Your Best Dumpster Finds

[Phaihn]

Not a Dumpster dive but a computer my roommate got for helping someone move. Hp Pavilion 522n

[ratdude747]

i thing i got one of those... it got fried as the computer in a box.

bummer...

[Phaihn]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

i thing i got one of those... it got fried as the computer in a box.

bummer...

This ones just got a few blown caps gonna replace them then see what i can sell it for.

[Phaihn]

Originally Posted by Phaihn

This ones just got a few blown caps gonna replace them then see what i can sell it for.

some shots of the board

[ratdude747]

not what i had! mine was a tualie...

[Scenic]

the usual drill.. replace all nichicon HM/HN and you should be good to go..
too bad it lacks AGP :/

[ratdude747]

hence why both of mine ( i did get a couple of these in) both went to the scrap pile. no agp+ 2 slots ddr (not 3 or 4)+ uATX= junk in my book.

[Scenic]

back to topic.. sort of..
i recently got a computer from a friend. not quite a dumpster find, but it would eventually found it's way to one someday...

was helping him to clean out his basement. noticed a partly disassembled computer with a missing side cover standing around in between lots of junk to be thrown out..
curious as i am i asked him what's wrong with that comp..
he said he was fed up with it acting up and bought a whole new system..and asked me if i wanted it cause he would probably throw it away if i didn't want it..

as he was out of cigarettes, i bought him a pack and got the computer in return..

so.. this is what 5.50euro (about 7.46$) for the pack of smokes got me

- cheapo case with bad noname "500W" PSU and missing side cover
- Biostar GF7025-M2 TE socket AM2 board
- Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (2x2.6GHz) with Thermaltake cooler (80mm fan, copper base)
- Axle GeForce 9500GT 1GB
- 4x 1GB DDR2-667 (2x Aeneon, 2x Kingston .. ironically the board only has 2 RAM slots)
- 160GB HDD including his porn downloads
- Samsung DVD-ROM
- LG DVD-RW
- spare (?) Xencore cooler (all aluminium, 92mm fan)

not a bad deal imho

edit: EVERYTHING works fine.. i guess the only real problem was that junk PSU lol!

another edit: i should go to bed.. 5:44am.. all those typos are a clear indication.. well..they were. fixed now

[Phaihn]

Originally Posted by Scenic

the usual drill.. replace all nichicon HM/HN and you should be good to go..
too bad it lacks AGP :/

yeah

[Phaihn]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

hence why both of mine ( i did get a couple of these in) both went to the scrap pile. no agp+ 2 slots ddr (not 3 or 4)+ uATX= junk in my book.

yeah well i need to the money so i am going to get my network teacher to recap it then i am going to sell it.

[Chris Ambriz]

The greatest thing I found was in teh trash at the local thrift center dumbster it was a Korea Data Systerms CRT monitor that to my surprize bonged and came to life when I took it home apparently it hated the old owners because they never dusted it out I still am using it since I found it 3 years ago poor thing would have gotten destroyed because that thrift store loves to destroy things so people won't want them

[momaka]

Originally Posted by Chris Ambriz

The greatest thing I found was in teh trash at the local thrift center dumbster it was a Korea Data Systerms CRT monitor that to my surprize bonged and came to life when I took it home apparently it hated the old owners because they never dusted it out I still am using it since I found it 3 years ago poor thing would have gotten destroyed because that thrift store loves to destroy things so people won't want them

Yeah, it makes me sad when I see CRT monitors like that in the dumpster because I know they all probably work just fine too.

Yesterday, I was checking out the dumpsters again at my friend's condo complex. There was a 17" CRT sitting there in one of the dumpsters. I would have taken it out, but it was all the way at the back of the dumpster. No way I could reach it. And given that I don't have much space left in my room, I had to let it go.

Also yesterday at work, we had to throw away a huge HP laser printer in the trash . We actually have two of them, but both had problems (one picked up multiple pages and had a dead display, the other one would just make weird sounds and not print). The printer technician used parts from one to fix the other. The one that got all of the broken parts was the one we threw away.
I was thinking of putting a "dumpster alert" on craigslist, but the dumpster at my workplace has a lock on it .
I did save a few parts from that printer that I found on the ground, though - a Minebea stepper motor, 2 electronic clutches, a solenoid, random gears, and lots of screws. Forgot to check if the printer had any SIMM RAM modules in it, though. Could have definitely used those to upgrade the laser printer I have at my house. The power supply was probably good too - should have taken it out.

*EDIT*
The printer I mentioned above was a HP LaserJet 8000 I believe.

[Scenic]

the only real drawback trashpicking CRTs is that you'll never know if the CRT is good or if it spent it's whole life turned on 24/7 so the tube is so worn out it looks like you're looking through vaseline :/

Had that problem once.. fairly clean/new looking 19" Eizo CRT.
took it home (god these eizos are HEAVY), plugged it in and it actually worked fine
problem was: blurry/unsharp as hell, convergence totally out of whack and relatively dim in general. tube shot.. DAMNIT.. -.-

[Evil Lurker]

I have a friend that owns a scrap metal recycling business. Over the holidays one of the local school systems junked a crapload of Gateway E4100s. Unfortunately they were pretty much stripped of all components except the motherboard and CPUs. Still I got 6 D865GLC motherboards, 3 P4 2.4ghz HT CPUs, one 3.0ghz HT prescott, a couple other random 533mhz CPUs, an MSI P4 board with SIS chipset, and last but not least 12 XP Pro keys... all for peanuts.

[seanc]

If anyone wants some free stuff, the next time we're overloaded with defunct PCs and crap I'll let you know - come get them! We have to pay to dispose of them.

[cookieCAM]

I Just Ain't Lucky Like You Guys.......

[cookieCAM]

Originally Posted by seanc

If anyone wants some free stuff, the next time we're overloaded with defunct PCs and crap I'll let you know - come get them! We have to pay to dispose of them.

Ugh......Why Is Everybody Not Local

[Flababa]

Just acquired a Dell PowerEdge 2650 from the side of the road.

Sounds like a jet engine, but works perfectly.

2x Xeon 2.4ghz (400fsb)
6gb ECC DDR
2x 36gb SCSI 160 HDD's
Dual-ethernet add-in card (making it a total of four ports)
CD-Rom, floppy, etc
Windows 2000 Advanced Server (25 CAL)

Heard it may be possible to lower fan noise with a firmware update. Anyone know if that's true? Won't be able to work on it for another week or so.
Good times. :3

[Scenic]

http://support.dell.com/support/down...nConsent=False
..?

[Flababa]

Right. I know updates exist- Just wondering if anyone has had experience with them making the unit a bit less noisy.

I didn't see anything specific to that in the update release notes, unless I totally missed something.