Dinosaur of a computer needs repair

rusto85 · 03-02-2008, 05:42 AM

Hello all, this is my first post and thread. I've been roaming around the forum for a while and finally decided to join today.

Well what brought me to join, is that I need some help getting some info out off an antique of a computer. It's got an 85mhz Pentium processor.....(I believe that's 1st gen)
It belongs to a friend's dad. All that he wants is get all his private info out of it.

What I did is first is pick it up at their place....I didn't realize what a task I had volunteer myself into. I've never seen a computer this old. Ofcourse I'm only 20 and have been using computers for 5-6 years. I thought I grabbed all the essential items...keyboard, power cord, and the item being dealt with.
The first problem I found is the computer doesn't have a normal (at least for me) keyboard connector. It's the predecessor of ps2. I tried to find a keyboard through all the old comps we have, that would work with this old system. No luck. Then I went for a old comp parts run at a few local thrift stores...but nothing.
I was told by the owner of the comp, that it wouldn't power up....well I plugged the sucker in, connected a monitor.....and all I got was money!....well the computer works....turns on and everything seems fine. Though the problem I got was....Error no keyboard found....press esc to xxx or F1 to continue.
Can't do nothing about that. So I've decided to take it apart and plug the HDD into my computer....not as old as the one in question.
Could I do that and get all that info out of the system? or is there another method to extract the hdd contents? The size of the hdd is 800+ megabytes....I'm pretty sure I could just burn a data cd if I can get that info.

Also the old comp is running on windows 98 I presume...mine is running XP....plausable?

Thanks in advance.

BTW I will be building a system for myself soon....with the new quadcore 45nm Intel chips

SirKenin · 03-02-2008, 06:32 AM

Provided it's not an MFM or RLL drive, get on of these and access it that way.

rusto85 · 03-02-2008, 07:16 AM

That looks promising. Now I just have get back home from work and check out what kind of hdd I'm dealing with. If that product works...I'm getting one!

Thanks...I'll post as soon as I get home....probably put a pic up of the little monster.

Alien Ware · 03-02-2008, 07:18 AM

Dump the computer and buy all new hardware... lol probably cheaper

rusto85 · 03-02-2008, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alien Ware

Dump the computer and buy all new hardware... lol probably cheaper

Trust me I'm about to do that, but it's not mine. hehe. Plus all I need is the info stored in the hdd. It's a POJ (piece of junk), and it's probably darn slow. I was asked by my friends dad to upgrade stuff on it....I chuckled at that comment....I asked him why would he want this old thing to work with....A decent computer runs pretty cheap nowadays anyways.

Instinct5 · 03-02-2008, 07:30 AM

haha please post a pic i want to see this monster

Alien Ware · 03-02-2008, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rusto85

Trust me I'm about to do that, but it's not mine. hehe. Plus all I need is the info stored in the hdd. It's a POJ (piece of junk), and it's probably darn slow. I was asked by my friends dad to upgrade stuff on it....I chuckled at that comment....I asked him why would he want this old thing to work with....A decent computer runs pretty cheap nowadays anyways.

Hehe let me help you get the info out of your HDD that you need.

Step 1: Grab Hammer

Step 2+: .... You Know

rusto85 · 03-02-2008, 09:02 AM

Well I got some pics:

I gave it an extra 10mhz on the description....oops! hehe

Not quite an icebox

Size did not matter back then:

Internal speakers ftw!!!

clueless

is it a ps1?

^ps2 sure don't fit

hard drive....sata2 correct?....that's what I see

Sorry about the crappy camera phone pics...don't have my camera with me at the moment.

oscaryu1 · 03-03-2008, 12:55 AM

Haha! That made me laugh!

A 486?! LOL! Did he tell you if it was the SX or DX version?

Quad speed CD Drive... 4x?

I have one somewhere. Works like a charm in my mom's Celeron.

rusto85 · 03-03-2008, 01:44 AM

No unfortunately he doesn't know squat about the computer....he only knows it ran back in the day and his info is in there. hehe.

So it appears to me that the hdd is compatible with the product SirKenin posted on. Am I right about this?

03-02-2008, 05:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
rusto85 New Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: OR, USA Age: 21 Posts: 16	Dinosaur of a computer needs repair Hello all, this is my first post and thread. I've been roaming around the forum for a while and finally decided to join today. Well what brought me to join, is that I need some help getting some info out off an antique of a computer. It's got an 85mhz Pentium processor.....(I believe that's 1st gen) It belongs to a friend's dad. All that he wants is get all his private info out of it. What I did is first is pick it up at their place....I didn't realize what a task I had volunteer myself into. I've never seen a computer this old. Ofcourse I'm only 20 and have been using computers for 5-6 years. I thought I grabbed all the essential items...keyboard, power cord, and the item being dealt with. The first problem I found is the computer doesn't have a normal (at least for me) keyboard connector. It's the predecessor of ps2. I tried to find a keyboard through all the old comps we have, that would work with this old system. No luck. Then I went for a old comp parts run at a few local thrift stores...but nothing. I was told by the owner of the comp, that it wouldn't power up....well I plugged the sucker in, connected a monitor.....and all I got was money!....well the computer works....turns on and everything seems fine. Though the problem I got was....Error no keyboard found....press esc to xxx or F1 to continue. Can't do nothing about that. So I've decided to take it apart and plug the HDD into my computer....not as old as the one in question. Could I do that and get all that info out of the system? or is there another method to extract the hdd contents? The size of the hdd is 800+ megabytes....I'm pretty sure I could just burn a data cd if I can get that info. Also the old comp is running on windows 98 I presume...mine is running XP....plausable? Thanks in advance. BTW I will be building a system for myself soon....with the new quadcore 45nm Intel chips Last edited by rusto85; 03-02-2008 at 05:44 AM.

03-02-2008, 07:30 AM	#6 (permalink)
Instinct5 Gold Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 292	haha please post a pic i want to see this monster __________________ Mobo: ASUS M3A Motherboard CPU: AMD Athlon x2 dual core @ stock2.7 GHz RAM:2x 1GB OCZ 800mhz GPU: PNY Nvidia GeForce 8800GT HDD: Seagate 160GB SATA HD DVD: 20x DvD-Rom OS: Windows Vista Home Premium OS Case: Apevia X-Cruiser w/450w PS

03-03-2008, 12:55 AM	#9 (permalink)
oscaryu1 VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 13 Posts: 9,856	Haha! That made me laugh! A 486?! LOL! Did he tell you if it was the SX or DX version? Quad speed CD Drive... 4x? I have one somewhere. Works like a charm in my mom's Celeron. __________________ Core 2 Duo E2140 1.6GHz @ 3.04GHz GA-P31-DS3L pqi Turbo CL4 DDR2-800 2GB Sapphire HD3850 256MB Sony Writemaster DVD Burner EIDE Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200.9 8MB SATII

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03-02-2008, 06:32 AM	#2 (permalink)
SirKenin banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4,711	Provided it's not an MFM or RLL drive, get on of these and access it that way.

03-02-2008, 07:16 AM	#3 (permalink)
rusto85 New Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: OR, USA Age: 21 Posts: 16	That looks promising. Now I just have get back home from work and check out what kind of hdd I'm dealing with. If that product works...I'm getting one! Thanks...I'll post as soon as I get home....probably put a pic up of the little monster.

03-02-2008, 07:18 AM	#4 (permalink)
Alien Ware banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 126	Dump the computer and buy all new hardware... lol probably cheaper

03-02-2008, 09:02 AM	#8 (permalink)
rusto85 New Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: OR, USA Age: 21 Posts: 16	Well I got some pics: I gave it an extra 10mhz on the description....oops! hehe Not quite an icebox Size did not matter back then: Internal speakers ftw!!! clueless is it a ps1? ^ps2 sure don't fit hard drive....sata2 correct?....that's what I see Sorry about the crappy camera phone pics...don't have my camera with me at the moment.

03-03-2008, 01:44 AM	#10 (permalink)
rusto85 New Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: OR, USA Age: 21 Posts: 16	No unfortunately he doesn't know squat about the computer....he only knows it ran back in the day and his info is in there. hehe. So it appears to me that the hdd is compatible with the product SirKenin posted on. Am I right about this?