[bada55]

Hiya.... I have just purchased a second hand Evesham Decimator... here is the spec..

- Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 570 (3.8GHz, 1MB cache, 800MHz) support Hyper-Threading Technology
Microsoft® Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 including remote control
- msi925 chipset PCI Express motherboard
- 1GB dual channel DDR2 RAM 533MHz (2x512MB)
- 500GB Serial ATA hard drive with 16MB buffer (2x250GB) RAID0
- New ATI Radeon X850 XT graphics "eats Half Life 2 for breakfast"
- DVD-ROM (16x) drive
- Multi format Dual Layer DVD Writer (16x) / CD-RW (48x) drive
- 7.1 channel surround sound audio (on-board)
- Microsoft® cordless keyboard and cordless optical tilt mouse
- EXCLUSIVE brushed aluminium fronted case 205x485x570mm with colour LCD console and Targan 420w PSU

First question...I have no idea what Windows Media Centre 2005 edition looks like? There is a license sticker on the case that says Windows XP Home! And when checking on the screen it says that its running Windows XP Pro! So I have no idea if Media centre edition is an add on to XP Home/Pro at a guess?

Also the front panel lcd doesnt come on and thats in charge of the cooling fans etc. so they aren't on at the moment except the Cpu fan thank god! I dont have any instructions so I have no idea if I just need to pres a button somewhere to switch the lcd panel on or maybe its just broken in which case I can easily bypass it to wire fans independently.

If no one has an idea I will call Evesham in the morning as it still has a few months warranty left on it and I would imaging that the warranty is transferable to a new owner...Thats what I am hoping anyways.
Apart from that it seems to run great although I did hear the odd rumble but thought that may have something to do with no fans working maybe? who knows! I didn't keep it on long in case of overheating.
Thanks for reading this

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Media Center is XP Home in different colours. If you go to the Start Menu -> right-click on My Computer and goto Properties, it actually says Media Center Edition in there if if it IS Media Center.

Best thing to do is download this:
http://www.magicalje...keyfinder.shtml (click on "download latest keyfinder", download and open the Zip and run "keyfinder.exe").

This will give you the product key that has been installed on the computer. You can copy and paste this into Google (don't post it here). If the key shows up in a Google search, then the person you bought it off has loaded a cracked version of Windows onto it, and that means you'll soon be getting messages through Windows Update that it isn't a genuine copy.

The warranty, I would have thought, isn't owner specific, but it usually only covers the hardware inside the computer, but if it was registered to the previous owner, the warranty will be in their name. You may even find, if the copy of XP is using a known bad product key, that the machine is stolen property, a common trick is to wipe the thing, stick a cracked XP on it (regardless of any licences on the case), get it sold (preferably cash in hand) and do a runner.

Now I'm not suggesting for one minute that your new machine is stolen property, in fact I sincerely hope it is genuinely second-hand and that, BUT you can buy a brand new system with exactly or better specifications so quite why it was offered second-hand to you is a minor bugbear to me at the moment.

[Neil Jones]

Media Center is XP Home in different colours. If you go to the Start Menu -> right-click on My Computer and goto Properties, it actually says Media Center Edition in there if if it IS Media Center.

Best thing to do is download this:
http://www.magicalje...keyfinder.shtml (click on "download latest keyfinder", download and open the Zip and run "keyfinder.exe").

This will give you the product key that has been installed on the computer. You can copy and paste this into Google (don't post it here). If the key shows up in a Google search, then the person you bought it off has loaded a cracked version of Windows onto it, and that means you'll soon be getting messages through Windows Update that it isn't a genuine copy.

The warranty, I would have thought, isn't owner specific, but it usually only covers the hardware inside the computer, but if it was registered to the previous owner, the warranty will be in their name. You may even find, if the copy of XP is using a known bad product key, that the machine is stolen property, a common trick is to wipe the thing, stick a cracked XP on it (regardless of any licences on the case), get it sold (preferably cash in hand) and do a runner.

Now I'm not suggesting for one minute that your new machine is stolen property, in fact I sincerely hope it is genuinely second-hand and that, BUT you can buy a brand new system with exactly or better specifications so quite why it was offered second-hand to you is a minor bugbear to me at the moment.

[bada55]

Ahhhh No it is not stolen I am 100% sure of that and yes it did have a different colour/look. So when I have found out why the lcd panel doesnt work and get the fans running etc I will double check what you suggested in properties thanks.
I purchased it because it was £180 and immaculate and I didn't think I could possibly match it with a new one at that price surely?
I also noticed that the hdd are twin sata 200Gb and not 250Gb shown in the reviews so maybe they were changed for whatever reason.
After all this pc was £2500ish complete with 20"lcd monitor and speakers back in March 2005 the only things I didnt get were the monitor and speakers so surely if I can sort out the minor gripe it's been a good deal even though there maybe more advanced kit out there??

[bada55]

Ok an update.... It is Windows media edition so thats cool.. and it should have 2x 200Gb hdd according to Evesham.

I checked with manufatcurer(assembler maybe a better name) and they confirmed it is 19 months old and still within its 2 year warranty.
Get this they are trying to renade on their warranty because the small print apparently says the warranty is not transferable to a new owner!
We shall see about that!

Does anyone know if I can fit a Intel core duo in this motherboard? MSI 925XE neo platinum ..Thanks

Edited by bada55, 06 December 2006 - 07:06 AM.