Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 4:07am)
Only 100 Watts for the power supply?
Are you sure it isn't 180 Watts?

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 4:07am)
What operating system are you planning to put on it?

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 4:07am)
If ***these*** are the specs of the computer, it has an AMD processor with 350 MHz and between 32 and 384 MB of RAM. It's probably not going to be fast enough to put XP on it without it being sluggish, and unfortunately Windows 98 and 2000 aren't receiving security updates anymore so this wouldn't be a computer someone could use online.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 4:07am)
What are your plans for it?

Originally Posted By K515 (1 DEC 2010 5:20am)

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 4:07am)
What are your plans for it?

My plans for it are probably upgrading (new mobo, etc., etc.,) and then donate it to charity, as I said in my post above yours

Jenny, why haven't you mentioned anything regarding my new hobby of getting used computers to fix/restore/upgrade for charity?

And after I upgrade this PC, I'll sell the old components (that were originally in it) to the guys on VOGONS.

Or if it absolutely cannot be upgraded far enough for Vista/Win 7, then I might put Windows ME/XP on it and donate it to some needy child/teen/adult who wants to use it to game on...

I'm going to replace the PSU, etc, and install Win98SE just to verify that all the components work, and then I'll go from there (to last night's plan for this PC).

EDIT 2 - Am in the process of connecting up the PSU to all devices in this PC, but I've came across this unknown gray cord, which has 2 female 3-pin connectors on each end, one end which plugs into the floppy drive (next to the wide gray data cable), and I don't know where the other end connects onto. I've d/l the V5S VM *.pdf mobo manual, looked at the diagram, but nothing rings a bell - hints, please?  

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)

I don't think you'll find any recent games that will run on that computer. There are a few Windows 95/98 games that would run on it, but keep in mind it has that onboard SIS video card and won't work for games that require a separate video card or any that require 3D acceleration.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)
It does have a free ISA slot, so you could buy an ISA type SB16 for DOS game compatibility.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)
You could also look for an old PCI video card to upgrade that. And after that it should work with 10 year old games, provided you're able to find the drivers for it.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)
you'd probably also have to supply the old games, because they're not widely available.

Originally Posted By K515 (2 DEC 2010 12:38am)

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)
It does have a free ISA slot, so you could buy an ISA type SB16 for DOS game compatibility.

Does this look feasible, Jenny/Inland, for around $20 or less?

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)
You could also look for an old PCI video card to upgrade that. And after that it should work with 10 year old games, provided you're able to find the drivers for it.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (1 DEC 2010 8:37pm)
you'd probably also have to supply the old games, because they're not widely available.

Maybe I can buy some older Win95/98/DOS games from the local thrift store back of our house (when I bought this PC, I bought the tower only, opted out of the monitor/keyboard/mouse/speakers - do I also have to provide these, also?) and include them with this PC?

**Photos of the unknown gray cord**

[img]http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/KellySt10/unknowngraycord001.jpg[/img]

D'you think it's really worth disassembling that old PC (# 2) down to the bare case and reassembling it because yesterday when I tried to remove the PSU connectors from all devices I had to use pliers and it was really a lot of hard work just to pull these connectors free?

Anyway, one of my friends is going to give me her old (probably not as old as this W98 PC) PC to see if I can fix it and get it running after Christmas as she told me it's not working.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (2 DEC 2010 10:30pm)
You got this PC #2 to practice on. That may be all its good for

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (2 DEC 2010 10:30pm)
unless you want to try making a "retro gaming PC" for yourself. Do you want to see if you can configure it to play DOS games and early Windows games?

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (2 DEC 2010 10:30pm)
Once you get Windows 98 installed on it you can try playing Celtica on it. You were having some trouble with that game in Virtual PC. Maybe it would work better on this PC.

Originally Posted By K515 (2 DEC 2010 11:18pm)
How much money do you think I could make selling the components to the folks on VOGONS, Jenny/Inland?

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (3 DEC 2010 12:25am)
take it back where you got it and see if they'll take it back after you've put an operating system on it.

Originally Posted By K515 (3 DEC 2010 2:59am)
I won't even bother putting money into it for a SB sound card nor video card

Do I have to buy an old W98SE OS CD for it or just put my own copy of W98E (but I'll keep my W98SE CD) on it and give the W98SE startup floppy (physical 3.5" diskette) only to the man at the thrift store when I take the machine back?

EDIT - Spoke to Mom about whether the thrift store will take the PC back after I put an OS, on it, but Mom told me that the lady at the thrift store said that they would not take it back, even with an OS installed.

Mom then told me that after I put the few components that I took out of it, reconnect everything, etc, (but said I don't have to put an OS on it) I can put it in our basement until we decide what to do with it.

What do you think of this?

Originally Posted By InlandAZ (4 DEC 2010 3:14am)
Try entering the BIOS setup (generally one of the function keys at boot time) and check the boot order. Make sure it specifies Floppy, CD Rom and then the Hard Disk.

Originally Posted By K515 (4 DEC 2010 2:05am)
Jenny, I put everything back into it, except the fax/modem card, connected all the cords where I thought (the mobo manual didn't help too much since at CD IN there were no pins,

and besides, viewing the manual on my mac (I didn't bother to print it out) the mobo diagram letters were too small to read,

so I did what I thought was correct. And the PSU connector for the floppy drive I had a problem getting hooked up, I don't think I was able to push the connector all the way in even though I pushed with all my might.

... I tried to install the OS. But after the computer POSTED, the onscreen message said something like "no operating system found," so I inserted the floppy  Win 98SE startup diskette that I created from the Win98SE image file, ALT+CTL+DEL'ed, the PC rebooted, but instead of going to the a: prompt, I got a "No system disc or disc error. Replace and strike any key when ready." When I typed A to try to get to the A: prompt, this "No system disc or disc error" message repeated itself.

Originally Posted By K515 (4 DEC 2010 3:54am)

Originally Posted By InlandAZ (4 DEC 2010 3:14am)
Try entering the BIOS setup (generally one of the function keys at boot time) and check the boot order. Make sure it specifies Floppy, CD Rom and then the Hard Disk.

I went into the BIOS with this intention, but it was already set in that order.

Well, I tried my best with this PC, but since it's too old to donate to charity after being fixed, I'd rather not bother with it anymore, I just want to put it in our basement.

From now on, I'm going to accept only modern, newer PC's to fix and donate to charity, b/c these components/cord connectors are much easier to work with - like Practice PC # 1, instead of being on lockdown as they're in Practice PC # 2.

I wonder if I could sell that fax/modem card on VOGONS?

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2010 4:26am)

Well, I tried my best with this PC, but since it's too old to donate to charity after being fixed, I'd rather not bother with it anymore, I just want to put it in our basement.

If it won't boot from the CD drive, and the floppy is busted, then you may as well give up. I hope you didn't pay much for the computer.

Originally Posted By K515 (4 DEC 2010 3:28pm)
and you, Jenny, said it would cost me $300 to upgrade to a point where I can put a modern OS on it

Besides, I might have another tech project lined up for myself - fixing my MBP's optical drive.  

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2010 5:42pm)
to gain experience troubleshooting, and you're not interested in that.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2010 5:42pm)

Besides, I might have another tech project lined up for myself - fixing my MBP's optical drive.  

Uh oh. Is that acting up?

Originally Posted By K515 (4 DEC 2010 9:52pm)

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2010 5:42pm)

Besides, I might have another tech project lined up for myself - fixing my MBP's optical drive.  

Uh oh. Is that acting up?

Yes, and I don't know how to check/fix it. Besides, I'm covered under the 3-year protection plan, and I might as well take advantage of this.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (4 DEC 2010 5:42pm)

Originally Posted By K515 (4 DEC 2010 3:28pm)
and you, Jenny, said it would cost me $300 to upgrade to a point where I can put a modern OS on it

I didn't say that. I said you could get a new (low end) computer for $300. You could probably get XP to install on PC #2 if you increased the RAM and got a larger hard drive, but it would still be slow as molasses with only 350 MHz and not really usable. You'd have to replace the motherboard and pretty much everything else except the CD drive

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (5 DEC 2010 8:19am)
I think you're a glutton for punishment if you force yourself to work inside that cramped computer case any more than you have to. .

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (5 DEC 2010 8:19am)
If you want to build a low cost computer from scratch, buy a low cost case that has some room to work inside it. You can buy them at ***Newegg*** for $20 or less for the cheapest ones. You also won't have to worry about the screws that hold the motherboard being in the wrong places, which they might be on that old proprietary HP case. You'd be better off getting a new case than getting a floppy drive if you're intending to give this one to charity. The $10 cost of the floppy drive you linked to didn't include the shipping. You can get a ***DVD burner*** for about $20 that would be far more useful for the recipient of the computer than a floppy drive. I wouldn't recommend putting the old CD drive in the computer because so much is on DVD these days and the person who receives it might not be able to upgrade the drive.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (5 DEC 2010 8:19am)
I assume this is going to be another Practice PC (#4 ?) that you'll build before buying more expensive parts for a gaming PC.

Originally Posted By Jenny100 (5 DEC 2010 8:19am)
Be sure to add in the shipping cost and the cost for the operating system when you add up what it will cost to order the parts. Sometimes Newegg will have free shipping on various parts, so you might want to select your parts accordingly.