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General discussion

Old Dell box upgrade

Aug 19, 2004 12:02PM PDT

Acquired a cast off Dell that was on a network somewhere. Processor shows up as x386. Doesn't have blazing speed. Ram expressed as 250,000+ kb. Runs win2000 for networks, service pack 4. Has a bunch of Adobe editing stuff installed. If I fill up the Ram with as much as I can find do you think it will make a good backup?

Discussion is locked

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Re: Old Dell box upgrade
Aug 19, 2004 12:14PM PDT

386s are dumpster finds. My bet is it's Windows For Workgroups, which was a nice version of Windows 3.1

If it is a 386, it's just a curiosity and nothing more.

Bob

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Re: Old Dell box upgrade
Aug 20, 2004 12:20AM PDT

You want to play, play, but if you want to be serious get your hands on at least a Pentium based system and even then look any system at least 500Mhz or better for a back-up. There really are alot of systems to be had, if you keep your eyes&ears open before it gets pitched. Excluding any used websites, etc. local outlets like Goodwill or Sal. Army may provide something or your local church. Any decent sized company pitchs systems all year long, rather than pay to recycle. Sad Check it out...

good luck -----Willy Happy

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Re: Old Dell box upgrade
Aug 20, 2004 5:14AM PDT

Where did you find the "Processor shows up as x386.?

I'm almost positive windows 2000 won't run on a 386 and I have never seen a 386 that would hold 250mb of ram?

I'm guessin you probably got a 500mhz or somewhere between p2 to p3 computer. If it has decent hard drive space then keep it around.

Go to Start/ Run/ and type dxdiag... If direct x is installed it sould give you a better idea of bios version, os, processor speed ram etc.

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your info ain't right...
Aug 20, 2004 6:21AM PDT

Ludedude is right. You probably have a x586, PII or PIII, a good system to rehab.
Look see what ram it is, 168pin? (pc66 pc100?)
what size hard drive?
EXCEPT, you'll need different mobo drivers for Win98 or WinXP (if it's fast enough).
I suspect the mobo went south because it doesn't read properly, if you are correct.
Win2k drivers for modem-sound might be twitchy to find, as well as software. Is it FAT32 or NTFS?
What do you mean by backup?