I received an old laptop

[The_YongGrand]

...from my cousin - she changed to a better one.

And that one is a Sony Vaio with Athlon XP inside.

I wonder, 256MB RAM inside is paltry enough for any use, especially XP. Well, it's given, so I can't complain much, the best thing is to add some more ram to make it run like a wind perhaps.

Any ideas of how am I going to add a RAM inside the notebook? I see at least 3 compartments beneath the notebook. I absolutely know nothing about those laptops - as desktops are my experience only.

I don't know what type of this RAM is that Sony Vaio PCG-FR700 uses - I could make a wild guess that it's a DDR266 or something else.

[shadowpr]

To find what ram will work, go to www.crucial.com and let it scan your computer.

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by shadowpr To find what ram will work, go to www.crucial.com and let it scan your computer.

Okay - it's a DDR266. Classic.

But I have another serious problem - the DVD-ROM's busted seriously. Now I can't even boot from CD - ugh.

And it can't boot from USB - it is from the 2003 era.

[Kuch]

You could try something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118006

[The_YongGrand]

I installed the WinXP finally with the help of the floppy, the external enclosure and the smartdrive.

Now that the operating system is deployed, I have a hard time finding the drivers - the Sony website doesn't have any drivers there at all except the bundled programs' updates.

I could only find the video drivers, but not the chipset drivers.

Must I go and get the chipset drivers as well?

[matthews]

Yes, you will want the chipset drivers as well. Use one of the included programs to help you find the model numbers for your hardware that is missing drivers, and simply just google for the appropriate drivers. Goto your device manager and see what drivers are missing, and then find the hardware using the tools.

My favourite -> Everest http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Another good one -> http://www.majorgeeks.com/download181.html

Another one that I will use -> http://www.gold-software.com/Unknown...eview12752.htm