I need advice on upgrading old PC

15/11/01 | me

[winslow]

Just wondered if anyone can help.
I have an old Packard Bell pulsar 20 which I recently bought second hand. It badly needs more RAM and I wondered if anyone can tell us what type of RAM I should be looking for.
I did a search and only got a reult off 1 site so I want to doublecheck it. As far as I know I'm looking for Pc66 standard SD RAM 168pin Dimm. Does that sound right. Also just wondered if it is possible to upgrade hard drive.

[tacticalogic]

plug compatible with the Irish power grid.

The case could probably be made to work if you ran it through a Bessemer converter.

[RightWhale]

if you ran it through a Bessemer converter

The sound of vertebra popping as people over at the UN Kyoto hearings sit up quickly. Oh, the humanity, oh, the slag!

[haggissolo]

Here's the best place to buy RAM. It shows your model, and some of the lowest prices out there.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.asp?model=Pulsar+20&x=6&y=17

[tacticalogic]

Oh, the humanity, oh, the slag!

Screw 'em! Fire that puppy up!

[Aliska]

Thanks for the link! I will check it out. I appreciate John's input. Listening to Kim Commando, I thought it would be cool to try to build my own from scratch but I would freeze up when messing with the bios! Even so, I need a working computer and another one I can tinker with.

Which brings up what I am up against. My current system is unstable and could crash any time. I have a standard CD drive (non-rewritable) and a special one that is rewritable called a PD (think it's Sony) and uses special cartridges (LM-R650A) of which I've invested in several. Both drives are down and I need to get it into the shop but don't want to sacrifice the time. Also either the power supply or fan is bad (makes rumbling sound on startup until it gets a little warmed up - been like this for over a year).

Latest I got a couple of black screens where the thing just quit and thought my hd had crashed for sure but after waiting a bit and rebooting it seems ok for now. Mouse started freezing up and causing problems so I bought a new one and things seem better in that department. Hate to invest even a couple hundred until I recoup as much as I can of the investment I originally made in the one I have.

I would like to install my PD drive in a new computer because it is the only way I can transfer data from my old system to a new one. I could upload stuff to my website or use floppies but that would be so tedious. Can one get a cable to transfer data from one PC to another (locally and not online) or would one have to have some kind of networking configuration?

Lastly, is there some sort of website that gives an overview of building a system from scratch? I am technically impaired, mostly because I don't like to take the time to do the homework, and very weak on troubleshooting but I have gotten by better than I ever expected! Great folks have helped me but I have to be online to get help. No access to tech support because company is no longer in business.

Sorry this is so long but I need to get all my ducks in a row before spending more money needlessly.

[damnlimey]

Can't speak for Packard Bell ,but older Compaqs were extremely un-upgradeable.
My old presario maxed out at 48megs of ram and wouldn't handle more than 8 gigs of hard drive due to Compaq's funky phoenix bios (amongst other things)

As far as the bessemer converter,kind of hard to get in the back yard but the old barbecue and liquid oxygen trick should make for an entertaining upgrade experience

[charphar]

But I can't suggest where to buy any new ones.

I'm using a Gateway PII-350. I just got 256 Megs of RAM at Office Depot. 39 bucks, with a $15 rebate. It's going to hold me til all the bugs (well...most of the bugs!)are worked out of Windows XP.

[charphar]

39 bucks, with a $15 rebate

I knew that didn't look right! Should have been 29 bucks with a $15 rebate! Sorry!

[I Believe It's Not Butter]

From one who knows,
Packard-Bells were notorious for two problems, one was poor quality HD, and the other was modem combined with a soundcard. HD’s were made in Korea by Samsung, their life-span was exactly 2 years after which they died with all your staff on them. Upgrading modems used to be geeks weekend activity until 3 years ago when all stopped at 56k. The PB modem –sound card thingy made it impossibile to upgrade the modem without tossing the whole thingy out of the machine, translated to countless hours wasted+a new modem + new sound card = big $$+aggravation. Other than that Packard-Bells were not so bad. You use PC66 RAM; I’m guessing your processor speed is between 200-300 MHz. It is a neat little machine worth a minimal upgrade. You can check the amount of RAM you have by right-clicking on My Computer and left-clicking on Properties. If your RAM is 32 get another 64MB of PC100, and you should be all set with 96MB. HD may cost you significantly more, first look inside who made it. If it’s not a Samsung or other Korean brand, then leave it in. Spend minimum on it.
You’ll have to forgive the FReepers who tell you to go get new machine they don’t realize the price differences between US and Ireland. Regards.

[I Believe It's Not Butter]

....all your staff and stuff on them.

[tacticalogic]

As far as the bessemer converter,kind of hard to get in the back yard but the old barbecue and liquid oxygen trick should make for an entertaining upgrade experience

One of the next things on my "build for the shop" list is a propane forge.

[buickmackane]

I started with a used PB in 1995 and gradually upgraded over time. I'd like to upgrade again, but now I'm at a standstill. I can't upgrade my 199 MHz motherboard without getting a whole new case, and the new cheaper memory is not compatible with my old expensive memory. I can't afford to make such radical changes, so I'm plugging along for the time being. We're about to install T1 lines at work, so at least I'll have something to look forward to!

You really might want to think twice about sinking money into the expensive, obsolete memory chips at this stage of the game -- take it from me! I wish you the very best of luck with this. Been there, done that!

[Gasshog]

Replace it with a fine wine and some Cheese.

[RightOnline]

I have to agree with the "junk it and start over" crowd. Send me a FReepmail and I'll pass on some good stuff to ya to check out that should help quite a bit. :)

[Gasshog]

I went from a Intel233 to a AMD 1gig for about 300.00 - basically junked the old motherboard and processor and replaced with a ASUS board and AMD chip, and 128MB RAM. Then I had to buy a couple of PCI cards because the ASUS didnt support ISA - so that cost me a little more. Very content with the upgrade and the price. Build your own, never buy a Compac or HP.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

they don’t realize the price differences between US and Ireland. Regards.

If it is that expensive, maybe with the current low airfares, it would be cheaper to fly to the US, buy a cheap PC here, and bring it back. (I don't know what the import duties would be, and I guess smuggling is out, so that may be a sticking point.) Anything is better than upgrading that Packard.

[John Farson]

From what you're describing (lock ups and a rumbling fan), it is likely that your CPU is overheating. Run your computer with the case off and see which fan is making the noise... I bet its your the little fan responsible for cooling your CPU.

A new CPU fan is cheap. (~$5 to $15)

I would like to install my PD drive in a new computer because it is the only way I can transfer data from my old system to a new one. I could upload stuff to my website or use floppies but that would be so tedious. Can one get a cable to transfer data from one PC to another (locally and not online) or would one have to have some kind of networking configuration?

Is this PD drive a CD burner/writer or a magnetic tape backup?

I'm assuming your PD drive isn't much different from a CD-ROM drive. There should be a ribbon cable connecting your CD-ROM to your motherboard. Halfway between the ribbon there is a place to hookup another drive. These cables can be a pain to put in place. (you may need to fold & twist the cable to get it to fit).

Make sure the jumper settings are correct. (Jumpers are those little plastic things that cover two metal prongs on the back of a drive) The burner is usually set to master, and the other CD-ROM drive is usually set to slave.

Next, hookup the red & yellow cord from your power supply to your drive. If your BIOS is plug-and-play it should auto-detect the drive. If not you may need to tell your BIOS to look for it.

BTW, it might be much easier to just remove the hard drive from your old computer and connect with ribbon cable to your new drive.

Like described above, make sure the jumpers in the back of each hard drive are set correctly.

Your BIOS should autodetect it. Both drives should appear in Windows. Go ahead and transfer your files .

How to Build a PC Yourself

Also, these guys are releasing a VHS tape that will show the process step-by-step. Check here in about a month.

Please ping me if you have any additional questions.

[I Believe It's Not Butter]

....I guess smuggling is out

I wonder what makes you say that? ;)

[Aliska]

Is this PD drive a CD burner/writer or a magnetic tape backup?

No, it's a Sony (I think - hate to dig through my box for the specs) special cd writer that came out just before the newer ones did. It is not a tape or zip or anything like that. It is like a regular CD drive but it's called an optical writer. It holds a special 650mb cd encased in a cartridge. You place the whole cartridge in the drawer. It works just like a regular cd burner except that I have 8 or those cartridges which can be used and rewritten up to 30 years (supposedly) and I hate to scrap them. I got a deal on ebay for most of them but the first ones were $50+ apiece! It was an upgrade option I selected when I got this, my first, computer. I spent some time on the internet to see if I could buy another drive just like it to install in a new computer so I could keep the one I have in my old computer because my daughter wants it if it isn't too costly to fix.

BTW, it might be much easier to just remove the hard drive from your old computer and connect with ribbon cable to your new drive.

That's the ticket when the time comes if it doesn't crash first. My son suggested I have it installed as a slave or something like that but my system is so loaded I have trouble with the irq's being all used up and . . . on an on.

I've been really reticent to tackle my case because it is big and heavy and I'm afraid I'll make a costly mistake. Just pulling out all the plugs is a biggie with me because I have to label them to know where to put them all back. But thanks for the advice because maybe my son can help me with the fan. It's a wonder I haven't burned up my hd already. When the case starts feeling hot I shut it down til it cools.

Thanks for all the wonderful info. I emailed it to myself and printed it all out and will think it all through. Our local comm college has an online course in that sort of stuff and they recommend having an old pc you can tear into as the best hands' on learning method.

Too much to do and too little time. I spend too much time reading tons of articles here :-).

[ezoeni4]

First off replace the flux capacitor. Yes I think that will solve allot of your problems. Then the chipset that generates the ion particles will probably need new bearings. Use a light amount of grease and it should be ok.

Then I would move on to warp core kernel and rebuild that. You can get many free compiling apps on the net for doing this. This is really quite easy just jump in a to it!

Then throw linux on that sucker! (mandrake has some spiffy install .iso's out right now) Thare only 600+ meg each, I down loaded all 3 of them in about 15 seconds the other day. Ill email them to you if you want