Upgrade or buy new and file transfer advice please

[Bsuds]

Always lots of things to sort out when setting up a new Computer.
Sometimes frustrating but a feeling of accomplishment when you get it all sorted out and running the way you want.

[Urban Cowboy]

Without getting too technical they have ways of knowing the computer had Windows before and you just download it and install.

I hope it's all going relatively smooth for you.

True so long as you are not using a OEM license. Over 70% of consumer PCs are running OEM windows licensing. OEM license cannot be transferred which is the main reason why it's significantly cheaper than a regular license.

The question asked was regarding a clean install on the existing computer, and in that case as long as the install uses the same operating system as it had previously, there's no issue whatsoever. You can't install Win 10 Pro if what you had before was Win 10 HE for example.

Every repair shop uses OEM discs to do repairs, if they are doing a clean install, and they simply enter the product key attached to the computer, or in the case of Windows 10 you simply skip over that part, as the hardware is recognized by Microsoft, so not sure what you are going on about given no one asked about transferring the license.

[godfatherI]

Well, things were running fairly well for a few days.

Got my speakers working; I think it was just a loose connection.

A couple of days ago, starting having problems with sleep mode.
Desktop is turned on in the morning and left on until evening - used at various time during the day.

The Dell goes into sleep mode after 15-30 minutes, and just pressing the space bar, resumes the pc and wakes up the monitor. What was starting to occur - it wouldn't wake up; keyboard numeric light was off and pressing space bar or moving mouse didn't bring any response. Pressing power key didn't work either. Had to pull the power cord to shut it down (which isn't good for any machine).

This happened a few times, then did some checking on the Dell site and they suggested pressing and holding the power button. That rebooted the machine. Tonight it locked up again, and when I pressed and held the power button, it turned from blue to yellow and the startup screen said Drive one was not found; F12 for safe mode, F5 pre-boot assessment Build 4521 or F1 to continue. Tried F5 and it was running some diagnostics and rather than risk creating any damage, I chose the cancel option and used F1 to continue.

Machine was working fine, but I wonder if the Drive 1 was the extra partition (terminology?) they installed at the refurbisher.
The disk drive door won't open now either so not sure what drive 1 is referring to. Can't do much as I am not a tech and this thing is supposed to be under warranty. Problem is, if they want it back I have to ship it to Ontario; they did offer a 30 day return and at this point, with it being a refurbished machine to start with, I am a little gun shy. If they repair it and ship back and it craps out again, it may just go out my back window.

I will call them Monday to see what my options are; but at this point I think I would prefer to just return it period, and spend the extra money and buy a new machine here. My old reliable Presario is still sitting here, just need to swap a couple of cables and we're good to go. Even with the outdated OS, it's still useable for the time being.

From my earlier post about Office 365 - my license is good for one pc and from what I read on their site, I would have to uninstall it from this machine and reinstall it on a new machine if we go that route. If they will accept a return will remove office from the machine before shipping. It's unfortunate that it can't be checked out here; would be a lot easier.

Just glad that I didn't transfer a whack of stuff from the old machine; jut some contacts and a favourites listing which are still on the old pc. Forwarded some messages to another email address, so at least won't lose those.

If anyone has any hints before Monday, please feel free - just a bit frustrated about now.
Thanks for reading this far!!!

[forum]

I'm just wondering why you didn't take my advice and get a chromebook? Just curious why.

[godfatherI]

Hi Forum,
I had already placed my order for the Dell when I saw your post.
Isn't the Chromebook more like a laptop? My preference is a regular, stay in one place desktop,
connected to my internet cable. A wireless connection isn't needed at all and I'm not really secure
about wireless, especially with on line banking etc.
Have to go to Best Buy today to get another jumpdrive so will be sure to look at a Chromebook!!

[Bsuds]

Sleep mode is more of an issue with Windows and is not restricted to one machine/make . It does seem that you are having more than your share of problems and probably better off taking it back for a refund.

My Wife's laptop was a refurb (6 years old) and the ethernet card just started to act up so I got her a new one a couple of days ago. So refurbs are not always a bad thing but you do take your chances. You can have trouble with new ones as well but warranty's are usually a bit better.

Transferring all her files went pretty well and fairly simple. A few hours work and it was up and running. Only issue was it was slow downloading updates, but after that it seems fine. A few more days and she will know if she likes it or not as it's no powerhouse by any means.

[TylerM4]

AS Bsuds mentioned - Sleep mode problems are super common. I wouldn't return your Dell over those problems alone. Many organizations (such as mine) purposely disable sleep modes due to all of the problem associated.

Try playing with the sleep settings. You could tell it to hibernate instead of sleep for example, or just have it go into powersave mode when it turns off the monitor, etc.

[Urban Cowboy]

As has been mentioned "sleep/hibernation" mode is a pain on every machine and frankly I don't quite grasp why it's still even there.

Right click the start icon, select "control panel" then to simplify for future use change the view setting to "icons" and then go to "power options".

In power options you will likely see the active dot beside "balanced" and just to the right at the end of that line click on "change plan settings" then in the "put computer to sleep" line use the drop down and go to the very bottom and click on "Never".

While in here you can also change the amount of time before your screen goes dark if you wish.

Once done making your changes click "save changes" and exit. Problem solved.

I do the same thing on every computer and experience zero issues afterward.

[forum]

Hi Forum,
I had already placed my order for the Dell when I saw your post.
Isn't the Chromebook more like a laptop? My preference is a regular, stay in one place desktop,
connected to my internet cable. A wireless connection isn't needed at all and I'm not really secure
about wireless, especially with on line banking etc.
Have to go to Best Buy today to get another jumpdrive so will be sure to look at a Chromebook!!

You can get a chromebook with an hdmi out, and connect it to your monitor. You will have much less issues with a chromebook.

Please don't be concerned about wifi and bank security. Wired and wireless carry the same risk.