My £20 PC

[Bez]

I recently needed to run some very old software that originally ran on Win 98, ME or XP (what software not important) at first I thought it would be just a matter of installing it on my Win 7 PC and running it in compatibility mode but this was not the case.

Although it installed ok it refused to run as it seemed to be looking for things that don't exist in newer operating systems.

My next thought was that lots of old PC's are now going cheep on eBay (mostly from old office stock after upgrading) so if I could get one at the right price it would be perfect and might also come in handy for other things as well.

After a quick look I found the perfect one, a Dell OptiPlex 330 PC Desktop 2.00Ghz processor it came with 2GB of ram 160 GB hard drive on-board graphics (enough for what I want) and an XP license Key Sticker so all I needed was a copy of XP to install (all ready got one) I was also informed it would come cleaned and ready to run just add XP and all this for £20 + free post and pick up at my nearest Argos store.
What could possibly go wrong.

This is what I got.

Apart from the obvious my main problem is I can't get it to install XP it goes as far as installing the files from the XP disk but when it says Starting Windows I get the blue screen message that windows has encountered a problem and has been shut down to protect your computer.
I can boot into the Bios and have checked things and all seems to work I have also tried two other hard drives in case that was the fault, I am beginning to think it is something to do with the graphics chip as all seems ok till windows kicks in.

Anyone got any thoughts on this.

Off Topic

Needless to say I have informed the eBay supplier that it doesn't work and he has told me to just bin it and he will send me another one so no big deal if I cant get it to work but still curious. (still waiting for it to arrive after a week )

[MadManCK]

Maybe it is just me, but it looks like the CPU cooler is either missing or insufficient, causing the CPU to overheat as soon® as it has to run Windows

In addition to that, it has gathered more dust than a Russian Colemine. Dust can short circuit things like your MB.

It has an AGP port if i spotted it right. But the MB and a lot of the stuff in there is specific Dell and probably an old office PC, that came in a bulk. Sliding in an old AGP GFX might do the trick.

Still very cheap PC

[Bez]

I thought this would give you guys a laugh look awesome doesn't it

Maybe it is just me, but it looks like the CPU cooler is either missing or insufficient, causing the CPU to overheat as soon® as it has to run Windows

It dose have a CPU cooler its behind that big black plastic casing

In addition to that, it has gathered more dust than a Russian Colemine. Dust can short circuit things like your MB

Those where my first thoughts, had this just come from an old abandoned mine.
(I will not be cleaning it if I cant get it to run it will be going in the bin the eBay guy has already said he doesn't want it back)

It has an AGP port if i spotted it right. But the MB and a lot of the stuff in there is specific Dell and probably an old office PC, that came in a bulk. Sliding in an old AGP GFX might do the trick.

I will have a look and see if I can get my hands on an old card but not looking good.

I know it was only £20 but it was sold as working, I guess this is what you get for that money these days maybe I can pass it on to Bear as a fix-it upper for his next project.

[snake250]

If you plan to make it a gameing computer for older games, get a 5450

[Bez]

The guy gave me a full refund so I ordered another one from a different supplier for a little bit more money (£59) , it has now arrived and is working ok.
It's not for gaming its just for running some old programs I have and maybe as a test server for working on the forum code.