Dell Optiplex GX280 does not support Windows 7

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Baglady201

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Jan 4, 2014
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10,510
I have learned the hard way, (post purchase) that Dell GX280 model will not support Vista, 7, or 8. My next question is, what is preventing it? I was able to install and activate win7pro. It operates, but slow, and will not support my printer. Is there any hardware that can be replaced/upgraded that will allow this pc to fully support win7? I have only owned it a short time, and am not ready to give up on it just yet. It came (refurbished) with XP, and included was the re install disk, but Windows has stopped providing support for XP, so I really do not want to switch back. I have added RAM, and installed a video card already. Any options?
 
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aldan

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Apr 15, 2013
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what are your system specs,especially ram? to run win7 on this hardware your are going to have to tweak your win7 setup.first max out your ram to 4gb.then go to control panel>system>advanced settings>visual effects and uncheck the following.uncheck any animations.uncheck aero peek.uncheck enable transparent glass.uncheck fade or slide menus. uncheck save taskbar thumbnail previews.and uncheck show thumbnails instead of icons.there is a lot more you can do to speed it up but this is a good start.if there are any drivers out there win7 will find them.they will likely be generic drivers but thats probably all your going to get.ive run win7 on older hardware and this is how i got it to work. any more questions post back.as for your printer go into device manager and try updating the driver there.
 
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Baglady201

Honorable
Jan 4, 2014
12
0
10,510
Well, Aldan, I already uncheckd all that by choosing "best performance". I only have smooth edges of text enabled, because I have poor vision. Specs are as follows;
Dell system GX280
Intel pentium 4 CPU
bus speed 800MHz
clock speed 2.80 GHz
L2 cache 1MB
I.D. - 0f41
Hyperthreading capable? yes
64 bit technology? no
Memory 3 GB
memory speed 533MHz
memory channel mode - dual asymmetric
memory technology - DDR2 SDRAM
I went into setup and reset factory settings, the only difference it made is only one processer shows in the device manager now, when 2 were listed before, I assume one was virtual? As far as performance, no difference that I can tell. I had thought my biggest issue was no driver for the video controller, there simply are none,any where. I added a new video card, which windows installed driver for, had no disk, and now I still cant print. I thought my old 10.00 yard sale printer was at fault, so Bought a new one. Have the disk, but it just will not install. The HP print and scan DR gets to this one driver check, and I get an error message saying it cant communicate with the printer, yet the printer is showing as installed, the default printer, and device working properly, already has most current driver. But it will not print or scan. Yet printer works fine on Dell laptop inspiron b120 that was also upgraded from XP, with the exact same win7pro, same key number, and is just as old, or looks it! It has the same graphics issues, but disabling aero ended the error messages. I don't know an ounce of pc technology, was just hoping there was another little gadget I could stick in there and give this old dinosaur another few years on this earth. Just gonna have to deal with printing on grandsons old laptop...
 
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aldan

Splendid
Apr 15, 2013
4,002
29
24,640
printers have always been a pain in the butt for me as well. with yours i would uninstall everything and start again.dont even hookup the printer until prompted by your install disk. as for the missing cpu core try this.in the run command or the search if you dont have the run box type the following msconfig. when the system configuration box comes up click on boot>advanced options>then check number of processors box.then,in the drop down menu select 2.see if your other core is recognized then.
 
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Baglady201

Honorable
Jan 4, 2014
12
0
10,510
CPU is showing two again, I keep adjusting settings, and I had disabled hyper threading when I tried factory setting restore. I had to undo that, caused too many other problems, I assume because a lot of hardware has changed, and a newer OS. I was reading that I can have 2 OS installed, to use win7 for the features I like, and XP to print, but it really sounds too complicated to configure. Gonna attempt to run in XP mode for printing. The printer was new at Christmas, and is compatible with XP and everything newer. I just keep browsing the tech sites, someone will come up with something :)
 
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