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Need some hardware help.....!

abramis

Thinker
abramis
Joined
Dec 8, 2002
Messages
142
I need some help with an old computer I have recently recieved as a gift. I was thinking of using it to play old PC games, and as a firewall for my current comp. It´s an old Celeron 333 with a blaster Banshee graphics card, 6Gb HD, 64 Mb RAM, and an old ISA 10Mbit Network card (No name). It´s also got a Soundblaster 16 Soundcard.

Now, the problem I have is that it won´t install any of the Windows I have. I´ve tried Win XP, Win 2000 SP3, 4 , Win 98, Win NT 4.0, I even tried Lindows 4.5 and a Linux version, but it is really hard to format the HD, I get all kind of error messages. I have tried another HD (Western Digital 8.4) but I get the same error messages.

I´m beginning to suspekt a hardware failure, but all parts exept the motherboard and processor are parts from other comps, where they have worked just fine.

I tried to install Win XP and Win 2000 by taking out the HD and put it in another comp, ( as a master disk) and install it from there. It worked, but when I start Windows I get "missing files" messages about 20 times, and it won´t read them (or copy them) from the cd-rom. I have replaced the cd-rom 2 times, both times with cd-roms that worked on other comps....

I´m about to burst a blood-vessel in my brain soon..... :mad:


Any help would be worth a lot.....
 
Check the BIOS to see if boot sector virus protection is turned on. Turn it off if it is.

If you want to use it as a firewall then Linux is the way to go. You can point and click setup Mandrake as a firewall / internet sharing machine but it won't play the older Windows games.
 
I think you need more RAM for XP

Also, how is the disk partitoned? when you f-disk it does it show 1 partition or more?
 
Go to the website of the disk manufacturer. All the majors (IBM, Western Digital, Seagate, &c) have a tool that you can download, install onto a floppy, and boot from. That tool will do as low-level error checking as you can reasonably get. Most will also do a low-level format, and write 0s to all sectors.

If you do this, choose the quick test first (because it takes 30 seconds and will pick up major errors), then do the full test (which takes a lot longer, but will tell you for sure if you have any problems).

I assume the disk is out of warranty? Actually, yes it is, if it's 6Gb.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
And, of course, that the disk worked in another machine doesn't mean there was nothing wrong with it. Windows will quite happily ignore a lot of errors, just marking the bad sectors as bad without telling you, unless you read your event logs regularly. When you do a new install, the install will kick up a fuss about errors, because the format during install will pick up all errors.

Cheers,
Rat.
 
Thanks for the help everyone!

thrombus29, I just tried to install XP to get the comp up and running, and to diagnose problems, I never meant to use it. I was thinking of using Win 98 SE, but it just won´t start.

ratcomp1974, I just found an option in the BIOS-settings, "low-level format on harddrive", I wonder if I can use that one? I think I heard someone a couple of years back saying that a low-level format was the worst thing you could do to your HD.

Sadly I would like to use Linux, but as said I wouldn´t be able to play my nostalgia games... too bad, I´ve really thought of running Linus on a computer, it would be fun to learn.

Anyway, I will try your suggestions, and report if there was success or failure! :)

Thanks again!
 
abramis said:
Sadly I would like to use Linux, but as said I wouldn´t be able to play my nostalgia games... too bad, I´ve really thought of running Linus on a computer, it would be fun to learn.
Click to expand...

Check out DOSBox. It's pretty good. Or just dual-boot MS-DOS and Linux, which isn't difficult.
 
Hmm. a correction: Even though it would be fun running Linus (Thorvalds) on the computer, I think I will stick with Linux .... (My spelling isn´t what it used to be....:o )
 
http://www.ipcop.org


Firewall, NAT, port forwarding, intrusion detection, proxy (transparent if needed) and a whole bunch of other goodness. Takes about 15 minutes to install if you're even vaguely familiar with Linux & are using an IDE drive.

It rocks.
 
My guess is the mother board. If you have put in hard disks from other machines where they worked, and they suddenly stop working on this, it has to point to the mother board.

Of course, the other possibility is the cable to the HD. Try a different cable. These can break.
 
I think I found it.... it seems that the connector socket for IDE 1 on the motherboard was cracked.... I have super-glued it . The crack was almost invisible, so I had to remove the entire motherboard to be able to see it.

I´ll try to install Win 98 SE when the glue is dry. Hpoefully it´ll work, or I´ll just throw the comp out.

Thanks for all the help!
 
Just try IDE 2. It will usually do everything IDE does. And try swapping the cable.

But a crack in the socket shouldn't cause a problem, it's the pins themselves that do the connecting. Perhaps the socket was impacted by something. In that case, try IDE 2.
 
If the socket on the mobo is cracked, it's possible one of the tracks underneath or nearby may have broken as well (excess bending force by someone/thing). These faults ARE fixable if you have the time and tools to do it, but it's almost always way faster, cheaper and easier to fling this one and go get a new mobo.
 
Worth swapping the ram over with another box at some point if that doesn't fix it.

I struggled with all sorts of nonsense on a box for months until I found it was down to a dodgy dimm.

Was it running before you started this reinstall procedure?
 
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