Hi Rob,
Every motherboard I've had in ages used a CR2032 lithium coin cell. You can pick a pack of these up in most pound shops. I certainly wouldn't pay the £3 each people like Maplin are likely to charge. I also wouldn't mess with changing them for a different type. Be careful not to damage the holder when you change it. Those are a real pain to change. Make sure you go into the BIOS and use the "load performance defaults" or "load defaults" option after you change the battery as you never know what could be in the backup memory if the battery has died or been very low. I would open the case and check that's what it actually takes before buying, just in case it's something else.
You well hopefully be able to find the motherboard model number printed on it and a search for that or the machine model should hopefully reveal the specs if you are worried about the drive size. Make sure LBA is turned on if this is a BIOS option. If the machine has SATA, I don't think you're likely to have a problem. If you have an old SATA spinning drive bigger than 128 GB, it might be worth putting that in as a test to make sure the machine works and performs as you want before dropping money on a new SSD.
VGA to HDMI isn't a simple job. It will need a piece of active electronics to convert as one is analogue and the other digital. I think the easiest way to solve this problem would be to retire the VGA card and replace it with a used card of equivalent or greater performance that has a DVI connector. DVI to HDMI adaptors or cables are simple things that you should be able to pick up on eBay for a few pounds if you can't find anyone with one they don't need. I think I paid around £3 for my last adaptor.
Good luck,Paul.
------ Original message------From: Rob Malpass via HampshireDate: Fri, 7 Apr 2017 11:15To: hampshire@???;Cc: Subject:[Hampshire] [OT] Hardware : Old PC, new hardware
Hi all I’m thinking of resurrecting an old PC for retro gaming. Before I get going, need a few questions answered… I have such a machine (P-IV, 512Mb RAM, decent enough graphics) but it’s circa 2004. 1) I’ve not powered it on in years, but the CR2032 mobo battery is almost certainly dead. Is it a question of just replacing it – or are there better solutions out there nowadays?2) Is it likely to be a standard battery or do they vary by mobo?3) I think it has SATA and IDE so I’m going to replace the HDD with an SSD. Any issues here? I’ve heard some BIOSes complain about the side of the HDD inside, but if we’re talking SSD, then 128Gb will be all I can afford so even in 2004, 128Gb wasn’t too big a BIOS was it? Any other considerations (VGA to HDMI in DOS mode games)? I think I still have the Windows XP CD and the license no is still on the box. Might have some fun activating it! CheersRob
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