Well! I'm going to sound pretty damn stupid bit it's a go.

I just recently got in the habit of taking computers apart and putting them back together. Kind of interested to see if this will work on this computer.

This desktop is from about 1997 I'll say. I think the hard drive is shot on the computer, and I am not sure about the motherboard, so here is what is going up.

1. Asked my teacher if she has a spare hard drive from a school computer or something - not worth to buy a new one or refurb one

1. She has a hard drive, still haven't checked it out. I might try to format it if it's an old one and put Ubuntu on it.....yes..your going to scream..

Through Floppy Drive..YES..A floppy drive since it has no USB's.

2. Power supply on it is shot. Not the whole thing, just a wire where it connects to the board to the fan. Some turd in my family decided to pull the wire too hard and it popped out of the board. Possibly rip one out an older power supply at school out of an older computer at school? We'll see. I will need to find the original computer CD that it came with for the drivers and such..should be fun! I'm going to take apart the computer on Friday and see what kind of parts they are/the model for the drivers possibley on google. I have no computer with a floppy disk anymore so I will need to go at school and connect it and set it up and all...What do you think everyone ? Is it a no go or a go go ?!!

Interested and hoping this will work!!! the computer itself only has 96 MB of RAM. Anyways my question is..

Windows 95 or Ubuntu ? Which one would run faster?

 

I think windows 95 or 3.1 would probably run best given the age of the system. Ubuntu has a decent sized footprint but with the graphical interface it will require more than 96MB of ram. If you were to go with a linux distribution you may want to look at installing a very lightweight graphical interface or go straight command line.

 

Ubuntu will not run on 96MB of RAM.
You will need to find a distro that uses a lightweight DE like puppy linux, DSL, SliTaz, etc

 

Mmmkay, so.
1 - You're going to be hard pressed to find any GUI oriented OS that will install from a floppy. If you do, you're looking at like a 40 disk install. Just replace the optical drive too?
2 - Ubuntu isn't going to run on that at all, plus can't be installed via floppies. Try D-a-m-n small linux (take out the dashes) or Windows 98SE.
3 - Is the popped out wire actually a PSU wire? You say it goes to the fan, so are you sure it's not just a fan wire?

My personal opinion is you should just dump the computer... bring the parts to a recycling facility.
I regularly condemn computers much better than what you're describing to the graveyard.

 

I think cell phones have faster parts than that...

DOS is always good or NT

 

Yeah no joke, my router is literally 4 times faster than that.
Granted, my router is an old modified laptop, what I'm using it for shows its near uselessness
In a world where 1GB of memory is considered slim do you really want to be running less than 1/10th that?

Granted I figure you don't want to actually use this, just play with it and get it working again, but there are better places to start. What you're doing would be like a car enthusiast rebuilding a car for fun that once fixed would sell for $50. There are always opportunities to get free old computers.

I started the same way as you and I now fix computers for a living, but I just picked up a few computers I saw on the side of the road on a few occasions. I actually still have the first computer I built from junk in my basement (well, most of it)

 

I second this. Wait for a better project to come along.

I've seen piles of computers and peripherals sitting around at thrift stores. Usually they don't try to sell them w/out them up and running. I would just go in and offer $50 for an pentium III box that fires up.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I just might be able to get 95 on it since my teacher said she had an older version that she got..might work but if it doesnt i'm done. My parents 8 year old desktop is almost dead and I might fool around with that eventually..I kind of grew up with the computer I am fixing and I couldn't have the decency to throw it out. I know most of the parts are not good so..I dont know what to do. I might just fool around with it for all I know the harddrive still might work..If it does, then great. If it doesnt, ah well it was worth a try. Thanks for the input guys

 

You did not mention entire specs but even that its from 1997, I would think it is a pentium II @ 250Mhz. with 10GB HDD. If it has a CD drive, I'd recommend windows 98 or even 2000. My experience with 98 is that it can't even find routers. Or install a cheap a cheap usb board and copy the OS onto a usb memory stick and install into the computer.

Yes as others have said, even if you do get it fixed its still worthless. The PSP has better specs lol. But in the end, it could be a fun project still.

 

You could always install something like Debian with LXDE on ANOTHER system by switching the HDDs, then switch them back when your done.

 

Well I found a few drivers and..meh, I don't think it's worth it..I don't think I'll bother. I can't even find the damn cd driver that came with the computer. I thought it would be fun but..maybe in the future. Thank you all for your input. It was much appreciated. Picture time of the hog.

BEFORE I TOOK IT APART:



AFTER:

 

Whoo! BNC connectors, baby. Yeah... that thing's ancient. It's worth more as steel scrap than as a computer I've found faster machines in the dumpster.

Seriously though... if there's a university nearby, go check the dorm dumpsters when the kids are getting out of school. Only an "expensive" university though, not a local community college or vo-tech campus or anything. I've gotten lots of nice stuff from rich entitled twits who throw stuff like that out since mommy and daddy will buy them a new one next year

 

Yeah dude, the thing is pretty old. I still have my 286 computer so. I may end up taking that apart for fun sometime. The computer I showed like I said is from about 1997 so. It ran Windows 95 and it is an Intel Pentium. I'm not going to lie, it would of been a fun project to work on but..in the future, like I said.

 

Just keep in mind that many desktop parts are compatible. Keep working parts, get rid of those which do not. Once you have enough for a full system, go into the project.

 

Well, it's kind of hard for me to go and buy parts and such since I am only 15 year's of age so it's rather difficult. I don't think the computer is even worth it.

 

I don't mean to buy parts. Right now you're thinking on the track that a system is a system, and you need an identical part to make it work. This is hardly the case.
You've got a board, CPU, and memory that work, but no HDD, PSU, or optical drive. Maybe the next scrap computer you find will have those parts, and you can combine those to make one working system.

I do this regularly and come out with some decent systems, the most recent is a P4 2.8GHz, 1GB PC3200, Radeon 9700 Pro... so it's not always total garbage you find. Just be sure to sort out the trash from the... not trash, and save whatever works. You never know when you'll be able to use it.

 

I found exactly what you were looking for:
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=links#floppy

 

Most if not all of those lack a GUI.
In fact, if any do have a GUI, let me know. Cause that's awesome.

 

Is your 286 still running? I used to think I was 'uptown' with my 286 and 4 color monitor....Leisure Suit Larry never looked better

 

Not from that system. It didn't even have PCI slots, only ISA from what I could tell, so none of the cards would work in a current motherboard (and many new mobos only have one, if any PCI slots). The RAM doesn't work, the floppy is pretty much useless in the age of USB... the only thing that might be useful is the CD-ROM, and an SATA DVD-RW drive costs all of $20 on newegg.com. You can't even buy a drive that slow and useless. The only thing that MIGHT possibly be reused is the case, and then you'd still need a new PSU, and the case isn't designed around the heat concerns of more modern components.

I've built and repaired a LOT of machines, and I started when I was 15, which was like, 13 years ago (sheesh... I'm old )... trust me. It's either recycle it or donate it to a computing museum

 

Maybe none of those parts will work in another machine, but he may find parts in another machine that will work in there. You'd be surprised the combinations you end up with sometimes.

 

No, I wouldn't be surprised at combinations. I've run into almost every configuration imaginable. The problem is that there's nothing useful that will go into that machine, or come out of it. It's limited to 33Mbps PATA, probably has a Pentium-class or slower CPU, probably not even bootable CDROM support, the lack of PCI slots means that he won't even be able to add any hardware. He already said the PSU was shot, so he'd need a new one of those, too. Really... that machine is useless except for the case, and even that probably won't work well with any newer components. It is ONLY useful from a computer "archeology" standpoint, or nostalgia. It will not run newer software or hardware. It's like asking how to get a Model T on the interstate. You just don't... you drive it on the side roads, or get a new car.

 

I do agree that that computer is useless, but I think that was this thread's consensus anyway

 

Does it at least have a network card? I found a debian floppy install but the floppy are only used to start the installation. You need an internet connection to find the rest...

 

Yeah it does. I'm off the project now. On to customizing RC Trucks !

 

Ryan if you want to make a LONG road trip you can raid my parts bins ... got lots of p4 2.4 and up boards and junk here, but im light on cases