hi folks,
After the Billville Hiker Feed last week in Duncannon PA, I spent some time working on Trail Angel Mary's computer to get her back online. I restored her internet connectivity, but she's still nursing a sick computer. Mary does a lot for the hikers, and allows them to use her computer for no charge. If anyone can provide used or new PC parts, a 1ghz or faster hand-me-down computer, or technical assistance with installing parts or software), please get in touch with me or Mary.
Here's the details of what she's got now, and what we'd like to find for her.
Current specs:
AMD Duron 900mhz processor (Socket A)
384mb PC100 RAM (1x256mb, 1x128mb)
20gb harddrive
Nvidia TNT2 graphics card (broken cooling fan)
56k modem
USB2 add-on card
Windows ME (upgraded from Win98 -- NOT a clean OS install)
The motherboard on her computer is showing signs of impending failure, due to leaky capacitors or overheating (or both). While I was there, I replaced the CPU cooling fan to help with the overheating, and moved the RAM out of a bad slot on the motherboard to fix some of the system freezes. I also fixed issues with the modem drivers to get her back online.
These steps have helped stabilize her computer, but we're not done yet. The operating system needs to be reinstalled at a minimum (full C:-drive format and reinstall of Windows); Mary is currently in the process of backing up her photos and documents in preparation for a clean install of WinME. Mary also has several USB peripherals, including printers, a scanner, and cameras, and we all know how flaky Microsoft operating systems were with USB stuff prior to Win2000/XP.
WHAT WE NEED:
At minimum, we need another Socket A/PC100 motherboard to replace the one in her system. We could use any other standard ATX-style motherboard, but we'd have to replace the processor and RAM at the same time.
A bigger hard drive would be helpful, but not necessary. All the other components (modem, USB2 card, DVD burner, etc) are good and can be used with whatever new motherboard we can find for her.
If you can donate any or all of the parts we're seeking, or can donate your technical expertise to get this trail angel's computer back to a healthy state, please contact me here. I live 8 hours away, so a local technician would be very helpful.
Thanks,
--Uncle Silly