hellow
yesterday, my next door was about to throw away their old computer, so i asked for it. and now i know that it is super old . it has p3(650mhz) and 32mb ram. i was like holy crap!!
my problem is...
when you turn the pc on, you know the starting screen shows and then the window thing.
but this pc stoped after window screen
os is ME and after that, it is black with white curser on top left.

i dont know what was happening.. and um any one know what is going on and how to fix it??

(please dont say things like "why are you trying to use that pc?"

i was going to use it for MP3 chargeing.....

please help

Nice find! I still enjoy coming accross such things as that, like a p3 freaking tualatin 1.4GHz with ddr. Anyways, the best thing to probably do is full format the hdd and install your choice of os. ME is garbage anyways lol. Good luck getting it running.

If this doesn't work, I'd try a different PSU and once you get it running, likely have to increase the memory, you want at least 512MB but better to go up to 1GB. For I computer that old the only updates I do is increase the RAM and get a new hdd.

It will run XP, but will need a minimum of a 256 MB stick of RAM to make it useful. It probably has a 10gig or less hard drive being that old, so will need a bit more disk space for your purposes.

Now, if you were smart, you wouldn't even bother with upgrades and just format and slap a win98 SE OS on it and use it as you described above or put it on a network and use it as a data storage unit.

I agree with onestar. It's a bit too old to spend money on it.

Old RAM is cheap, I'd add another 128MB of cheap RAM and salvage a Windows 98SE license from another system.

Win98...
File server + Bit torrent if you do that.
Folding @ Home can be installed if you want to help with the project(but it will sap all the free power from the computer....)....

Also....maybe you can put VLC(and some kind of video card with TV out) on it and use it as a DVD/DivX player

nevermind my first post

nice find. I got an old Gateway with a 700 mhz Athlon and 128 meg the other day in a similar neighbor throw away deal. I wiped 98 and installed XP and another 32 meg RAM and now it needs a new home. I got too many PCs already. I really enjoy vintage PCs though. We got a couple of antiques still running round here. An IBM XT for one.

I would get more ram for it, and install a Linux OS on it.

I still run as follows:

- 120Mhz P1 with 32MB of RAM and Win 95 (hence my username). It's a great little word processor and I still like to mess around with DOS. Also, I run Worms on it as well. It was my first computer ever.

-750Mhz Duron with 512MB of RAM (it originally only had 128MB). It's a hardcore Unix/Linux learning system (as in it won't run Ubuntu, but true command prompt OS's). Right now, it's running FreeBSD. Might throw Debian 4.0 soon mainly to learn Debian via Terminal and BASH. I kept this because it gave me so many problems when I wanted to install 98SE on it, I decided to keep it since I would have to troubleshoot so much, I would be spending all my time with it anyway. So, I upgraded the RAM on it for $60 .

Normall, when I get an old system like that, I fix it up and give it away to someone who needs a computer and can't afford one.

damn thats not old. I still have way older than that....not that i use em they just stored in the attic

You really need at least 384MB to run XP properly, it runs horribly slow with 256MB...and even worse with less.

oh wow i was surprised that many of you guys have computers like that!!
and thanks for answering..
but sad thing is i only have windows xp cd
do any of you guys know where to download win me or 2000??

Could always learn how to run Linux on it.

then if i install windows 2000 on that computer with 32mb ram and p3, does it will work??

You should have at least 256MB for Win2k to work well. 98SE flies with 128MB, I'd pick up a 128MB stick.

Lots of people were once so partial to Win2k that they'll lie about how much memory it needs to run properly.