Repairing my first PC

This was my first PC back in ~ 2001 2002. It was already used back then and it shipped with the mighty Micro$oft Windows 98 OS (probably the “First Edition”).

I remember using Intern€t Explor€r (version 5?) with this thing (sic) and to do that I had to connect the internal Winmodem to a tripolar phone plug with an RJ-45 to tripolar beige wire (this also happened with the next computer). Internet speed was around 32Kbps on average. No USBs, no WiFi, no Ethernet. Only a CD-ROM and a floppy disk drive which was the only medium I used at the time to move files. Infact I remember using floppy drives for school researches using Micro$oft Word as an editor.

It was not a gaming PC but I was able to play titles like Hard Truck: Road To Victory, Age Of Empires II or Flight Simulator 98 anyway.

Sadly, some years ago this PC refused to boot up. This happened more and more frequenly and I had no idea on what was going on. I gave up using it…

… until I decided to repair it and I noticed some corrosion on the RAM module. I found this post which suggests using a pencil eraser on the pins. It worked. When booting, the leds of the AT keyboard instead of blinking once, now blinked twice. So I connected the video card as well but nothing happened. I then connected a PC buzzer and found out that it was an AGP socket problem a.k.a. Video error, since the motherboard has an AWARD BIOS.

I tried another AGP video card with no luck. The AGP socket was probably just broken.

To be sure the system was working I tried a Windows 98 recovery boot floppy disk. I issued the dir command and listened to the floppy drive making the usual noise.

Since it’s pretty useless as it is, and of course painly slow, I think it’s time to recycle the components…

What follows is a thorough inventory of the parts with some photos.

The full hardware specs #

Motherboard #

• 1x Unkown “Super Socket 7” motherboard with AWARD BIOS and VIA, Winbond and other chips.

Slots #

• 3x PCI
• 2x ISA
• 2x DIMM 168 pin
• 2x SIMM RAM (Don’t know pin #)

Connectors #

• 1x ATA Floppy
• 1x primary IDE (ATA)
• 1x secondary IDE (ATA)
• 1x PS/2 mouse (not the actual PS/2 connector but 5 pins. See this for example)
• 2x COM 10 pin
• 1x IDC 26 pin
• 1x USB 8 pin (don’t know what version but i suspect it’s 1.1)
• 1x 3 pin fan
• 1x AT Keyboard
• 1x AGP 124
• 1x P8 P9 (power)
• 1x 20 pix ATX (power)
• 1x KEYLOCK
• 1x 4 pin speaker (buzzer)
• 1x reset
• 1x HDD LED
• 1x power ON/OFF
• 1x EXTSMI
• 1x INFRA-RED

Processor #

• 1x AMD AMD-K6-2/450AFX

Cards #

• 1x PCI Winmodem (can’t find it; I think it was a Lucent one)
• 1x ISA CRYSTAL CX4235-XQ3 sound card
• 1x ATI HIS Rage IIc video card

Memory #

• 32MB DIMM32MTEC AL0457BY DIMM RAM. It has 4 M.tec memory modules on the front.

Drives #

• 1x 1.44 MB MITSUMI MODEL D359M3 floppy drive
• 1x 44x Delta Electronics, Model OIP-CD440A CD-ROM drive
• 1x 8.4GB Seagate U8 Model ST38410A HDD

Power Supply #

• Power supply with P8 and P9 pins: EXON COMPUTER SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY 230W. Model name should be EX04T.

Case Connectors #

These connectors are placed on the back part of the chassis. They have the classic bracket form factor.

Connector 1 #

• 1x female PS/2 mouse connector
• 1x female parallel port

Connector 2 #

• 1x 9 pin male serial port
• 1x 25 pin male serial port

Internal accessories #

• A 4 pin audio cable that connected the CD-ROM drive with the sound card (can’t find it). The wire was grey and the two connectors were black.

Case #

• The case was a classical beige 1990s looking one, with a single metal cover around the left, right and top sides.

External Accessories #

• AT Monterey Keyboard MODEL : K280W with the right foot/leg broken (looking at the keyboard from behind).
• DELL Trinitron monitor UltraScan 800HS Series MODEL: D825TM, with a nice integrated crack on the basement and a non functional horizontal line on the screen.
• A serial mouse (can’t find it)
• Classical PC speakers (light blue transparent plastic) with power supply (can’t find them)