Time flies too quickly!

I've got a couple of spare PCs that I don't really use "that much" that are stored safely out of the way in a big walk in closet. I decided to boot one of these up yesterday as it has a load of emulation files on one of it's HDs that I needed.

When I switched it on the error "CMOS Checksum error, defaults loaded" popped up. This normally means the CMOS memory has lost settings due to a flat battery. I thought this was a bit odd as it worked fine the "last time" it was booted up, so I hit F1 and let it boot. But once in Windows the Athlon XP 3000+ was running at 1300MHz. Hmm... So I rebooted and went into the BIOS and due to the CMOS error everything was reset to the defaults. So I set the multiplier and FSB and rebooted, but it was dead! Wouldn't boot at all and no keyboard lights or beep happened. :unsure:

After looking through the motherboard manual I found a jumper that could be reset to a safe mode if after changing BIOS settings the system refused to boot. I moved this over, and the system rebooted. :) Now showing 1.7GHz CPU speed (as the FSB was still at 100MHz due to the jumper), so I powered down again and moved the jumper back and it now shows the correct 2.16GHz and Athlon XP 3000+ in the BIOS and in Windows. :)

But... then I got a shock. I checked the system error logs and... the last time I switched the system on seems to be August 2006!!! :o I thought I hadn't used the system much, but over a year! Time is flying too quickly! :blink:

Do I therefore really need that PC? :hmmm: Or the other one in there that can't have been switched on in as long (need to power that one up too to check). Anyone need a PC? ;)

The odd thing is that I also have another really old P2 450MHz system that I switched on recently to test some very old hardware and it booted fine, and that has the same CMOS battery it has as new in 1998!

Hmm... that makes 4 spare PCs! 1 old laptop I never use (except to play around with Linux), the old P2 PC, and two Athlon XP 3000+ based PCs. (Plus the 4 PCs I actually use every day!) I could start a shop. :lol:

It also makes me wonder how long ago I last switched my Amiga A4000 on! Definitely longer than that PC, could even be 2 years! I tend to just connect up one of my A1200's or A500's if I need an Amiga. Maybe I should sell the A4000. How much are they now worth? They are getting very rare now after all.

Time does indeed fly too quickly!

Sounds like it's time to offload some of your lesser used stuff. What's the point of it collecting dust when it can go to a good home.

I myself am not short of PC's, many outdated by today's standards, but I prefer to use different machines for different tasks so they still get use. My excuse is when I bought a router it had four parts asking to be filled, so I make use of all of them by hooking up left over hardware.

Online machines:

For instance, I have a general work machine which I'm typing on now. Powerful CPU, large hard drives and plenty of RAM, but crap 3D videocard. Silence, data storage and security are it's main goals, so I designed it with cool running parts and low speed fans. No file sharing, games or dodgy apps on this box - it's what I use for online banking and purchasing.

Then I have a gaming PC - mATX case powerful video card and CPU, fairly noisy. Tend to play the trailing edge games bought from ebay on older hardware (6800GT) as leading edge is too expensive.

Now onto a file server and file sharing laptop. Very energy efficient, almost silent, so can be left on 24/7 serving the internet with little dent on my electricity bill.

The forth port is hooked up to an old Athlon XP 1.33Ghz, with Radeon 8500 and sblive! Great for playing older Win98 games and DOS titles, but just sits there most the time as a backup PC. Should really get rid of this.

All of this lot sits on the same large desk, sharing one flatscreen monitor (laptop has it's own obviously) Takes little more than the corner of a room, so not too bad.

Offline machines

I also have a retrobox! SFF PC used purely for retrogaming and emulators setup arcade cabinet style with X-Arcade joysticks.

Then we have a SFF offline gaming PC, because, er, I had upgrade leftovers and they were on special offer. It has a 754 Athlon64 3200 and second hand Radeon x800 pro I snatched on ebay. Use it for LAN gaming with the mATX machine above and with friends as it's portable.

Come to think of it. I have far too many PC's! I even have a modded X-Box in the front room for multiplayer games and beer.

Sounds more than it is - it really doesn't take up much room since five of the above machines are tiny.

Do you think I have a problem? LOL!

:lol: Sounds very similar to me.

Your mention of the offline gaming PC just because you had upgrade leftovers is exactly why I also have some of my machines. The one I mentioned not switching on for over a year was actually built from components left over from a dead PC. The motherboard and PSU failed so I decided it was time to build a new PC. But what do to with the CPU, ram and other components from the dead one? Easy, buy a new case, new PSU, second hand compatible motherboard from ebay and build another system! But there is the issue. I built it, installed and got everything running nicely in XP and then disconnected it and put it in the cupboard, not to be used until now.

I also have a SFF system that I used to use as a file and p2p system but it started to become unstable so I pulled the HD and DVD writer from it and put those in another PC and now use that instead. The SFF PC is now just sitting in it's original box in the cupboard too. I really should see if I can get it working correctly again and then sell that.

Yes, all these parts build up!

The biggest problem is technology moves so fast that when it comes time to upgrade many left over parts become redundant and aren't worth the hassle of selling!

I do try and offload stuff straight away now however, regardless of what they're worth, as I can't possible think of another use for a PC and the current ones are doing their jobs nicely.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harrison

I've got a couple of spare PCs that I don't really use "that much" that are stored safely out of the way in a big walk in closet. I decided to boot one of these up yesterday as it has a load of emulation files on one of it's HDs that I needed.

When I switched it on the error "CMOS Checksum error, defaults loaded" popped up. This normally means the CMOS memory has lost settings due to a flat battery. I thought this was a bit odd as it worked fine the "last time" it was booted up, so I hit F1 and let it boot. But once in Windows the Athlon XP 3000+ was running at 1300MHz. Hmm... So I rebooted and went into the BIOS and due to the CMOS error everything was reset to the defaults. So I set the multiplier and FSB and rebooted, but it was dead! Wouldn't boot at all and no keyboard lights or beep happened. :unsure:

After looking through the motherboard manual I found a jumper that could be reset to a safe mode if after changing BIOS settings the system refused to boot. I moved this over, and the system rebooted. :) Now showing 1.7GHz CPU speed (as the FSB was still at 100MHz due to the jumper), so I powered down again and moved the jumper back and it now shows the correct 2.16GHz and Athlon XP 3000+ in the BIOS and in Windows. :)

But... then I got a shock. I checked the system error logs and... the last time I switched the system on seems to be August 2006!!! :o I thought I hadn't used the system much, but over a year! Time is flying too quickly! :blink:

Do I therefore really need that PC? :hmmm: Or the other one in there that can't have been switched on in as long (need to power that one up too to check). Anyone need a PC? ;)

The odd thing is that I also have another really old P2 450MHz system that I switched on recently to test some very old hardware and it booted fine, and that has the same CMOS battery it has as new in 1998!

Hmm... that makes 4 spare PCs! 1 old laptop I never use (except to play around with Linux), the old P2 PC, and two Athlon XP 3000+ based PCs. (Plus the 4 PCs I actually use every day!) I could start a shop. :lol:

It also makes me wonder how long ago I last switched my Amiga A4000 on! Definitely longer than that PC, could even be 2 years! I tend to just connect up one of my A1200's or A500's if I need an Amiga. Maybe I should sell the A4000. How much are they now worth? They are getting very rare now after all.

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So exactly how many computers/systems do you have? Im starting to get the feeling that when the day comes that all electronic devices rise up and take over, you will be extremely outnumbered :unsure:

:lol:

Working PCs, I have 8, plus 2 laptops, plus all the Amigas.

Seriously, you need a big metal cage to contain them. Dont say I didnt warn you...:unsure:

If you ever want to smash some of this junk up, just let me know. I love breaking things.

Or I suppose you could sell them, or donate them to a school or an old people's home. Make sure to fill them up with pr0n first, though.

Junk? Other than the 9 year old Pentium 2 all the other PCs are pretty good spec and can run most current games at OK rates.

They all have at least 1GB ram, 9800 Pro 128MB Graphics cards or better, 300GB+ of HD space, decent cases, 8x DVD-RW etc...

Thinking about it, I could just start making lots of MAME cabinets using them and sell them on ebay for a few thousand each! ;)

Junk wasn't meant in the absolute literal sense there.

But the MAME cabs sound like a good idea, you could rinse them on the p&p too :evil: