V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Got this neat little Compaq from a friend of mine who retired it because it had Win XP on it and isn't really capable of Win 7 or better. Specs: Intel Celeron M Processor 340 (512K Cache, 1.50 GHz, 400 MHz FSB) 40 Gig hdd 1.2Gig RAM DVD ROM I'm attempting to install Slackware on it currently. I'm also probably going to buy another 1Gig RAM stick for it. They're only $3.50 with free shipping on eBay. Gotta' love those little Chinamen. Here's what it looks like... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Ah... UPDATE! We seem to have some weird shutdown problem with this machine. He didn't tell me about this. Hmm. It gets almost through the entire Slackware installation (about 10 minutes) and then shuts down. Oh well, that sucks. Guess I'll pull the PC2700 RAM out of it and maybe the hdd, too. The rest of the carcass will get deposited in my garbage can outside. He also gave me two HP laptops, but these are both dead. I'll give them a cursory glance and then into the garbage with them, too, should I not be able to determine what's wrong with them in 5 minutes or less. Weeeeeeeeeee! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Well, not an overheating problem. I've had it just sitting there doing nothing at the Slackware installation login for 30 minutes. It hasn't shut off, so it's something else. I'll can run it with Porteus for a while, too. Hmm... it's choking on a vanilla Slackware installation. I've never had an old machine do that before. Most of them love Slackware. I'll play around with it some more tomorrow, maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Running memtest just for funzies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Nope. There's definitely an issue somewhere. It died in the middle of the memtest. Oh, well. It was a pretty little machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Hello, As best as I can tell, that's a 12 year old computer. You might want to try cleaning or even replacing the heat sink(s) and fan, as well as thoroughly cleaning them plus the CPU and then applying a fresh coat of thermal paste. Even though it doesn't seem to be overheating, the paste might have dried out to the point where it no longer provides a reliable thermal interface. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 http://ngaie.blogspot.ca/2007/10/how-to-fix-overheating-compaq-presario.html Looks like a common problem with these laptops. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Well that went from good to bad awful quickly.... I would try what Aryeh suggested first before chunking it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Well that went from good to bad awful quickly.... I would try what Aryeh suggested first before chunking it. New paste seems like an easy possible fix to me too. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I concur with everyone else here. My first thought was "heatsink or fan". The fact it will idle at login, but shutdown when CPU is being utilized only seems to confirm this. It'd be a shame to discard an old soldier without investigation such a simple fix. Just my 0.02... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 (edited) The thermal paste has definitely dried out. It is probably a hard powder by now. Might not fix the problem, but it sure is an easy, fast try at fixing it. Edited March 13, 2016 by amenditman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 I'll take it apart and give it a looksee before I toss it, but it's not a heat issue. I can run Porteus from RAM for hours on the thing with no troubles. It only seems to carp out when it's doing busy stuff like installing onto the hdd or running self-diagnostic tests like memtest from the command line. Strange. My pal had experimented with installing Elementary OS on this before he gave it to me. He swears it ran fine after installing that OS. I never checked it, though. I just wiped the slate clean and attempted to install Slack. I'll post any updates whenever I get one... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Try pulling the memory and cleaning the tabs . The other one is there may be a build up of gunk on the fan blades 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 14, 2016 Author Share Posted March 14, 2016 Already swapped RAM with known good sticks. No change. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Hello, If it does turn out to be an easily-repared thermal issue, you might want to look at upgrading the CPU next, if it will take one. I have a couple of ThinkPads (T42, T43p) of the same approximate vintage and was basically able to max out the CPUs on them for $15-20 or so. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 This might sound funny . But here goes:- wrap it in kitchen paper . Put it in a plastic bag,Then pop it in the freezer for half an hour . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 It's a fscking miracle! Well, not really and fsck didn't have anything to do with it... I managed to fix this little Compaq Presario V2000. It had a completely impacted (dust, hair, etc.) cpu fan assembly and vent. When you asked the cpu to work a bit hard, it would eventually go into thermal shutdown. It didn't help that the microprocessor had no (zip, zilch, nada) heatsink compound on it at all. Someone upstream of me and the pal I got it from must have changed out this micro at one time and forgot the heatsink compound. I blew out the fan and vent area, applied heatsink compound, reassembled and installed Slackware Linux. It ran like a scalded dawg for two hours with out one burp or hiccup. Cool, huh? I just ordered a 60Gig 7200 hdd and another stick of 1G RAM for it. That set me back about $20. Love eBay and those little Chinamen. Yay! Glad I checked it over before tossing it. You know, someone once told me that you could get some pretty good advice at this forum. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 At twelve years old, or more, the old paste may have just crumbled away to dust. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Nothing a professional technician couldn't deal with. Glad you got it going Eric. We all had confidence you would. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 At twelve years old, or more, the old paste may have just crumbled away to dust. Nah, man. The core was spotless. There had never been any sink compound on it... EVER. Strange. Nothing a professional technician couldn't deal with. Glad you got it going Eric. We all had confidence you would. BAHAHAHA! Er... yeah. That's right. You betcha'. Laptops have never been my thing. I work better in larger scale environments like desk tops and server towers. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Grand job mate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebrke Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 Knew you could do it, Eric (although I did wonder briefly if you were going to stamp on it ). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 Knew you could do it, Eric (although I did wonder briefly if you were going to stamp on it ). HAHAHA! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 (edited) Alrighty... I've installed my second 1Gig stick of Ram giving me a total of 2 Gig. And earlier this evening, I installed my new 60 Gig hdd and installed Slackware again. This time, though, I set it all up as it's going to be a regularly used OS. I'm making this little Compaq my office desk system. I'll use it to pay bills online and carp like that. It's replacing my Dell Inspiron 1521 that is being retired temporarily till I can find the $ for a display for that one. I've got my Slackware in this Compaq running Chromium with not tribbles at all. I would not surf G+ or other graphic intensive sites with it, though. I haven't gotten wifi up and running yet. I'm tired. Going to tinker around with that tomorrow, maybe. Doesn't really matter. It's hooked to ethernet all the time. I probably wont ever use the wireless on this little guy, so no hurry getting it to work. Away I goooo... . Edited March 24, 2016 by V.T. Eric Layton 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 Nice going on the little Compaq. Dell Inspiron 1521 displays at eBay - could watch some of these in case some money comes along eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 24, 2016 Author Share Posted March 24, 2016 Nice going on the little Compaq. Dell Inspiron 1521 displays at eBay - could watch some of these in case some money comes along eh? Yup. I always keep an eye on eBay for parts laptops. Sometimes, they're pretty cheap. When I get some $ that's not already needed for more important things, I'll probably buy another refurb LCD from Dell. It was only $32 or so for the one I bought and then returned to them. One of these days, I'm really going to find out what the display problem is with that Inspiron. One of these days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 (edited) OK, really quickly determined this afternoon that the wireless hardware (Broadcom BCM94318MPG) on this little lappy is not functioning. I cannot even detect it in Slackware. As far as the operating system is concerned, there's no wireless card installed on this machine. I had to remove this card and disconnect some jumpers leading to it from the motherboard when I disassembled this unit to clean the fan and check the cpu heatsink assy. I may have dislodged/disconnected something in the process. When I get motivated sometime down the road, I'll pull this apart again and check. In the meantime, working fine... don't need no wireless no how. . Edited March 25, 2016 by V.T. Eric Layton 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 http://www.tp-link.com/lk/products/details/cat-11_TL-WN725N.html These are cheap and work great in Windows. For Slackware they use : https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/network/rtl8188eu/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted March 25, 2016 Author Share Posted March 25, 2016 Yup. I have two or three of those wireless USB doohickies out in the shop. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted March 25, 2016 Share Posted March 25, 2016 I have a Lenovo laptop and the internal wifi is total crap - the only Atheros card that I've ever had that sucks. It keeps dropping its connection. I just disabled it in the BIOS and plugged in the nano adapter. Problem solved. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.