problems with old system

[Sigmun]

I kept a old computer in my garage for a long time, it was full of dust when
last week I decided to revive it for use by my little 6 year old son.

Is is a P/I - P55T2P4 motherboard

ftp://www.asus.it/pub/ASUS/mb/sock7/430hx/p55t2p4/p55t2p4-311.pdf

64 MB EDO RAM
SoundBlaster 16 PnP ISA
CD-ROM 4x Creative
Samsung HD 10GB
Intel Pentium 166

That old computer worked fine for me from 1996 to 2000 with the difference
of having 2 IBM HD 1.7 GB, then I changed to Samsung's HD and installed
Linux, everything was OK, but because I'm not experienced on this OS I
decided to use that disk as a slave on my brand new system and kept that old
computer on my garage.

Now, I bought a 14" monitor and plugged again the Samsung HD as a master and
installed Win98 SE, and kept all original configurations on board.

Sometimes it boots with no errors or problems, but most of the times it
hangs when the time of load the OS arrives, after memory test, HD / PnP
detection. It doesn't boot from HD, or from FDD, it just freezes without
beeps or error messages, but sometimes, after clear the CMOS it boots
normally.

I'm having problems with the AT PSU because now the system is unable to
support more than 1 HD as it was in the past, or when I plug the CPU Fan
power cable to board, both cases disconnects (power off) the whole system.
Because of this I decided to use a bigger AMD Socket 7 CPU Cooler with no
fan working.

Can someone give me ideas what's going wrong ? why the system boots without
problems sometimes, and most of it it doesn't ?

Thanks in advance

 

[Paul]

I kept a old computer in my garage for a long time, it was full of dust when
last week I decided to revive it for use by my little 6 year old son.

Is is a P/I - P55T2P4 motherboard

ftp://www.asus.it/pub/ASUS/mb/sock7/430hx/p55t2p4/p55t2p4-311.pdf

64 MB EDO RAM
SoundBlaster 16 PnP ISA
CD-ROM 4x Creative
Samsung HD 10GB
Intel Pentium 166

That old computer worked fine for me from 1996 to 2000 with the difference
of having 2 IBM HD 1.7 GB, then I changed to Samsung's HD and installed
Linux, everything was OK, but because I'm not experienced on this OS I
decided to use that disk as a slave on my brand new system and kept that old
computer on my garage.

Now, I bought a 14" monitor and plugged again the Samsung HD as a master and
installed Win98 SE, and kept all original configurations on board.

Sometimes it boots with no errors or problems, but most of the times it
hangs when the time of load the OS arrives, after memory test, HD / PnP
detection. It doesn't boot from HD, or from FDD, it just freezes without
beeps or error messages, but sometimes, after clear the CMOS it boots
normally.

I'm having problems with the AT PSU because now the system is unable to
support more than 1 HD as it was in the past, or when I plug the CPU Fan
power cable to board, both cases disconnects (power off) the whole system.
Because of this I decided to use a bigger AMD Socket 7 CPU Cooler with no
fan working.

Can someone give me ideas what's going wrong ? why the system boots without
problems sometimes, and most of it it doesn't ?

Thanks in advance

Any chance of picking up another AT power supply ? It sounds like
it can no longer supply enough power for the system. I don't think
that motherboard has a hardware monitor chip (I don't see a monitoring
BIOS screen in the manual), so I guess you'd need a cheap voltmeter
to check the voltages. Otherwise, just try another power supply, on
the off chance that either +5 or +12 is marginal, and is causing
the IDE disk drive or the CPU to lose its mind.

There are companies that still sell AT power supplies brand new. For
example, look at the "slim" entries here:

http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/prices/index.htm

A 230W AT supply is $39 and a 300W AT supply is $75. The difference
is the 300W can power more disk drives. Compare the voltage and
current ratings on the spec page, to what is printed on the power
supply label. You could also check out a refurbished computer store
for supplies that will be way cheaper than this.

If you are bored, you could also try removing and reinserting the
cards and ram modules, one at a time, with the power cord pulled
so there won't be any accidents. Just the action of removing and
reinserting the cards can be enough to improve contact between
card and connector. I don't recommend the "eraser" treatment for
contacts, because if the plating on the contacts is thin, you'll
do more damage than good. (You only need to try this, if
replacing the power supply doesn't help.)

When cleaning the dust out, be careful, as things like "dust off"
can generate static electricity that could zap something. Same goes
for overzealous use of a vacuum cleaner. While you are working on
it, make sure to contact the case before touching anything in there.
Handle cards and ram by the edges, and try not to touch contacts
or conductors if you can. I'm sure there are a few more years left
in that motherboard yet.

Since the board has a "self-powered RTC", you don't have to worry
about replacing the battery, as you cannot. (There are procedures
on the net, for hacking open the chip and rigging up an external
battery, but the result isn't cosmetically appealing. In many cases
they don't make those parts anymore, so exact replacements cannot
be found, or at least ones that still have good batteries in them.)
If the BIOS still manages to keep its settings, and the clock
keeps time, then don't worry about it.

HTH,
Paul