Picked up 3 old computers!

edited August 2017 in Hardware
I recently acquired 3 old computers from my church. One is a Quantex branded machine with a 166 MHz Pentium and 48MB of RAM. The clock battery is dead, so it doesn't retain it's hard drive parameters, even after a soft-reboot. But from looking at the files on the hard drive, and attempting (unsuccessfully) to boot the drive in another system, it was running Windows 2000. The second machine is a Gateway Essentials that is oddly yellowed and had been abused by a previous owner. It works, and is running Windows XP Pro, but not well. The hard drive sounds like it's about to explode, and doesn't maintain proper speed. The third and best machine is a Dell Dimension (have I ever mentioned how much I love Dells?) 4100. It is in decent shape with a 933 MHz Pentium 3 and 256MB of RAM. It runs Windows XP Pro SP2, and does so quite well. It even has a copy of Office 2003 installed and activated. I will be keeping this machine as original as possible. What I'm wondering is what I should do with these machines? They're a great find, especially considering that they've been sitting for 12 years at the very least. The older two machine have probably been sitting longer. One of them had a CD-RW with some PPT files of hymns from a church service that was dated 9/2002. I'd love to use the Dell as a proper Windows ME/2000 Professional box, but I'm not sure. What do you think?
(Sorry for the very long and rambling post!)

Comments

  • Replace the clock battery in the Quantex and the hard drive in the Gateway. If you have the original install discs, I would clean install everything on all three of them, though they really should've clean install those computers before selling/giving them away.
  • Never heard of Quantex. Check to see if that is a standard AT or ATX form case. If it is, then that is good. I'd recommend wiping the drive and loading either Windows 95 OSR 2.1, or Windows 98SE.

    Does the motherboard use a coin cell battery? If so, easy fix. Otherwise, does it use a socketed Dallas/Odin integrated clock-battery chip? If it does then that costs a bit to replace. If it uses a Dallas/Odin soldered on to the motherboard, then you will need a new motherboard.

    The Dell Dimension, there is no reason not to install SP3 and additional updates. Technically you really should wipe and re-install. There are tools for retrieving license keys. Otherwise purge all user data, scan for viruses, and run sdelete to wipe unused space.

    As for the CDRW, zap it in an old Microwave if you have one, otherwise a hammer is good enough.
  • SomeGuy wrote:
    Does the motherboard use a coin cell battery? If so, easy fix. Otherwise, does it use a socketed Dallas/Odin integrated clock-battery chip? If it does then that costs a bit to replace. If it uses a Dallas/Odin soldered on to the motherboard, then you will need a new

    Nitpick: You don't need to buy a new motherboard. Just desolder the old Dallas and solder on a new one. They still make them; and Maxim will happily hand out free samples.
  • ubuntuxp wrote:
    Replace the clock battery in the Quantex and the hard drive in the Gateway. If you have the original install discs, I would clean install everything on all three of them, though they really should've clean install those computers before selling/giving them away.
    They did not do a clean install of anything on the computers. They weren't used for much, so they don't have much on them. I won't be keeping the Gateway's case, only the parts.
    SomeGuy wrote:
    Your post was long, so I shortened the quote. I hadn't heard of Quantex either. I looked them up, and they seem to have been based in New Jersey. It uses an AT motherboard, but doesn't have a coin-cell battery. I'll have to replace the clock chip. I think I'm going to install Windows ME on the Dell Dimension and see how it goes. I haven't messed with ME in a while, so it should be fun. Looking for those blue screens! I'll probably end up installing Windows Tiny7 on it (unofficial version of Windows 7 that's great for old computers, don't ask) and just using it for music or something.
  • Maybe use them as some vintage "gaming" PC's for playing old Windows games and / or old DOS games. I don't have any PC's old enough to play any DOS or old Windows games on, sadly. Congratz on your finds :)
  • ampharos wrote:
    SomeGuy wrote:
    Does the motherboard use a coin cell battery? If so, easy fix. Otherwise, does it use a socketed Dallas/Odin integrated clock-battery chip? If it does then that costs a bit to replace. If it uses a Dallas/Odin soldered on to the motherboard, then you will need a new

    Nitpick: You don't need to buy a new motherboard. Just desolder the old Dallas and solder on a new one. They still make them; and Maxim will happily hand out free samples.
    Also, you can "hack" (at least some of) them to just plug an external battery: http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/blo ... y-chip.htm
    We followed that guide a few years ago with some of my workmates (well, one of them who was good at soldering did the job), for an IBM PS/2, and it worked :}
  • when you've fixed the battery issue,

    please do a low level format, to remove any child molestation related content.
  • Twiggy wrote:
    please do a low level format, to remove any child molestation related content.

    eh?
  • >Erito17
    Because one or more of the computers had a history of church affiliation, he believes that the computer may have child pornography on it. This belief goes to the ongoing child abuse fiasco with several religious organizations.
  • Makes sense now.
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