Is my old box completely dead?

[VivienM]

So, I have this now... 7 year old... box. 1.9 Willamette P4, gig of RDRAM, etc. Old old school, eh?

It worked fine for the longest time, but now it's completely broken. When I turn it on, it starts to boot up, then the screen goes dark after 30-45 seconds (whether it's in the BIOS setup or booting Windows), then it makes weird sounds like it's spontaneously rebooting every couple of seconds. Power light blinks, the optical drives blink, etc., in what seems to be a continuous cycle. Monitor never goes back on...

I thought perhaps the video card was bad, so I swapped it for another AGP card, no improvement.

Thoughts? Is this thing due for retirement?

 

[mpilchfamily]

Its long over due to be retired. Fix it if you want but your better off with a new system.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Its long over due to be retired. Fix it if you want but your better off with a new system.

Oh, I have newer boxes. And older, too...

I was just thinking I could use this thing (which otherwise just sits here doing nothing) to play with the Windows 7 pre-beta... (hey, that same box ran Vista betas just fine, so it should be able to deal with 7)

 

[mpilchfamily]

Well its not worth putting any more money into. But if you can find tthe parts then go for it but i doubt it will handle Windows 7.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Well its not worth putting any more money into. But if you can find tthe parts then go for it but i doubt it will handle Windows 7.

But the question is, what parts should I try swapping first?

I have a (crappy) PSU sitting in the closet. A socket 478 mobo + RAM + Deleron I just took out of another box a few weeks ago. A few AGP video cards. Perhaps other stuff.

Honestly, if people in Redmond are running 7 on netbooks and claiming it's usable, then this thing should be good enough for playing with it...

 

[L00PY]

From what you describe (it dying 30-45 seconds in regardless of whether it's booting Windows or sitting in the BIOS), I'd guess heat. If you can make it into the hardware monitor in the BIOS, you may be able to see the temps rising before it goes on the fritz.

I'm guessing if you leave it off for 5-10 minutes and restart, it'll run fine again for 30-45 seconds?

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: L00PY
From what you describe (it dying 30-45 seconds in regardless of whether it's booting Windows or sitting in the BIOS), I'd guess heat. If you can make it into the hardware monitor in the BIOS, you may be able to see the temps rising before it goes on the fritz.

I'm guessing if you leave it off for 5-10 minutes and restart, it'll run fine again for 30-45 seconds?

More or less. I don't think it's heat, though - I had heat problems with this box when I first built it, and it was actually TURNING OFF after 20 seconds. Here it's not turning off... or at least not fully.

It's being weirder now. The rear case fan and other stuff seem to lose power, but CPU fan was still spinning.

I think it's either the board or the PSU...

 

[Frankdaatank24]

I'm willing to bet it is the PSU. I've had 2 go out exhibiting similar symptoms,

 

[L00PY]

I still say you ought to make sure all the dust is cleared out and fans are spinning -- including in the PSU. Especially true in an 7 year old computer. I'd also reseat any heatsinks you may have installed yourself, cleaning off and reapplying new TIM.

 

[RebateMonger]

With that many PCs, it'd be less painful to just move the hard drive to another PC and make it an alternative boot disk. Install Windows 7 there and boot to that drive when you want to play with the new Windows.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
With that many PCs, it'd be less painful to just move the hard drive to another PC and make it an alternative boot disk. Install Windows 7 there and boot to that drive when you want to play with the new Windows.

Yup, except the newer boxes don't have (much) PATA, and the HDs in this ancient thingy are all PATA...

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: Frankdaatank24
I'm willing to bet it is the PSU. I've had 2 go out exhibiting similar symptoms,

We have a winner!

I swapped out the PSU with a 300W Antec that was sitting in the closet (replaced by a Seasonic in another box because it was too noisy). Now this thing boots up fine, though I have a feeling a Willamette P4 and an ATI 9800 is probably too much for a 300W PSU...

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Well its not worth putting any more money into. But if you can find tthe parts then go for it but i doubt it will handle Windows 7.

Windows 7 gives it a 3.0 WEI score...

Why do I have a feeling Worst Buy still sells computers TODAY (i.e. 7 years later) that get less than that?

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: VivienM

Originally posted by: Frankdaatank24
I'm willing to bet it is the PSU. I've had 2 go out exhibiting similar symptoms,

We have a winner!

I swapped out the PSU with a 300W Antec that was sitting in the closet (replaced by a Seasonic in another box because it was too noisy). Now this thing boots up fine, though I have a feeling a Willamette P4 and an ATI 9800 is probably too much for a 300W PSU...

Nah you'll be fine on the 300. If you did want to get a replacement you could reuse it in any new system you build in the next few years though... might be good insurance...

I love that card BTW - I still have mine. It's one of those sweet spot cards that were ages ahead of the competition at the time, and still manage to put in a performace no matter how old they get. HL2 flies on that thing at 1024.

 

[Frankdaatank24]

Originally posted by: VivienM

Originally posted by: Frankdaatank24
I'm willing to bet it is the PSU. I've had 2 go out exhibiting similar symptoms,

We have a winner!

What do I win?

I have a Shuttle XPC (SB75G2) running an X800 XT PE and a P4. The power supply is only rated at 250W, so I think your fine.