Friend has a Server Type pc, what OS is good to Install on it?

So my buddies got quite the setup. I went to his house a couple days ago and noticed his pc. Asked him if I could show him something on the web and right away I noticed it was incredibly slow. Did a few checked and yup, for sure he had some viruses. So I removed quite a bit of them, defragmented which would speed up the drive he never defragmented since he got it. And basically did as quick of a tune up as I could while I was there. Next thing you know the pc was much better but still seemingly had it's issues (slowdowns, weird stand stills). I looked under the table and realized he had a massive tower. About twice or three times the size of an ATX case. Asked him where he got it, and he said his cousin worked for a computer company. That was some tower they used in a com room I assume or server room or something and they sold it to him cheap when they upgraded at the business place. Right away I checked "My computer" for specs and could see it had two separate 1.50 or 2.50Ghz processors, 4gb of ram, and was running a 32 bit version of Vista.

I fixed as much as we could in a couple hours or so. He was quite happy it was faster. I remember during the process I tried to remove some viruses that wouldn't come off in normal mode so I tried booting in safe mode and it wouldn't actually let me select safe mode at all. I could highlight it but not choose it! Anyways to make a long story shorter I left and he was quite happy. But I did suggest he reinstall Windows fresh and get a decent AV like Eset. Since the one he had was quite old and he never updated it.

So he calls me this past evening to say that he was using it peacefully all night after I left then all of a sudden the screen went green and the pc blacked out. I'm assuming a virus wasn't too happy I removed it, something is wrong with the OS, or the physical parts inside the case. Because he said he heard screeching (not beeps), from inside the tower when it happened. The guy has pets so I figure since he's never cleaned the tower maybe one of the fans is not working and it's over heating something like a processor. Asked him if it's happened before and he said yes there's been times where he's had to leave it on for a day or two to finally get back to the login screen. Incredible. I told him pcs aren't supposed to act like that.

Agreed to come take another look (this is what I get for randomly helping someone - ha), but I want to know if a tower such as his which is huge would require special types of drivers or a special Operating system. I wanted to put XP SP3 (yes I know they don't update/support it anymore), but I'm not sure if it would work or not. I'm wondering if XP SP3 would provide the drivers for such a setup as his. I can get the separate drivers for any random video cards and such. But I'm more worried about the motherboard drivers. I plan to take a thorough look at it physically too inside the case.

What do you guys think about XP SP3 working right after install without a glitch on a computer tower like that?


Thank You



It looks like this the thing is massive:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yB7qPUR0NXo/UC8hjO7-WjI/AAAAAAAAACY/pAFylyAnN1w/s1600/tower+server.JPG

P.s.
Any tips on fixing a computer like that would be nice. I've never fixed a pc that huge in my life with two separate processors. Really curious to open it up and see. Confident I can fix it if it's like fixing a normal tower, just wondering what the heck might be the major difference in initial OS install. Or any other special bumps I may not know are coming ahead. I know it's older... He said he got it 8-10 years ago around the time P4's were popular. Doesn't seem to know anything about computers but he did mention that. Which is why I want to use XP on it. His purpose is to use it for simply browsing the net and storing music. Crazy for a setup like that!

 

superstar...

See you been techin'. Nice. :cool

If you could get an installation disk for Vista, could you get the key off the machine and install it? I have used ProduKey, and it seems to work great for this. Also, I can point you to an .iso for Vista if you require one.

Not sure about your drivers issue. I think a fresh installation XP or Vista would get you to the desktop with native drivers even with 2 processors in the PC and all of that, but I'm just not sure about networking. You might need to be prepared with a laptop you can use to fetch drivers and a flash drive to move them.

Good luck with this project. I'll just post here the link for the .iso in case you decide to go with Vista. Click the link then enter the username and password on the password dialog:

http://dreamsupport.us/downloads/windows-pc/-WindowsVista/

Just make sure the version of Vista you use is the same (and 32 bit) as what is on the PC, so any key you are able to retrieve will work.

Hopefully, you will have the key on the box somewhere. That would be nice validation if it matches the key.

If you need an installation disk for XP, just substitute XP in place of Vista in the URL above...

 

I have done a few old servers like this.
I suggest getting a cheap HDD and new install of Win 7. If you can run Vista, you can run 7. Put in the original HDD only if you need the data off it. Usually the old drive is part of the problem, newer drives are much faster.
Be sure to get system specs from the old install or by opening the case so you can get drivers for your Win 7 upgrade.

 

@DOA Sounds great, only thing I've been worrying about is how readily available drivers are for a server tower like this? I mean doing normal pcs is easy, you can find the drivers in a snap (audio controller, ethernet, motherboard, etc). But I've never fixed a computer such as this. Hope I don't run into any issues finding motherboard drivers specifically, should they be needed.

Thanks

 

XP home will only support one processor, XP Pro will do dual processors. Processors not cores.
Also the idea that if Vista is already running on that system, you should be able to reinstall it or Win 7 - you don't know if he got it preloaded from someone who loaded the specific drivers need. Being a server it might have a totally different setup especially when it comes to hard drives. SCSI or just some brand of controller that is not supported natively within the Windows OS. Old hardware was not always "plug and play" friendly. Be ready.