Frankenstein the Computer

[Starkist]

I Frankensteined a computer last night. :)

A year ago our old P3 450 machine gave up the ghost. This week I brought it into class to do testing on it and my original fears were confirmed: both the processor and the motherboard were dead. Yesterday I went shopping around for replacements. Since I had to replace both the board and the processor, that gave me a little bit of freedom. I eventually haggled (annoyed?) my way to a steal: an Athlon 750 with board for $30.

Last night my cousin and I get it home and begin rebuilding. For the longest time we couldn't figure out why it would not start. I think it turned out to be the CMOS battery was dead, for some reason or another. I replaced it with the battery from the old board and it fired up nice and good. :)

So the Athlon board is in there, and the old 8GB hard drive and DVD-Rom that came with the computer originally. I added a sound card that came with my cousin's computer, before they upgraded to a leftover one of ours. Same with the video card, a GeForce 2. I stuck a network adapter in, and I have a crossover cable to hook it up with my main computer soon. (Our DSL Modem/Router has only one cable plugin. How stupid. And hubs are expensive.) I also installed WinXP Home on it. (Would do Pro if I had it.)

The only problem now is the moniter. The old 15 inch CRT we had in my closet is totally shot, and I'm not sure where we will get a new one. This whole project is for a limited budget, so I don't know...

[Flash Man]

Originally posted by Starkist
I eventually haggled (annoyed?) my way to a steal: an Athlon 750 with board for $30.

Not a bad price, board would probably go for about $20, and supposedly ENU INC sells Athlon 700s for $16. You cannot get a new board, unless someone kept one unopened and sold it to you.


Originally posted by Starkist
I think it turned out to be the CMOS battery was dead, for some reason or another. I replaced it with the battery from the old board and it fired up nice and good. :)

Sounds more like it was a loose connection, almost every board can turn on without a CMOS battery.


Originally posted by Starkist
I stuck a network adapter in, and I have a crossover cable to hook it up with my main computer soon. (Our DSL Modem/Router has only one cable plugin. How stupid. And hubs are expensive.)

Usually routers have multiple ports. If indeed it is a Modem/Router combo you should be able to just plug it into a hub uplink port and route your IPs. For a switch it would cost $28.50 from NewEgg, a router which has a firewall in it would cost $27.00 at NewEgg. I have a D-Link 604 4 port router, and a Linksys 5 port hub if you are interested.


Originally posted by Starkist
The only problem now is the moniter. The old 15 inch CRT we had in my closet is totally shot, and I'm not sure where we will get a new one. This whole project is for a limited budget, so I don't know...

Fry's would be the cheapest place to get a monitor with a warranty. Getting a cheap used monitor that could go out soon for half the price isn't really worth it unless you plan on using the computer for a short amount of time. Theres a location in Renton, WA and Wilsonville, OR.

[Starkist]

Originally posted by Flash Man
Sounds more like it was a loose connection, almost every board can turn on without a CMOS battery.

Well, the whole story is that it wouldn't boot until I took the battery out then put it back in, resetting the BIOS data. However, the same problem occured after one reboot so that was when I replaced the battery.