I took over my dad's old notebook computer, a Compaq 3000 that is noteable for having a 16" old-school non-widescreen screen (1280x1024), maximum addressable RAM of 1GB, a very heavy weight -- yet a 2.5GHz Pentium CPU, parallel, serial, and infra red ports, Windows XP SP3, and a PC Card slot. These are useful items for archival purposes.
I loaned it to a neighbour looking to get back on his feet -- literally. He had smashed the bones in one leg into dozens of pieces while trying to stop himself falling off a ladder at work. Here in BC, we have Workman's Compensation for just about everyone, and so they've been paying for him to retrain for a job that involves sitting. In this case, he's learning how to use office software, like Word, Excel, and databases -- and I am glad to hear he is getting marks in the high 90s.
Last week he showed up at my door, returning the Compaq computer. He reported it repeatedly shut down spontaneously after a while, and couldn't figure out why.
Between visits with the in-laws over Christmas, I worked on figuring out why it would crash within minutes of booting (the screen simply goes black suddenly). After a few of these events, I noticed that the fan would turn on at its highest level just as the crash occurred. I wondered if the computer might be overheating.
I unscrewed as many screws as I could to take off the bottom and get at the fan. (There must be some hidden screws, for I couldn't get the bottom entirely off.) I used compressed air to blow out the fan and cooling fins.
I restarted the computer, and it hasn't shut down since.
I figured it might be a good idea to keep Windows XP on this computer, and then decided to install a dual-boot of Linux Mint 8. This computer is so old that it does not boot from USB ports, so I had to burn a CD of the Mint ISO file, and wait while the CD ground back and forth delivering install info to the computer.
This Compaq 3000 joins my LG X110 netbook and ASUS 701 netbook in running Linux Mint.
I loaned it to a neighbour looking to get back on his feet -- literally. He had smashed the bones in one leg into dozens of pieces while trying to stop himself falling off a ladder at work. Here in BC, we have Workman's Compensation for just about everyone, and so they've been paying for him to retrain for a job that involves sitting. In this case, he's learning how to use office software, like Word, Excel, and databases -- and I am glad to hear he is getting marks in the high 90s.
Last week he showed up at my door, returning the Compaq computer. He reported it repeatedly shut down spontaneously after a while, and couldn't figure out why.
Between visits with the in-laws over Christmas, I worked on figuring out why it would crash within minutes of booting (the screen simply goes black suddenly). After a few of these events, I noticed that the fan would turn on at its highest level just as the crash occurred. I wondered if the computer might be overheating.
I unscrewed as many screws as I could to take off the bottom and get at the fan. (There must be some hidden screws, for I couldn't get the bottom entirely off.) I used compressed air to blow out the fan and cooling fins.
I restarted the computer, and it hasn't shut down since.
I figured it might be a good idea to keep Windows XP on this computer, and then decided to install a dual-boot of Linux Mint 8. This computer is so old that it does not boot from USB ports, so I had to burn a CD of the Mint ISO file, and wait while the CD ground back and forth delivering install info to the computer.
This Compaq 3000 joins my LG X110 netbook and ASUS 701 netbook in running Linux Mint.
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