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.