First post, by EcoPeeko
Heyo, new here.
My uncle owns a PC repair shop. I wanted to try restoring an oId computer, so I asked him if he had anything laying around. There wasn’t much—he tosses most of the old stuff—but I came away with a free Compaq Presario 433 and Dell OptiPlex XL 590.
The Compaq works fine but has a blank hard drive with no OS. I assume I need to get a copy of Windows (I want to say 95?) and find a way to load it. Any recommendations on how to do that? One person I talked to recommended I buy an original installation CD for like $5 and an IDE-to-USB adapter for like $20. Then I’d plug them into my other PC and tell the CD to load onto the hard drive, I guess.
The Dell seems alright just looking at it, but it won’t post. My uncle guessed that maybe the power supply fried and gave me an extra that he had laying around, but I haven’t had a chance to really dig into it yet so who knows.
I was also wondering if anyone could tell me more about these two. Honestly I don’t even know what questions to ask. Are they “good” PCs for their time? Are there any upgrades I should look out for? Any other fun facts?
I’ve built a PC before so I have basic knowledge at least, but these two are literally older than me, so I’m feeling a bit out of my element.
Anything you know that can help me get them going again would be a great help. Thanks.