Need Laptop Help

[Weedy649]

Hey guys, i bought a few laptops last winter(one for me, one for gf) to use for school but they need fixing. I want to focus on the one ive gotten further with so here it is.

HP Omnibook XE2
100 mhz front side bus
P3 500 mhz
128 ram out of 256 max

I mainly want it to do school work and surf the web but it freezes alot among a few other things. I have windows XP installed on it but it does reach the minimum reqs for it. I talked it over and im thinking these changes would help

1) get a cooler
2) get the ram upgrade

Another thing i wanted to upgrade was the graphics(it has some silicon knights crap i cant even find the drivers to). Is there anyway i can find a low end nVidia or ATI to fit in here?

Dvd drive is also busted so if anyone could point me out to some good affordable readers(not writers i have a good one on my pc) id appreciate it^^

[vihit]

Upgrade the ram and do a clean install of Windows XP. Download Firefox and use that instead of Internet Explorer. Be sure to have an anti-virus program and anti-spyware/adware programs. I use AVG Free for my anti-virus program and it's been working great. Use Ad-Aware, Spybot, and Spywareblaster for anti-spyware/adware. Odds are you will not be able to update the video card. Video cards in laptops, especially ones as old as yours, cannot be removed/replaced.

[psiufoxx2]

HP Omnibook XE2
100 mhz front side bus
P3 500 mhz
128 ram out of 256 max

I have windows XP installed on it but it does reach the minimum reqs for it.
To be honest, I would not run Windows XP on this book. Yes I'm sure it meets the minimum specs and more ram would help but you need to realize that Windows XP EATS 128mb of ram (even 256 of ram at times) just to run its OWN tasks. I would definitely splurge and buy a copy of Windows 2000 Pro (still a great OS and widely supported).

A 128mb ram stick will cost you no more than $25. Here's a link to 128mb ram (http://www.18004memory.com/cart/addcart.asp?Try=Yes&itemID=42573&itemTYPE=memory&modelID=13201) from 18004memory.com (very reliable site).

Windows 2000 Pro can be had for about $75 (http://www.productquest.net/miwi20proand.html). So for a combined total of around $110 (w/ shipping) you will see a dramatic speed increase in your first notebook.

That and follow the advice of downloading Firefox. :)

EDIT: I don't think there is any way to upgrade the video card. Older laptops such as this usually have on-board video. :P Sucks but probably the case here.

[Weedy649]

Thanks alot for the feedback guys, i just ordered 2 128 sticks from that link you gave me and ill order the cooler, reinstall XP and download fire fox and ill see how things go from there. If it still cant handle XP i guess ill get another windows but i want to try this first(since i need to buy a new dvd reader too)

I figured i cant upgrade the video card but doesnt hurt to ask =). Any idea where i could find drivers for it though? Id like to get warcraft 3 running for when im bored(min reqs is like a 8 mb video card lol) but i have no idea where to get this Silicon whatever driver

[psiufoxx2]

I did a quick search of HP's website but came up with a problem - there are five submodels to the 'book you have.

-DB
-DC
-DD
-DE
-DI

If you know which one you have, follow this link (http://h20180.www2.hp.com/apps/Lookup?h_lang=en&h_cc=us&cc=us&h_page=hpcom&lang=en&h_client=S-A-R163-1&h_pagetype=s-002&h_query=HP+Omnibook+XE2&submit.x=6&submit.y=12), which will bring you to the HP page that has drivers for the notebook (only for Win2000 I might add, but they should work in XP).

[Weedy649]

i think mine is DC since i found those letters under my serial number, thanks alot i couldnt find it before!