What to do with an ancient PC?

[BlueAcolyte]

I pulled a old SFF PC out of my tech teacher's room on the last day of school. After disassembling it, I was happy to see that it was a socket 370 and dropped another 128MB of RAM into it as well as a Pentium III. (coppermine, 866mhz) I also pulled a 2GB hard drive out of a Packard-Bell computer we had in the basement as well...

I am trying to clean off the processors (one original Mendocino Celeron and aforementioned PIII) and the heatsink, I just hope it powers up when I plug it in.

Edit: This thermal paste is like fucking rock... And it feels like gauze... Eww. IC Diamond to the rescue!

Edit 2: Aww jesus, this shit is not coming off. I've tried spit, isopropyl alcohol, and a flathead screwdriver.

Now with pics! Also, butcher knives don't work either. This heatsink literally sticks to the back of a table.

Case
heatsink and fan
Drives

 

[Horsepower]

try acetone, but I have a unit like that used as a jackstand in the garage.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I would use that except I don't know where my mom keeps it... Also, I'm worried about the power supply. I googled it and it's discontinued, as well, there is a design flaw.

 

[Blain]

Why are you using a screwdriver to clean off HS compound... just like the grooves and gouges it leaves? :shocked:

If the MB will take a 133MHz FSB CPU, maybe it supports a Tualatin core. You can find them pretty cheap. And they're good performers for the speed they run.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Well, the heatsink is fine actually, the chip on the pentium III is so tiny I would could use the base if 90% of it was scratched. Seriously though, the stuff peeled off. Like bandages.

Also, the good news is that it powers on.

The bad news is that it powers on as soon as I plug it in, and even if I hold the power button down (that works too ) as soon as I let go it turns on again. Also, there is no screen output... No idea what's going on. Oh well... I would resurrect the dell in the basement, but the case is actually pretty big and I think I murdered its power supply.

 

[bigsnyder]

try to reset the CMOS. The bios might have been configured to power up after a power loss. Might fix the display problem too.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I suppose that entails taking out the battery... I'll give it a shot.

 

[0roo0roo]

removing the heatsink to reapply paste was probably unnecessary. if it was a melted thermal pad whcih is why it didn't come off easy. it gets soft when hot. you should have just left it alone, its just a p3 by todays standards its nothing in terms of heat.