Reviving Old P4 Dell

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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For the past X years (It's been a while now) I've used a refurbished Dell Dimension that was really top of the line when I bought it. It has since fallen into "disrepair" of sorts; it currently has no OS or graphics card installed, and I've got some choices to make. First off, I'll list the specs as well as I can remember:

--Pentium IV 1.7Ghz
--512Mb RAM (no idea what kind)
--2x IDE/ATAPI DVD drives (1x burner, 1x reader)
--80gig HD, not sure what interface (most likely IDE, since the comp is like 5 years old at least)
---Santa Cruz Soundcard
---NIC card
---PNY GeForce 6600, fresh from getting RMA'd. I also have a GeForce 2 or 3 fanless card. (neither are installed)

Since it was a pre-built system, the BIOS gives me almost no options, so OCing is out of the question. I don't expect this system to be that fast anyway, so it doesn't matter.

So, what I want to do is the following:

First, clear as much crap as I can from the truly terrible Dell case (it is really flimsy plastic). The wiring job is really horrible, and last I remember the computer was pretty loud, so if I can get the wires managed a little better, then get a few decent fans in there, it should be somewhat more quiet. There is a strange green plastic duct over the CPU, and hopefully I can take that off, and possibly put another heatsink on the CPU that is quiet and hopefully more effective. I would even replace the fan in the PSU if i thought that might make it quieter.

After I get the system more cleanly setup, I can worry about reinstalling the OS. It had Windows 2000 Professional, but I was thinking that maybe I should use another OS, like one of the Linux flavors. Only problem is that I don't know Linux at all, so I'm not sure. I'm just going to have to learn how to clear the HD of whatever was crap/ pieces of corrupt filesystem were on there before. Is there a way I can totally clean a HD using just a bootable floppy or something?

I think I'll just be quiet now and see if anyone has any advice to help me out...

Thanks in Advance
 

stogez

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2006
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I don't really know what you're asking. What do you plan on using this computer for? Just plug everything and turn it on. If it doesn't work, then we can troubleshoot through it. I don't know what help you need before even powering it on ;)
As for your other questions:
Run DBAN on the HDD to completely clear everything. You can download a CD image and just boot using that CD.
If you don't know linux, stick with Windows. OR its never too late to learn something. Since this computer sounds like a spare, install linux and start learning. Ubuntu will probably be the easiest to setup and learn.
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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Thanks for the info. Sorry I wasn't being very specific. It's a Dell Dimension 8100 with a PentiumIV 1.7Ghz, but I don't know what kind of socket (I was trying to figure that out so I could possibly replace the CPU cooler to a quieter one)

Also, I've had problems getting the computer to boot from CD; is there anything like DBAN that I could put on a floppy drive? What is DBAN? Is it included on the win2000 cd?

Thanks.
 

stogez

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2006
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I think the 8100 used Socket 423 with RDRAM. Not 100% positive on that though. You could enter the service tag on support.dell.com and look up all the info.
If it is RDRAM, it'll be expensive to upgrade unless you're happy with 512MB. Again it depends on what you run on it and what you use it for. Under linux it should be fine with 512MB.

DBAN
DBAN is a disk erasing utility. They do have an image for floppy drives.
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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Yeah, I double checked and it's a socket 423 with RDRAM. I don't have the service tag because I don't have the computer with me. Thanks for the help. I'm just going to clean it out and put a fresh install of win2000 in, then I'll think about Linux or whatever.
Maybe it would be better to run windows 98, because of the low system specs, or is windows 2000 'lite' enought? Well it came with windows 2000 so I guess it should be fine.

Thanks for the help.
 

stogez

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2006
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Win2k should be fine on that. I have a laptop with 500mhz and 256MB RAM running Win2k3 server :)
 

moosey

Golden Member
Apr 18, 2001
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Originally posted by: TBSN
Yeah, I double checked and it's a socket 423 with RDRAM. I don't have the service tag because I don't have the computer with me. Thanks for the help. I'm just going to clean it out and put a fresh install of win2000 in, then I'll think about Linux or whatever.
Maybe it would be better to run windows 98, because of the low system specs, or is windows 2000 'lite' enought? Well it came with windows 2000 so I guess it should be fine.

Thanks for the help.

You know you'd regret even trying Win98 over 2K
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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Word of advice ... Dell computers do not like aftermarket cpu Fans even though
they are better ... Dell monitors the Fan RPM in the BIOS differently than everbody
else does .. so while another make fan / heatsink can fit, the BIOS will not be
happy with the RPM Signal
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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Yeah, I pretty much abandoned the idea of getting an after market HSF. I am going to nuke the hdd, so to speak, and reinstall everything. I have a question about the drivers though. After I flash the BIOS and install windows, how should I go about installing the drivers for all these old components? I went to the Dell site and got the chipset drivers, but the drivers for the other devices are less clearly laid out. I guess once I have windows working on the computer it will be much easier to see what, exactly, each component is and what drivers go with it. But does everything really need drivers, like the optical drives firmware, or can some of the stuff just be skipped over?

I got the 'original system confguration' from the Dell website by putting in the service tag, but each component is labeled very unclearly. For example, the Pentium IV is listed as:

Quanitiy | Parts # | Part Description
1 | 9D340 | PROCESSOR, 80528, 1.7GHZ, OK, 400FSB, SOCKET W

Wow, it doesn't even mention that it is an intel pentium processor. Very helpful... Anyway, hopefully it will be easier with windows installed and device mangager open with the real details of the system...
 

Philippine Mango

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2004
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nvm.

Yeah you've got RDRAM.

Don't remove the duct and don't try to replace the fan that is in that duct that is next to the CPU. The reason why is because dell's bios monitor's the fan's speed to make sure that it's still working, if you disconnect the fan, the system will flip a ****** everytime you boot up. I have a feeling that it's standard wiring with proprietary connector so I plan to rewire a computer fan to fit in that socket of the motherboard to see if it works.. (Thats for later)

Also BTW your chipset is the Intel 850.
As for CPU upgrades, check out this.
http://powerleap.com/PL-P4N.jsp

While it has been discontinued, you can most likely get the adapter off ebay.
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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Ok, thanks for the info. I don't think I'll be replacing anything I guess. There's no need for me to upgrade the CPU as i'll be most likely building a C2D computer soon. I just wanted to get the computer working. If I can't change the fan for the CPU, do you know if it would be possible to change the PSU fan? I know this system makes a racket at times, but that could also be the old harddrive... I guess if I just clean the dust from the case and everything it'll be quieter...
 

Philippine Mango

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2004
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Originally posted by: TBSN
Ok, thanks for the info. I don't think I'll be replacing anything I guess. There's no need for me to upgrade the CPU as i'll be most likely building a C2D computer soon. I just wanted to get the computer working. If I can't change the fan for the CPU, do you know if it would be possible to change the PSU fan? I know this system makes a racket at times, but that could also be the old harddrive... I guess if I just clean the dust from the case and everything it'll be quieter...

Naw, the loudest component in this system is the cpu/case fan thing. I know because I removed it and had it out of the system for a while but the warning thing bugged me too much.. The HDDs in the dells IIRC were the first of the quiet drives, I say this because I bought a HDD back in 2000 and it's much louder than the drives in the Dell 8100/8200 systems and newer..
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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Thanks for all the advice people--

DBAN successfully destroyed any fragments of partitions or whatever was left on the system, and now I am formatting the drive through Win2K setup as NTFS.

Is there any reason that I should create partitions in the drive, or is it OK if I just install the OS to the whole drive? Thanks again,

BN
 

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
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No reason to partition, i would install using whole drive....it don't matter though, your preference.
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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OK, I've got a new problem... I've installed Win2K w/ SP1, is there any easy way to get it to service pack 4?
I have a cd which has a ton of updates on it, and a readme that says to install everything in date order (oldest to newest). I did that, although some of the installers didn't work because I don't have IE 6.0 or Office 2000 installed yet... this is getting really confusing!
 

stogez

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 2006
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You can't use windows update?
You could also download the service pack 4 separately. Just do a search. Download.com or something probably has it.
 

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
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Here you can download SP4 either the network install or express, if system has internet you can use express if not use network install------------->LINK
 

Trashman

Platinum Member
Jan 31, 2000
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You might even consider using nLite and SP4 network install and slip-stream SP4 with your Win2K install disk...maybe too late to suggest but just a thought.
 

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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You are better off downloading the SP4 to either the hard drive or burn it to a cd
This way it installs easier and you will have a copy of it for the future in case you
need it again.
 

TBSN

Senior member
Nov 12, 2006
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I got it updated, and it is running well.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out w/ this!