Tips on resurrecting an ancient PC

[Pyotr]

Hi hi.
First off, I made a thread about my nephew's machine a while back, and if anyone remembers and wonders; It was the monitor. If your family tells you "that specific part is in great shape", assume they don't know what they're talking about. Tip of the day. :good:

Now to my new and exciting question. I have an old Athlon XP 2600+ if I remember correctly. It's not really super important. What's important is that this machine has stood in a basement that might be slightly damp for a year and a half. It was ages since I last fired it up. But now I want to.
Should I do anything before I hook it up to a hopefully working monitor? Like put on new thermal paste, exchange any parts or fans? Cleaning off the dust is a given of course.
I know others have successfully renovated old computers, so hoping for any good tips.

 

[spirit]

Just try it out first and see if it at least boots. If you do a lot of work and then find it doesn't even start you will have wasted your time.

 

[SuperDuperMe]

Pentagram, candles and blood rituals.......

But seriously id bury it and buy a new one.

 

[Pyotr]

I have two newer stationaries and one laptop. I don't expect this one to actually be any use to me. But if it works I can give it to my nephew, because his current computer is terrible.
It did seems to spin up nicely, and I think I heard some hard drive activity. But either the graphics card is broken or the monitors I tried were both broken in some way, because I couldn't get any picture.
Will try the ritual thing, thanks!