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September 19th, 2013 11:00
Dell 4100 Series Desktop/Tower/Computer - Toss or Salvage?
I have a Dell 4100 Series Tower/Desktop that I bought back in 2001 (yes,...over 12 years ago). The hard drive went bad on it (I have some pics on it I'd like to try and recover), and I am debating whether it's even worth it to keep this tower. Here is what it came with/some specs:
- Pentium III Processor @ 933 MHz
- 128MB SDRAM @ 133 MHz
- V.905/56K PCI DataFax Modem for Windows
- 8x/4x/32x CD-RW
- DVD ROM w/ Software Decoding
- SoundBlaster 64V PCI Sound Card
- 16MB ATI Rage 128 Pro
- 3.5" Floppy Drive
- 40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM) [Toast; needs replaced]
- OS: Windows Millennium (ME)
- MS Works Suite 2001
- 12X Max Variable DVD ROM Drive
The questions I have are:
- Is it even worth replacing the hard drive in this tower to get it up and running again?
- If so, what could it be used for? I am pretty sure gaming is out of the question. Basic software (Word, Excel, etc.? - Not even that?). Internet access? Watching online movies, YouTube, etc.?
- Can Windows ME be updated? Would it be able to run Windows 7 or 8?
- If it's not worth replacing the hard drive, are any of the parts salvageable (power supply, the "shell"/case, etc.), or should we just scrap the whole thing?
- Is there anything I need in the old tower to try and possibly recover the pics I have on the since-crashed hard drive? (I don't want to just pull the hard drive, toss/recycle the rest, and find out I needed something else in the tower.)
Thanks for any insight you may have and I apologize up front if this falls under the "God, what an idiotic question" category as I am fully aware that there are a lot smarter people out there than me when it comes to computers,...but Iam at least willing to learn. I always wanted to some day try to build a computer just for the learning experience, and was wondering if this might be a good starting point.
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ieee488
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September 19th, 2013 12:00
I had this same desktop, but I had upgraded the RAM to 1GB.
It is capable of running XP.
The 128MB of RAM is a dealbreaker.
Unless you are willing to buy extra RAM, it won't be worth it to buy a new hard drive for it.
The hard drive is all you need to salvage your pictures.
shesagordie
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September 19th, 2013 14:00
Joe Boonda
Best to dump it. :emotion-9:
I have an L Series desktop with a Intel 810e motherboard, a 1GB Socket 370 Coppermine P3 processor and only supporting a maximum of 512MB of SDRAM and this system runs as slow as cold molasses. It's only kept for sentimental reasons and as a curiosity, because the L Series was the first Dell I owned. :emotion-5:
But when my L Series desktop finally becomes unrepairable, it will be dumped.
ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_dimension_desktops/dimension-4100_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf
The Dimension 4100 is designed to operate with Celeron PPGA and Coppermine FC-PGA processors at a range of processor speeds.
Regard to running Win 7/8, forget it, I did install XP, [using a free spare OEM copy I had] to replace the default Win 98se.
The PSU is a Dell proprietary unit, new IDE hard drives are becoming hard to find, had to use a refurbished IDE HD to replace a failed drive.
New SDRAM is very expensive to buy, if you can find it, I did manage to buy a used SDRAM 256MB module [$10} off eBay to replace a failed module, luckily it worked fine. :emotion-2: These old Dell systems, can also be very picky about the RAM that's installed in them.
The 4100 will support any IDE/EIDE hard drive, up to 120gb in size. For any size over that, you would need to install a PCI ATA Controller card.
Dell never updated the 4100 BIOS for 48 bit LBA support, that you need to support a hard drive larger than 137 GB.
The Upgrades I made to the L series, several years ago, were the processor [used], PCI video card, USB 2.0 PCI card, RAM to 512MB from 128MB.
Bev.
speedstep
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September 19th, 2013 18:00
You cant install more than 512 on this 815 chipset pentium 3 motherboard. Really not worth anything.
Optiplex 620 Towers are cheap and can hold 3.5 gigs of ram and come with PCI-E video slots etc.