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Bad Timing

My HP TX2000 Tablet PC died this week, just as I wanted to put the Windows 8 Developer Preview on it. It won’t boot, or even display the BIOS screen. It turns out that this problem is fairly common, and apparently caused by the video chip.

As is usual with these things, the three-year warranty that I had with the Tablet expired 6 months ago, so getting it repaired, even if it is possible, will not be cheap. It’s probably better to cut my losses by salvaging what I can from the Tablet (e.g. the hard disk) and dumping the rest.

I haven’t got another machine lying around that I can install the Developer Preview on, so I’m just going to have to curb my curiosity. Perhaps I should just wait until Windows 8 Tablets start appearing in the market (end 2012?). However, I must admit that I am sorely tempted by Samsung’s Series 7 Slate PC that is supposedly going to be available next month. But then again, I think that the Financial Controller (a.k.a. Martin) will probably be reluctant to authorise the expenditure…

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3 responses to “Bad Timing”

  1. Ludwig Avatar
    Ludwig

    That is the problem with modern electronics, not economically repairable. I have a laptop that lost its video, I use it now – with the covers off – as a demo in computer classes.
    On Windows 8 you may have saved yourself a lot of aggravation. I tried to install it in VMware Player – no go. Got it to work in VirtualBox but it kept hanging up. Finally gave it 3GB memory and two processors, also allowed it to “mellow”, it now seems to work ok. The Metro-style interface is rather overwhelming on a 23-inch monitor. I don’t have a touch screen and the mouse takes some getting used to. The delevoler release does not come with many of the apps that will be part of Windows 8 like Photo Gallery, Messenger, etc. The next release should be more interesting.

    Reply
    1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
      Geoff Coupe

      Ludwig, yes, I see that Steven Sinofsky has a blog entry saying that not all virtual environements are working with the W8 preview at the moment:
      http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/16/running-windows-8-developer-preview-in-a-virtual-environment.aspx

      I think I’d prefer to try it out in a dual-boot environment, to run it on real hardware. I might give it a go on my main Desktop PC. I’ve got room to re-partition the drive. I realise that this isn’t even a beta release, but I’m curious, and I can’t resist scratching an itch…

      Reply
  2. The iPad is Not a PC–Take 2 | Geoff Coupe's Blog

    […] to download and install the Developer’s Preview of Windows 8 onto my HP TX2000 Tablet PC, but unfortunately it chose this moment to die. However, I went ahead and installed it on my main PC, as the secondary operating system that can […]

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