Pentium 3 machine

Derps · Post by **Derps** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 11:27 am

Hi, everyone.
I'm new here and I would like to get into dos gaming.
My dad had an old Dell XPS T500 laying around(pentium 3 machine) and I was wondering if I could make a dos gaming pc out of this.
The pc had no gpu in it but I had an old ati rage 128 ultra laying around and threw it in there. It's also got a Turtle Beach Montego II PCI audio card.
Well, the problem is that I am inexperienced with old hardware.So, I plugged it into my wall and wanted to turn it on for the first time and... Nothing happened. The hard drive(27gb which is way overkill for win98/dos) didn't start spinning, the cd drives didn't turn on, nothing.
But, the mobo led turned on and i tested the psu and it was still good.
Can anyone help me solve this problem? 'Cause i really have no money to buy anything at this point.
Thanks

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 12:40 pm

Cheezits and Rice!hehe Well, start with the basics. First take your ATI and audio card out. Make sure your computer is just the bare minimum. Usually it will turn on. Then we go from there.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 12:43 pm

I used to have an ATI and usually, you need to install a driver first or else it would not work natively. There are those that have a bare minimum resolution and working mode however it depends on your card. So you might need to the drivers installed first before installing the card.

Secondly, DOS should work on any PC "without" a graphics card. Even without a sound card, it should still use your built in mobo computer beeps.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 12:44 pm

Really, to be honest. I personally think ATI is overkill for DOS. haha

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:22 pm

tienkhoanguyen wrote:it should still use your built in mobo computer beeps.

It requires external speakers then.

Quadko · Post by **Quadko** » Sun Sep 21, 2014 2:41 pm

PIII machine: should work, but may have trouble with older games because it will be too fast. IIRC, the PIII was in the late Windows '98, Windows 2000, even early Windows XP era.

That said, try unplugging the hard drive and any other drives, cdrom, floppy, etc. Try to get it down to just the mother board, PSU, keyboard, and video card. Does it have a video card on the motherboard? If so, might try using that instead of the add-on card. Once it's down to bare "nothing" but keyboard and monitor, try turning it on. If it works, it will boot to BIOS and won't find a hard drive - that's good. You can plug stuff in from there and see how it goes. (For some reason, bad or wrongly connected harddrives stop the bios from booting.) If it doesn't boot to BIOS, you may be in trouble. Could be anything from bad dip switch settings (fixable!) to bad chips or electronics (not so fixable.)

Worth a shot! But get it down as far as possible to keyboard and video only and see if that works.

Derps · Post by **Derps** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:51 am

Well, hi again.
Thanks for the quick responses but it didn't work.
I think it is a mobo problem but i'm hoping it isn't.
I removed the 2 modem cards, gfx card, sound card and it didn't boot.
So, any more suggestions? Also, for some reason, i can't find any dipswitches.
I'll post pics once i get on my pc (this was sent from my ipad).

Derps · Post by **Derps** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 10:59 am

Here are the pictures:
p.s. i know the cpu module isn't in there but i temporarily left it out for the pics.
https://plus.google.com/111419626176682 ... RHXU3Gq2C6

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:41 am

Did you install a fresh copy of an operating system?

If you have the original Windows 98 CD laying around maybe it needs a refresh start?

Quadko · Post by **Quadko** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:46 pm

The images didn't come through for me on Chrome or Firefox, show as broken link on the page you gave.
@tienkhoanguyen: if won't even boot to bios, no way to install OS, right?

One other thing I've heard of: the bios battery sometimes causes weird problems; worth replacing if possible or seeing if it leaked on the MB. You might also have luck posting over at vintage-computer.com's forum for 386 PCs; there are some hardware gurus there, and most of my suggestions are what I learned from them:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum ... -Later-PCs

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:04 pm

haha - Yes, you are right. I missed that one.

Rwolf · Post by **Rwolf** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 6:30 pm

If the drives are not working, it may be a PSU problem, or a short somewhere.
The PSU fan might just turn on&off for a sec if there is a short on the load.
(It needs a minimum basic load for regulating, like a harddrive, then one can test the voltages)

If you feel up to it, remove the memory modules, and see if things improve, maybe get drives spinning?
(Always careful with static, kills electronics quick.)

ps. you wrote it was a PIII, but this page for the XPS T500 says it's a Core2 Duo cpu?

http://www.computerusermanual.com/user- ... anual.html

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 6:50 pm

My machine is a core 2 duo and it is still a Pentium. I got it from BestBuy - HP20002d24DX. It was one of the lower price ones. HP sometimes have it down to a rare 200-ish.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 6:50 pm

I'm sorry to interrupt. I just had to mention that it is that way with mine too.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 6:51 pm

Thank you for putting up with all my posts. I have a bad habit of just speaking my mind haha

Rwolf · Post by **Rwolf** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:18 am

[quote="tienkhoanguyen"]My machine is a core 2 duo and it is still a Pentium. I got it from BestBuy - HP20002d24DX. It was one of the lower price ones. HP sometimes have it down to a rare 200-ish.[/quote]

Your laptop has a Pentium 2030M cpu, that is *not* a Core2 Duo.
The Pentium family name has been reused lately, but neither of your
machines are Pentium 3:s.
(What you have is irrelevant to the original poster anyway).

ps. There is an edit button if you need to add something to a previous post, no need to post several one-liners in a row - it looks messy to read IMO.

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:56 am

Thank you for correcting me. I just saw the Pentium M label on my machine and thought it was the same thing as a Pentium 386!

Derps · Post by **Derps** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:54 am

Can you see these pics? Got any more suggestions?
http://imgur.com/a/khieX

tienkhoanguyen · Post by **tienkhoanguyen** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 11:30 am

Wow. You weren't kidding. Keep that! That is a classic. I wish I had one whether working or not. I am sure you can eventually get your hands on a replacement. Try looking on ebay first for matching spare parts. Maybe the mobo is dead. The mobo looks like it is missing a heatsink to the cpu.

Derps · Post by **Derps** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 12:13 pm

No, it's built in on the module itself.