(Trying to) Revive XP on an old computer

Discussion in 'Windows XP Installation and Setup' started by Escar Frazzle, Apr 15, 2017.

  1. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    I recently got my hands on an old computer running XP Media Center Edition and it ran like molasses. The deal with the owner was they keep their old HDD and I supply my own. I formatted an old 2TB HDD I had that was working before installing it on the old pc. I formatted it to NTFS with a 4KB cluster size. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was told that media center edition is the same boot disk as Pro and the key decides what happens. Anyway, on boot I get the blue screen with a stop message like this,

    STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0x80809146, 0xF7BE32DC, 0xF7BE2FD8)

    A little back story is the computer had the old graphics card go bad which pretty much revolved around the media center. Now it has an unknown one to me. My guess is it's got to do with that graphics card, but I don't know how to solve it. Any help would be appreciated.

    Discalmer: I'm a noob and as such I'll say things a noob will say.
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 15, 2017
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  2. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    I got a hold of the old HDD and I'm cloning it. I suppose I'll wipe the new drive keeping the settings and drivers. This might actually go better than i thought it would. I thought I'd leave this open for the upcoming problems I'm sure I'm going to have lol.
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 15, 2017
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  3. Escar Frazzle

    Elizabeth23

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    Elizabeth23, Apr 15, 2017
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  4. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    I did not know about having to slipstream the iso. It seems to be going ok so far, just slow. It has two DVD drives, one that just reads and of course the one that's dvd-rw capable has its tray jammed lol. I'm kind of having to go back and forth to my pc and this one to work in between. Thanks for telling me, I had no idea. I clean installed win 7 and win 10 but haven't had the "pleasure" of working with xp yet. The goal is to just be able to run a few games over LAN with my son.
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 15, 2017
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  5. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    Things went from looking good to looking really bad. I think I have a hardware problem. I was done with it for a while so I shut it down only to walk in the room later with it booting up for a few seconds and then doing a hard restart over and over. Kind of like the power button was held down. I had to unplug the computer to stop it. I ended up unplugging the cable going to the power button on the motherboard to make sure nothing funny was going on there but it still does a boot/crash/boot cycle. I saw one capacitor that had the top puffed up a little with a pin drop of dried fluid on top which makes me think it's been like that a while. IF this is end game for this pc I wouldn't mind taking a chance at finding the faulty component and soldering in a new one. I'm pretty good with an iron, but I'm new at pc repair.

    Is it toast? What do you think?
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 17, 2017
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  6. Escar Frazzle

    priscus

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    Last edited: Apr 17, 2017
    priscus, Apr 17, 2017
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  7. Escar Frazzle

    priscus

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    ps Article in above link maybe a bit long-winded, but refs 14 & 15 at the end are info & tutorial on capacitor replacement.
     
    priscus, Apr 18, 2017
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  8. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    Thanks. I read the whole page surprisingly enough to me lol. This board was made during the effected time unfortunately.

    I was into board design and general electric shenanigans for a few years and lucky me still has quite a few components left I had bought from mouser/digikey. Since I don't live near a good supplier and shipping would take too long and gets expensive at $15 dollars a delivery I bought like 100 of each type of capacitor on paper reels lol. I should update this post with pictures so everyone can watch me inevitably fail. I don't have high expectations for this. Wish me luck.
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  9. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    I guess I'll start a progression thread. Best guess so far is the motherboard failed. This pc sat for 3 years before I started it up again to reinstall xp. I booted it around five times before something failed and now I'm unable to get as far as the boot screen.
    My faviorte part of this pc so far is the Ghostbuster's Trap style HDD bay.

    XP.jpg
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  10. Escar Frazzle

    Mike_Walsh

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    Just so you have as much information as possible, another site that's worth a look in this situation is BadCaps.net:-

    www.badcaps.net

    They have some very good tutorials on there, too. The guy who runs the site specialises in this for a living.....and does nothing but 're-cap' motherboards.

    I will tell you this much; by all accounts, Rubycons and Nichicons are the 'créme de la créme' of capacitors.....and, while they cost a wee bit more for initial purchase, they're well worth the extra in terms of outright reliability. My 13-yr old Compaq Presario desktop PC is still going strong on the original mobo; whether the fact that every single cap is one of those I just mentioned has anything to do with it, I really wouldn't like to say.....

    Average cap life is reckoned to be in the order of 7-8 yrs. Go figure.


    Mike. ;)
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2017
    Mike_Walsh, Apr 18, 2017
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  11. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    Thanks Mike. When it comes to information this forum might be a little underpopulated, but it has quality replies. That will be my next reading assignment.

    What I'm up to right now is investigating the bad cap. It's a 1500μF cap rated at 6.3v. Unfortunately I don't have that size. I do have up to 1000, but then it jumps to 2200. All rated at 16v. The voltage is fine, but now I'm treading in new water. I know that some caps can be replace with a higher capacitance value, but that depends on the job. I'm praying I can prove that it's a filter cap, beyond that gets above my pay grade. It's large so I guess that makes it likely I'm right, but I still need to pull it and follow the leads.

    If I haven't said anything stupid yet, hold on because I'm sure it's coming.
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  12. Escar Frazzle

    Mike_Walsh

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    Well, the site Priscus linked you to is run by a guy who goes by the handle of 'willawake'.....and just happens to be one of the longest-serving members of the Badcaps.net Forum!

    It's quite a small world, that one..... :p


    Mike. ;)
     
    Mike_Walsh, Apr 18, 2017
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  13. Escar Frazzle

    priscus

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    You can probably get Amazon to send the item you need by post for about a Dollar.
     
    priscus, Apr 18, 2017
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  14. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    lol, good to know. I went over my options and it seems like $10.80 over at badcaps for 5 capacitors including shipping wasn't a bad deal. Now we wait. After reading a few things on badcaps it seems like that cap is extremely likely to be my problem. The cap sits right between the northbridge and ram slots. (Northbridge is new to me. Learn something everyday)
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2017
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  15. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    Problem is they'll probably send it in a packet straight from China and it'll take up to 30 days for it to get here. At least this way it's already in the states and it will most likely be in my box by the end of this week.
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  16. Escar Frazzle

    priscus

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    Good Point!

    Anyone following this thread in UK, Google value you require, and get them from Farnell. (They stock Rubycon electrolytics)
     
    priscus, Apr 18, 2017
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  17. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    That's good forum etiquette. I always hate reading a thread I find on google only to have it end without answers.

    [​IMG]
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  18. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    While I wait for my caps to show up, here's a picture I took of the CPU Cooler. It's always amazing to see how fast tech moves. This cooler looks like it came out of a truck lol. While my current, yet still somehow dated CPU that has 4 cores and runs at 3GHz simply uses a heat sink and fan. 2005 vs 2010. Bender is not pleased.

    CPU Cooler.jpg
     
    Escar Frazzle, Apr 18, 2017
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  19. Escar Frazzle

    Escar Frazzle

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    Follow up report. I replaced a bulging and very smelly cap near the RAM slots and hoped for the best. I plugged just the motherboard to the PSU and unfortunately I could hear the piezo still clicking on and off. After closer inspection I found discoloration on the board around some surface mount components. I decided to call it a loss and moved on. I was hoping for a happy ending but oh well. It turned out ok in the end because I made myself feel better by buying a used laptop for just over a 100 bucks.

    Thanks for the advice, I learned a few things on this project.
     
    Escar Frazzle, May 8, 2017
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