Welcome to the adventure! In these sections you will see how I took apart my old Packard Bell Legend 100CD computer, ripped out the old components, replaced almost everything with new equipment, and got the machine back up and running.

While nothing here is particularly difficult to perform, this is not entirely for the faint of heart. If you have never opened up a computer before, you might want to learn a bit more about ribbon cables, jumpers, CPU heat sinks, and stuff like that.

But if you are comfortable taking off the computer case, removing and installing hard drives and memory, stripping wires and crimping them back together, and crossing your fingers while turning on the new computer for the first time, then this site is for you!

Click to Enlarge	Step 1 - Plan for the Adventure This is the old Packard Bell Legend 100CD computer. Please note the side-mounted speakers on the monitor, and the low profile desktop case. I decided to upgrade this unit instead of purchasing a new case because I like the small footprint, and it has a "retro" feel compared to today's mini-towers. It only has one hard drive and one CD-ROM, but the case has room for one additional hard drive or CD-ROM. For the moment I will just replace them with modern drives, and add an additional drive later.
Click to Enlarge	Step 2 - Open the Packard Bell Case Here is the inside of the original PB. I unplugged everything from the back (including the monitor, mouse, keyboard, and most importantly - the power!), then removed the primary cover to reveal the contents of the computer case. Many years ago I had upgraded the hard drive, added more RAM, added an SIIG hard drive controller and a 56k modem, and more. You can see the CPU and heat sink to the lower left, and the LPX riser in the middle of the motherboard. Because this is a Low Profile Extended (LPX) case and motherboard, it'll cost a lot more to replace than if this was a standard case. But that's OK, and is all part of the adventure. After all, I don't plan on upgrading this again for a very long time!
Click to Enlarge	Step 3 - Remove Cards and Cables Next I carefully removed the expansion cards and the ribbon cables. This unit had three ISA cards installed in the riser (the SIIG controller card, the original Packard Bell sound card, and a decent 56k modem). The riser supports three ISA cards and two PCI cards. I plan to use PCI cards in the rebuilt machine, with the possible exception of the 56k modem, which is basically OK. I removed the various cables, including the EIDE ribbon cables to the hard drive and CD-ROM, the floppy drive cable, and the CD audio cable connected to the sound card. I also disconnected the various motherboard cables, including the power cables, the hard drive LED, and the other front panel controls.
Click to Enlarge	Step 4 - Remove Drives and Crossbeam Next I removed the drives and the support crossbeam. The hardest part was removing the case's front cover - the Packard Bell case design features a nice grey trim surrounding the bottom of the case, but I had to pop that off before I could unscrew the front white plastic panel. Then I was able to unscrew the drive bays (they all came out together, shown to the left of the case). Finally I removed the support crossbeam that had previously held the LPX riser card in place.
Click to Enlarge	Step 5 - Remove the Motherboard The last step in the deconstruction phase was removing the old motherboard. I simply removed the many screws that held the "mobo" in place, then carefully I popped out the motherboard. I had to slide it forward a bit as I pulled it out, to clear the back of the case (where the peripherals were connected). As you can see in the photo, the motherboard is now removed and the computer is completely disassembled. A Closeup Motherboard Photo is also available for your viewing pleasure. You can see part of the front white panel and the grey trim piece to the right (on top of the keyboard), which were removed in step 4. This motherboard's dimensions are 9" wide by 13" long (228.60mm x 330.20mm).

I started this adventure hoping to replace the motherboard with something else, hoping for a different LPX form factor motherboard supporting newer technology. I searched and shopped around for a new LPX motherboard. The local computer stores did not stock anything this obscure (the design is rather non-standard and it is rather difficult to find something that is a perfect match).

Undeterred, I browsed some very good Usenet Newsgroups (including alt.sys.pc-clone.packardbell) for information about upgrades and compatible motherboards. Also, some of the web sites devoted to Packard Bells were very helpful in my search for information and products.

I searched for a few months but didn't find much. I did locate an Intel board supporting a 200mhz Pentium (but it did not support the MMX chips). It just wasn't quite what I was hoping for in this upgrade. Then one day I found a product that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, and it wasn't LPX!

The trick was to not replace the motherboard, but instead purchase an "all-in-one" system replacement. The plan became to have everything on a single card. Although this upgrade project ended up costing more than buying a new cheap Dell, the "cool" (a.k.a. geek) factor of upgrading the PB and having one of these is worth it (at least for me, but then again I'm a bit of a nut).

A company called PowerLeap used to offer a cool product called the Renaissance/370S having almost everything you'll need on a single card. Sure it's a "single point of failure" with limited upgrade potential down the road, but then again, I will be happy using a 1.1ghz Pentium III system for a long time. Alas, the product is no longer available - I don't know exactly why they no longer sell it because mine works great, but I guess that the volume of sales just wasn't there to keep the product line afloat.

Now it's time to Put It Together!