Any advice for someone new to older PCs
Posted by Whyarewehere_69@reddit | retrobattlestations | View on Reddit | 12 comments
My grandpa gave me his Dell Dimension XPS T450 to me and it has many problems. He used it almost entirely for games and said he will give me his collection if I can get it to full working order! I have essentially been teaching myself and I came across this community. This PC has been sitting in his garage for at least 15 years and he is a heavy smoker. I have gotten it to turn on and I have been chipping away at errors and actual gunk stuck to the PC lol. Any advice for someone in a situation like this?
jforrest1980@reddit
If it's been in the garage that long it's bound to have some problems. What exactly is it doing when you try to power it on?
The first order of concern for me would be the PSU. Exposed to extreme temperatures in a garage for 15 years would likely cause some damage. It could literally explode and shoot fire out of the back of the PC. Which could destroy other components in the process. Had this happen to me last year with a PC I picked up on Marketplace If you get a new PSU, you might need an adapter, which is like $7.00 on Amazon. I would replace it even if it's working.
While doing that it would be the perfect time to completely dismante that thing and give it a deep cleaning. While deep cleaning, I would check all the components for bulging or leaking capacitors. Anything bulging or leaking would need a capacitor replaced. This means you need to solder in a new one. I would get a new CR2032 battery to replace the one on the motherboard as well.
Next, I would look on Archive.org and see if you can find a driver CD for that PC. Odds are that the PC has a password locking access to windows that your grandpa doesn't remember. A complete operating system reinstall might be in order.
You should look and see what GPU is in the thing. If an old Voodoo card it's worth money and should not be thrown away. Same for the audio card. It could be a desirable one.
Get it all cleaned up and replace the PSU, and report back here..
Whyarewehere_69@reddit (OP)
Hi, luckily the garage was always kept dry and climate controlled, and the power supply is actually working just fine on it. I have deep cleaned the inside of the PC which had so much of what i can describe as "smokers dust" on the inside. All of the internals overall look fine and i see no visual signs of faults. I just replaced the CR2032 battery earlier this week! Unfortunately Archive.org servers are down as of now, but i will check again soon! As for the GPU i believe its a 16MB Diamond Viper V550 TNT AGP Video Card. Thanks for responding!
jforrest1980@reddit
Sounds like you are doing ok. You just need to get it booted if you haven't already, and try to get into Windows to see what OS you are running, and check the driver versions for the GPU. If you are having issues getting into Windows, try back here.
Sometimes you can find old drivers at the "Vogons Driver Library" website If you need to update anything.
DrFrancisBGross@reddit
Can you be more specific? What's your question?
Whyarewehere_69@reddit (OP)
What websites would be best to find replacement parts for older pcs and what places are best to teach myself about old pcs. Sorry for the vagueness
cyanopsis@reddit
Ebay is a given but depending on where you are located, perhaps other online auctions or Facebook groups for retro computers buy and sell are a better alternative. At least for price. Sellers on ebay often try to sell to desperate people for silly prices.
VOGONS is a fantastic online community.
But please share your questions here!
Whyarewehere_69@reddit (OP)
Thanks! Unfortunately Ebay doesn't have what i was looking for. The specific version of my Toshiba SD-M1202 has a headphone port and a volume control while the ones i find on Ebay only have the eject button
cyanopsis@reddit
So you are going to replace things with the exact model number? That could be tricky I guess but it depends on on what money you are willing to spend.
Whyarewehere_69@reddit (OP)
I will if possible, but i'm not very educated on how compatible some DVD-ROM drives are with the PC I have now. I see lots of SD-M1212's pop up when looking.
cyanopsis@reddit
There are rarely any issues with compatibility with CD/DVD drives, at least if you find something from around the same era with IDE connectivity.
Whyarewehere_69@reddit (OP)
Thank you for letting me know!
jforrest1980@reddit
eBay is your only option for old parts. Some should be replaced with modern ones. The power supply first (see my post). The hard drive can replaced with a solid state and a Sata to IDE adapter. Not necessary if the drive is functional, but would be a nice upgrade. The floppy drive will need dismantled and cleaned inside, which is very easy to do. However, I would add a GOTEK Floppy drive emulator so you can load floppy games off a USB stick.
You should stick with a IDE disc drive cause you will likely need to connect a cord from the soundcard to it for CD audio.
If you get it running, if it's not running Windows 98 SE, then upgrade to that