Story time about a noob and his laptop.

[kamkarot]

Hey OCC, after reading this you will probably consider me a technological klutz. But here is a story about me trying to do things that I don't know how, and a description of me and my MSI laptop history together over the past few years. {It is not my only computer, just my gaming computer)

 

I bought an MSI laptop a few years ago (cx700), http://www.msi.com/product/nb/CX700.html#/?div=Specification ) right before Windows 7 was to be released, MSI had a deal that basically when 7 came out I had a free upgrade; suffice it to say I never got said upgrade due to my rebate I sent them never got to them they told me when I called tech support. So I ended up being stuck with Vista 64 bit, and that is ok I guess..until my screen stopped working unless I applied pressure to the back right of it constantly. Thus I used my warranty and sent it back, when It returned I was actually hoping they would wipe my hardrive (I have a 400 GB external hard drive and put everything on it that I wanted to keep: music, steam games, etc. (The place I was living did not have reliable internet so re-downloading pc games was a 3 day ordeal). Well, when my dear MSI laptop was returned I still had all the crap I had downloaded, and my gf had downloaded ( she was downloading Every Toolbar for IE..and a ton of other things IDK what but my laptop was mass slow) so I decided to delete everything at once on my own. After a few attempts, trying to read the microsoft help and not understanding it, I decided to use my windows vista software that I had obtained by testing a video game for microsoft. Heh..I don't know much about computers. Yeah so basically I put the disc in and re-installed vista thinking this would solve everything. (again, I do not know very much about computers..) and it worked! actually, for a while everything seemed like my GF (at this point, wife) had never touched my dear MSI..until I started up my minecraft and noticed it is super slow. Haha, turns out my vista I had was the 32-bit software, not the 64 bit. I believe this means that there are 2 gigs, maybe 1.5, of ram not being used and literally just sitting there. Thus, I have decided to seek wisdom from people who know what they are doing. I either fix this laptop up back to normal, or, if possible, I have a desktop computer with 64 bit vista that is unused and I could just put my better video card and motherboard into it (if That is even possible, I have no idea. {as in, put all the hardware from my laptop (which is a year newer) into the desktop).

 

If anyone reads my story and has any Ideas that would be super awesome.

 

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/28853452.jpg

[Stonerboy779]

Install a 64 bit version of your current 32 bit os the is key is interchangeable between 32 and 64 bit windows of the same type.

[ir_cow]

Did it not come with a cdkey sticker on the laptop? I would start their an reinstall the MSI one . Usually they give you a disk. I even heard that the widows disk is the same and the cdkey is what determines what is installed . Not sure about win vista

[Waco]

Install a 64 bit version of your current 32 bit os the is key is interchangeable between 32 and 64 bit windows of the same type.

This.

 

The key is for the specific version of Vista (Pro, Home, etc) but isn't tied to the architecture (32 bit versus 64 bit).

[ohldboy]

To the best of my recollection, VISTA 32 bit can access just over 3 GB of memory (I want to say 3.4 or so) minus what is being used as dedicated video memory. Unless the laptop has a GPU with dedicated memory. OK, appears it does have GPU. Not familiar with HD 4330 but it lists 512 MB DDR2 Memory.

XP is the same I believe. I know that my old computer maxed out at 2GB and Vista used it all (it got faster after going from 1 gb to 1.5 to 2 gb).

So first check whether your laptop was returned with as much memory as it left with. You could check this as software, hardware or both.

 

It should have been cleaned, but it would be worth blowing out and checking for dust clogs of airflow. Thermal throttling, you know.

 

My experience with Vista (admittedly on a Compaq desktop SNR1230NX Athlon XP 3200+ ) one of the shortcomings was you needed to do regular "house cleaning." You can try various "registry cleaners."

The biggest problem with these is when they collect a bunch of files deciding what you can safely remove.

 

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

 

Back in the day I used "magic" but it seems not to have aged well

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/Magic-Registry-Cleaner.shtml

 

This might help and probably won't hurt. Be sure you have all user names, passwords, info you might lose. Advanced System Care

http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcareper.html

No promises here, it can help, I reccommend/use it for people who do not know computers.

 

Other possibility is malware/spyware.

Malwarebytes Antimalware is worth a run thru

http://www.malwarebytes.org/lp/malware_lp/?gclid=CL3ogZCK0LMCFcqY4AodWTsAEw

 

Appologies if you know all this

 

Another point is "shipping" doesn't do HDDs any good. Might want to run a health check there.

[SpikeSoprano]

to answer your last question about changing parts from your laptop to your desktop, NO ! nothing but your hard drive is inter changeable.

[CroBro]

It's unusual for laptop to not have COA sticker, key number.

There are free programs on net that will extract the number from your working Vista.

Google it.

[Andrewr05]

+1 for Futurama.

 

[freddie]

Usually they give you a disk.

 

If not, there should have been a recovery partition on the HDD, if you formatted the Windows partition and not the entire HDD it should still be accessible and you can restore it back to factory default.

[makarov]

If you really not sure what to do on your own. Take it into a computer store and get them to open it up take a look and clean it out.