So You Bought an Old PC?

Or the boss gave you some old thing that has been collecting dust for many years. You don't know what it is but is definitely not of the  Pentium class. A 486, 386, 286, 8086 even? You get it home and what do you do? Assuming that it works at all, you may want to find out what sort of Operating system it has. Windows 3.1? Great! Nuff said, enjoy. Some version of DOS but you don't know which one? Easy, just type "VER" (without the quotes) at the C:\> prompt and it will tell you.

   Now try "MSD". This stands for Microsoft Diagnostics. If you have DOS version 5 or above MSD will provide information about Processor, Memory, Drives, Ports, IRQ's and a lot more. Doesn't show the processor speed unfortunately.

   OK, so your PC now;-
            a. Works fine but you want find out who the hard drive manufacturer is.
            b. Doesn't work but it does power-up.
            c. You were given a Hard Drive and want to upgrade it but the BIOS doesn't support Auto Detect. You also want to know what the Slave/Master jumper settings are.

   An excellent utility called "Hard Drive Technical Specs" seems to have every Hard Drive and Manufacturer that ever existed listed. Provides  jumper and BIOS settings for each drive listed by manufacturer, model and size. Only goes up to 1Gig or so but hey, don't forget we are now in "retro mode". It will also do everything that MSD will do and more. Can even be run from a floppy and used to interrogate an unknown system without having to take the cover off. Interested? Download a copy from this site.

    Ask around at work. Chances are that someone has some old memory of the right type to give your old PC and extra boost. My old 386 SX now has 10 MB of RAM and performs very nicely thank you. It started off with only 1 MB when new. In those days 10 MB of 30 pin SIMMs would have set you back over £300 ($500) and been a  target for thieves. While you are at it, ask your friends if they have a better Hard Drive than the one you got. A 210 MB for example isn't much but it's a lot better than a 40 MB one. 

If Your PC Doesn't Boot Up

    If on booting up you get the message "Keyboard not detected. Press any key to continue." (Think about that one for a moment). It probably means that you have a useless motherboard. If the keyboard connector is a PS2 you can try plugging it into the PS2 mouse socket. The controller is sometimes the same. If that works a serial mouse in a serial port will get you fully functional again. It is worth plugging in another keyboard just in case that, is what is wrong. If you are using a PS2 keyboard but the motherboard has an AT connector (Same as mini DIN and DIN) with an adaptor I have found that sometimes the PC will respond again to a keyboard if you plug in an actual AT keyboard. Don't ask me to explain but I was once very grateful for this as it allowed me to retrieve my data onto floppies before the PC died altogether.

    If the Hard Drive is not found or the time and date are completely wrong then the battery for the CMOS may be flat. If of the soldered on, rechargeable type, leave PC on for an hour or so before switching off. You will need to go into the BIOS to set up the Hard Drive, Date etc. This can be done straight away, just as long as you it leave powered up to recharge the battery. If on booting up the following day you find that the battery did not hold its charge you will need to replace it.  Button cell. Remove, test with a multi-meter to confirm, and replace. Rechargeable. Cut the tags on the motherboard leaving something proud  and solder on a new one.

    If you get a "Hard Drive controller failure". This means that the Hard Drive is probably dead and will need replacing. 

    If you do not get a memory test it probably means that it has been removed. Open up and check. If the modules are there, remove and replace to break any oxide layer. 

For possible upgrades see also Co-Processor and  Disk Compression