At last! My new/old PC is home!

[hubbabubba]

Hi everyone

Sick and tired of waiting for an "on the curb" PC, I bought one on eBay.

To be more precise, my wife bought it for me. It was 60$, she made an offer at 40$, it was accepted. Total cost (shipping and taxes included) ±110$ cnd.

It came home yesterday afternoon after a south-eastern tour of USA (the tracking was a nomenclature of famous civil war sites!). The face plate was half-ajar and the DVD-ROM drive was loose in its rails. The side access panel was also ajar. After a bit of thumping and whacking (as gently as possible though...), I was able to put everything, more or less, in place.

I waited this morning to try it out by unplugging the W7 and putting this new/old PC in its place. It is a XP family edition SP3 btw... (no recovery disk). It worked from the start, but what a racket it makes! I have a coffee grinder that is, by comparison, purring like a kitten. I don't know if it is crunching data or stainless steel cutlery set. The HD, the DVD-ROM and the CD-ROM are all participating in that concert. Only the RAM and motherboard are quiet, for now.

I wish I could tell you more but, first, I will have to sift through all the contradictory informations I have. For example, the HD speed is listed differently on the original front plate sticker, the property window, the sale specs and the eBay specs! And not two are alike!

It is supposed to be a COMPAQ Presario S5100CL, but some parts are probably cannibalized from other less fortunate PC.

It is for now disconnected and awaiting its own set of ancillaries. My intention is, of course, of making it my main "working station" for CFS1 and a few other games that are incompatible with W7 64 bits... but compatible with my own taste.

Wish me luck and leave here any comments you may have concerning the noise and addition I may want to install on that dinosaur. When I have time to spare, I will post a few pictures.

P.S.- What the heck is wrong with the "edit" function? When I try to use it, I get a blank panel! To type this post-scriptum, I had to go back on my own post (was not even aware it could be done)!

[hubbabubba]

This is insane! Please, smilo, keep this thread and remove the two preceding ones. For some obscure reason, my "edit post" is not working and backing-up causes multiple threads. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Dangerousdave26]

We don't know what causes that but it happens sometimes.

It has been going on for a few years off and on.

You can copy the text then paste it back into the text box when that happens.

[Ickie]

try using firefox, it seems ie and these forums are not liking each other

[hubbabubba]

try using firefox, it seems ie and these forums are not liking each other

Well, Ickie, I am using Firefox! So add it to the list of the "unfriendlies".

Now that I know this, Dangerousdave, copy/pasting solution was my exact thought! Making sure I made no mistake was my second...

P.S.- Just to see, I hit the "edit" button; now it is working...

[glh]

I've bought several Dell desktops on Ebay (GX260s and 270s) of which I use two for FSX and CFS2. All still work fine after 6-7 years of use. They use 32-bit XP Pro. I had trouble with two Compaqs before and I wouldn't touch them -- never had a problem with a GENUINE Dell.

If you are dealing with someone on EBay, always use a seller that has at least a 99% satisfaction rate and at least 1,000 comment ratings. It shows they have been in business a while and have established a reputation for good business practices and products.

Good Luck.

[smilo]

This is insane! Please, smilo, keep this thread and remove the two preceding ones. For some obscure reason, my "edit post" is not working and backing-up causes multiple threads. Sorry for the inconvenience.

done...sorry it took so long.
been away for a while
on a few retiree road trips.
much more fun
than staring at this screen.