Presario 425

Printable View

Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page

July 21st, 2006, 10:17 AM
houseisland

Presario 425

Questions, questions, questions....... Not sure where to put this post, but since it is a comedy item of sorts, I suppose here is a good a place as any.

:grin:

http://www.smartcomputing.com/images...e/293n1109.jpg
Smart Computing: Presario 425 Tabletop Computer

What can I do with a Presario 425?

What is the CPU upgradeable to?

Is the RAM proprietary?

What is the limit on hard drive size?

Will it accept a 2HD floppy?

"The system supports a 14-inch super VGA color monitor and a 486SX/25 microprocessor from Intel Corp. that is upgradeable. It has four megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM), a 200MB hard drive."

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
July 21st, 2006, 06:14 PM
street1

http://www.memorystock.com/memory/Co...esario425.html

:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

It is so hard to believe that was 13 years ago. :guns: :guns:

QuickSpecs
Compaq Presario 425

October1993

Model COMPAQ PRESARIO 425

Standard Features
Processor Intel 486SX/33MHz
Upgradable Upgradable using Intel OverDrive Processors
Memory Four MB of RAM standard on the system board, which can be increased to 20 MB of RAM using any combination of industry standard 1 MB, 2 MB, 4 MB, or 8 MB SIMM Modules.
Hard Drive 100MB (model 100) or 200MB (model 200)
Modem Integrated Fax (9600 BPS) Modem (2400BPS)
Graphics 1024x768 resolution with 512K of DRAM
Display Built-in 14-inch, high-resolution SVGA (MPRII compliant) color monitor with 0.28-mm dot pitch.
Expansion Bays Two 8/16 bit ISA expansion slots
Diskette Drive One 3.5 " 1.44MB diskette drive
Interfaces Parallel, serial, mouse, video, keyboard, game port
Cache 8 KB internal
Security MultiLock security features: Power-on password and keyboard password
Power Supply Steady state 135 watts; includes EPA Energy Star compliant low-power mode
Preinstalled Software MS-DOS 6.0

MS-Windows 3.1

PFS: WindowsWorks

Prodigy

America Online

Quicken for Windows

Symantec Game Pack

MaxFax for Windows
Pointing Device Compaq Mouse included
Warranty Compaq Care: Provides a wide range of offerings including 3-year, limited warranty; lifetimetoll-free 7 x 24 customer support; and RemotePaq allowing technical support engineers to remotely troubleshoot hardware and software configurations.
July 21st, 2006, 06:25 PM
BOB IROC

Did you steal that out of a museum?

Don't let apple see that because they say they invented the all-in-one PC with the iMac.
July 21st, 2006, 06:53 PM
street1

lifetimetoll-free 7 x 24 customer support.

What a hoot!!

You can still aggrevate them 24/7. :grin:
July 21st, 2006, 08:01 PM
CCT

Sadly, I think in the lexicon of the computer Geeks, that 'lifetime' is not measured in human terms but in computer terms, ie, 3 years maximum.

However, if you have $10 million to spend, you could nick them for 20 and pay the lawyers 31 and end up with, ah, well, being screwed by both systems.

Life Is Good!
July 21st, 2006, 10:06 PM
houseisland

It's mine... all mine..... Bwa ah ha ha ha.... :flames:

My first free lifetime support call to Compaq will be to find out where I put the Vista Beta CD if I want to install it on this screamin' machine. ;)

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
July 21st, 2006, 10:29 PM
slgrieb

Yeah, my first computer ran CPM/80 and had a Zilog Z80 CPU. That baby was maxed out with a full 64KB of memory, WordStar, CalcStar, the woiks. Still remember when the IBM PC was introduced and I thought WTF would anyone do with 640 MB of memory!
July 21st, 2006, 11:12 PM
houseisland

Man this baby's been hot rodded!

None of this 486SX 25 crap for me! I've got a 486DX2 66.

And forget the 4Mb of onboard RAM. I've got an awesome 12 Mb.

100Mb hard drive, ha! Try 3Gb on for size.

Man if I can get the 486DX4 100 processor, I found at the bottom of my box of CPUs to work in this beast, the world will be at my feet. Bwa ha ha ha ha...

:flames:

I will kick butt playing Doom over a parallel link cable! Tremble in fear all!!!

:flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
July 21st, 2006, 11:15 PM
slgrieb

your kung-fu is the best.
July 22nd, 2006, 05:56 AM
rgharper

Quote:

Originally Posted by houseisland

Man if I can get the 486DX4 100 processor, I found at the bottom of my box of CPUs to work in this beast, the world will be at my feet. Bwa ha ha ha ha...

:flames:

I will kick butt playing Doom over a parallel link cable! Tremble in fear all!!!

:flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames:

You know, there are decaffienated blends that taste just as good as the original stuff ... :rolleyes:
July 22nd, 2006, 06:19 PM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgharper

You know, there are decaffienated blends that taste just as good as the original stuff ... :rolleyes:

https://forums.windrivers.com/

:mult:
____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
July 23rd, 2006, 05:23 AM
rgharper

Quote:

Originally Posted by houseisland

http://www.all4coffee.com/images/badbob.gif

Your honor, the Prosecution rests. :devil:
July 24th, 2006, 04:20 AM
NooNoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by BOB IROC

Did you steal that out of a museum?

Don't let apple see that because they say they invented the all-in-one PC with the iMac.

uhhh nope...

commodore pet in 1977
September 3rd, 2006, 01:15 PM
houseisland

I had a few minutes to look at this box today.

All the orginal Compaq stuff is still on the hard drive. Sweet. Very strange alternative shell for W3.1 - TabWorks -- never seen it before.

Cleaned up the inside. Obviously not a Y2K compatible box -- someone has installed a Y2K Bug bios overlay card. Upgraded the RAM to an awsome 20 Mb. Installed an ISA SB16 -- no time to confire it yet, though.

The unfortunately the processor is max'd out at 66Mhz without going to some SX overdrive item. I would like to have put a heat sink and fan on the processor, but all my 486 heat sinks have been tossed, and all the fans went as replacements for failed fans on video cards and chipset heat sinks.

I used to have some "smart" Cyrix-based 486 chips that ran at 133Mhz and could be plugged into almost any 486 socket and would automatically take care of all voltage/fsb/multiplier issues, but they went in "I'll-never-need-this"-type clean-ups long ago.

This baby is a hot gaming machine -- eat your hearts out:

http://i5.tinypic.com/2814rxu.gif

http://i6.tinypic.com/2814too.gif

Bwa ha ha ha....

:flames:

(edit: By the way, the screen shots had to be done in DOS Box in Ubuntu. There is also a very strange cyclops image etched into the printed circuit board -- must be some kind of internal Compaq joke about the all-in-one "one-eyed" system.)

(further edit: If the screenshots don't load try http://i5.tinypic.com/2814rxu.gif and http://i6.tinypic.com/2814too.gif

(even further edit: more Ba wah ah ha ha....)

http://i7.tinypic.com/287kmqd.gif

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 25th, 2007, 10:33 PM
houseisland

Sweet! In a box of stuff for tossing, I found a DX40ODPR100.

http://cpumuseum.webcom.hu/Intel/dx40dpr100-f.jpg
DX40ODPR100 at Exian's CPU Museum

Five minutes with a screw driver and a chip puller, and victory is mine. A rockin' 100 MHz system.

Tremble in fear all. Tremble in fear. Especially you RGHarper!

https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2007/06/1.jpg

http://courses.washington.edu/costa/...offe_beans.gif

Bwa ha ha ha!

:flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 26th, 2007, 05:23 AM
Mags

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_LTE

I used to have one of these, cost a LOT of money, am sure it was £5,000?, when I bought it in 1994. I recently gave it to my friend (who built my present computer for £422) for spares. First thing she said was 'it's got no CDROM Drive?'

I do wonder if she will survive in business?
June 27th, 2007, 04:42 AM
rgharper

Quote:

Originally Posted by houseisland

Sweet! In a box of stuff for tossing, I found a DX40ODPR100.

Five minutes with a screw driver and a chip puller, and victory is mine. A rockin' 100 MHz system.

Tremble in fear all. Tremble in fear. Especially you RGHarper!

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/avatars/94.jpg

Bwa ha ha ha!

:flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames:

Let me know when you intend to start hosting the Internet on that baby ... with all that raw power at your fingertips ... :eek:
June 27th, 2007, 05:15 AM
Platypus

Wow, thread resurrection and Compaq resurrection in one fell swoop! I remember there being a TabWorks, never used it. And I like the Ernie software - Rubber Ducky, you're the one... :)

My most ambi-tious resurrection was a Commodore PC20 (8088, 20M HDD)

https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2007/06/1.gif

Needed case & PSU mods to take a different motherboard, if I remember right it ended up with an AMD 586-133 and a 420M HDD.
June 27th, 2007, 09:54 AM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgharper

Let me know when you intend to start hosting the Internet on that baby ... with all that raw power at your fingertips ... :eek:

:o

A few minor technical difficulties to overcome before world domination is mine.

There are only two ISA slots; one is needed for the Y2K bios overlay card and the other holds my awesome SB Vibra16. And I haven't found the junk box with my ISA NICs yet. A choice will need to be made. Ahh what the heck! The Internet doesn't need to be Y2K compatible -- I should keep the sound card and ditch the bios overlay.

Or do you think I could host the Internet, running it like a dialup bulletin board, using the internal modem?

Also I haven't figured out where to put the Server 2008 Beta 3 DVD to get it to install.

Minor details. Minor details.

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky - Try to take over the world!"

:flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 27th, 2007, 10:10 AM
NooNoo

no problem just get a riser card
June 27th, 2007, 10:12 AM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platypus

My most ambi-tious resurrection was a Commodore PC20 (8088, 20M HDD)

http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/cbm/m...s/pc20-iii.gif

My first PC.

:heart:

I seem to remember an expansion slot and an attempt to get an 8-bit ATI EGA or CGA graphics card to work in it. The Hercules amber monochrome graphics weren't really all that cool.

My mother-in-law borrowed it to use as a word processor and then killed it by dragging the table it was on across the floor while the machine was powered up, thus crashing the heads on the hard drive.

:sad:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 27th, 2007, 10:19 AM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

no problem just get a riser card

Sigh.....

:knife:

The two slots are provided by a riser card already.

:sad:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 27th, 2007, 10:26 AM
NooNoo

check the link, change out the riser card for one that has 5, yes 5! isa ports.
June 27th, 2007, 10:36 AM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

check the link, change out the riser card for one that has 5, yes 5! isa ports.

Check out the picture at the top of this thread.

I would have to chain saw the PC in half and glue in some chopsticks as stilts in order to fit a 5 slot riser card in.

:grin:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 27th, 2007, 12:00 PM
NooNoo

So? You are creating the ultimate internetweb machine - it's got to look the part... a monstrous chimera of a machine!
June 27th, 2007, 09:31 PM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

So? You are creating the ultimate internetweb machine - it's got to look the part... a monstrous chimera of a machine!

I am not sure I want a monsterous chimera of a machine.

There are some cool chimeras:

http://www.museresearch.com/kvr/i/b/chimera.jpg
Majken Chimera at MuseResearch (freeware)

But mostly the Chimera was a loser. Bellerophon basically soldered its throat shut and suffocated it.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...llérophon.jpg
Bellerophon at Wikipedia

And besides, the name, Chimera, makes me anxious. Bellerophon, there on the epinetron, kind of looks like my arch-nemesis, the caffine-hating rgharper, as he might appear armed with his soldering iron.

I would prefer to have an unstoppable, apocalyptic Ragnarök of a machine -- an awesome force of destruction and rebirth, redefining and realigning the entire universe.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...o_Ragnarok.jpg

Bwaaa ha ha ha!!!!!!!

:flames: :flames: :flames: :flames: :flames:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 28th, 2007, 05:06 PM
NooNoo

You forgot

http://www.britvidz.co.uk/fc2006.jpg
June 28th, 2007, 07:04 PM
slgrieb

House, I think I may be able to get you a nice, slightly used, ISA Digiboard multiline internal modem that would be killer for hosting a bulletin board. 2400 Baud my friend. 8 (? don't remember for sure) lines. Yee, HAH! Requires a full length expansion slot, though.
June 29th, 2007, 06:10 AM
3fingersalute

I miss the old BBS days - I was the king of food fight yo!
June 29th, 2007, 08:08 PM
slgrieb

3finger, I'm pretty sure I remember reading an editorial by John C. Dvorak back in the day where he said that anything faster than a 1200 Baud modem was mostly useless because the text on a bulletin board went by so fast at 2400, you couldn't read it.:cool:
June 29th, 2007, 08:17 PM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by slgrieb

House, I think I may be able to get you a nice, slightly used, ISA Digiboard multiline internal modem that would be killer for hosting a bulletin board. 2400 Baud my friend. 8 (? don't remember for sure) lines. Yee, HAH! Requires a full length expansion slot, though.

2400 Baud!

Whoah! Be still by beating heart!

And to think that I was looking at an old 3Com ISA FIDDI card and thinking about having the Internet run on Token Ring!

If I go with the chain saw, chop sticks, and five slot riser card, I could probably fit that digiboard in. Sweet.

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 29th, 2007, 10:25 PM
rgharper

Quote:

Originally Posted by houseisland

2400 Baud!

Whoah! Be still by beating heart!

And to think that I was looking at an old 3Com ISA FIDDI card and thinking about having the Internet run on Token Ring!

If I go with the chain saw, chop sticks, and five slot riser card, I could probably fit that digiboard in. Sweet.

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

Man, go for the big risercard ... yeah, 2400bps sounds awesome now but you have GOT to plan for expansion. Suppose this Internet thing takes off, then what do you do if all you have is a 2400bps modem? :devil:
June 30th, 2007, 05:03 AM
NooNoo

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgharper

Man, go for the big risercard ... yeah, 2400bps sounds awesome now but you have GOT to plan for expansion. Suppose this Internet thing takes off, then what do you do if all you have is a 2400bps modem? :devil:

There is no way the hamsters will cope with running that fast... you may have to upgrade to guinea pigs :eek:
June 30th, 2007, 10:29 AM
houseisland

Quote:

Originally Posted by NooNoo

There is no way the hamsters will cope with running that fast... you may have to upgrade to guinea pigs :eek:

Now you've got me worried. I've looked for a way to get the guinea pigs inside the case, and I can't see how it can be done.

Damn! If my machine only had a VLB slot, I could put in this Socket 478 adapter card.

http://www.enable.com.hk/FULL-HALF-SIZE-SBC.jpg

And the Slot One processors don't quite fit into the ISA slots. Hmmmm.. maybe if I filed out the notch a little wider.......

:knife: :knife: :knife: :knife: :knife:

____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!
June 30th, 2007, 02:12 PM
slgrieb

http://www.stanleytools.com/default....Nailing+Hammer
June 30th, 2007, 04:54 PM
Humilliation

Quote:

Originally Posted by slgrieb

http://www.stanleytools.com/default....Nailing+Hammer

No, I think they'll need some high tech modding tool found here.
July 1st, 2007, 02:19 AM
Mayet

Quote:

Originally Posted by slgrieb

3finger, I'm pretty sure I remember reading an editorial by John C. Dvorak back in the day where he said that anything faster than a 1200 Baud modem was mostly useless because the text on a bulletin board went by so fast at 2400, you couldn't read it.:cool:

crumbs I remember that...

Im sure I got some SX and DX chips around somewhere and some 30 pin 1mb strips

and you know whats scary... it doesn't seem that long ago..
July 1st, 2007, 11:33 AM
Mags

...and I can remember the days when no-one had computers in their homes, to my knowledge, but I probably wasn't tall enough to see through front windows? And that doesn't seem that long ago either .... :eek: and I can't get the font any smaller, so I'll change the colour ...shhhh....
July 1st, 2007, 03:59 PM
slgrieb

Sorry, Humiliation, I have to disagree with the Bosh hammer. Certainly, there are times when you just have to pound something really hard, but it is usually more important to use your tool with some control and finesse. After all, this is high tech equipment we're dealing with. Well, sorta, anyway. I think the Bosh power hammer is too much brute force and too little finesse.

One problem with conventional hammers is that the straight shafts may not permit much penetration of the head into the case because some wide case designs can block the stroke. The shaft hits the side of the case before the head hits the desired area. Sure, you can use a hammer with a larger head such as a sledgehammer or large machinist's hammer, but that decreases your control.

The reasons I like the FatMax Curve is that the shape of the shaft permits the head to get deep in the case without the shaft hitting the sides of the enclosure, and the 20 oz head combined with the excellent ergonomic handle design makes for a superb combination of power and control. Exactly what you want for seating those reluctant parts.
October 15th, 2007, 10:23 PM
houseisland

Bummed out!

This world-domination/internet thing is proving more difficult than initially anticipated.

The PODP5V83 (83 MHz Pentium Overdrive) chip I found in a box of stuff turned out not to be the P24T socket 2/3 variant but rather a somewhat less well documented socket 4 version.

Ref: http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&...um%20OverDrive

http://i21.tinypic.com/ifczgw.jpg

The stage set for disappointment. No Pentium processor for me, yet. Guess I'll have to look at the guinea pigs again.

Sorry about the fuzzy pic. If you look carefully you can see the cool cyclops image on the PCB to the left of the onboard 486 SX 25 chip.

:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:
____________________________________________

http://forums.windrivers.com/images/.../2010/07/1.jpg

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:55 PM.