best cheap/free scores 1.1

[jiroy]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Here is the list of free scores for the last two weeks ...
1- One Playstation 2 with all its accessories .
2- One IPod with its adapter .
3- One PSP with its adapter .
4- One Nintendo .
5- One VGA nvidia GT210 .
6- One VGA nvidia GT610 (This one makes the error VGA driver has malfunctioned and recovered , each 3 to 5 minutes ).
7- One Acer Travelmate 250 . This one will be for parts as anything under the Intel Chipset 945GM cannot take 4 GB of Rams (Including the Intel Chipset 945GML) .
8 - One HP nx8220 . Also for parts for the same reasons above .

[mikay786]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a Wii fit board for free on gumtree this morning. Working fine

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Got a ASUS P5P41D w/ a Core 2 Duo E7600. Board won't POST, even after I replaced nearly all KZG caps in critical places (southbridge and northbridge and around RAM slots) and that's even with two different CPU (E2160 and Pentium D 925). Dunno what to try next, hope you have some suggestions. I tried three different PSUs as well.

Also got a PS1 - it's the audiophile model (SCPH-1002), chipped. Had to replace the CD-ROM drive and PSU (beats me as to why there was a 110v US PSU in there though, since the machine is PAL all day) with some spares, not before crafting up a power cable because the PSU pinouts were different.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

InFocus IN34 XGA (1024X768) projector - $15 with 910 hrs. on the current lamp (rated 2k hr. life), and 1493 total hours (evidently the first lamp must have failed early, or being that it came from a business environment was possibly replaced preemptively on a schedule based on age rather than hours):



A bunch of old Film SLRs, from left to right: Nikon FG (body only) - $10, Pentax P30T with 50mm f/2 lens - $15, Pentax P30T with 35-80mm kit zoom and Vivitar V2000 flash -$10, Nikon FE with AF 50mm f/1.8D lens - $35 (the lens alone is worth $50):

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Given an Abit BP6 with a pair of celeron 500's in it, 384mb ram. I recapped it and works fine. Those CPU's aren't too overclock friendly, but what the hey....it was free.

[jiroy]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The Dell Latitude D520 Project :

One of last month free scores . The customer underestimated this laptop and was more than very happy to give it away . No wonder , XP on 265 memory rams , and an expired battery . The usual procedures weren't so smooth as expected , for different reasons , including bad luck probably . Playing it easy like one step each day may add to that , no rush in fact . A clean and very robust laptop from inside and outside , with no scratches whatsoever , was an asset and good motive .

Raising the Memory modules to 4GB went easy and smooth , and so installing Win7 64 bits . Well , not so easy with the usual Dell Bios annoying messages about the change in Rams amount . The Bios is very stubborn and self controlled , So the next step was visiting Dell site . I put the tag then let it detect the Laptop . Dell Supportassistant installed automatically and detecting for quite a while and returned "nothing to update" .
I took the initiative and downloaded the newer Bios A08 , as a precaution step . The one in the laptop was A01 , The original one of course .

In the following hours , lot of BSODs , yes , the depressing blue screens !! ..Doing some investigations here and there , and the culprit was Dell Supportassistant itself , lol .. Thanks dell . I got the Bios anyway so @#$$%$%% to Dell Supportassistant . It was uninstalled and the D520 re-stood back strongly .

Next , Installing the A08 Bios was interrupted due to the expired battery , so i ordered a new original one with a higher capacity . On arrival and placing , it was stuck at 50% , plugged in and not charging , lol ...I informed the agent dealer , and he promised a replacement within four days .

After 3 days exactly , and suddenly (don't ask me why ) , the battery indicator started moving up and functioning correctly . What will i do with the dealer ? , we'll see about next . Maybe it's the solution for lot of unsolved batteries mysteries in the forum ? .. Maybe . Wait three days for the sleeping princess to wake up .
Anyway , Finally A08 was installed and the Dell D520 is up and running heavily .
The next step then is to upgrade the CPU . An Intel T2400 1.8ghz , 2MB Cache , 667 frequency (the 666 word is forbidden you know) . It was scoring a Dual core and 3.1 on system index . It was replaced by an Intel 5600 1.8ghz , 2MB Cache , 667 MHZ . It showed Intel core 2 CPU , but the rating surprisingly went down to 2.6 , lol .. How come a Dual-core is stronger than icore 2 is my next problem ..

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just did up one for a friend who started with his first at 16.
he missed his after letting it go when the caps failed.he didnt know me at the time.
he works in e waste and gets to cherry pick stuff.
he got 2 and gave me one.
he brings me lots of nice stuff.

Given an Abit BP6 with a pair of celeron 500's in it, 384mb ram. I recapped it and works fine. Those CPU's aren't too overclock friendly, but what the hey....it was free.

[jiroy]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

How come a Dual-core is stronger than icore 2 is my next problem .

I Downloaded The Intel processor identification utility "pidenu47" and the Intel processor diagnostic tool "IPDT 4.0.0.29" , Installed and run for a while . After re-running the assessment , the CPU index rating went up from 2.6 to 3.2 ..

Once again , it went now up and stable at 4.9 ...It's now a competitive laptop .

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just did up one for a friend who started with his first at 16.
he missed his after letting it go when the caps failed.he didnt know me at the time.
he works in e waste and gets to cherry pick stuff.
he got 2 and gave me one.
he brings me lots of nice stuff.

I have a connection like that who gets me all kinds of supermicro seconds and off-lease stuff.

I got my first BP6 when they first came out, running 2x 300a's @ 450. I killed this BP6 attempting to do the PL370 coppermine mod....I did something wrong, it popped the CPU and the board....and I moved into the VP6. I always missed the BP6 after that, awesome little board. I have since acquired 2 free ones and 1 cheap one, so I now have 3 in the retro fleet....although #3 is still case-less. I'll have to see what I can come up with to make it something unusual. I did toss a HDD & W2K on it to test things....no issues, but its amazing how fast 500MHz 66FSB is when the OS isn't bloated to beat hell...

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

For the first time in a while, something worthy. Picked up a Mid-2010 Plastic Macbook with the 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 8 gigs ram and a 750 gig HDD for $20 off Craigslist.

No issues other than the lack of a battery and the bottom of the chassis is bowed a bit around the battery area. I assume the original bloated up at some point in the past, Macbooks are great at doing that.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I just got a good deal on a motherload of stuff - about 10 or so Athlon II / Core 2 Duo -era desktops and other random bits and pieces. Most of the desktops are empty/stripped, but a few do have their motherboards. I can't exactly give more details than that, as they are still in the trunk of my car, awaiting cleaning.

Well, I guess I shouldn't say I got a "good deal" quite yet - a lot of this stuff is dirty, and some appear to have roach poo spots. Hence why they are sitting in the trunk of my car (I would even leave them outside if it wasn't raining tonight). Hopefully should get to cleaning some of them tomorrow and the day after that. Nothing will come inside the house until it's fully inspected for roaches and bed bugs, then dusted and disinfected with amonia and/or chlorine -based cleaner. The guy reassured me there are no roaches in his shop. But since I've worked in repair shops before, I don't think that's likely, as there will always be some customer who brings a dirty roached up PC. And I am not going to risk getting my house infested over some recycled PCs.

Anyways, it was all free, so I won't complain too much. (Though I actually did give the guy who gave me these a few bucks to treat himself a few beers and/or a good lunch, as I always do ). Depending on how dirty these desktops are, I might go back to him for more. I was only able to pickup about half of the desktops (funny thing is, I left some of the nicer Core i5/i7 PCs, as I don't have RAM to test those and also... a BIG classic beige case :\ ). The guy also had some nice big laser printers too (with issues) and several large boxes of laptops/laptop parts + pieces.... but those are really probably only good for scrap (and besides, I don't want more Lithium batteries inside the house, especially flat-packs from new laptops - on that note, watch out for those, as they bulge like crazy. Certainly a fire hazard, IMO.)

Got a ASUS P5P41D w/ a Core 2 Duo E7600. Board won't POST, even after I replaced nearly all KZG caps in critical places (southbridge and northbridge and around RAM slots) and that's even with two different CPU (E2160 and Pentium D 925). Dunno what to try next, hope you have some suggestions. I tried three different PSUs as well.

Make a thread in the motherboard section??
I'll take desktop motherboard troubleshooting any day over a laptop board.

Given an Abit BP6 with a pair of celeron 500's in it, 384mb ram. I recapped it and works fine. Those CPU's aren't too overclock friendly, but what the hey....it was free.

Nice!
The price of these things is going to be like the VooDoo video cards someday.

7- One Acer Travelmate 250 . This one will be for parts as anything under the Intel Chipset 945GM cannot take 4 GB of Rams (Including the Intel Chipset 945GML) .
8 - One HP nx8220 . Also for parts for the same reasons above .

Not bad at all.
I wouldn't scrap them just because they can't take 4 GB. With Windows 7 Home or Pro 32-bit, 2-3 GB is enough for a basic browsing laptop. On the other hand, the 945GML onboard GPU may be a bit on the weak side - in particular, lacking in modern hardware accelerations... but again, for basic browsing, it might just work fine for someone who needs only that.

The Dell Latitude D520 Project :
...
So the next step was visiting Dell site . I put the tag then let it detect the Laptop . Dell Supportassistant installed automatically and detecting for quite a while and returned "nothing to update" .

C'mon Mr. Jiroy! You should know better by now not to use Dell Supper Assailant... err, sorry, I mean Support Assistant. (Honest mistake, I wear )
... or any other manufacturer's "update/driver" utility for that matter (lol, HP Update anyone? ).

Like you, I've found that these things always create more trouble than they fix. And on top of that, they are extremely bloated.

On that note, also avoid any of the automatic driver utilities like the Russian Driver Packs and Snappy Driver (SDI)... I call these Soviet Driver Hacks and Sloppy Driver for a reason. In once case, I had a system completely hosed up when those utilities (I think I used SDI on that one) installed a bunch of wrong drivers. Also had many cases where they couldn't find the right driver, despite the fact that the full version of those utilities is over 10 GB each.

Thus, I always try to look for the drivers myself, and preferrably straight from the manufacturer's website. Yes, that's often a PITA that takes a lot of my time, but I also get more reliable results. Those driver utilities have worked only once or twice properly for me. So all in all, I avoid them as much as possible, even if they offer to "save" me time.

After 3 days exactly , and suddenly (don't ask me why ) , the battery indicator started moving up and functioning correctly .

I've had something similar happen too. In my case, it was with an old C-series laptop battery in my Latitude C600 laptop. At first, the battery wouldn't charge at all and was stuck at 0%. It was very old and never charged, so likely it had fallen "asleep". But it was a genuine Dell battery nonetheless. So after I left it for a good few hours and the laptop hopelessly trying to charge it and then stopping, eventually, the battery awoke and took a full charge no problem. "Sleeping princess"? - I like that, exactly what it is!

[jiroy]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I just got a good deal on a motherload of stuff - about 10 or so Athlon II / Core 2 Duo -era desktops and other random bits and pieces. Most of the desktops are empty/stripped, but a few do have their motherboards. I can't exactly give more details than that, as they are still in the trunk of my car, awaiting cleaning.

Athlon II Motherboards can take easily the Phenom X III , and you'll have a superior system . Trust me on this .

Not bad at all.
I wouldn't scrap them just because they can't take 4 GB. With Windows 7 Home or Pro 32-bit, 2-3 GB is enough for a basic browsing laptop. On the other hand, the 945GML onboard GPU may be a bit on the weak side - in particular, lacking in modern hardware accelerations... but again, for basic browsing, it might just work fine for someone who needs only that.

Yesterday , while sleeping (Yes , very weird , lol ) , I dreamt about USB to Rams technology , lol ... I never tried this before and i can't draw a real picture of the effects . I may implement the idea on those two and see where we could end . I have now like 20 to 30 similar laptops , and yes , it would be non environmental and non economical to throw em this way if they're still capable .
My always strategy in this business , Momaka , is and was , let the Market drive you , wherever and whatever he leads , so why not , I had a rush on old and cheap laptops with under 200 $ budget , and frankly , they are more robust and reliable for business than the new ones .
This week , when time free , i'll experiment on USB to Rams on 2 GB handicap and see what will happen .

C'mon Mr. Jiroy! You should know better by now not to use Dell Supper Assailant... err, sorry, I mean Support Assistant. (Honest mistake, I wear )
... or any other manufacturer's "update/driver" utility for that matter (lol, HP Update anyone? ).

Yep , not a smart move at all , lol .. Should have known better , haha ...Was Dell punishing me to buy new laptops ? , lol .. Who knows , but one may wonder ..

On that note, also avoid any of the automatic driver utilities like the Russian Driver Packs and Snappy Driver (SDI)... I call these Soviet Driver Hacks and Sloppy Driver for a reason. In once case, I had a system completely hosed up when those utilities (I think I used SDI on that one) installed a bunch of wrong drivers. Also had many cases where they couldn't find the right driver, despite the fact that the full version of those utilities is over 10 GB each.

I always urged my customers not to do so , but , some , they think it's my interest to say so and i can see in their innocent eyes , lol , what they're thinking , so , , what da hell , let them suffer the consequences ..

Here , I will warn , just like you did , from using such staff , cause it can destroy laptops , yes , i've seen already three or four laptops victim to those crappy utilities .
Maybe i'll do specific threads in the future explaining how they do the harm , and what is the kind of harm ..

I've had something similar happen too. In my case, it was with an old C-series laptop battery in my Latitude C600 laptop. At first, the battery wouldn't charge at all and was stuck at 0%. It was very old and never charged, so likely it had fallen "asleep". But it was a genuine Dell battery nonetheless. So after I left it for a good few hours and the laptop hopelessly trying to charge it and then stopping, eventually, the battery awoke and took a full charge no problem. "Sleeping princess"? - I like that, exactly what it is!

Yep , we should call it the "Sleeping princess symptom " , lol

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Just went back today and got more stuff: about 7 more desktops. So that makes it 17 desktops total, I think. Most are incomplete, and some are just cases. But here's a general list of what I have so far:

2x P4/C2D -era Dell OptiPlexes (620 and 760, IIRC)
2x P4/C2D -era Dell Dimension E5xx desktops (E510/E520/E530 or something along those lines)... these have really nice cases
1x P4 -era Gateway desktop - complete with two 20 GB HDDs. Case is very decent (but dirty)
2x Athlon II X4 Dell Dimension PCs (one had mobo and no PSU, the other had PSU and no mobo... both lacking HDDs and one even the ODD)
2x Athlon II X2/X4 HP/Compaq desktops, mostly complete (one even had an HDD)
1x C2D Compaq desktop, complete
2x i3/i5 Dell Studio XPS cases from (motherboards were missing from both, along with just about everything else - even the side panels )
1x fairly modern Dell Optiplex with an i5 motherboard (I think CPU is still in there too). It's case has been cut and sawed pretty badly, though - someone didn't have a screwdriver, perhaps??
And the best for last: an old socket 7 PC with Biostar M5ALA motherboard and AMD K6-2 450. It's all installed in a sturdy, quality-made beige case, branded NYCE (yes, it really is nice! ). Made in the USA too.

I think that's it, more or less. Might have missed a desktop or two. Also got a box of AM2/775/115x -compatible stock heatsinks - there's maybe 6 or 7 of them complete, plus some spare 92 mm fans.

Not bad this time, eh?

The guy also had a big box of scrap laptops. I think I mentioned that, but I really don't know what to do with those. I suppose for someone who repairs and/or refurbs laptop boards, this could be a goldmine, as there were all sort of parts in there.

Athlon II Motherboards can take easily the Phenom X III , and you'll have a superior system . Trust me on this .

Welp, most of those PCs say they have Athlon II X4, which is quite decent in itself.

I have now like 20 to 30 similar laptops , and yes , it would be non environmental and non economical to throw em this way if they're still capable .

Could probably sell them incomplete to a "lower-tier" repair shop for them to fix up and sell so you don't waste time doing that. Anything is better than parts sitting in boxes. I have one too many myself already.

MI had a rush on old and cheap laptops with under 200 $ budget , and frankly , they are more robust and reliable for business than the new ones .

Yeah, some of the new 2015/2016/2017 -made laptops are real sad built quality. Starting with the flat-pack Lithium batteries, you'd be lucky to get more than 2 years out of that before the battery bulging and cracking the case open. Macbooks are the best when it comes to that.

Yep , we should call it the "Sleeping princess symptom " , lol

Well, in America, we like to make and use acronyms for everything - it makes us look more professional, even when we have no clue what we are talking about.
So maybe we can call this battery SPS?

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

2x P4/C2D -era Dell Dimension E5xx desktops (E510/E520/E530 or something along those lines)... these have really nice cases

They are nice cases, too bad they're the now dead BTX form-factor, so there aren't any modern motherboards that will fit (at least without significant modifications).


My recent cheap scores:

A Pentax K1000 with a 50mm f/2 lens, 135mm f/2.5 lens, and Pentax AF160 flash for $16:


A Pentax Spotmatic with a 55mm f/1.8 lens for $10:


and something a little more modern a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS25 (16MP, water-proof to 7M) for $11:


Lenovo T500 with a Core2Duo T9900 for $26:


Pioneer CLD-V2400 Laser Disc Player for $7.50:

[goodpsusearch]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

@momaka great scores! Will keep you busy for a couple of days which is great too!

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just ordered this:
https://www.banggood.com/HILDA-100V-...p-1169249.html

because dremel's are too bulky and powerfull to do precision pcb work.
hopefully this will be easier to use precisely.

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

ewaste guy strikes again!
someone boxed up and dropped off the entire contents of a sk hamshack.
he intercepted the load and moved it to his truck.
same day he got a marantz 2270.he had wanted one of that series since he was 12!
and a few days before he told me he grabbed one of those weird computer box things you always have on your benches.
that is a swi m2 box.
the ham stuff is a jumble of stuff but there are 3 restorable hf rigs.
one of which is a kenwood ts-830.it still looks new.
cleaning and recapping the marantz this weekend.
it "worked" but sounded flat and dead.and smoker shit filthy.
most caps were very high esr.i think the grunge protected it as it is cleaning up nicely.
much of what he sees is scrap but a few gems roll through now and again.

[kc8adu]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

interesting.i use battery dremels for fine work.
the versapak "wizard" is handy and the minimite.
often nearly free at yardsales with dead battery packs.
easy to rebuild with 4 aa nimh and the versapaks with 18650.

just ordered this:
https://www.banggood.com/HILDA-100V-...p-1169249.html

because dremel's are too bulky and powerfull to do precision pcb work.
hopefully this will be easier to use precisely.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Make a thread in the motherboard section??
I'll take desktop motherboard troubleshooting any day over a laptop board.

Not worth it. I already scrapped the board - looks like it's ASUS Sudden Death Syndrome.

Unrelated, but I might be leaving on a trip next week, and just spotted a Deer case and PSU combo machine (w/ a MSI 865PE Neo2-LS and FX5600! ) that I might snag if it still is up for sale and nobody gets it. It's just too cool, with the thermal sensors and all. Probably going to rebuild the Deer PSU inside it as well, just to keep the retro theme it has. I have enough parts to make it up to par. Alternatively, I might just buy some mediocre full-size Linkworld, recap it and upgrade the components (I have an true ERL-35 transformer and a ridiculously thick output torroid out of an dud Sun Pro just waiting to be used, not to mention some NIIICE STMicro 13009s along with a pair of thick Kaisen heatsinks) and then, to make it funny, slap it all inside some 2007 Premier (DEER!) casing.

I also have a Pentium 4 HT 3GHz CPU for that, so why not take a shot at it?

Other than that, latest buy of today were a cheap 30W chinese soldering iron and a Stealth-chipped PSone slim w/ controller and a cut up AV cable that I'll repair (although I already have a Hama and a original cable, both in good shape) tomorrow. The console works, just needed a good cleaning and have its laser calibrated. I actually bought the soldering iron because I need it for fine soldering (PS2 modchips come to mind) and my other soldering iron is too powerful for that.

[Curious.George]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Dang!
That is some serious hardware. Where are those dumpsters you go to?

We process "discards" (regular maintenance cycles) from local businesses, etc. Usually, with an eye towards putting the kit back into service (i.e., furnishing classrooms in disadvantaged areas, third world countries, etc.).

The T7400's are behemoths so there is little use for them; much prefer smaller desktop (SFF/USFF) boxes with "generic" capabilities (e.g., a single disk plus optical, motherboard video and network connection).

By contrast, I stuff a few TB into each box, SCSI HBAs, motion controller, tablet, dual dual-head video, etc.