best cheap/free scores 1.1

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

just a little precision m6300 update....the battery life is about 3hrs +/- 30 minutes...better than I expected.

Nice... My D630 gets about 3-4 hours... and that is a battery with 10% wear (it was NOS).

Good scores BTW...

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got some cool stuff yesterday from work:

- A Dell Precision 210 (dual Slot 1 Pentium III motherboard, 1x 500 MHz Pentium III, 768 MB of RAM, and 32 MB Riva TNT video card) - I will be giving that to a friend of mine, though. It's one hell of a tough system. Has a 330 W Newton PSU rated for 35A on the 5V rail, 14A on the 12V rail and 14A on the 3.3V rail (with combined rating of the 3.3V and 5V rails at 235 W !!!).

- 64 MB CF card. This is going to make a nice upgrade for my camera (right now I have an 8 MB card in it).

- 4x 256 MB desktop DDR RAM (most likely PC2700) for a total of 1 GB.

Also, I recently saw on the local Craigslist here some Pentium 4 Shuttle computers (2 to 2.6 GHz Northwood cores) with 1 GB of RAM for $20 each. Is this a good deal? I'm assuming most if not all have cap problems. Owner says they all have some sort of issues (no ethernet, no boot, etc.). If I were to resell these, how much could I get back. I know the market for Pentium 4 is not so great ATM, but I'm counting on the fact that those are small Shuttle computers that people will find appealing. Any ideas?

[retiredcaps]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Also, I recently saw on the local Craigslist here some Pentium 4 Shuttle computers (2 to 2.6 GHz Northwood cores) with 1 GB of RAM for $20 each. Is this a good deal? I'm assuming most if not all have cap problems. Owner says they all have some sort of issues (no ethernet, no boot, etc.). If I were to resell these, how much could I get back.

On my local kijiji, I see many P4s (range from 2.4 to 3.0Ghz) with 1GB, 80GB hard disk, Windows XP, for $30 or so. Some people ask $50, but their ads are months old and get few views.

For you to buy at $20, spend another $10 to $15 in caps for the motherboard and power supply, and test everything, IMHO, is a losing proposition. AND that is it is an "easy" fix. No one will pay or appreciate that the recapped boards are all high quality Japanese caps. This is especially true for the bottom fishers who are solely shopping based on lowest possible price.

My advice is to pass on this deal and invest your hard earned cash in something else.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The shuttles don't resale well but after a recap of both the PSU and the Mobo, they can be pretty slick... I have one with an ATI chipset, Radeon x1300 GPU, and a P4 HT 2.8ghz Northwood... For $20 they make good HTPCs at the least.

The amount of RAM is a huge plus... mine has 512mb, which SUCKS. I used to have some PC3200 1gb sticks but they were traded awhile back. If the ram in the units for sale is good (PC3200), they may be worth it just for the RAM inside if the unit was not economicly repairable.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If the ram in the units for sale is good (PC3200), they may be worth it just for the RAM inside if the unit was not economicly repairable.

That's what I was thinking too. Considering they have 2 RAM slots only, they either have 2x 512 MB or 1x 1 GB. The only actual reason I don't want to get them is because I'm trying to limit on bringing more computer stuff in my room (especially bulky ones). Need to unload some.
...
Speaking of which, I just found a 19" Philips 190S5 LCD monitor left next to a trash can in my neighborhood. I didn't want to take it, but considering it will go *crunch* in the dump truck tomorrow, I felt that saving it is the right thing to do. Plus, it isn't as bulky as an old computer. Monitor works but backlight turns off immediately. Not bad caps or bad CCFLs... Will dig more into it later this week/month.

By the way, I forgot to mention that I also got a Dell QuietKey keyboard from work the last time. Just need to wash it cause it's dirty. Has nice clicky keys (not sure why Dell decided to call it QuietKey ). It will replace a slightly more newer Dell keyboard on one of my computers since that one isn't as clicky.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I bet the LCD monitor has a transistor/transformer issue... Lucky you finding it... The only trashed monitors around here are dead CRTs...

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I bet the LCD monitor has a transistor/transformer issue...

Might be a traffo issue. Transistors are 2 pairs of AO4600 FETs in push-pull config (i.e. not the old Mr. Royer Oscillator) and they are good. Traffo has only a single output so not sure what is going on, though. I'll probably start a new thread when I get to it. Gotta take care of some other stuff in my pending pile first. Still have 2 more Radeon 9700's that need a reflow (one was reflowed already but still won't work). I'm now down to 4/8 fixed ^_^ . For ~$70 back in 2006, I think that was a pretty good deal. Considering I used one of the Radeons to fix a few other things (3 LCD monitors among that).

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Still have 2 more Radeon 9700's that need a reflow

I didn't know something that old had issues requiring reflowing

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The other day I found the proper power brick for my gateway Solo 2150 for $1.50. It also had an in-line APC surge protector...

Today I picked up an external HDD enclosre with a 40gb Seagate Barracuda ATA IV (Dell OEM version) inside for $4.99 The enclosure was beat up and missing parts, but aside from some bad sectors (109 + 25 pending) and some broken plastic on the molex connector, the drive is fine... I've been hurting for desktop HDDs, especially SATA ones (I do have uses for PATA drives).

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today I picked up an external HDD enclosre with a 40gb Seagate Barracuda ATA IV (Dell OEM version) inside for $4.99 The enclosure was beat up and missing parts, but aside from some bad sectors (109 + 25 pending) and some broken plastic on the molex connector, the drive is fine...

Yeah, no worries. My 40 GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV has 94 bad sectors and 16000 power-on hours but is stable as a rock. Also have another 40 GB Seagate - this one is a laptop SATA drive with 1747 bad sectors and 1676 pending. It's been stable like that for a while now as well.

I didn't know something that old had issues requiring reflowing

My guess would be they all overheated and that's why they died. The GPU chip is also very large so that makes the BGA more vulnerable to board flexing. At least it's leaded solder.

[Wester547]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Yeah, no worries. My 40 GB Seagate Barracuda ATA IV has 94 bad sectors and 16000 power-on hours but is stable as a rock. Also have another 40 GB Seagate - this one is a laptop SATA drive with 1747 bad sectors and 1676 pending. It's been stable like that for a while now as well.

I could be wrong on this, but one reason why Barracuda ATA IVs easily amassed reallocated sectors -might- be because, in all their infinite wisdom, Seagate saw fit to hinder the heat output of the drive by installing the second rendition of "SeaShield" over the PCB - or that piece of rubber and heat insulator called "SeaShield". I don't know how much it affects the temperature of the platters but I do know that it makes the PCB itself much hotter (I mean 45-50C hot when the hard drive itself is 10-15C cooler, judging by how hot the PCB end of the drive felt to touch... by contrast, a ST3120026A I have that doesn't have SeaShield does not feel hot in that area at all, at the same temperatures). I honestly don't know how much this affects the life of the platters but I do know it doesn't help and probably expedites the process of worn platters. Technically speaking, you could just screw that thing off when first you had a Barracuda ATA IV, but after so many on/off and heat/cold cycles, and after so much power on time, I don't even know if it'd come off without compromising the drive (I imagine it must have hardened by then).

Unfortunate Seagate did that because in my experience those were some of the most quiet and long lasting drives ever. They were some of the last Barracudas to support AAM, which was nice.

As for the Momentus and its massive amount of bad sectors that you have, I heard that people "throw" around the drives at your work, literally, so no surprise it's found in that condition. :P

And BGA RAM (as well as RAM without ramsinks by default)/core chips are not the only threat to R300 boards. The yellow gunk ATI installed as "thermal paste" by default does not handle heat well over time and hardens (doing away with heat transfer), which is sad, as momaka has said before. Of course, you could replace the stock thermal paste, but just pointing.

But wouldn't a large PCB for a GPU be better than a small one (that gives allowance for a better cooled board, right?)? At least on some level.

[mockingbird]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I found one of these today:

Back-UPS VS-500


I'm curious, it states that the output maximum is 325W, what does this mean?

The innards are pretty impressive... Circa 2001 SMT stuff, two Panny NHG caps on the secondary but a "B&H" input cap... Only now are some MFGs catching onto this trick - using Chinese input caps (Which last long), and good Jap caps for the secondary.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a 1 liter bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol the other day for just $0.99 (Micro Center close out). Took me a while to find it in the store. Bottle wasn't full - probably why it was marked as a close-out item. Nonetheless, it's still 3/4 full. That's still 750 mL for $1 - quite a good deal IMO. I was running out of it too.

They also had a 25' roll of 18 AWG stranded wire for $0.01, but I couldn't find it . Seems to be gone from their stock too when I checked afterwards.

But wouldn't a large PCB for a GPU be better than a small one (that gives allowance for a better cooled board, right?)? At least on some level.

Better cooling - yes. But it also gives the GPU PCB a larger area to flex over - and that's not good for the BGA. That combined with the heat from the crappy yellow gunk is what is killing these R300 and R360 -based video cards IMO. They are all fixable with a reflow, though. Leaded solder too, so it's easier.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up an apparently working Dell E153FPb with a (not compatible) AS501 Sound Bar attached for $2.

1024x768 is kinda small for me but for my mom it's perfect and the 17" Emachines CRT she was pushing was a time bomb IMHO. Even after a recap and transformer resolder, for $2, It was a steal.

As for the sound Bar, Stay tuned...

[Agent24]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

As for the sound Bar, Stay tuned...

Is that a pun?

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Is that a pun?

Maybe...

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

So far the monitor is working well... I replaced two 1000uf 16V caps but left the rest (didn't have the caps in stock). I also re-soldered the transformers, as this was indeed a Benq Unit.

[SuperDuty]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Last friday, I got four laptops from the keeper of the recycling center, he will give me all the ones he finds so I can get him one to work.
Here's the list :
- HP DV6 1120ef : Pentium Dual Core T4200, no ram, no HDD, HD4530, battery is there, no DVD, very good condition overall, but won't start when plugged with my Dell adapter. I'm trying to get an original adapter and a few parts for it.
- HP DV9000 : Athlon 64X2 TK-55, no ram, no HDD, no battery, excellent condition (still has the plastic protection on top of the screen lid), dead mobo with a big scratch on the board. Replaced it with a better mobo I've reflowed in the oven six month ago, and it works...for how long ? I've found someone who will give me a few parts to get a complete one.
- Acer Aspire 7004 : no RAM, no HDD, no battery, good condition, has a Sempron 3500+; Reflowed with my heat gun during only one minute, and it came back to life
- Asus A2500S : complete, Pentium 4 3.06Ghz, 512Mb, dead 60Gb IDE hard drive, Radeon 9600, must have been a good machine back then. No problem apart from the dead hard drive. It's the one I will give to the keeper, it's the most robust and the most reliable (it will be a garage laptop for checking docs, music and basic web browsing), I've found an adapter for it, I just need a decent HDD.

Also, last week I've found an Acer Aspire T120 that looked really bad, I tore it apart and found an Athlon XP3000+ under the heatsink My best Athlon XP right now.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I found a toshiba badged/denutted Avermedia m093 usb Atsc tuner for $1.50. Sadly, so far its been a paperweight under linux and win 7.

[walking]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Found a few flat screens 19" and smaller and working 98,XP & Vista comps. Usually one every 2-3 months or so. Ride a bike every morning and learned to take the 5 mile one way thru the alleys mostly. A lot of people upgrade and just set stuff out back for someone to find.

Best so far is a HP1720n dual core 1.86 & keyboard along with a 1815 MFC and a 19" widescreen.

My girlfriend saw some pickup dumping a bunch of junk into our dumpster so she went over to lock it and there was a birthday bag with $100 bill and a $300 gold necklace plastered with a pc of cake. I ate the cake, she got the $ and gold .