Resurrecting Old Pc

[Stevoisboss]

My grandpa recently gave me this really old pc so I thought It would be cool to try and salvage it and learn how to use some type of linux on it. I cannot get a signal to this old dell monitor that I'm using. I tested out the vga cable and monitor on my good pc and it worked fine. Tried a different gpu from a similar year that ik works and it didn't work. I tried different 128MB ram that ik works and it didn't work. Specs that I have figured out so far: 128MB of ram, some type of pentium processor, 20GB hdd (picture of gpu below). The cpu fans and the psu fans + gpu fans work fine and as you can see a green light on the mobo always is on. I removed all the cables to the hdd and disk drives and it still didn't boot. I tried a usb mouse and it didn't light up. I cannot plug a vga connector into the mobo becuase it has like a reverse version of it and I don't even know if the processor has an igpu. My questions: Can I install that gpu on my h97 board to see if it works? Do you think its bad mobo/ cpu? Is it worth fixing? If I get this to work what type of linux should I try to put on it?

[Wyzzy Moon]

you won't be able to use that GPU in your modern machine because it uses a AGP Slot.
Your H97 board only has PCI-e and maby PCI

[Wyzzy Moon]

BTW, the ports you saw as reversed VGA ports are serial ports, one of the granddaddy's of USB nowadays. You'll see that the shape is similar to VGA but they have a diferent number of pins. So that is not VGA at all.
CPU's back that did not have IGPU's yet but sometimes there was a GPU on the MOBO so there were boards with video out on the back, but that was not integrated in the CPU.

As to your actual problem, did you try waiting for a while?
And does the PC Beeb if you turn it on?
Make sure the GPU if correctly inserted in the slot.

[Bananasplit_00]

the GPU is the wrong formfactor and that CPU looks like it could be something like a Celeron 300A or similar because it looks like its a slot based one, cant see if thats just the cooler or the entire thing in the picture tho but i have a slot based CPU from somewhere and it looks kinda like that

 

*edit*

those "inverted VGA ports" are SERIAL ports used for varius things like networking and stuff cant remember what more they were used for tho

[Wyzzy Moon]

1 minute ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

the GPU is the wrong formfactor and that CPU looks like it could be something like a Celeron 300A or similar because it looks like its a slot based one, cant see if thats just the cooler or the entire thing in the picture tho but i have a slot based CPU from somewhere and it looks kinda like that

 

*edit*

those "inverted VGA ports" are SERIAL ports used for varius things like networking and stuff cant remember what more they were used for tho

It's an intel Pentium III (sticker on the front of the case )

[Wyzzy Moon]

I love how you cover up the windows 2000 serial key
I don't even think windows 2000 had a limit on how many pc's could be installed with the same key

 

[Bananasplit_00]

Just now, Wyzzy Moon said:

It's an intel Pentium III (sticker on the front of the case )

lol thanks, didnt see the sticker

[Wyzzy Moon]

Just now, Bananasplit_00 said:

lol thanks, didnt see the sticker

and the paper with specs lists PIII500 so I guess it's 500Mhz

so this one http://ark.intel.com/products/27538/Intel-Pentium-III-Processor-500-MHz-512K-Cache-100-MHz-FSB

[Stevoisboss]

2 hours ago, Wyzzy Moon said:

BTW, the ports you saw as reversed VGA ports are serial ports, one of the granddaddy's of USB nowadays. You'll see that the shape is similar to VGA but they have a diferent number of pins. So that is not VGA at all.
CPU's back that did not have IGPU's yet but sometimes there was a GPU on the MOBO so there were boards with video out on the back, but that was not integrated in the CPU.

As to your actual problem, did you try waiting for a while?
And does the PC Beeb if you turn it on?
Make sure the GPU if correctly inserted in the slot.

I tried waiting like 3-5 mins and didn't get a signal. It doesn't beep when turned on. I will recheck the gpu to see if it is correctly inserted.

[Ryujin2003]

This thing is super legacy. According to Indiana Jones, this thing belongs in a museum. If you just want to learn, go right ahead. You should learn the basics, such as master and slave as well as the various serial ports. Enjoy the ribbon, it's great for air cooling.
 

I would probably look for something a little more modern. I wouldn't mess with this. If you want simple, maybe pick up a Raspberry Pink. If you want something old to tinker with, contact some nearby electronics recycling locations. Even Craig's list will have a working $20 PC somewhere, built new circa 2004. Again, you get what you pay for. Maybe watch some Scrapyard wars for some ideas of how to go about it.

 

[samiscool51]

looks like to be dead, also it looks like you have a sound blaster 16 in there, i would take that out and see if that works, if it does sell it, loads of people who play MS-DOS games want it...