Want to try and use hardrive and ram in damaged pc in another pc

Lady_K

How can I find out if the hardrive from a faulty pc is suitable to put in another to use as a 2nd hardrive?

Also I am hoping that the memory might fit too and possibly the graphics card if I'm lucky. How can I find out if the memory is compatible and is it easy to put a hardrive in?

My old pc became faulty and someone has given me this pc even though its pretty old at least it stays on and works. Problem is as its old its only got a 19 gb hardrive and 256 mb of ram and its using windows xp pro with a nvidia geforce4 mx 420 graphics. Its mainly the ram and hardrive that bother me but as its quite old I am a bit reluctant to spend money on it buying the parts so thought if I could use them fromnthe other machine it could at least last me a while anyway.

Faulty pc motherboard
Asustek A7N8X-E REV 2.xx
Bus Clock 200 megahertz

This PC
Board: MS-6382 (think microstar)
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz

I may want to wipe the old hardrive before it goes in because I've had a lot of bluescreens on it and thought it probably better rather than transfer any problems over to this one, would that work?

totalsolutions

Hi First Asus is a very good motherboard (my prefered supplier). What is wrong with it?
Microstar is not.. Memory is a bit different all different flavours shapes and sizes! Just try it look at the detailing on the socket and the edge connector. Easy to put in, if it all lines up. Check with the asus site and microstar (if they have a web site).
Hard drive might to ok, just install in another pc or attach to the asus motherboard.

This is all 5yr old stuff (I mean a 5yr old kid can do this)

Lady_K

The Asusis the faulty motherboard the microstar is not.

Apparently the motherboard is gone, its a long story but it doesnt stay on very long anything betweeen 30 secs to 10mins. A shop tested it and said it was the motherboard plus the side has to be kept completely off permanently as it overheats so much. Plus blue screens constantly.

I was thinking to keep both drives, the 19gb one thats already in and the 80gb one from the faulty pc.

I hope it is that easy to do then. I have never done it before so what might seem easy to some isnt to me. I wasn't sure if it was that simple as disconnecting and reconnecting to different pc or if it has to be compatible. Or if I would need drivers or not to do it, or what might happen if I don't reformat the old drive first because then there would be 2 drives with windows on so I was concerned that it might confuse the pc when its started up after the hardrive has been put in. I have no clue of these things.

I would like to try not to have to reformat the drive to be moved but if the problems are still on once its in could I wipe it succesfully without effecting the other once its in?

bat999

Hi Lady_K
If you look inside your PC you'll see that the ribbon cable that's connected to the 19GB drive will have an extra 'spare' connector.
So plug the extra connector into the 80GB drive.

Also there should be a 'spare' power connector. Plug this into the 80GB drive too.

Then look at the 'jumpers'. These are small connectors on the rear of the drives.
The 19GB jumper should be set to 'Master' and the 80GB jumper should be set to 'Slave'.
When you set it up like this it will boot Windows from the 19GB drive.

There's no need to install the 80GB drive permanently until you're sure that it works.

Good luck.

Lady_K

bat999 wrote: »

Hi Lady_K
If you look inside your PC you'll see that the ribbon cable that's connected to the 19GB drive will have an extra 'spare' connector.
So plug the extra connector into the 80GB drive.

Also there should be a 'spare' power connector. Plug this into the 80GB drive too.

Then look at the 'jumpers'. These are small connectors on the rear of the drives.
The 19GB jumper should be set to 'Master' and the 80GB jumper should be set to 'Slave'.
When you set it up like this it will boot Windows from the 19GB drive.

There's no need to install the 80GB drive permanently until you're sure that it works.

Good luck.

Thankyou that explains things more clearly I will have a look tomorrow and give it a try.

Is there any way I can find out what type of ram is already in a machine and what type is suitable to put in without taking the other out?

Can I also wipe that second drive totally once its in if there are problems with the blue screens etc?

Theres no chance of me getting a shock doing this is there even with the power off?

It just occured to me that there are already 2 drives in the machine, the 19gb hardrive and a dvd player drive, will there still be the available connectors to put the 80gb drive in?

bat999

Hi
I think that the best way to find out about the RAM is to visit the websites of the two motherboard manufacturers. See if they have manuals that you can browse or download. Then compare the RAM types. Or ask someone here to compare them.

You should be able to wipe that 80GB drive later, ask here again when you're ready.
You won't get any shocks if the PC mains power lead is disconnected.

Edit
There may be two ribbon cables, one for the DVD drive and one for the hard drive.

spud17

Is there any way I can find out what type of ram is already in a machine and what type is suitable to put in without taking the other out?

In #1 you state 133mhz, so it's SDRAM, but the usual method is to use the scan tool at Crucial to confirm. Be sure to use IE.

Donnie will huff and puff (:D) and point to somewhere like funkygiraffe.

SDRAM which I use, is difficult to get hold of due to it being almost obsolete, about £40 for 512mb from Crucial.

Do not be tempted by ebay unless you double check, because a lot is High Density which will not work in many instances.
To be on the safe side always get Low Density which works in all machines.
funky giraffe sell Low Density but appear to be on holiday.

Can I also wipe that second drive totally once its in if there are problems with the blue screens etc?

This drive will be a slave to the 19GB drive and so will be redundant as a system disk.
There will be no confusing the PC because it will only boot from the Master (19GB)

Think of it as a big flash drive and so you can wipe (format) it and use it purely for storage.
Go to My Computer, right click the 80GB and select Format from the drop down menu.

Lady_K

I have just scanned this pc on crucial then put the name of the asus motherboard in and I think they seem the same memory

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=a7n8x-e+deluxe

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=MS-6382

I only have 2 x 512gb in the asus to transfer over but it will be better than 256mb

Can I try disconnecting the 80gb drive from the asus motherboard but still leaving it in the asus tower while connecting it to the micro motherboard system? Would the ribbons and connections stretch that far? I mean just to test it.

I'm tempted to try installing the 80gb as the main drive but I'm just a bit concerned in case the blue screens stay. There are all manor of bluescreens but not sure if they are caused by the hardrive the motherboard or the overheating thing

Once I've done that I will try and see if the graphics card might fit, thats an NVIDIA Geforce FX 5600XT is that better than the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420? What are the chances that will fit?

ormus

graphics card slot is almost certainly an AGP slot. so it should fit ok.
the ms 6382 was used in HP pavilion desktop machines.

i would always format the hdd and reinstall your desired OS.

bat999

Hi
Those memory modules are the same.
So the first job is to remove the 256MB module and fit the two 512MB modules instead. Then power up and test to see that everything works OK.

I don't know whether the leads will be long enough, you may need to remove that drive and hang it loose while you test it.

A good solution would be to replace the 19GB hard drive with the 80GB drive one for one, as you said, then see whether Windows runs without blue screens.
:cool:

vaio

bat999 wrote: »

…………A good solution would be to replace the 19GB hard drive with the 80GB drive one for one, as you said, then see whether Windows runs without blue screens.
:cool:

I’d be very surprised if the big disk would boot windows when installed in place of the little one as I thought windows did a hardware check before booting and stops if too much hardware has been changed.