Ha ha ha I did it: I got an old XP PC running, surprised myself (DellDimension E510 from 2006 surplus)

This is funny for me. I used to build when I was a lad in the 1980s many a PC from scratch. I even soldered ribbons together for the ATA/IDE interface for floppy drives when they went bad. But I've not touched PC hardware for decades.

About 10 years ago, for a song, I bought on eBay a Dell Dimension E510. It is powered by a 486 chip, the Intel Pentium D. It was obsolete back then (in 2006) much less now, and the OS was Windows XP - SP3.

It's been in the box for a decade, but recently my gf in the Philippines wants to use it for kids. So tonight after four hours I got it to run! It's too funny.

Very briefly, I had to jump through hoops that some of you no doubt could do in a flash, but it took me a while to figure it out, just like old times.

Some observations

0. The case by Dell was fancy and I could not figure out how to open it up to view the motherboard. Finally I saw how to do it online: not with screws (there are no screws) but you lift a lever and the door swings out. Without viewing the online help I never would have figured it out.

1. Since I only had one monitor, and I wanted to use my other PC for getting needed files off the internet, I used to switch back and forth between PCs while sharing the same monitor a so-called "KVM" switch, made by Aten that I had in storage. It took a while to figure out what the 'hot key' was for switching back and forth: it's the Scroll Lock key hit twice.

2. The Dell Dimension E510 mobo was dead but made a single long beep. Googling it, I saw Dell has its own POST protocol for beeps but none seemed to quite fit the bill. However, I took a chance that it was the CMOS 'coin' battery that was at fault, so I reset the jumpers. No manual for the mobo but the Dell layout is very clean, and the CMOS battery jumpers are right next to the battery. For fun I kept the jumpers set to drain and tried to turn on the mobo, but the entire motherboard draws no power when you do that, pretty impressive engineering.

3. I could not figure out from the BIOS how to set boot priority so the CD-ROM is tried first, until I figured out that when Dell says "U/D" they don't mean "UP" or "Down" keys but literally the "U" key and the "D" key! lol I wasted a good half hour before I figured that out.

4. No network adapter was working. I was just about to buy one at Newegg for $5 (and free shipping! prices have really fallen from the old days) until I visited the Dell support downloads site, read some threads, and concluded that you have to update the firmware and then update the drivers for the network hardware. I did that, in that order (chipset driver updates first, then software driver for the network adapter), and voila! I got internet after a couple of reboots. It was not clear what driver was needed (Dell had so many for this model, something like five of them) but I loaded the oldest one first and it worked.

5. I fooled around with "Clonezilla" to backup my mechanical HD (a Seagate 150 GB Barracuda drive) until I found a simpler way: Seagate's excellent GUI-based "DiscWizard", which, much to my delight, actually recognized the new modern 1TB external HD USB drive (also made by Seagate) that I use. So I made a CD bootable disc, and following the intuitive DiscWizard backed up (imaged) my HDD to the external USB HD.

6. For antivirus, since "Microsoft Security Essentials" does not support Windows XP anymore, I used "AVG" freeware, which does, and a deep scan showed no viruses were picked up in the brief time I surfed the net without protection. The Windows firewall was set to default values.

7. I notice Windows XP, when not loaded down with years of use, is fast, just like I remembered. In fact it's faster in many ways than my modern multi-core Core and AMD PCs I use.

8. Apparently the Dell Dimension E510 supports SATA (don't know which version) at 3 Gb/s, I thought it was IDE but it's SATA, so I might get a cheap modern drive to replace this original 150 GB drive (which is also SATA). But I have to find a cheap drive, since the entire system cost my just $100. Maybe Newegg has one? They seem to be the cheapest. I want to buy a new drive here, even if refurbished, since in the Philippines they don't have consumer protection laws and everything sold there (I kid you not, I've said this before here) is defective in some way, either in a big way or small, but it's defective, even if sold as new; caveat emptor big time. Plus in the tropics time speeds up, and nothing lasts as long as it does in temperate climates.

9. The Dell insides are very logical, very clean. They don't even mount HDs with screws, like all my other systems do (cheaply made systems I might add, unlike the high quality stuff DELL used, at least here) but Dell uses a friction fit and a plastic case that 'hugs' the HD metal bay. Very nice, very easy to slip your HD in and out of the bay.

All in all, I'm very pleased right now, I thought at various times earlier tonight that I would have to trash the system, but it worked out.

RL

On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 4:12:12 AM UTC-4, RayLopez99 wrote:
"powered by a 486 chip, the Intel Pentium D"

I guess technically a Pentium D is a 586 chip, not a 486, just saw that, but it's slow like a 486. But for the hardware used, it's adequate.

RL

RayLopez99 wrote:
On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 4:12:12 AM UTC-4, RayLopez99 wrote:
"powered by a 486 chip, the Intel Pentium D"

I guess technically a Pentium D is a 586 chip, not a 486, just saw that, but it's slow like a 486. But for the hardware used, it's adequate.

RL

You can use CPUZ from cpuid.com or the Intel PIU
(Processor Identification Utility), to double check
what kind of CPU is present.

*******

You can look up the processor on the Intel Ark site.

http://ark.intel.com/products/27520/...Hz-800-MHz-FSB

The Pentium D is a Pentium 4 era processor, in this
case with two CPU cores.

That particular example is 65nm, which is a geometry
shared by some Core2 processors.

It doesn't have the IPC of a Core2, but is otherwise
a perfectly good processor. No wonder it feels fast.

And if that example isn't your model, you'll soon
figure it out. The E510 may have shipped with a single
core processor, and that sounds like an upgrade installed
at a later date.

Paul

RayLopez99 wrote:
Dell Dimension E510

There's a service manual covering getting into the case, the screwless
hdd insert/remove, diagnostic lights.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...-5150x/manuals

Dell Dimension 5150/E510 Service Manual
Dimension 5150/E510 Owner's Manual

The Pentium D is a 945G chipset, probably came with 1G DDR2 ram, will do
4G, has integrated Intel Extreme Graphics, 2 slots for PCI, also PCI-E 1
& 16, 2 SATA, 1 IDE.

If you want to get beyond the limitations of XP, such as the browser
problem, that machine will do linux just fine.

--
Mike Easter

RayLopez99 wrote:
I guess technically a Pentium D is a 586 chip, not a 486,

No; more advanced than just '586-like'.

Steps: 486, Pentium, Pro, then Pent II, III, 4, then Pent D.

The 586 term doesn't come from Intel but to indicate generations of x86
like processors. So Intel's 486 was the 4th generation; 5th generations
were Pentium and AMD-K5.

From Intel came generations of Pentiums as above.

just saw that, but it's slow like a 486. But for the hardware used,
it's adequate.
The Pentium D is not like a 486; much faster and a lot of other things.
Generations newer. It is more than a P5 or P6, more like a P7 - Netburst.


--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
It is more than a P5 or P6, more like a P7 - Netburst.

This article would call it a i786 - sorta.

https://myonlineusb.wordpress.com/20...586-i686-i786/


--
Mike Easter

On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 7:20:16 PM UTC-4, Mike Easter wrote:
Mike Easter wrote:
It is more than a P5 or P6, more like a P7 - Netburst.

This article would call it a i786 - sorta.

https://myonlineusb.wordpress.com/20...586-i686-i786/


--
Mike Easter

OK thanks.