IS IT REALLY WORTH IT?

I'm a firm believer in upgrading an old computer. With a few lower-cost additions your old slow PC can gain new life as a useful computer for years to come and save you money while you gain knowledge about the workings of your computer and electronics are recycled instead of being buried in landfills. What's not to like?

This series of articles is going to walk you through the process of evaluating whether your old PC is upgradeable, examining what you need to know to purchase some low-cost replacement parts, and then I'll present a step-by-step guide to upgrading the computer. It's not hard, just somewhat time-consuming. The actual upgrade should only take a few hours but doing the research, ordering and obtaining the parts  could take several days. What a great project while we shelter at home! And you get a "new" computer out of it as an end result!

Say you just dug up your old PC or laptop from the basement or attic or garage. "Can this thing be reused or upgraded?" you're wondering. Very probably. Here's an overview of assessing your old PC. FYI don't be intimidated by some of the terms, the world of computers is filled with technical jargon. But in fact it's all very straightforward once explained. Just take things one step at a time and you'll be fine.

FIRST - Dig out your old PC and get it situated. Plug it in, hook up a monitor, keyboard and mouse. Optionally a hardwired Ethernet connection if that's what it has. This all might entail some scrambling for cables and such. If you don't have a spare monitor use your existing one temporarily. Also flat screen TV's can double as monitors, so you might use one of these for testing purposes. You'll need the correct video cable for your PC to the TV (anything from a VGA cable to an HDMI cable depending on your specifics) and you'll need to switch your TV's input from "TV" to the plug you just plugged in ("VGA" or "HDMI"), or you won't see anything.

Now with the screen attached and powered on, turn on the PC and watch. Is it on? Do you see anything? What's it doing? If it's completely dead that's indeed a  problem. You might just see text on the screen, or it might be booting into Windows. Let's look at all three options:

1. COMPLETELY DEAD: Do you hear any fans powering up when you hit the computer's power button? If no, look at the back of the PC near the power plug. There should be a rocker switch with the options 0 and 1. This is a master power switch for the power supply (cheaper power supplies don't have one). If it's set to 0 the power supply is off and the computer will not power up. Flip it on if it's off and try again. If you flip it on and the computer is still off, make sure it's not a problem with the power outlet. Plug something else into the outlet to make sure it works, like a lamp. If its not the power outlet, then either the computer's power supply is dead, the computer power switch is faulty, or the motherboard is bad. All of these can be repaired, but generally not by a beginner.

2. BOOTS INTO A SCREEN FULL OF TEXT: This is encouraging, as at least the computer is alive! It's probably booting into something called BIOS or CMOS. Long story short: When a computer starts, low-level programming powers up and begins energizing and self-testing various parts of the computer. This is the BIOS (Basic input/output system), or the part of the computer that makes it work. It knows what display is connected, that there is a keyboard plugged in, and knows the time and date. There's a little battery inside the PC that keeps this configuration data alive even when the computer is powered off.

The fact that you're seeing the BIOS on boot might mean something like the internal battery lost its charge and the computer doesn't know the date/time. You might see a message "Hit F1 to continue. F2 to enter setup". Hit F2 and make sure that the date and time are correct...if not set them (there are basic instructions in the BIOS). Extra points if you can see if it "sees" the hard drive and optical drive. When you're done hit F10, it'll ask you if you want to save the changes and exit, say yes, and it should boot into its installed operating system.

3. BOOTS INTO ITS OPERATING SYSTEM: This is the best possibility...it's working! Now, what operating system is it? Windows 10? probably not. Windows 8? Windows 7? Windows ME? Windows 2000? Windows XP? Here's an article that will tell you how to find out what version of Windows is running.

Almost as important as what version of Windows is this question: is it running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows? What exactly does that mean? In a nutshell, a 64-bit processor and operating system can handle a lot more data than a 32-bit one and consequently are more powerful. Earlier processors and operating systems were almost always 32-bit (Windows XP was 32-bit, though they did make a 64-bit version). Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 all have 32 and 64-bit versions. Here's an article that will show you how to tell if your computer is running a 32 or 64 bit operating system. Why is that important? It's important because you don't want to sink money and effort into upgrading a 32-bit computer, as it won't perform up to the standards that you want. My recommendation would be to stick to upgrading 64-bit computers.¹

PART 2: NEXT STEPS; MEMORY & STORAGE

¹ If your computer is running a 32-bit operating system, there is a slight chance that it's 64-bit capable but the manufacturer cut corners by installing the 32-bit OS. Find the exact make and model of your computer and google "Is a XXX XXXXXX (substitute your computer make and model) 64-bit capable? If it seems like it is, then you can follow the instructions in the article to upgrade it to a 64-bit version of Windows 10. Also see section 6 for a further discussion of determining if your computer is 64-bit capable.