Help with very old PC issue

[Roberto]

I'm in a bit of a pickle. My 90-something FIL has an old HP Pavillion 750c Desktop PC. It runs Windows XP, it's not on the internet (so he says), I've never been allowed to touch it, until now, because it died in a power cut.

 

At that age he cannot handle change well and as you can imagine, is utterly heartbroken. I have no idea what could be wrong with it - the PSU power light comes on but nothing happens when I press the power button. When I opened the case, the cooler fell off one of the motherboard chips where it had been held on with a twisted pipe cleaner.

 

Needless to say, it has _never_ been backed up and he has loads of data that's irreplaceable and old games he loves and cannot bear the thought of losing. It's been a long time since I've opened a case and seen IDE drives and parallel cables.

 

So what am I asking for - does anyone have a working desktop PC of a similar vintage - mid 2000s I'd guess, that I could purchase, or knowledge of a refurb place that might have something like this. I'm hoping I can transfer his disks to new hardware, back them up, and give him something back.

 

I honestly don't think he could cope with any part of the operating system or apps changing so I can't just put his stuff on a new PC even if I thought it would run, so it needs to be something that can run Windows XP well for a few more years. I think he'd cope with a new physical desktop/case under his desk but not much more change than that.

[smurfomatic]

May well be the PSU, in a previous job at a computer repair shop in the early 2000s we'd have half a dozen to do every time there was a thunderstorm. Worth trying (assuming you can still buy one with the right connectors!)

[Roberto]

Thank you. I have a spare modern Corsair psu, not sure if I dare risk it or not!

 

I’ve found an IDE to SATA adapter that I can hopefully use to get his data off the HDD, if that works I’m honestly tempted to just order a refurbished PC from the XP era

Edited January 27, 2025 by Roberto

[smurfomatic]

Thank you. I have a spare modern Corsair psu, not sure if I dare risk it or not!

 

I’ve found an IDE to SATA adapter that I can hopefully use to get his data off the HDD, if that works I’m honestly tempted to just order a refurbished PC from the XP era

 

Disconnect the hard drive and try the PSU - no risk to data, and it might work...

 

Otherwise, transferring to a refurb XP PC would be the best option

[Roberto]

Disconnect the hard drive and try the PSU - no risk to data, and it might work...

 

Otherwise, transferring to a refurb XP PC would be the best option

 

The spare PSU's mobo plug does not physically fit the mobo. Not a huge surprise tbh!

 

So I've ordered a IDE to SATA adapter to hopefully read the drive, and I have seen a few refurb units around that I can hopefully move the data to. Thanks for the advice.

[3s-gtech]

There was some odd crossover and lack of standardisation at the time with PSUs on ATX boards, at least from some vendors. HP liked to dabble with this too.

 

What’s the model number of the PC? You may be able to swap everything across to another identical one from Ebay.

 

Back up the HDD, whatever you do.

 

XP will tolerate and change of motherboard, but not to the extent 7 onwards would - changing from AMD to Intel and vice versa seemed to be a limitation, as did single to multi-core CPU.

 

Can you get a photo of the motherboard power connector(s)?

[Oaktech]

Possibly a daft idea, modern PC and P2V the XP machine? Set Windows & Virtualbox to start the VM up without user interaction?

[chazzy2501]

IDE drive should be using molex power that your psu should have, the old mobo may only have a 20pin atx connector but the modern psu should have a 24pin that will over hang one end and work fine. plug in half of the P4 (CPU) connector but that should be fine also.

[Roberto]

Thanks all. Some good news - managed to get a device that mounts many drive types including IDE as USB drives. The drive won't image due to errors but I've managed to get all his files off of it.

 

Any reccomendations for a good place to get old / refurb kit that will run Windows XP? I know I could roll the dice on gumtree but would rather a bit more pedigree if possible...

[3s-gtech]

What are you looking for, an old mini ATX unit that’ll run XP well?

 

Longevity wise, something like an old HP DC7900. They came in SFF and desktop form factors. I mention them because they are absolute cockroaches - I have rucks still in use. Bang in a SFF AMD 5000 or 6000 series card where the drivers will have a chance of working.

 

With a Core 2 Duo and 4GB of DDR2 with an SSD boot drive (with its own garbage collection rather than TRIM as XP doesn’t have it), it’d fly. Cheap too.

[Roberto]

What are you looking for, an old mini ATX unit that’ll run XP well?

 

Longevity wise, something like an old HP DC7900. They came in SFF and desktop form factors. I mention them because they are absolute cockroaches - I have rucks still in use. Bang in a SFF AMD 5000 or 6000 series card where the drivers will have a chance of working.

 

With a Core 2 Duo and 4GB of DDR2 with an SSD boot drive (with its own garbage collection rather than TRIM as XP doesn’t have it), it’d fly. Cheap too.

 

Thanks - got something along these lines for £60 from ebay. I'm really hopefuly I can get something reasonable together for the old chap.

[Roberto]

Thanks to everyone who helped with suggestions and observations. Just to update - picked up an old Lenovo SFF workstation from ebay, a Thinkstation E73 with an i3 4xxx series CPU, 8Gb of RAM and bunged in an old SSD I had. When I've got his apps installed he will be delighted hopefully. It runs XP and frankly will be a massive upgrade on his old device. Edited February 11, 2025 by Roberto

[Koldov]

Might be too late, but as it's presumably not internet facing and if it was just the look and feel of XP, did you consider an XP skin/mode for something a 'little' bit more modern like 7, as long as the games/apps ran?

 

At least you wouldn't be so limited for hardware choices.

 

EDIT: I know a little of how you feel. My now deceased Grandfather decided to buy himself a laptop at the age of 90 something... even though it had an RM type 'old people's' overlay, he just couldn't get his head around it at all (no idea why he decided he wanted one). Also, it required a 2 hour round trip as I was his tech support until he finally gave in and admitted he couldn't cope with it. Ending with another trip for me to unplug it all and box it up to be sent back...

Edited February 11, 2025 by Koldov

[Fazza]

Just be careful with using an SSD with Windows XP as (as far as I can remember) it doesn't support TRIM so you may get issues with the SSD over time so make sure you have regular backups if the SSD is going to be used to save things on so you dont lose anything in the future.