Cisnet AOL Optomized PC -- HELP!!

[Poppa_Meth]

A friend of mine just got a PC his grandmother bought him. It is a piece of junk of course.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=315415&pfp=BROWSE

I've ripped all the AOL crap out of it and turned it into a normal PC running XP Home SP1. (which they don't even send a recovery disk for much less a full reinstall disk) However I'm wondering if there is any website for Cisnet that I can get hardware and software updates from, like BIOS files. So far I've found nothing. If I have to go through the PC piece by piece and look for updates at each component manufacturers site I'll shoot myself. I'd like to see if I can make them send me an XP disk for it as well. Mine are all DELL and won't install on this thing if necessary.

Just a warning for anyone who might have looked at this unit (probably no one since people here are able to make a lot more educated buying choice than the average consumer) this thing is total crap. The worse thing is the Lite-on CD-RW drive in it. Buzzes like hornets nest as many cheap Lite-on models are fond of doing.

[Forum Troll]

It has S3 graphics? I thought that company went out of business long ago, or was bought by VIA or something.

[BJ_M]

S3 Graphics UniChrome video on motherboard would be a good tip off to quality ..


those systems best to NOT fool w/ the bios updates

[Poppa_Meth]

I know its a damn shame. With the cash she spent on that thing she could have got a lower end DELL. DELL isn't that great anymore but it would be a damn site better than this thing. Thats what happens when grandma won't listen and buys what she thinks you need though. He's rather annoyed that she's sending his brother money to get whatever system he wants instead of buying him a piece of junk too.

[BJ_M]

i got 12 DELL workstations (model 370) recently for a project .....

really nice machines .. much nicer than the home models for not really much more money ..

[Poppa_Meth]

I might try to get his grandmother to return the damn thing and talk her into a Dell instead. Hell if he goes on ebay he can get a 4600 for less than this set up pretty nicely. I'll have to look into those workstations.

[Poppa_Meth]

On a related note, is there a way to create a windows XP installation disk from the partition on the HD which can be used to repair/restore the installation? Also would something like Norton Ghost allow me to backup the HDD and use that to put it back in working order later, without an XP reinstallation disk?

[bazooka]

http://www.cisnetpc.com/dowmload.html

[Poppa_Meth]

Thanks for the link. Despite google searches I never got that site to come up.

[bazooka]

No problem

[ViRaL1]

It has S3 graphics? I thought that company went out of business long ago, or was bought by VIA or something.

Should I be scared that the link says 'dowmload' and that the title for the page says 'CISNET Donload menu/driver'?

[bazooka]

It has S3 graphics? I thought that company went out of business long ago, or was bought by VIA or something.

Should I be scared that the link says 'dowmload' and that the title for the page says 'CISNET Donload menu/driver'?

No

It was just a typo

[Poppa_Meth]

Shouldn't be scared of anything. There is nothing to download on that site but half-assed user guides to crap most people can do anyway. I think he's gonna be in for a real headache with this PC, probably in short order as well.

[ViRaL1]

I meant scared as in 'don't ever buy a PC from them.'

[Poppa_Meth]

You could say that. If you read the specs on the thing it looks worse and worse. For instance, it seems all the PCs they make are upgradable to 1G of RAM max. Thats pathetic after having one for a couple years that can go up to 4G if I want it to.

[ViRaL1]

1GB...??

No one should ever need more than 640K. :P

[Poppa_Meth]

Depends on what you do with it. I run 512 now and I'm still fine with it. My uncle has 512 and uses his for games. He's asking me about memory upgrades lately. Evidently some new games require as much as 1G of memory to play. Games have gotten rediculous.

[stiltman]

If you get a Dell, make sure you get it from their Refurb site. They have all the same warranties, just cost a lot less
http://outlet.us.dell.com/Dispatcher?target=InventoryPage&action=sort&sortCo lumn=price&lob=DIM&sessionID=BEe8rzqX!1562668066!-1219916111!1103388284834&tgtSeg=I

[BJ_M]

the way to buy dells at a really good price is to use one of the sites that list all the discount codes ...

we bought the 12 Dell 370 workstations , with top of the line parts, 1GB memory, 3.2 / 1meg P4's , nvidia quadtro video cards (pci-x) , sata 36GB 10k rpm hard drive .. for about $800 each AND that included a 15" flat screen LCD , tooless case and dvd burner and dvd-ram, keyboard and mouse and 1GBnetwork (they even have a modem also).

added after 200GB/8meg 7200rpm maxtor extra drives on our own to each system , which were on sale at comp usa for 129$ each for retail boxed ..

[Poppa_Meth]

If I ever get another Dell I'll check into it. But I think next time I buy a PC will be a custom built one. I opened up the Cisnet yesterday, and surprisingly it has some decent parts. The damn thing has Crucial memory in it, a seagate hard drive, via chipset mobo (not sure of manufacturer yet), phillips 17" CRT, Logitech keyboard, NIC has a Realtek chipset. Yet they use a cheapy Lite-on CDRW. The BIOS sucks on it too. Also has a solid metal case with a bay for an additional fan in adition to the two already in it. It's actually not built half bad. A little more effort and it might have been a decent machine. Of course he called last night and said the thing is locking up and highlighting everything when he clicks on something. I'll have to look at that today and see what's wrong.

[BJ_M]

we went with the dells in this case - because of the on-site warrenty , as they are to be used for a display system 24/7 (media servers)

of course they are not for everyone or every application .. but in that case warrenty was importaint and dell does make sure the parts all work well together with the drivers on those systems (the workstations) , they also load NO extra crap as you often find on some home systems (dell included) , they also have the good OEM WinXP lic which never requires re-authorize when you sub out parts (as they are not connected to www anyway) in case of fast field repairs ..