ClassicConnect

[teedeeaye]

I have far too many projects, some vehicular, some technological. Either way, it's likely the reason why I'm usually occupied with something at any given time. This build is going to receive a proper tidy up starting from this week I hope, but first, it's storytime!

It's 2019, and I jump on eBay for an idle browse at things, the first thing I see is an excellent looking PC case up for a 99p auction, with £10 postage included. I, naturally, take a punt on it, and place a bid at 99p. Nobody else bids, and I'm the winner of a lovely blue and beige PC case.

I started to throw a rough system together. I imported a Chaintech 6ATA2 Slot 1 motherboard over from Greece, as it was a little bit cheaper than getting a nice one here at that time, and I wanted universal AGP support. Happy with my purchase, I ordered a 500MHz Pentium III (Katmai Code) and 128MB of RAM. I already had a 20GB Samsung hard disk and a video card in the form of an Nvidia Riva TNT2 16MB - both of which had come from a job lot of PC parts I'd acquired a few years earlier. Couple of 52x CD-ROM drives in, and I had a lovely personal computer coming together!

The following year, I wasn't too happy with the case. I wanted to 'pimp' it out a bit, make it look as cool as I could. My friends at the time were toying with the idea of a LAN party so it just made sense to outdo them with a good looking computer, even if them running Pentium 4s could wipe the floor with my P3.

I stripped the system back to the bare shell, and painted it black inside whilst retaining the beige exterior. The finish wasn't great and I'd been running out of paint, but at the time I thought it was well cool, so I reassembled the system. Satisfied with this, I added a blue LED fan, bumped the RAM up to 256MB, and overclocked the 500MHz P3 up to 550MHz comfortably.

Afterwards in 2022, I fitted a Voodoo 3 2000 AGP card, and added a 40GB WD Caviar Black hard disk drive. I acquired some Boston Acoustics BA735 speakers + subwoofer kit from my university as it was due to be thrown away. I ran this until 2023 when I lost a bit of interest in the system and it lay until this year when I dug it back out again. I've since got it running again, transferred to another case temporarily because I thought it looked better (it does not).

The plans at the moment are to dig out the old Fortrex (unknown) case, and restore it. At some point prior to my ownership, someone drilled holes on the front panel (presumably for airflow) but they're squint and I honestly reckon Ray Charles could have done a better job. I'm likely going to use a filler compound on these to repair the front plastic panel, the same sort of thing used on cars. The other plan is to properly repaint the metal sections black, including the inside of the side panels. The last job was quick, nasty, and really rough - and scratched off far too easily. This time I'm priming it and putting a matt clear coat on afterwards too. I want it looking 100%.

All the other parts to make it look awesome are there I think. Although I'd like to get a hold of an internal ZIP drive to fill an extra space I have. Plus I've got a MASSIVE green start button to wire up as well.

This thread is basically going to be me documenting all of this as I go. Tomorrow's plan is to go and get paint and other prep stuff. Maybe some LEDs for the almost opaque blue area on the front too...
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That sounds irresponsibly silly and is therefore, clearly, something I am likely to almost always do.

[teedeeaye]

I started today by stripping the system down. Inside already was an ASUS CUSL2 motherboard, which would explain the ASUS front panel connector thing sitting in one of the drive bays.



Upon removing the power supply unit, I came to the conclusion that it would not be getting returned to the system. I'm not sure I trust something called a PEMTIUM Model: 500U...



Further, I think I know why I shelved the system with this board inside.



Yeahhh, that'll do it!

After getting everything apart, I washed the case down inside and out, and left all the parts piled up on the patio table.





I have actually painted it, but I'll grab photos of it tomorrow before I begin putting it back together (hopefully). Metallic black paint was bought so it's all sparkly and looking radical at least.
_________________
That sounds irresponsibly silly and is therefore, clearly, something I am likely to almost always do.

[teedeeaye]

Once again, I bet the photos will need to be opened in a new tab if you're on a newer browser. I still haven't figured that out, but it might be down to some incompatibility with my hosting provider (no SSL) with modern browsers. It's beyond my technological knowhow anyway, I just build the bloomin' things!

Anyway, I began reassembly on this system this evening. I wanted to make a start on this sooner, but my abilities have been fairly limited as of late, thanks to my lack of mobility at present, and a barrage of appointments with doctors, physiotherapists, and nurses.

Only the finest* HuntKey power supply unit for this machine. Apparently these are a bit rubbish, but I've had it a while and it hasn't ever put a foot wrong. This system won't draw much power anyway.



Next up was installing my motherboard, components, and expansion cards. I've carried across all of these from the previous configuration of "Big Beige" when it was in the dull case - starting with the Chaintech 6ATA2 motherboard, Intel Pentium III/500MHz and 192MB SDRAM. The expansion cards include: a 3Dfx Voodoo 3 2000 AGP for video, a lovely Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! PCI card for my sound needs, and an Intel 10/100 card that I pulled from my Fujitsu ErgoPro E366 when it was retired (still here, but needing work) from daily use. In addition, I've fitted an Advansys SCSI card so I can finally utilise my Minolta ScanDual F2400 to get those lovely 35mm negatives digitised.





Also carried over were the usual blue LED Asaka 80mm fans with metal grilles attached for the essence of "cool", my Western Digital Caviar Black 40GB IDE hard disk drive, a Sony FDD drive from my late father's PC, and a pair of DVD-ROM drives.



Back when I first resprayed/"restored" this system, I wrote on a sticker the date on which I finished it, which was 16/04/2020.



Following on, I grabbed a black Sharpie marker (other permanent markers happen to be available) and scribbled down today's date... which actually happens to be yesterday's date... d'oh!



With everything installed, the inside looks like a nest of adders (other snakes happen to available), but that's not the main focus of the system... despite me respraying the inside.



The outside is pretty unassuming, and rather battered. At some point I aim to tidy up the front as those drilled holes are awful, and there's some sticky marks from some labels/stickers going way back. That's pretty low down the priority list at the moment, though.



Finally, the rear of the system, which looks quite good now. Thumb screws on that power supply as it is a fair age now, .



A keen eye may notice the top expansion slot is free, I've got an AMR (Audio/Modem Riser) card coming to fill the gap there, but it's currently in the hands of the British postal system, so I might see it this year.

Overall though, I'm really pleased with how this turned out. Just got to get all my software thrown at it now, and build it back into the desk, as if nothing ever happened!

Thanks as always for reading.
_________________
That sounds irresponsibly silly and is therefore, clearly, something I am likely to almost always do.

[teedeeaye]

I'm not too sure if anyone is keeping up with this, but I've finally got the system working... after some duff DVD-ROM drives, and a dead couple of RAM modules (now breezing along with 64MB PC100).

Anyway, I'm typing this message from my P3 system. Sound drivers I'm yet to sort out for the SB Live! but I've got everything else set up and working. Finally!





The beige case on the right in the first photo is my old one from when I rehoused the system. I think I've sourced it a new home with a friend of mine, to avoid it seeing the bin!
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That sounds irresponsibly silly and is therefore, clearly, something I am likely to almost always do.

[abacas]

Oh man this looks really neat, I'll read it after I get home from my mock job interview!

[teedeeaye]

[VCSMaster]

Dude can I just say that I absolutely adore your use of a proper vintage camera? Makes it look like a real post from HardOCP forums. Almost surreal to see a written date of 2020/2026 in these pictures.

Absolutely beautiful work, better man than I for actually taking pictures of the process. I always start off taking before photos, then as I'm taking the machine apart, I forget to take pictures of the process, and then get zoned in on the process and don't even bother after a bit, lol.

[teedeeaye]

Thanks! I was so trying to make a conscious effort to include pictures, even if my hosting and this site seem to disagree. Fujifilm DX7 to the rescue, although I've since sold that camera, lol.

The PC is running absolutely spot on now, I still need to set up some of the connected devices but all is well (touch wood).
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That sounds irresponsibly silly and is therefore, clearly, something I am likely to almost always do.

[VCSMaster]

Very nice, best of luck with it! Good to see classic forum behavior going on here nowadays.

[teedeeaye]

[teedeeaye]

I'm currently sending this message from my the PC in pictures further up. It feels weird viewing images of the guts of this computer... from this computer. It's like seeing an X-Ray of yourself.

Couple of things still to do with it yet.

- Sound drivers for the SB Live!

I thought I had some for this sound card but they're throwing a fit, so I'll have to look elsewhere.

- Set up my film scanner

This is pretty low-priority really, so I'm not overly bothered, but would be cool to have set up at some point.

I'd also like to maybe bump the RAM up a wee bit, to maybe 128MB over the current 64MB. Don't get me wrong, it's quick enough as it is. Perfect for going online to sites like this, and viewing my Mavica shots.
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That sounds irresponsibly silly and is therefore, clearly, something I am likely to almost always do.

[VCSMaster]

Just an FYI, the images no longer load for me.

Good luck on the SB Live, there's about a million OEM variants so that's gonna be fun to dig up.

I agree, 64 megs is pretty limiting.

[teedeeaye]