Haha yes, I know this one. Whenever I acquire old, working systems I tend to dive in and start prodding right away. But earlier this year I built a beautiful 386 system from scratch. Classic ASUS mobo, NOS desktop AT case, and a few other lovely bits all purchased for the build. You would think once I had all the bits on the bench, I'd be dropping everything to start the build. But I found myself putting it off. Once I laid the mobo in the case for a "quick test fit" a couple of days later, it was full steam ahead.

Old PC-Systems are hard/expensive to come by here in Munich area (Germany) so I have to painfully collect the most parts all over the country and I have assemble the most of my "dream machines" from scratch.
((As we have a recycling-system for electronic junk here in Germany, old systems tend to vanish and are gone for good, that makes retro computing not an easy task))

As I get hardware, I give it a good test before putting in a proper antistatic bag and put it away. Bad capacitors replaced and batteries removed. It would be exceedingly rare to see a fault in old hardware I pull out that I didn't already know about, and if more capacitors go, I can replace them. I also have enough hardware that if something breaks or isn't compatible, I can grab another card/device, and most of the hardware I can lose one or 2 of and it really isn't the end of the world. Thats why I don't worry so much when throwing a system together ... I kinda know what I should be expecting.

Regarding software, I store all drivers and OSes for hardware I own on my server and can pull out drivers in a minute or two. I do the obscure driver search once and then save it as stuff disappears off the internet so I have everything I need. This looks like a good windows XP machine, so for windows XP, just use antiwpa and don't worry about actual activation (since it is near on impossible to get official activation for XP working anymore).

One way you could help yourself get over the build anxiety is to go one step at a time. Build a minimal viable system (CPU, motherboard, RAM) on your desk and power it on using onboard graphics. Once you see it posts ... add a CD-ROM drive. Run memtest or other stress testing software on it from a CD-ROM to make sure nothing is unstable. Then once you are happy with that, add a boot drive and install windows. Make sure it still works and everything is good. Then you can plug in the video card and set that up and make sure it works. Finally add the sound card and get that humming along too. At some time, move the hardware into your case and test again. It doesn't have to be a "install everything into the case at once and power it on". You can take smaller steps and test your configuration at each step. That way it also feels like you are making progress as well.

Yes, I also check all capacitors first, but from my experiance the capacitor rott strikes when least expected 😉

I also draw a copy of all exotic drivers and software I stumble on, but often I find that I need exactly the one I don't have.

The "scare" is no real problem, its just the second thoughts that delays me from persuing the project further.
This usually doesn't last long, because couriosity quickly wins over (and sometimes kills the cat/hardware).

BTW: I've started with a Commodore PET and VC20 in the 80s and I am building PCs since 1991, so I'm a bit of a veteran concerning this matter, but I am no real soldering genius.
This old/ancient Hard-/Software is still tricky and gets worse when aging or shall I say "maturing"?
... and dealing with it sometimes just gives me the creeps 😉

canthearu wrote on 2020-12-10, 11:41:

for windows XP, just use antiwpa and don't worry about actual activation (since it is near on impossible to get official activation for XP working anymore).

Select phone activation and generate the code with GoInteract Self Service for Mobile website (you can use another pc for that).

https://microsoft.gointeract.io/interact/inde … 26&token=0Yr8Nd

If this link ever stops working, just google "microsoft gointeract activation" and look for a fresh one. MS can generate one for you if you actually call them.

1. Stealing is definitely an option 😉 As companies get more strict on how they dispose of old hardware I've had to get a bit sneaky at times swapping out the component I'm after for a dead one I have eg CD/DVD drive, HDD, etc.
It's only going to scrap anyway and the company just needs something to write off the books so see no harm.

Building is one of the most fun stages!
I tend to build in stages rather then all at once, so basic M/B, CPU, RAM, Video and test. Add drives and test, add cards and test because as you say its not uncommon for components not to play together or parts that simply have died for whatever reason.

2. This is kind of solved by the build in stages approach but have worked initially but died few days later, annoying but not unexpected, just one of those things, no pint stressing

3. I find installing windows relaxing 😀 I do hate searching for drivers though and its only getting worse as more and more companies are deleting older stuff from their sites

But yeh each to their own quite a few of us enjoy the build process more then playing with the system after, so much so we'll find all sorts of excuses to build yet another machine 😉
I'm defiantly fit in that group but sometime I just want to play a game only to find the PC has some fault when I start it up. UGH!
Other days everything's working fine and I WANT to "fix" something, just no pleasing some people I guess 😉