It was only a matter of time before this little contraption required an organ donation or at the very least a blood transfusion. Therefore, over time, the following alterations have been made removing this old fuddy duddy of a machine from its nineties domain and transport it rocketting into the new millenium.
First problem encountered was the stunted speed of the CD-writer,
and at a mere 4 x writing speed, I should have seen this one coming a mile off.
The trouble with buying a system with an inbuilt CD-RW, especially from the late 1990's, is that to a beginner the concept of actually making your own Music CD's or even CDR Backed up data is mind-blowing technology. To be honest I would have expected a stand-alone machine with this capability to cost �250 in the 1990's, and perhaps it did judging by the overall TINY PC price (�1500). I didnt however consider the amount of thumb-twiddling time I would have to endure until a full Music CD had actually completed its burning process.
Assumming a full music CD is 650Mb (approx 64 minutes of music), then a 4x speed burner will finish the task in a quarter of that time, that being 16 minutes. By todays standards this is pretty dire, and to add insult CD-RW only reach their maximum burning speed at the outer rim of the Blank CDR, which is only really used if the writing-task is closer to the 700Mb mark. The initial third of the burning will always be performing at about half the maximum capabilities.
This makes waiting time roughly 22 minutes for a 650Mb Disc.
I'd often pop PINK FLOYD's ECHOES track on whilst a CDR was burning, they both near enough finished at the same time.
UPGRADE 1 : �130 : PLEXTOR 40 / 12 / 40 CD-RW - (black bezel if you please)
Okay, okay, For those in the know, this particular black beauty can be picked up for a cut-price �70 brand new in its now evolved 48 write-speed, but this was 18 months ago. Originally purchased from Komplett.co.uk who were offering the black bezel version �15 cheaper than anywhere else, making it as cheap as the white soon-to-grow-beige version.
You may well wonder why I would choose a black bezel over a white one, and then place the unit into a white case,
"why that would look stupid" you cry, and indeed you were correct. The case was immaculate white, splattered with TINY's tasty silver embellishments, then marred by a bulky black disc tray. It looked atrocious i admit it. But the bottom line in PC asthetics is if you cant get Chromed silver, get black. Having a black bezel CD-RW is just cool all over the place, and this 40/12/40 Plexwriter simply oozed style. In my opinion, it was
the Tiny PC Case that was visually letting the plextor down.
Plextor worked like a dream, with a bright green LED flickering away frantically
as my 650Mb discs were burnt in a mere 3 minutes, as opposed to the old 22 minutes.
For Pink floyd fans, thats about the same difference as ECHOES and Small furry creatures grooving with a pict.
UPGRADE 1 : Conclusion : PLEXTOR 40 / 12 / 40 CD-RW : Expensive in retrospect, but such a rewarding upgrade.
UPGRADE 2 : �60 : MY OWN PERSONAL version of Windows on CD (OEM My ARSE!)
UPGRADE 3 : �8 : Panasonic Floppy Disc Drive (you guess the colour)
Until calamity falls from a great height, you really dont realise how much you take your 3.5 inch floppy disc drive for granted. In this day and age of up to 800Mb CD Writing (see above) there seems almost zero need for a piece of hardware which provides a boring 1.44 Mb back-up. Even if you wish to swap files from one pc to another, there is a good chance that one has CD-RW and the other has a CD-Rom drive, so why do I hail to the floppy?
Simple really, and if you still cant see why, I advise you to wait till your PC crashes big time, like the time when I lost 17Gb of useful, nay essential files, due to one of those fun randomised windows Hiccups. The lot was gone, I was left to install windows all over again, and because lovable TINY Computers had provided a mere OEM version of Windows Me, I had no way of restoring anything at all. Oh well, they are pretty cool chaps, i'll drop them a line and see what their Customer-support advises......
�60 ! Thats how much they wanted to re-install MY copy of Windows for me.
"Just send me the disc, i'll do it myself, i've got the product key that you so caringly stuck on the side of my tower" I said.
"Oh No Sir, you dont understand, that version of windows that you have been using is an OEM version, you dont own it all."
So there it was, �60 plus postage of my machine to their factory, just to await a new crash further down the line,
or my only other alternative, Buy my own copy of Windows Me.
Ironically Windows Me on CD with Certificate of Authenticity and product key cost �60 (second hand from Ebay.co.uk)
The cost at the time was irrelevant since I was still trying to salvage my �1500 system, with no time to mourn over the 17 Gigabytes of data I had lost.
Actually a recent identical auction on ebay is still fetching circa �60. So in those days , this was possibly a bargain without my noticing.
MAJOR QUERIE: How do you install a Full version of Windows on CD-ROM, when your Hard drive has been completely wiped?
Okay, maybe press and hold DEL key or F8 at the POST, and enter CMOS of BIOS. Change the BOOT sequence to CD-ROM and insert Windows CD-ROM. Well I didnt know that, but luckily I had a Windows Me Startup Diskette,
just place it into my broken floppy drive and away we go. errrrrr.........
DOH!
In the midst of the 17Gb crash, I completely forgot that one day I was going to purchase a new floppy drive since mine had surrended some 5 weeks previous. Oh well, Library ticket at the ready....
For once the government gets it right
Library ticket in hand I Book an hour on the public-use internet service that my local library supply.
WWW.ebay.co.uk straight into the browser and away we go.
All the time my PC crying out from its respiriatory sytem "PRESS DELETE".
Panasonic Floppy disc drive for sale : Auction : �8 Buy it now.
A week without the net, and my floppy turns up. Install, and insert start-up diskette.
Boot from CD-ROM, Install Windows.
Hoorah!
UPGRADE 2 : Conclusion : Windows Me on CD-ROM �60, I had an inkling it was a tad expensive at the time,
I was wrong, and it is the best investment that any Windows OEM user could ever make.
UPGRADE 3 : Conclusion : Panasonic Floppy Disc Drive �8, yup, bargain.
In some serious Hard drive errors all you have is your 3.5 inch drive to save you.
And YES! it was a black bezel floppy drive.
UPGRADE 4 : �160 : 2 x Seagate Barracuda 40 GB hard drives
Enough already with the Cost nit-picks, this was the old days when motherboards where nothing but Grassy fields.
These days a 40GB hard drive cost between �50 - �65 each depending on 5400 or 7200 rpm speeds.
For what its worth I opted for 2 x Seagate 7200 rpm 40GB drives. The reason? Let me explain......
After the 17 GB crash, I discovered that my Fujitsu 20Gb hard drive had developed that rare type of cyber-chicken-pox
that I may have metioned earlier.
17 GB crash = BAD SECTOR BAD SECTOR BAD SECTOR overload.
That poor Fujitsu Hard drive just had to be demoted, and it has performed rather well recently as a doorstop.
Since which, this loverly pair of Barracudas have performed reasonably well, and even at 7200 reveloutions per minute are reasonably quiet.
Remember that stifling case I mentioned? Well as a result the new Seagate Barracuda primary C:drive,
which was obviously in constant use, had failed several times due to over-heating.
This called for further upgrades later.
UPGRADE 4 : Conclusion : 2 x Seagate Barracuda 40 GB hard drives : Replacing primary Hard drive with a bigger faster capacity - excellent despite overheating, caused by Micro-ATX case.
However, the decision to employ a SECONDARY Hard Drive - Should be Essential to all users.
My advice is to store your important data on a D: drive.
In the aftermath of a Major Windows Crash, or even after a Virus attack, it should still be safe.
UPGRADE 5 : �30 : Huge ATX PC case
UPGRADE 6 : �9 : AKASA HDD twin-fan cooler
UPGRADE 7 : �5 : 3.5 inch HDD into 5.25 inch Bay Convertor
These were all bought and installed at the same time.
The Massive ATX case was intentionally to prevent further innards overheating, mainly the Hard disk drives,
and in specific the Primary C: Hard disk drive. This justifies my other two upgrades here.
The larger PC-Case should somewhat allow for extra Air-flow.
Sounds good in theory, but unfortunetly the C and D drives are restricted by a new case which still only supports 2 hidden 3.5 inch (hard disk drive) bays.
This implies that both over-stressed Hard disk drives are stationed one above the other, both emenating extreme heat, with only a 4mm gap between the two.
Time to seperate these two drives, they are far too frisky when left in the same internal bays together.
The separation was never actually intentional.
After purchasing a new Air-flow ATX case, I believed that the problem would summise, but to no avail.
My C: drive was heating up on use, and clearly needed a nice shower of cool fresh air.
Therefore upgrade 6 was called for.
I decided to invest in an Akasa Hard drive cooler, which are surprisingly beautiful to view.
Highly polished Copper coloured chrome with two efficient high-speed fans embedded.
This item works immaculately, but I wonder why so much work has been made on the asthetics of the Cooler,
since it's obvious new home will always be locked deep within the confines of any PC-Case, never to be seen by any bugger. Oh well, its in there, I hear it whizzing, doing its job, and in my Minds eye I can picture the gorgeous chromed-copper metal making sweet love to those identical-twin black fans deep inside. Except.......
Who was I kidding? A hard disk drive barely fits inside a 3.5 inch drive bay, and I have two hard disk drives and only two bays. What happens to a Hard disk drive when you install the Akasa Copper chromed love nest upon its nether-regions?
It gains an additional 1.5 cm in height, making it totally unsuitable for a 3.5 inch bay.
Therefore I required upgrade 7, which was a 3.5 inch HDD into 5.25 inch Bay Convertor.
All PC-Cases come with external (visible from the outside) and internal 5.25 inch bays for CD-rom drives, DVD-Rom drives, and CD-RW drives, and in addition, 3.5 inch bays for Floppy disk drives (external) and Hard disk drives (internal).
The purpose of the convertor I purchased was to allow me to fasten the recently bought Seagate Barracuda 40Gb hard drive intentionally used as a (windows operative) C: Drive, together with a suitable Akasa hard drive cooler (thereby preventing errors, "blue-screens", and randomised crashes due to over-heating) with its now unbearable 5cm height, into a spare 5.25 inch bay. Luckily due to my new case, and the abandonment of a previous DVD-Rom drive (surrended to a secondary machine) I was only utilising one of my new found 3 x 5.25 inch bays.
I have since installed the 40Gb C: drive bearing its �60 NONE-OEM version of windows, into a 5 + quarter inch bay, this was a terrible strain on the current IDE cables, which had to stretch their little cotton fibres all the way from a Primary SLAVE drive (holding all my essential data) housed within the 3.5 inch bays, all alone down there gaining so much extra air-flow, right up to a Primary MASTER C: WINDOWS drive nestling within the much higher 3.5 inch drive bays.
UPGRADE 5 : Conclusion : Huge ATX PC case, Should have been purchased in the early days, and maybe saved myself a good few Crashes. Although with hindsight this case wasnt very eye-pleasing for the cash it swallowed-up in comparison with some of the lovely ones around today.
UPGRADE 6 : Conclusion : AKASA HDD twin-fan cooler, Bargain!
Does the job it's designed for, and contains a beauty which is a fetish to withold.
Although I am a bit wary that the fans whizzing could cause vibrations that may disrupt the drive further down the line.
UPGRADE 7 : Conclusion : 3.5 inch HDD into 5.25 inch Bay Convertor, this was more of a neccessity than a designer-upgrade, it came with strong steel pins that were supposed to supoort the hard drive in place,
but instead just held it at an unusual troublesome angle,
A pair of Pliers soon helped snap those pins off, and the Bay Convertor maintains its useful ability.
For added air flow, I removed the 3.5 inch blanking plate, which now results in exposing the hard drive to the outside world, but as I rest my palm against its exposed exterior, I can feel refreshing chilled air circulating in cubic feet galore.
UPGRADE 8 : �9 : Round IDE cables
UPGRADE 9 : �6 : PCI system exhaust blower
Time to ease the strain on those IDE ribbon cables. Via Ebay.co.uk I managed to score a full set of yellow round IDE cables.
A full set consists of two 40-pin / 80-wire setup cables for use on the Primary and Secondary IDE connectors. Generally speaking one of these connect to the CD-Rom bays, and the other to the Hard Disk Drives. In addition to these, a Dual headed Floppy cable was included.
The fact that these cables are rounded allow even more air flow throughout the ATX case. This created a much friendlier scenario for my beloved new Seagate Hard drives. The previous flat ribbon cables were acting more like Thermal insulators, and the last thing you need inside a PC-Case is an old grey pair of Long-johns.
Whilst I was at it, I decided to install a fairly new concept, that of a PCI Exhaust blower.
Basically this consists of a huge Fan, encased inside a moulded black enclosure which then sits above an available PCI-slot, but never actually using the slot I must add. A shiny aluminum grill protrudes from the back of the PC-Case acting as an exhaust engulfing all hot air from the dusty innards, and expelling it upon my Living-room paintwork.
UPGRADE 8 : Conclusion : Round IDE cables : Not actually as sturdy as I suspected.
Also, they stank of that cheap building-site rubber I seem to remember as a kid.
Still, better than the long-johns, I suppose.
UPGRADE 9 : Conclusion : PCI system exhaust blower : Well to be truthful, this upgrade fell apart in my hands as I removed it from its bubble wrap packaging, But even at the expense of an otherwise useful PCI-slot, I am sure it is spreading the Good Word within my Case.
UPGRADE 10 : �19 : 300 Watt PSU.
What with the extra secondary hard-drive, Akasa Twin-fan Cooler connected to the primary, coupled with a mediocre PCI exhaust blower and an extra 80mm Case fan, I thought it prudent to check on the exact wattage my 3 year old Tiny Psu was supplying. To my surprise, it was only rated at 150 Watt maximum output.
Towards the end of its lifetime, my TINY pc had been subject to an awful lot of randomised Reboots. Actually this is still a common problem today, and I havent been able to isolate the cause.
Basically, the computer when left alone will work fine for 30+ hours running, or rather as long as I lay my hands off it. But as soon as I attempt to view a webpage, or open an MP3 file, or even as a result of an innocent click of the mouse, I suffer either the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, which eventually results in the screen reappearing, albeit with a screen-freeze and no mouse. Even more frequent, the machine will just restart itself for no apparant reason, then enter SCANDISK mode.
Two possible reasons are :
I'm still looking into this. But based on the measly 150W PSU that was powering my ever-changing sytsem, I decided to invest in a 300 Watt supplier instead. It is my understanding that a 300 Watt PSU is the norm for PC's these days, and considering that I was averaging 15 unscheduled restarts per day, this was more of a neccessity than a luxury upgrade.
Installation was rather simple to perform, the new case I had recently bought meant that i could just about remove the old PSU and transplant the new beefed up version without even removing the motherboard. So to be honest it was all just a matter of turning a few screws, and exchanging the molex wires about.
Curiously enough upon ignition, my PC seemed to hum a pleasant tune, my guess is that the motherboard and all its new fancy peripherals were finally managing to quench their thirst in a drunken orgy of 300 Watt PSU Juice.
UPGRADE 10 : Conclusion : 300 Watt PSU : I actually only bought this PSU about 2 months ago, retail in a shop, and after a little research I have discovered that it was particularly overpriced. I'm awaiting a second hand one from Ebay.co.uk which cost �10, is rated 350W and appears to be in a golden coloured finish.
The after effects of this upgrade were certainly an immediate improvement, I managed to use the computer for a whole week without a single unscheduled restart, were as previously I suffered 15 a day.
However the following week, the restarts reappeared their ugly hide.
UPGRADE 11 : �27 @ month : Broadband Internet service.