[NoobyNewb]

In circa 1997, the fam bought a Dell Dimension L433c. In 2002, it crashed and went into safe mode, and is seemingly done for.

Now, 7 years later, at age 14, I'm hoping to revive the stupid thing and use it for myself. Nothing too impressive, just enough juice to browse the internet, type a few documents for school, etc.

A few questions I have;

1) The computer seems to be stuck in safe mode and is crammed with useless data. Should I try to clear the Hard Drive out?

2) Can this model computer be installed with a newer Windows? If so, should I get Vista or XP?

3) Is this even worth the effort, or will I be stuck with a computer slower than molasses and failing constantly?

4) Should I invest in a new flat panel monitor when it's up and working, or stick with the projection Desktop?

Expect me to be here a lot, as ressurecting this fossil won't be an easy task, especially for someone my age.

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1) May be the quickest solution.

2) It can, but it'll be painfully slow. Not worth it, stick with what you have or replace the entire unit.

3) Windows 98 is a security hole in itself online, very little new software works with it now anyway.

4) Up to you.

[Neil Jones]

1) May be the quickest solution.

2) It can, but it'll be painfully slow. Not worth it, stick with what you have or replace the entire unit.

3) Windows 98 is a security hole in itself online, very little new software works with it now anyway.

4) Up to you.

[Nomad_az]

old post so not sure if you'll see this but,
My wifes main system is that dinosaur.. :-)

lesse, we upgraded the memory (think it only had 64M, gave it 512M)
replaced the hard drive (think it came with a 40Gig?) and put in dvd burner.

works fine with XP, Vista I think would be a nightmare if it even loaded, did have a couple issues finding drivers for XP, but aside from that and replacing fans (they died) it's been a decent little web surfer, music player, movie ripper/copier, etc, etc, etc.. works great for what you mentioned.

it's only real drawback is graphics. while we can use paint shop pro etc just fine, any serious games or music visualizations bog it down bad. (newer games it just cant handle)

if you use external usb drives (cd/dvd/HD), you may want to put in a 2.0 usb card, not required of course but sure helped.

If you get stuck finding drivers etc with it, feel free to email, or at least email me to check here.

We're happy with it.

[gjb1969]

just reinstall 98 if u have the cd thats what i did and its working as we speek give it a shot it mite work out

[ImranQ]

If you are willing to invest in a flat panel monitor, I think it would be better for you to just save up for a new laptop all round.

[123Runner]

If you want to play around, then I would do the following....

Re-install the OS if you have the CD or recovery CD's (if they were available)
I wouldn't waste a lot of money on it till the OS worked. After that maybe a ram/memory upgrade.
That unit was shipped with the following SPECS (32mb of ram).

Finding a virus scanner to work will be difficult.
I do not know if "open office" will work on 98

XP will not work at 32mb. It will seem to crawl at 512mb (maximum upgrade possible).