You probably have had the urge to throw away old stuff before, so did I, with an old computer tower unit taking up space. However, I had a change of mind and got it out of the bin!
The first thing to do was clean the motherboard and components, I used a can of compressed air, a hover and some electrical cleaner. It was then time to install the components back and make sure everything was powering up properly. You need to be a little careful when powering up old hardware like this, especially if it has been in a damp environment, so the use of a RCD or some sort of circuit breaker is advised, that and ensuring it is fully dry.
There is a few options when it comes to operating system, but you can be restricted deciding what hardware you have. I believe my issues originally were due to incomparable hardware with modern software, but I could be wrong.
Originally I was trying to get Windows 98 to work, but after a few attempts I decided to go with XP again, just so I could see if it ran ok and to play a few old games.
The graphics card works well with this system: ASUS NVIDIA GeForce GT 710
Key points to remember with this are:
- In order to get the drivers to work for the motherboard, the service packs are needed.
- Get the service packs from Microsoft https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=XP%20Service%20Pack
- Download SP2 and if needed then SP3, but 2 must be done before 3.
- Download on another computer to a USB stick, because the XP system has no internet server, you wont be able to get any popular browser to work either, so it's just quicker.
- Activate Windows within 30 days or you may have some issues with running, to activate call the MS customer service number displayed on the XP activate screen.
- Going online isnt recommended generally for obvious reasons, so a offline system only is probably best.
Hope somone found this interesting :)
