old computer help

[maanico1]

i got a 6-7 year old compaq desktop i was gonna open up until i realized that its decent enough to try to save. im sure its bug infested as i cant even get past the windows 98 startup screen... is there anyway i can get it to safe mode (holding f8 wont work) or just some way to reformat it...

 

[mayorredbeard]

youll need a windows operating system disc to reformat it. if it didnt come with on, then you might be able to pick up a copy of windows 98 for a cheap price somewhere. newegg.com might have it, not sure though

 

[maanico1]

thanks... got it working by installing xp, i need to upgrade it now, it has 128 mb of ram and apparently it can hold 512. does anyone have any suggestions to help me out as to what to look for, ram, harddrive,graphics card.. id greatly appreciate it.. sorry im a noob

 

[wozelbeak]

what cpu does it have?
woz

 

[maanico1]

900 mhz amd i believe

 

[wozelbeak]

can you find out what motherboard it is? as you will best suit the ram if you know the mother board.
also you will be spending money upgrading this machine when you could get a off the shelf job for near to what you will pay for the bits. here is a barebones example :
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=2842&category_id=64&manufacturer_id=0.
but if you fancy having a go at doing it up, there are a multitude of places to get the bits from and most will be compatible.
woz

 

[lhuser]

a 900MHZ can hold XP

Oh and...to boot in safe mode, you have to press CTRL sfter the BIOS