherboards which have model names very close to my dads and support upto 4 gb ram,like my dads one was the asus P5VDC-MX from 2005 or 2006,theres 2 motherboards called asus P5VDC-X and Asus P5VD2-MX which support upto 4 gb ram which are i guess from 2006

Once again sry for my very long comments 😅​@@ComputingCanuck

No need to apologize! Thanks for the comments! :D

It was hard for me to power down the PC normally through the start menu since the camera was placed in an awkward spot where I couldn't comfortably reach around to grab the mouse and click on the start menu. To work around this, I adjusted the power settings on the PC before recording so that pressing the power button would power down the PC in the same way that a soft shut down via the start menu would (before changing settings, pressing the power button would've just put the computer to sleep/hibernate). This way I could still do a soft shut down by pressing the physical button instead of having to resort to holding the power button for 3-5 seconds and causing a hard/instant shut down.

​@@ComputingCanuckOh ok,sry if you minded,yes I understand the camera was in a different position

Yeah! I've rarely seen PCs that show the CPU branding on startup so I always thought that was cool too! That's awesome to hear about your Dad's custom built PC, sounds like it was a beast! I never got to experience using a Pentium D PC back then since my first PC had a Pentium III instead lol

@@ComputingCanuck yeah,my dad got his first PC during the time 1996-1999 or 1997-1999,I have no idea how was it,Im guessing it had Pentium ii bcz that was the latest CPU at the time,I heard back when we shifted houses on 2010 my dad threw it away bcz it was old and I guess wasn't working anymore,then I think he got his second pc on 2001,even I don't know it's specs too,maybe it's still lying somewhere in the depths of our store room since we shifted or thrown away idk,then his 3rd PC was that custom built one,so my dad got a IBM Thinkcentre M52 8113 from 2005 or 2006 most likely 2005 with Pentium D,ran vista on it,it was at his workplace,so when the custom built couldn't be used bcz of ram limitations,he bought the IBM Thinkcentre home and used it till 2021 with upto 8 GB ram which I have no idea how he managed to bypass it's 4 GB limit,but yeah one of its bridges died,oh and Pentium D has heating problems too,I guess back when he had the custom built I guess it used to heatup too bcz of how much power it consumes,still a great processor of it's time

That's cool! Especially the part about the IBM ThinkCentre, getting that much use out of a PC for roughly 15 years is awesome!

@@ComputingCanuck yep and ik almost every time it had that infamous ram issue in which ram just needed to be reseated,but not too often and yeah sadly the entire time It was missing it's rear exhaust fan,there was no fan on the back,so yeah he used it till 2021 until one day it used to startup and a while later the screen used to glitch briefly and it shut off,so yeah it's bridge prolly died from overheating so we got rid of it sadly,but I rly miss the custom built,daym I still remember back when I used to play those online adobe flash and shockwave player games on it during the time 2007-2012

Ah, sorry to hear that about the PC. But yes, the era of Adobe flash games were a great time!

Oh nice! That sounds like a cool PC! I love the OEM wallpapers as well! Luckily with this VAIO, the wallpaper gets automatically applied when I factory reset it, so it saves me having to search for it lol

@@ComputingCanuck 👍,btw you still got the PC?dude that's a rly nice PC,keep it safe,I've seen 2 Sony Vaio PCs rn,coolest part is that they got many of those cool video ports hidden inside the doors and stuff,this one has it at the bottom under the cover,the previous one I saw was from I guess 2004 something,it was purple and had Pentium 4 and that same bios post startup beep.Pretty sad how Sony killed it's Vaio stuff,I never knew they made PCs and under the Vaio name,just saw this yr and they're cool,that Pentium D sticker is pretty rare and cuz it was the earliest one before Intel changed their logo on 2005 or 2006

​@@ComputingCanuck btw here's the specs of my first PC sadly I don't have it anymore bcz I killed it on 2021 by turning the voltage switch on the PSU -Intel Core i5 2390t -8 GB Ram DDR3 -1 TB SATA HDD 7200 RPM -AMD ATI Radeon HD 6450 GPU with 512 MB of Video Memory Anyway do upgrade it's ram to 2 GB,sry for repeating again😅,do try to make another vid on this PC and more PCs from the 2000s running Vista or XP❤️,btw the HDD sound is nostalgic❤️❤️,kinda sounded similar to my Dads custom Built from 2005 or 2006,I spent a great time with it,the casing had a circle on the middle bottom with a rectangular shaped light in it which was mostly blue until one day it stopped working and I forgot what it is until I saw old pictures from 2010 back when my dad used to use it and it's light was fine,it also has 3 buttons underneath which I'm guessing it had some RGB idk,idk what those buttons were for,anyway sry for making such a long comment😅 and yeah I searched you can have upto 2 GB ddr2 memory in it

Yup! I still have that VAIO PC to this day and it has been kept in surprisingly good condition from the previous owner who eventually gave it to me! Yeah, I always found the hidden ports behind the covers to be a neat feature! In fact, it wasn't until I got the PC from the previous owner that I realized it had a floppy drive and SD card reader hidden away behind a door lol (as well as the several other ports behind the bottom cover where the ATI logo is). Also I agree, it's sad that Sony stopped making VAIO PCs. I've seen so many different Sony-era VAIOs on the internet and so many of them had special features and/or just looked way cooler than your average PC from the time, which is why I'm really happy to have one, especially considering how expensive it is to buy one on the used market right now lol

@@ComputingCanuck Oh yeah,btw that PC I was talking bout with purple sides also had a floppy drive and a memory card slot under it while the buttom one had some weird kinda port I forgot what's it's called along with 2 USB 2.0 or 1.1 ports bcz that PC is from 2001-2004,I believe this one is from 2005 bcz Pentium D came out on 2005 and changed their logo on or before 2006 so yeah the sticker is the earlier one and yeah specs are like a nice PC from 2005,i have no idea what exactly ram my dad got on his custom built back when he got it,prolly 1 GB like this one or something but yeah later def upgraded to 2 bcz of his work,XP needed just 4 GB Ram,2 GB was great too then,but yeah running 2 GB ram rn even on windows 7 is a bad idea cuz I remember one day running my HP Pavilion HPE on 2 GB ram and even the pics won't load properly,but yeah I guess on 2013 and 2014 due to the updates and stuff it somehow managed to work at some stuff,but yeah not anymore.And yeah the disc drives were pretty useful and cool,my dads custom built had 4,later when he stopped using it,2 slots were open and empty,the top one was a white old Asus one which was disconnected from the motherboard and the bottom one was some generis or Sony DVD rom connected it was from 2011 and black,the floppy drive was missing it's bezel which I later found inside the case and fitted back,the light stopped working from running too much before

Oh yeah for sure Lol! I was thinking of using an SSD but I didn't have a spare one on me so I just used the HDD that the laptop came with. Though, with how old the rest of the laptop's parts are, it would've still been far from a fast experience Lol.

@@ComputingCanuck You'd be surprised with how much an SSD speeds everything up on slow old hardware. Sometimes making it seem like a new laptop entirely. Hard drives are a big bottleneck in performance. Which yes, the CPU will hold back the SSD but not too bad to where the SSD wouldn't seem worth it. It will still be pretty dang fast.

Oh I agree 100%. I've installed several SSDs into laptops with HDDs and it has made a HUGE difference each time. I was just saying that for this particular purpose, newer operating systems like Windows 11 still wouldn't have had a fun time even with an SSD due to the 2 GB of RAM and the ancient dual-core CPU running in single-core mode Lol. It definitely would've made things faster, but given I don't use this laptop as my main device, and the fact that I put a clean Windows XP install on it after this video went up, I just didn't feel like spending money on an SSD for this project was worth it when A) it would get very little use and B) everything else in the world is getting super expensive Lol. (The neat thing about this laptop though is that it has native support for SATA devices, so once the HDD in it finally dies, I can easily replace it with a SATA SSD)

It does not have a DVD drive. It only has a CD drive and it is not capable of reading DVDs

@@ComputingCanuck better replace it

BLUE SCREEN OR DEATH???

dawg

that would have to be the first version with internet, and a computer that can actually run/support it so it would prob be like vista or smth

@@unnamedscribble-auttp you can get the old client on windows xp

Roblox on anything pre windows 2000 is impossible

Unfortunately, it looks like this VAIO computer may be one of the models that doesn't have the sound that plays when the VAIO logo appears

You can download Windows 8.1 for free without a product key from Microsoft's website! To install Windows 8.1 though, you will need a product key. There are lists of "generic product keys" which can be used to install Windows 8.1 (they are generic because they are only used to install Windows, not activate). Here is a list of generic product keys I used throughout the video to get Windows installed (this Windows 8.1 key is only usable with the Pro and Retail edition): pastebin.com/raw/C05XWYFM Alternatively, you can search Microsoft forums and other trusted websites for people who have posted generic product keys if you require something different. Hope this helps!