gametechmods

Off-Topic => Off-Topic Discussion => Topic started by: HurricaneAndrew on July 19, 2012, 12:40:52 PM

Title: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 19, 2012, 12:40:52 PM
I have acquired quite a bit of knowledge of computer hardware and components due to my tendency of piecing my computers together with parts that I find in secondhand shops and the trash.

Since I've been bored, I am going to start this for members in need of advice or assistance with such.

I may also use this as a thread to show off my latest finds.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: courthousedoc on July 19, 2012, 02:38:26 PM
Well my laptop has it's control.exe missing among other things that I can't remember. Do you know how to fix that?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 19, 2012, 02:46:05 PM
That would be more of an OS issue, but meh... Reinstalling the operating system would be your best bet.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: courthousedoc on July 19, 2012, 03:47:23 PM
I don't have the disk for re-installing it.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 19, 2012, 04:06:25 PM
I don't have the disk for re-installing it.

Any one that does work on computers as a business or on the side would probably have one. Otherwise, I don't know what to tell you.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 20, 2012, 12:22:27 PM
(https://gametechmods.com/uploads/images/52564120720_0000.jpg)

Found this dinosaur at a thrift shop for five bucks... I figured it would possibly be worth it for the parts. I'm about to begin tear-down on it. I will post my findings in a while.

Now, let's just hope the hard drive isn't full of CP.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Jack Daniels on July 20, 2012, 03:04:58 PM
Hahah the old Compaqs.  <3    I actually liked how the front face opens up like a fishmouth so you can store your CD's in the front of the computer.

If that old best boots up and runs 98 or xp just fine... you have a nice retro machine to play old games that totally don't work on newer computers.  *cough*comandandconquor 1*cough*


Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 22, 2012, 02:44:36 AM
If that old best boots up and runs 98 or xp just fine... you have a nice retro machine to play old games that totally don't work on newer computers.  *cough*comandandconquor 1*cough*

My main PC does run XP...

Just waiting to have the cash for the motherboard I want so I can get it up and running again. For now I have to deal with this laptop running Vista...


Anyway...

I finished tear-down and I can say that I didn't find much to be proud of in the guts of the fossil, but here's a short list.

-  64MB stick of PC133 RAM
-  750MHz AMD Duron processor
-  20GB IDE Seagate hard drive
-  8GB Nvidia TNT2 graphics card
-  10/100 ethernet card
-  56KB/s modem
-  IDE CD-ROM drive
-  IDE CD-RW drive
-  Floppy drive
-  2 IDE cables
-  Floppy cable

It's amazing that a PC could even boot-up with only 64MB of RAM at one point. It's also been a while since 20GB of storage was anywhere near sufficient.

The case had clearly never been opened. It's specs were entirely stock to the case. What is funny is that it had a sticker on the side of the case that said XP was the OEM operating system, but in the disc storage compartment it has another one that says it came with Windows ME and it has the "Designed for Windows ME" sticker on the front... I'm pretty sure ME isn't compatible with the XP upgrade, as I once made the attempt to do so. This ended in just getting a computer with XP, because of the amount of failure. Plus, I'm pretty sure XP won't boot with only 64MB of RAM... Seems pretty fishy.



Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Mr. AS on July 22, 2012, 11:00:27 AM
lel windows me

seriously who coded that unstable peice of crap
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Enigm@ on July 22, 2012, 03:01:05 PM
If that old best boots up and runs 98 or xp just fine... you have a nice retro machine to play old games that totally don't work on newer computers.  *cough*comandandconquor 1*cough*

My main PC does run XP...

Just waiting to have the cash for the motherboard I want so I can get it up and running again. For now I have to deal with this laptop running Vista...


Anyway...

I finished tear-down and I can say that I didn't find much to be proud of in the guts of the fossil, but here's a short list.

-  64MB stick of PC133 RAM
-  750MHz AMD Duron processor
-  20GB IDE Seagate hard drive
-  8GB Nvidia TNT2 graphics card
-  10/100 ethernet card
-  56KB/s modem
-  IDE CD-ROM drive
-  IDE CD-RW drive
-  Floppy drive
-  2 IDE cables
-  Floppy cable

It's amazing that a PC could even boot-up with only 64MB of RAM at one point. It's also been a while since 20GB of storage was anywhere near sufficient.

The case had clearly never been opened. It's specs were entirely stock to the case. What is funny is that it had a sticker on the side of the case that said XP was the OEM operating system, but in the disc storage compartment it has another one that says it came with Windows ME and it has the "Designed for Windows ME" sticker on the front... I'm pretty sure ME isn't compatible with the XP upgrade, as I once made the attempt to do so. This ended in just getting a computer with XP, because of the amount of failure. Plus, I'm pretty sure XP won't boot with only 64MB of RAM... Seems pretty fishy.
Jesus. The first compooter I owned had about the same specs.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 22, 2012, 03:36:02 PM
Oh... I forgot to mention that thing had the hardest, most complicated case to open and get the front panel off of that I have ever seen. It was a total pain in the ass.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 23, 2012, 09:38:17 PM
Double post.


Just read the system requirements on my RA2 box.... Apparently RA2 requires 64MB of RAM... Irony. :laughing
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Mr. AS on July 23, 2012, 09:42:37 PM
Double post.


Just read the system requirements on my RA2 box.... Apparently RA2 requires 64MB of RAM... Irony. :laughing
weird.... ive have ra2 hog up to 150 mb before unless task manager be boosheet-ing me
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 23, 2012, 09:55:39 PM
Double post.


Just read the system requirements on my RA2 box.... Apparently RA2 requires 64MB of RAM... Irony. :laughing

weird.... ive have ra2 hog up to 150 mb before unless task manager be boosheet-ing me

If you're running Vista or 7, it will require more because of the OS. Vista and 7 are pretty heavy compared to XP.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Gropaga on July 23, 2012, 10:00:56 PM
Double post.


Just read the system requirements on my RA2 box.... Apparently RA2 requires 64MB of RAM... Irony. :laughing

weird.... ive have ra2 hog up to 150 mb before unless task manager be boosheet-ing me

If you're running Vista or 7, it will require more because of the OS. Vista and 7 are pretty heavy compared to XP.
I run Windom VISTA Windows VII
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on July 24, 2012, 03:34:19 PM
Can you help with software?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 24, 2012, 04:10:42 PM
Possibly. What is the question?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on July 24, 2012, 05:59:05 PM
https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,1675.msg525484.html#msg525484 (https://gametechmods.com/forums/index.php/topic,1675.msg525484.html#msg525484)

I CBA to re-post.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Enigm@ on July 24, 2012, 06:16:09 PM
The reason why the modern games won't work on your XP machine is because you probably don't have a good enough graphics card. Assuming you have a desktop, you can get a good one for about 80 - 100 pounds. On the old games, windows 7 is really weird to where it won't run old games, probably because Microsoft made whatever software or build that is used to run them, they've rendered obsolete and is why they don't run on W7.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on July 24, 2012, 06:18:08 PM
I don't have an XP machine, just that if I put XP on my current gaming PC, DX11 games and many future games will not support XP. When I was buying my PC, I was going to get XP, and probably would have if BF3 supported it. (On a side note, if I played BF3 before, I would be on XP now. I really don't like BF3. -_-)

I'm only interested in getting CMR2k5 running on my W7 machine. I know it's a stretch, but I also know it's possible.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Enigm@ on July 24, 2012, 06:20:57 PM
I'd try DL'ing Windows 98 and see if that would run it.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on July 24, 2012, 06:22:16 PM
As in a dual boot? Or a virtual machine?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Enigm@ on July 24, 2012, 06:25:10 PM
As in a dual boot? Or a virtual machine?
virtual
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on July 24, 2012, 06:32:26 PM
According to one post that I found on google on a tech forum, that doesn't work. Something about the Starforce DRM or something. On the other hand, pirating doesn't work, so that probably isn't it.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 24, 2012, 09:04:16 PM
Partition the hard drive and install XP on the partition. Then you could make the OS selectable on start-up. I'm 90% sure that this could be done, but I don't personally have the knowledge to do it.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on July 25, 2012, 03:21:00 AM
Sadly, neither do I. I actually looked this up a while ago, and you need to do some pretty complex stuff (well, complex for me) to stop XP killing W7.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on July 30, 2012, 09:26:29 AM
Sadly, neither do I. I actually looked this up a while ago, and you need to do some pretty complex stuff (well, complex for me) to stop XP killing W7.

I think that is why you have to partition the hard drive first.


Anyway, I found a 128MB stick of PC133 RAM that I guess I had forgotten about in my truck, but haven't found anything otherwise because my free time and money is non-existant for the moment.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: SKBT on August 04, 2012, 08:16:22 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWRewE5GIcE&feature=channel&list=UL#ws (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWRewE5GIcE&feature=channel&list=UL#ws)
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 04, 2012, 11:39:46 AM
EasyBCD gives me an error when I try to add Windows XP, saying that it couldn't find it on any of the mounted drives. Help!
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: courthousedoc on August 04, 2012, 09:34:09 PM
(https://gametechmods.com/uploads/images/52564120720_0000.jpg)

Found this dinosaur at a thrift shop for five bucks... I figured it would possibly be worth it for the parts. I'm about to begin tear-down on it. I will post my findings in a while.

Now, let's just hope the hard drive isn't full of CP.

Ah old Compaqs those pieces of **** were just as bad as any system running Vista.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Enigm@ on August 04, 2012, 09:55:43 PM
EasyBCD gives me an error when I try to add Windows XP, saying that it couldn't find it on any of the mounted drives. Help!
download power iso
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 05, 2012, 08:47:27 AM
Sounds like that's a CD image burner, and EasyBCD sets up the boot stuff.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Enigm@ on August 08, 2012, 07:59:55 AM
Sounds like that's a CD image burner, and EasyBCD sets up the boot stuff.
power iso mounts drive too if i recall
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 08, 2012, 08:43:55 AM
Why would I need to mount a drive for this? I'm having problems with booting into WinXP.

Besides, I already have 2 or 3 programs which can mount drives.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: TeamXtreemer on August 09, 2012, 07:21:24 AM
i got a free fijitsu seimens cordant.

pics;
warning;imgdump
if you want i can get more images and stuff. including specs.
it's running vista black edition (it barely manages that, so i'll just have to reins xp.)
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on August 09, 2012, 09:57:26 AM
i got a free fijitsu seimens cordant.

pics;
warning;imgdump
if you want i can get more images and stuff. including specs.
it's running vista black edition (it barely manages that, so i'll just have to reins xp.)


I've heard a few horror stories about Fujitsu PCs having proprietary parts...

Specs?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: TeamXtreemer on August 09, 2012, 12:09:05 PM
uh lemme check
well
512mb ram (but slow as crap) ddr2
can't check processor specs (monitor is used for something else/lazyyy)
but i know it's an early intel one
i'll check online
it MAY be called 'pentium 4'
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0001A26X8/]
it says it's 3.00ghZ but i don't sure if believe.



Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on August 09, 2012, 02:05:41 PM
uh lemme check
well
512mb ram (but slow as crap) ddr2
can't check processor specs (monitor is used for something else/lazyyy)
but i know it's an early intel one
i'll check online
it MAY be called 'pentium 4'
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0001A26X8/]
it says it's 3.00ghZ but i don't sure if believe.





Bitch, I remember when Pentium 4 was brand new. They had Blue Man Group in their commercials.

I've seen 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz Pentium 4s, but never a 3GHz. Hm... Either way, it could be that small, but I'm currently piecing together a temporary set up and using a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 processor.

Keep that 512MB stick of DDR2. That's definitely a keeper.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: TeamXtreemer on August 09, 2012, 02:27:27 PM
uh lemme check
well
512mb ram (but slow as crap) ddr2
can't check processor specs (monitor is used for something else/lazyyy)
but i know it's an early intel one
i'll check online
it MAY be called 'pentium 4'
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0001A26X8/]
it says it's 3.00ghZ but i don't sure if believe.





Bitch, I remember when Pentium 4 was brand new. They had Blue Man Group in their commercials.

I've seen 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz Pentium 4s, but never a 3GHz. Hm... Either way, it could be that small, but I'm currently piecing together a temporary set up and using a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 processor.

Keep that 512MB stick of DDR2. That's definitely a keeper.
maybe it's smaller, or rare, who knows

and btw it's 2 256 not 1 512 silly
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on August 09, 2012, 04:06:02 PM
uh lemme check
well
512mb ram (but slow as crap) ddr2
can't check processor specs (monitor is used for something else/lazyyy)
but i know it's an early intel one
i'll check online
it MAY be called 'pentium 4'
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0001A26X8/]
it says it's 3.00ghZ but i don't sure if believe.





Bitch, I remember when Pentium 4 was brand new. They had Blue Man Group in their commercials.

I've seen 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz Pentium 4s, but never a 3GHz. Hm... Either way, it could be that small, but I'm currently piecing together a temporary set up and using a 1.8GHz Pentium 4 processor.

Keep that 512MB stick of DDR2. That's definitely a keeper.
maybe it's smaller, or rare, who knows

and btw it's 2 256 not 1 512 silly

Oh. It's still worth keeping. If you prefer to run XP, they may be of use since XP can only handle a maximum of 3GB of RAM.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 09, 2012, 04:38:38 PM
Even x64 versions?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on August 09, 2012, 08:39:07 PM
Even x64 versions?

Yeah. All versions of XP can only handle 3GB of RAM. It's really just overkill to have 3GB even. XP is MUCH lighter than Vista and 7.

Plus it's a 10 year old OS. What do you expect?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 10, 2012, 02:43:17 AM
Then what's the point of 64-bit version of XP? :confused:
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on August 13, 2012, 08:16:53 PM

I feel like a serial killer...


You know those little "Design for ..." stickers on the front of PCs...?



(https://gametechmods.com/uploads/images/618120813_0002.jpg)


Those are from PCs that I have disassembled in the last two months roughly.

Creepy, isn't it?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 29, 2012, 11:32:28 AM
Aha, now this is a hardware problem!

My DVD/CD drive has been doing this
to my discs, recently. It does it whenever it tried to read or write to the disc, seemingly, although I'm not sure. It leaves the discs unusable. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve buying anything or sending my PC away?
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: TeamXtreemer on August 29, 2012, 03:03:40 PM
Aha, now this is a hardware problem!

My DVD/CD drive has been doing this
to my discs, recently. It does it whenever it tried to read or write to the disc, seemingly, although I'm not sure. It leaves the discs unusable. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve buying anything or sending my PC away?
lazer burn
get a new lazer.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: HurricaneAndrew on August 30, 2012, 02:59:46 PM
Aha, now this is a hardware problem!

My DVD/CD drive has been doing this
to my discs, recently. It does it whenever it tried to read or write to the disc, seemingly, although I'm not sure. It leaves the discs unusable. Is there anything I can do that doesn't involve buying anything or sending my PC away?

What TX said. Not much you can do without buying parts. If you have an old turd PC with a drive in it, you could swap it out.
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: TeamXtreemer on August 30, 2012, 03:33:38 PM
id suggest installing everything you have on the broken discs when you fix it, the broken discs will still play the files if they're installed.
as long as you install the files with working ones (borrow or whatever).
Title: Re: HA's PC Hardware Tech Support & Finds
Post by: Badger on August 30, 2012, 04:31:51 PM
They were blank discs, luckily. I was trying to put Ubuntu on them, I'll have to use my USB instead.