This is why most of my older stuff went away. I could do the same work on a raspberry Pi for less power. And with my hackish mini rack they take much less space

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/n...h_KIMG0433.jpg

The only old keepers now for me are a couple old laptops and the Amiga 2000

Look at something like rysnc or similar and setup a scheduled sync from one pc to another. This way you have a backup.

I went one step furthur and setup owncloud on one so I can backup my phone/tablet as well.
So one system acts as the cloud server where all the others sync to. Then all my important data is copied across multiple systems.

Today I found and donated 3 sacks of women's winter clothing and 3 pairs off women's shoes. Was rewarded with 2 USB mice, need to check and see if they are working, but they look awesome.

Edited to add: Tested all 3 mice I got recently just now. They all work fine. :)

Was wondering what the blue port on the sound card was far, came across this interesting link. The home page is also very helpful:
http://learning-about-computers.com/...ls/sound.shtml

Edited to add:
Setup the mic that came with the PC Headphones yesterday. Took a few attempts but figured it out. Now audio
recording via mic works on this PC. Thanks to dumpster diving and older PCs !!!

If you like an older OS, helps to make extra copies of it. Newer versions of the OS are slowly ending support for the older hardware and starting to support just the new hardware. Here is an example:

http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09609

My objective now is to figure out approx. who is throwing: what, when, where, how, any other related info and seasonal trends of ups and downs also. If it is really down and I know in advance then I can do other things, if it is going to be very up then I can take extra rest, be ready for more trips, create more storage space etc., All this has to be figured out approx. per building in the local area that I can cover. This will be very helpful instead of a trial and error each week. Also, if I get better PCs, then those less desirable can be given away.

I was advised that not much is thrown away during the holiday season. However, I feel otherwise, as folks get gifts buy new items on sale etc., they will tend to throw away the older less desirable stuff. Also, in winter they can't carry things far. However, time will tell, so far have never done this winter, will be interesting to see this time.

Shortwave radio is almost dead, so is most of the hardware that came with it.

Other older forms of radio communication have also died, here is one such example:
http://englishrussia.com/2016/10/30/...mer-greatness/

Of particular interest for this thread is all this older radio hardware lying around:
http://media.englishrussia.com/newpi...37a39_orig.jpg

With the end of analog radio both FM and AM and the full move to digital radio, most older radio hardware will become
obsolete.

Similarly, if there is a significant change in internet technology, it might make older PCs almost useless. Already, folks who used DOS OSes with older PCs are unable to use secure and flash web etc., So nothing if forever, helps to enjoy the older PCs as long as they last before they become museum relics.

An older P4 costs about 35 bucks with tax locally. If the power bill to operate it costs more annually than the cost of the PC, then chances are that folks will get rid of it. No wonder we see so many older PCs being discarded. The way around it is to use the PC only when needed for one or two hours a day, this will greatly reduce the power bill and also extend the life of the older PC. If one already has a pi or similar device, then the older PC can be used to compliment such a device.

A nice free bonus to grab. Helps to be careful with those older PCs:
http://www.warp2search.net/news/stor...cuecd_490.html

Homeless ManFinds 30,000 Bitcoins on Hard Drive in New York Dumpster ( https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/c...on_hard_drive/ )

The above proves what I said wrong just a few days ago about not being able to find hard drives in dumpster. However, I will assume that this is a very rare incident unless there is further proof to the contrary.

I don't know about power vs cost of the pc, its that the Pi uses 5W and and old PC quite a bit more.
I can't have my media/bittorrent/backup server up just a couple hours a day.

Security is vital these days, older PCs are less secure online. Have to admit this, considering the link below:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...ment-1.3823986

Thats not quite true. Older Windows OS's are less secure but just because the hardware (pc) is older doesn't mean it has to be less secure. You can still run a modern linux distro on an older pc and be just as secure as a modern pc.

I walked from 7:30 am to 11 am almost. Found:
1. lots of clothes, pans and other kitchen items
2. Other Misc. Items found: few office supplies, poor abstract art and a mop
all the above were donated.
3. A heavy cardboard pizza box, checked it and there were 5 slices of pepperoni pizza
threw them in a lawn in a park. Usually a lot of birds here are begging for food, mostly
pigeons and sea gulls. Also some squirrels. The sea gulls came, take a look and left.
Hope the squirrels eat them later. I did my small bit.
4. The first find of the day almost was a Paper Shredder, was not sure what it is, the top
part was heavy, took a few minutes to figure it out, got home and tried it, will not work
first as I had the top part in hand. I placed the top part on the plastic base as it is supposed
to be kept and it worked flawlessly. Good find, glad I picked it up.
This is the Paper Shredder:
http://www.royalsovereign.com/royal-...-shredder.html
It runs but doesn't shred. Tried the below and it didn't help:
https://www.documentdynamix.com.au/h...oting-guide/#9
Good experience with a paper shredder, no wonder it was tossed in garbage, perhaps will keep
the bin and throw the top part for recycling. Also reflecting if it is worth opening the shredder to take a look inside before throwing, this is not a bad idea either.
Checked carefully, it appears that the motor is ok but something is wrong with the belt system as the rollers with the teeth on are not moving, no wonder it is not shredding. This was a start to figure out. There are no replacement belts for this paper shredder. Saw a review online, after a year that user faced the same issue. So best to trash this but use the plastic bin for light garbage.
5. Towards the end of my walk I saw a Sharp LCD monitor placed outside, it seems 17" or so, bit small so guess they discarded it. I decided to bring it home and give it a try, if not was going to open it for parts. It is working amazingly well, glad I picked it up. Been a nice day so far. :)) The LCD monitor seems to be touch sensitive, if I touch it, it is creating a finger print and also circles around it, will try to learn about this monitor later.

Edited to add Afternoon Finds:
6. Corsair TX750 PSU - tried to connect it to power directly and turn it on, doesn't work. Have to explore this. Seems almost new, wonder if it was a new purchase that turned out to be a lemon.
Need to try it more and see.
The PSU powers on a mobo fan and it runs, however the PSU fan itself doesn't spin, this seems to be the issue. Was told to try and see if the PSU can get a video output of the BIOS with the monitor connected, if this works then worth it to just replace the CPU fan and use this PSU.
Will reflect on this some before trying.
I tried connecting monitor to that PC and PSU, no video output, glad I tried this first before full install of the PSU. There is some dust webs inside this PSU now I see, also powerful capacitors inside it. Wonder if it is worth opening and taking some parts out of this PSU or best to just dump it in recycler, will reflect on this a bit again.
Not sure if the Mobo I tried this PSU on is working as it is a street find and original PSU on this doesn't even power on. So will keep this PSU for a bit more testing and see.
7. Wifi Modem/Router - Adapter was close by, so grabbed it, seems to power on ok.
8. Some small exercise equipment and a damaged bicycle pump found - these were donated.

The Corsair PSU has a slightly bigger fan than a normal PSU.
It also has a special screw head that goes inside and seems to need
something like an Allen Wrench, so kept this aside for now to
reflect on it.

The street abandoned Core2Duo PC was completely stripped. It has:
1. 120 Gb IDE HD that works
2. Floppy Drive
3. DVD writer
4. Number of screws
5. The case is very flimsy one of the panels is loose and it can't seem
to stay together. Need to get rid of this case ASAP. Glad I stripped
this PC.
6. The Motherboard - one of the wire pins on the 8 pin tiny socket broke and is
stuck in the plug. Hope this will not affect the Mobo Performance. I can try this
Mobo on the home built C2D as this has an inbuilt videocard.
Before full install, can try to just power on the mobo directly and see if the video
video output works, if it does then it is all good to setup.
then, I will have one working PC out of this process.
Will reserve this for the future.
7. Fans - Got a PSU fan and a case fan from this PC.
The PSU fan can be tried on the PSU of the P4 that needs
a good fan, if it works, then this gives me another working PC.
Can try to just twist the PSU fan wires first to see if it works.
If it does, then can just put duct tape on top of the wires.
I don't have soldering iron yet, if I get one then I can solder it well.

All these things are good more as a hobby. Can fix 10 PCs max. this way, so it is 7
more. After that, it looses purpose. Collecting monitors also looses purpose as they are
big, can't keep any more of them safely in my tiny apt. If others don't want them and
those who already have these continue to throw them, then I can't save every piece
of hardware. So have to know where to draw the line.

First thing in the morning I threw the loose and the Paper shredder top part. Perhaps the case was loose as the sides were not screwed in. However still I was glad to get rid of it. Even on trip to recycling bin, the sides kept coming off. I got all the wires off the case, including those for the USB socket on the MB, was able to remove the board the USB socket was on also. So did my best, to get as much out of the case also as possible.

Now I wish my Midas touch goes away, I rather get cookies or cakes outside, atleast I can eat these. Ha ha.
If I can find good use for these older PCs then they can keep on coming, hope I am lead to assist others with them, otherwise I will just have to accept that they are not needed and move on. Now there are talks of war:
http://englishrussia.com/2016/10/27/...ssia-9-photos/
War means economic strains and folks will cut back on spending, this means a chance to return to older PCs. Also, this may seem strange but several defense related stuff still use older PC stuff.

I also feel that I might have to get rid of my P2 PC or upgrade it atleast at this rate. It is the IBM Aptiva that lead me to start this thread. It served me very well for 7 years or so and still works well. I learned a lot about simple living, linux etc., when I had it. I might have to recycle the case and a few parts but I feel emotional attachment to this PC and breaks my heart to have to do this. I have to reflect on the fact that this PC is not my past, it is just metal case and the parts inside, so better to put them all to good use when possible and then recycle the rest. If needed, I can recycle the top of the case also for an extended feeling, will reflect more and see in this regard. Recycling it is in effect using it effectively.

Here is a very nice article about moving your computer off grid and the use for older hardware:
http://www.survivopedia.com/moving-y...uter-off-grid/

I just removed the mobo of my PCU early morning today by removing the screws and cutting away all the wires attached to it with a pair of scissors, took a while but am glad to have this Mobo as it has some nice capacitors. Must be more careful in future considering how the above site warns about high voltage capacitors in the PSU, I read the voltage on the big ones, it says 200V, certainly not something to be playing around with.

I finally got an afternoon free today (last week was hectic) so I decided to start a project I've had on my mind for some time. I have a very old PC upstairs that I use as a print server; my printer is an antique with a parallel connector so it won't connect to Bigboy, which doesn't have any legacy ports. There's neither ethernet nor telephone wiring upstairs so files for printing currently have to be transferred on a memory stick. Of course, without Internet access, the software running on it is equally archaic. But recently a wifi dongle came into my possession and I have confirmed that it works on that machine. So I decided to install an up-to-date AntiX where the old AntiX is (sda4), get rid of the other partitions and put a big "dump" partition in their place, and then set it up as an nfs server.

That way I could still use it for printing, but I could also dump compressed filesystems from Bigboy directly onto the remotely mounted dump partition. That would encourage me to do regular backups, which is something I've been rather careless about. And of course any files for printing could go temporarily onto the same partition.

So I put the current AntiX installation image onto a stick and I finally tried it out today. And guess what? That computer can't be made to boot from USB. It's not on the boot menu; network and PXE (and even diskette!) are there, but not USB. I went into the bios to see if I could fix the menu, but you can only change the device order. You can't add anything. So I am going to have to burn a CD to do my installation, and then wait for the next free afternoon.

It's fun improvising with old hardware but sometimes it's a pain!

@rvijay: I used to have an Aptiva. Does yours have a separate media box like mine did?

Nope, no media box on this one. HD was real small like 3Gigs or so.

You can use a bootable floppy to boot from USB if I recall, look on net for this.

Yes, you can use a GRUB floppy, if you have one. But I don't have GRUB on that machine; it boots with LILO. And, as I don't have a diskette drive on my main box, I can't create any floppies there. I feel that if I have to burn a GRUB CD, I might as well burn an AntiX one and be done with it. Or maybe I could do something with my SystemRescue CD. I'm just looking that up now.

I would recommend you try out PXE boot. I have a simplified How-To, for a normal diskless bootup system, but it's even easier if you just want to PXE boot a canned installer image.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-jessie-37169/

Once you have set up PXE, life becomes a lot easier with supporting older computers. USB boot is, as you have already discovered, hit and miss. It's even a non-starter with USB1.1 speeds. CD-ROM is flakey...I have tons and tons of bad CD-ROM drives which no longer mechanically work reliably enough to boot an install disc, and maybe 1 or 2 that do work (maybe? hard to say without trying). Swapping the hard drive works if you've got a working computer with a PATA interface...do you? And then there's older laptops with their 2.5" PATA drives, or even 1.8" PATA drives (good luck having the right connector for them!).

But PXE? Most motherboards with built in ethernet can boot PXE, and my experience is that it tends to still work even if the USB and/or PATA interface hardware is flaking out. PXE boot isn't a cure-all, but it sure is a nice convenient tool to have once you've got it set up.

If you don't want to mess around with your LAN's DHCP service etc, you can set up a laptop for it. The laptop connects to your main LAN via wifi, and you set up a different subnet for the ethernet connection. You simply connect an ethernet line between the laptop and the other computer you're working on. The laptop only acts as DHCP/tftp/nfs server on the ethernet line, leaving the rest of the LAN unaffected.

Wow, this stuff is heavy for me. Thanks for sharing this, never heard of PXE boot.

General Note:
I have shared a lot here, but it is scattered and I don't recall all of it. Compared to other folks into older PCs such as winworldpc.com and linux bbq etc., I am like a baby barely learning to suck my thumb. There is so much pouring in inregards to older PCs that it is almost becoming like work. It is more fun if I can keep it as a puzzle and hobby. However, with discovering so much older hardware on the street, it is hard not to. I wish to take a few days off from this thread and will be really glad when I can do that.

Few interesting older PC related ISOs. Just heard about these today:

Heard of this term today, Docker Container:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software)
An OS that helps run Docker Containers:
http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09620

New OS from abandoned Unix Project, OpenIndiana:
http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=09621

A Nice Limited OS for older PCs 4MLinux:
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=4mlinux

Antix
http://distrowatch.com/index.php?dis...h=all&year=all

Edited to add:
I decided to get all the above. First DL failed, will try again later. 4MLinux DL is very slow and said will take like 2 hours almost, perhaps many are getting it.
Tried again, the RancherOS site needed a security cert. for my browser to be accepted before the DL started.

It is better to try in advance and keep a few OS/software options for use with Older PC. Same with hardware also, be prepared with extra parts in advance for emergencies. It appears that the Blank CD media will be short in supply and hard to find in the future due to decreased demand. Stocking up on at least some of these is a good idea.

Being unprepared with an older PC, having a vital task to do with a deadline, having things go wrong, specially hardware failure etc., is like going alone into an abandoned mine and falling down a dark, damp, rocky mine shaft with no cell phone coverage. There is no need to corner oneself like this.

I might even try just pencil and paper writing to avoid older PCs if it gets very demanding. Have done this before and found it peaceful.

Today is local recycling day. Finding so many IT related items is getting to be demanding a bit, hate to throw them but they are also causing clutter. Have to manage this well. One thing about this is, if one gets enough stuff, blocks exits etc., and then a City Official notes it, then they can be fined for hoarding as this is also a fire hazard, if the issue is not rectified in a reasonable amount of time and/or repeated then the person can be sued, fined and even evicted. Not worth facing that due to old metal boxes that are not worth much. If it is getting close to it, then better to get rid of excess stuff in advance ASAP. Must not forget this as at this rate, every two months or so I am coming across an old PC on the street.

Today's Finds:
1. Router Modem without power adapter
2. Wifi Router without power adapter
3. 2 Case fans and a CPU fan
4. Sata PSU not sure if it works
5. DVD writer Sata
6. USB Keyboard
7. Mobo without ram, processor and some pins on socket bent
8. CD Jewel Cases
9. Cables Phone, net and a special monitor cable for graphics card
10. A very special ASUS graphics card with 2 fans on it
https://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/...CII_OC2DI1GD5/
This Card needs its own power, it consumes a lot of power
https://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/...pecifications/
11. Few winter clothes for women and a nice pair of shoes that were donated.
12. Nice French Cookbooks.
13. Old CD Walkman, 3 Cassette Tapes and few cheap paints - All were donated.

Basically I had to take the DVD writer and the screws out of the abadoned case, the parts were
thrown around. Someone had taken the ram, HD, processor and abandoned the rest. I was basically
thinking I will find one PC every 2 months in one of my previous posts about clutter and
abandoned PCs. If I keep finding stuff like I am doing now daily, then in one week or so, I will
be done. Need to think of something fast and creative. One thing is to just discard things that don't work.

Edited to add:
The Mobo had some dirty areas that were cleaned, it is an ASUS P7P550,
but it has several missing pins where the case and from USB etc., are connected.
Also, some pins in the CPU socket are bent, have to try to unbend them later.
Tried unbending them with a tooth pick, worked for some.
I was told that if all the pins are not ok, then it will not work. So, this is a good
Mobo to try stuff on for testing and practice. If it works, then good, otherwise it is
fine also. This is a procedure for future when needed.
This Mobo doesn't have an inbuilt graphics card and so needs a PCIE graphics card.
Not sure if I will ever get to use this Mobo, will keep and reflect for a while.
This helps to understand the mobo wiring:
http://www.build-your-own-computer.n...er-wiring.html

The fans were all easy to clean under water but some water might have entered the center, will allow them to dry. The router needs 9V adapter, so will keep a look out for different adapters now
also need to check mA not just volt. Can buy a multi volt adapter if needed.
Just tested the USB KB I got today,it works fine also.
Only things to test are the SATA PSU and the DVD writer.
Appears someone busy upgraded their home IT setup, grabbed a few items they know to be good and
then discarded the rest. Space is an issue,specially in studio apartments.

Are you the local trash picker?

I need some 3.5" floppies for my Amiga if you run across any :)

Good Question, local trash pickers are paid and collect all stuff, they are busy and can't choose. Not seen any media so far. Reminds me, today was rare, got few cassette tapes that were donated promptly. Also donated were a CD walkman with no headphones and some cheap paints.

Recall I got a p4 on street few weeks ago, the PSU fan used to stop after some time ? Today I figured out how to oil the PSU fan and did it, there was a small black dot in its center that had to be removed. Once this was removed, it was easy to oil
the fan. It was quite dry insides and no wonder it was stopping often before. Some dust inside the case was also wiped out. The PSU fan, PSU were all installed back in. Testing now for 2 hours to see if the PC stays on. So far, the PSU fan is spinning quite well, this is impressive. Will update later.

This PC doesn't have a case fan, so it was getting hot. Oiled and will install a case fan now:
http://superuser.com/questions/78441...ans-be-mounted
From above site the airflow must be out wards and not inwards. Will try all this and update later on the outcomes.

Edited to add:
This PC passed the 2 hours test. Infact I fell asleep and it was on for 3.5 hours approx. was still working fine.
So am glad.

The floppy drive isn't working, the floppy I inserted was not read but there is no hard drive on this PC, the KB, Monitor and mouse were also not connected. Hence, have to try again and check its connections also later. Will reserve this for the future.

Trying to access distrowatch.com on seamonkey browser gives 403 forbidden error.
However, distrowatch.com loads ok with Dillo. Found this related link:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1876916

Tried to change the user agent string as per the steps below:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...ey/X9nZR0ZtDcc

However, it didn't help, issue still exists.

Here is a link that explains the user agent string for my browser:
http://useragentstring.com/index.php?id=19564

Any help would be appreciated.
Tx in advance.

What would be really awesome is to create a network of local folks who like, share and support the use of older PCs locally.
Atleast about 10 such active local contacts would be awesome.

A good long term goal for me is to learn something about older computers every week or two weeks specially in regards to OSes and software for them. Then in 6 months to a year I will have a stronger base to fall back on, in regards to older computers when the need arises. Buying CPU paste, getting familiar with soldering, knowing to use a multimeter etc., are some good longterm older PC hardware related goals. It is impossible to find unwanted media for older PCs in recycling bins. So best to buy them in advance, specially when one sees them on sale.

Update on SATA PSU find yesterday:
Opened and cleaned it insides some dust.
Oiled the fan, it was quite dry.
Then tried it, it works, so this is what it probably needed.

IBM Net Vista Former Street find
All this was done just for practice.
Cleaned the CPU fan and oiled it. Cleaned the CPU heat sink.
Quite some dust.
Opened and cleaned the PSU fan, not much dust.
The PSU fan is one solid unit so can't be oiled,
it spins ok on its own.
The PSU is full dead, this PC doesn't power on at all.
Perhaps time to accept the losses on this one and take
what I can from it. Will reflect on this for future.

It is dark, rainy and gloomy here today. Hardly anything outside,
any IT stuff thrown outside today will be much later. If I get
any scores today, will share here later.

Here is a question for all readers here:
Where do you dump all your unwanted older SMALLER hardware
like USB drives, floppy drives, hard drives, tablets,
cell phones, netbooks, laptops, ereaders etc., ?
Thanks for your helpful responses in advance.

Just for info: I burned an AntiX CD on Bigboy yesterday. I booted Oldboy from that just now and it went perfectly, at least as far as the command line. I don't get proper graphics because for some reason it insists on using the VESA driver, which doesn't work on that Intel video chip, but that's a trivial problem. After I've installed, I can fix things so that it uses intel.drv instead. But I'm not going to do an installation in the evening, when I'm tired. That's a recipe for screwing things up.

One of the first things I'll do when I've installed and got wifi working will be to download a GRUB floppy image and put it on a diskette for future use. Then in the case of future installs, I'll be able to boot usb drives indirectly.

The screws on the Corsair TX750 PSU are just weird, nothing I have will fit it.
Then noticed that the fan middle is partially outside. Removed the label
and this PSU fan is fully enclosed and well sealed, so no way to oil it.

Came across this thread here that says this PSU must heat up before it starts
to function. This is interesting will try to learn a bit more about this,
watch videos and read related reviews to learn more:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...air-tx750.html

I googled the PSU earlier and it's a $200 (or more) PSU -- so if I were you I would be careful or worry where it was stolen from.

Good point. Most of the good items found in trash don't work, keeping this in mind greatly helps to avoid disappointment.
Just read the manual, it says there are no user serviceable parts inside and not to open it. So it is bricked well. Will look at it as a puzzle and reflect on it for a few days. If I can't think of anything else, then will just recycle it.

It has got very powerful capacitors inside, so one has to be super careful. The only thing I can think of for now is to try connecting it to another PC known to work well and see if it powers on well, if not then it is toast. Sometimes, there is only so much one can do and it is best to accept losses and move on.

Edited to add:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcjSDgE3V0
In the above video, the user removes the PSU screws easily. It is a different model of Corsair
PSU but still interesting to see. One thing is that, the type of screw driver bit used is not mentioned.

Lesson learned from this product is that if it is too good to be true, then it most likely is junk.

The above post made me reflect more. A working used P4 locally goes on sale sometimes for 35 bucks with tax locally. One can also see an offer for a P4 via local freecycle every 3 months or so. Most of the posts here are about P4 PCs. So, in terms of money, this entire thread falls apart and crumbles, it looses its purpose.

I spoke with a local janitor recently who informed me that folks just throw away stuff when they have to move or get new stuff etc., Most people are busy and don't have time to repair, mess with older stuff. So, all the efforts here are based more out of interest in older PCs and related items discarded by others. Even in terms of the cost of the power consumption of these P4s as well as in terms of the cost of the time that goes into the efforts here this thread again crumbles and looses meaning. This thread holds good mainly for recycling, personal interest, retro learning and hobby efforts.

[please delete] - Replied to wrong thread. Sorry!

[please delete] - Whoops, replied to wrong thread. Sorry!

Just curious. For those that have a grub floppy disk. Does it boot usb off a pcmcia card that has usb ports on it?
For those oldy laptops with no usb ports. I have and use PLOP floppy disks and Smart Boot manager floppy disks and
was just wondering if anyone had 1st hand real world experience with booting a linux live usb off of pcmcia adapter
card.

Right now. I am in the process of checking these out.

http://schierlm.users.sourceforge.net/bootdisk/
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/SG...b2_Disk_Floppy.
http://www.siski.de/~chris/bootgrub.html
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/pcmcia.html
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Instal..._PCMCIA_device
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/CompactFlash_boot_drive

My trouble is. I always bite off more than I can chew, kinda like rivjay. When it comes to tinkering.

I hope I didn't discourage you too much and, yes, the PSU may just have some trivial fault that somebody threw it out for -- they may, even, have had it replaced free of charge, because of some minor fault, without having to return it.
I am just one of those overly-cautions people for whom a free specialist PSU seems a bit odd.

You were amazing in your post. If just the folks with same view point responded here there will be no growth. Glad you shared your views and please continue to do so.

The fault might be easy to repair for an expert but I will be sincere, if I opened this Cortex PSU I do not know what I am getting into. That youtube video says the same, if you are not sure then just don't do it. I can take a chance with lesser voltage but not with such high voltages. One another similar project is opening a microwave, it also has dangerous capacitors I am not sure how to follow the related safety precautions and let us face the facts frankly the risk is not worth the return.

A PSU project is much safer than a microwave one -- if you mess up with a PSU then you could, at worst, cause a fire but if you try to repair a microwave you could expose yourself and anyone around to the radiation for as long as you use the device.
Energy from capacitors needs to be respected but if you take lots of precautions you will be fine -- they're not all that dangerous because they're very predictable.

The power supply might have a nice big resistor you can use to make a tool to discharge caps/crt's.

Thanks for sharing this. Learning basic electronics, getting a soldering iron etc., are long term future projects for me. Space is also a factor. However, in this case it appears I need to buy additional special screw drivers to open this PSU, so in terms of personal recycling it is one of the most challenging projects for me.

Thanks for your encouragement. I am forced to try and get more practical due to space and time limitations. The chances of me finding such a PSU again are very slim, even if repaired it consumes too much power, appears it is for gaming and I am not a gamer. So learning to open such an odd screw is not worth the return. Also, in regards to getting a soldering iron and learning basic electronics, I haven't come across a capacitor that has gone bad and needed replacement. So, unless I come across a few boards with bad capacitors, will not be learning this also. My interest operates in a small comfort zone and I have to define its borders. Even in this small zone, I am getting too much and can share with others. If a consistent need arises in the future, then I will learn more but for now my hands are full.

Thanks for this update. Please share the specifications of this PC, will be helpful to know.

Thanks for this post, the older PCs I have only 2 USB ports and this is rather limiting, my future wish is to get pcmcia cards with USB ports. Atleast like 2 or 3 of them will be good.

It is evident that understanding my full limitations with abandoned older PCs and IT hardware is vital at this point. So will try and list them as best as possible:
1. Weather - As and when the Canadian winter starts, the roads are snow covered and slippery. Not the best time to haul in older desktops that have been exposed to that cold weather outside, they also increase the chance of my slipping and related serious injury.
2. Space limitations: I can take in 2 desktops more under great strain perhaps, 2 or 3 medium sized bags of PC related accessories but not more than that.
3. Time: Life is not just about abandoned older PCs and their related hardware. So I need to put a time limit on spending time with older hardware. Perhaps 5 hours a week or so seems reasonable. Also, with time all this hardware will become useless if I don't keep updated on related software and OSes for older PCs. So another 5 hours a week for this perhaps, this will be a gradual and steady effort.
4. CPU paste - not worth buying this unless a real need for this becomes evident, so far have not seen a need for this.
5. Logic - stop having a mental funeral for every abandoned piece of hardware, things break down have served their useful life well and it is time for them to be recycled. Accepting this gives peace.

Now, to try and put these basic limitations and logic into practice. Thanks all for your support.

Opened my present computer, cleaned all fans and oiled them.
1. PSU fan - this is soldered to PCB with something else glued on to it strongly, unable to remove it fully, so cleaned
blades etc from outside as best as possible and oiled the center with a q tip gently. The black dot that covers the center
was moved away and came off, hard to put it back but this is ok.
2. CPU fan - unable to release this fan from the heat sink via its clip. So cleaned the bottom side of the blades with a
tooth pick as best as possible and oiled it in center well.
3. Case fan - Lots of dust on it and towards the case, felt really sad to see this. cleaned all this well and oiled the center well. Sometimes this fan is making a crackling noise after cleaning, getting lesser with time.

Here is a related link:
https://www.lifewire.com/fix-a-compu...-noise-2624890

Edited to add:
The CPU fan has a clip like in this link:
https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/CPU_Replacement

Spilled some precious mineral oil on the floor inadvertently as I incorrectly held the tiny open bottle with mineral oil.
Quite a bit was wasted. Opened the front panel of the case and cleaned dust here. Also opened the case behind the mobo and cleaned all dust in this area as well. Dropped screw driver over mobo due to slippery fingers from the mineral oil and it fell hard, luckily no big damage was done. All this was badly needed and was glad to get all this done today. The confidence for this came from all my recent fan oiling efforts with the other PCs.

Also, pleased to report that the floppy drive is working ok again on this PC after all connections were verified for proper fit.