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 4M.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 beEX04T
.
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)