TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

RJDog wrote:

Co-worker was cleaning out his office, and this was behind some books on his bookshelf. Thats a good spot to put a laptop! Complete with proprietary power brick! I snatched it up pretty quick when he was disgusted with the age of the thing.

Looking up the model and part it was supposed to be a 900MHz PIII with 1GB RAM and 20GB HDD, with Rage 128 Pro (8MB) and ESS Maestro. But, turning it on revealed something different... a P4 with 512MB RAM, 30GB HDD and Radeon 7500 (16MB). Not a bad machine I suppose but the thing that always holds laptops back from being good retro gaming rigs (in my opinion) is the relatively crappy video chip.

The Radeon 7500 was the flagship for ATIs mobility line at the time. Make no mistake it's a good GPU. I played Battlefield 1942 near max @1024 on one a couple of years back.

Yeah, good find. It's basically a latitude C640 which is a great machine. Only thing better would be a c840/precision m50.

Went into a local mom & pop PC repair shop and explored their back rooms of parts. Nothing super great, but a sampling. Didn't buy any of it, just browsed and explored.

Great find! An S3 Trio 3D AGP from AOpen and one of those 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 AGP without the TV-Out

a few more... I remember those Trident cards. They were about as bad as any integrated graphics solution out there.

liqmat wrote:

a few more... I remember those Trident cards. They were about as bad as any integrated graphics solution out there.

OMG, I WANT THAT CASE (image 4)

They can't find the key and it is the larger round type. Kind of a pain or do you know a way to get that open without damage. They are selling all these items dirt cheap.

liqmat wrote:

They can't find the key and it is the larger round type. Kind of a pain or do you know a way to get that open without damage. They are selling all these items dirt cheap.

Very unlikely, but you may be able to unscrew and push the PSU into the case enough to get your hand in there, then you can just take apart the locking mechanism. But it is cool. I've never seen a knockoff PS/2

Yeah. I saw it sitting all by its lonely in a dark corner and I was thinking what nice condition that IBM server case was in and then at closer look I realized it was a knockoff. The thing is just as heavy and solid as an IBM case though. It must weigh 40lbs.

xplus93 wrote:

chinny22 wrote:

Me! Chuck on XBMC and makes a good media centre as long as you don't want HD. or the 8GB IDE drives are useful for older PC's Bu […]
Show full quote

King_Corduroy wrote:

who likes the Xbox? 🤣

Me! Chuck on XBMC and makes a good media centre as long as you don't want HD.
or the 8GB IDE drives are useful for older PC's
But openly admit rest of your finds are much more interesting

Not just that, it's a great emulation machine. Although now we have better solutions they cost money compared to free xboxes.

Not to mention the original Xboxs game library is excellent. It's also probably the best way to play games from that generation that didn't get a PC port. I just today managed to get my Xbox working. Damned suicide battery decided to leak nasty stuff all over my motherboard.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

xplus93 wrote:

Not just that, it's a great emulation machine. Although now we have better solutions they cost money compared to free xboxes.

Not to mention the original Xboxs game library is excellent. It's also probably the best way to play games from that generation that didn't get a PC port. I just today managed to get my Xbox working. Damned suicide battery decided to leak nasty stuff all over my motherboard.

I know this is crazy coming from me, but I wouldn't do much to try and save an xbox motherboard. They are way more common than any worthwhile PC component.

liqmat wrote:

Yeah. I saw it sitting all by its lonely in a dark corner and I was thinking what nice condition that IBM server case was in and then at closer look I realized it was a knockoff. The thing is just as heavy and solid as an IBM case though. It must weigh 40lbs.

IMO, it's 10x cooler than any PS/2 system due to it's oddness. I thought that after the XT clone manufacturers were bored with making knockoffs.

xplus93 wrote:

IMO, it's 10x cooler than any PS/2 system due to it's oddness. I thought that after the XT clone manufacturers were bored with making knockoffs.

STEP OFF! IT'S MINE!

But seriously though, I have NO RATIONAL reason to get it, but I am completely compelled to get it.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Not to mention the original Xboxs game library is excellent. It's also probably the best way to play games from that generation that didn't get a PC port. I just today managed to get my Xbox working. Damned suicide battery decided to leak nasty stuff all over my motherboard.

I dunno personally I've always thought the Playstation had a better library. The Xbox stuff was always pretty much the same stuff as was released on PC, which I would rather play on PC. PS1 and PS2 are also nostalgic for me since I got to play the PS1 one X-mas at my grans apartment when my uncle brought his over and it was freaking amazing! (At the time I had only an NES at home and had also seen a cousin playing Sega Genesis (which by itself was a pretty impressive console). Then around 2002 I got an upgrade finally for Xmas which was the PS2! Can you imagine going straight from NES to PS2? It was incredible. 🤣 So yeah I'm a bit of a Sony fanboy but honestly not a huge fan of the PS3 and it's library, but neither was the 360 particularly impressive (maybe cause I had a proper Core 2 Duo gaming computer by that point). 😜

xplus93 wrote:

I know this is crazy coming from me, but I wouldn't do much to try and save an xbox motherboard. They are way more common than a […]
Show full quote

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

xplus93 wrote:

Not just that, it's a great emulation machine. Although now we have better solutions they cost money compared to free xboxes.

Not to mention the original Xboxs game library is excellent. It's also probably the best way to play games from that generation that didn't get a PC port. I just today managed to get my Xbox working. Damned suicide battery decided to leak nasty stuff all over my motherboard.

I know this is crazy coming from me, but I wouldn't do much to try and save an xbox motherboard. They are way more common than any worthwhile PC component.

liqmat wrote:

Yeah. I saw it sitting all by its lonely in a dark corner and I was thinking what nice condition that IBM server case was in and then at closer look I realized it was a knockoff. The thing is just as heavy and solid as an IBM case though. It must weigh 40lbs.

IMO, it's 10x cooler than any PS/2 system due to it's oddness. I thought that after the XT clone manufacturers were bored with making knockoffs.

The hard drives are locked to the motherboard or I would have replaced it. I didn't want to lose 7 years worth of save games though.

King_Corduroy wrote:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Not to mention the original Xboxs game library is excellent. It's also probably the best way to play games from that generation that didn't get a PC port. I just today managed to get my Xbox working. Damned suicide battery decided to leak nasty stuff all over my motherboard.

I dunno personally I've always thought the Playstation had a better library. The Xbox stuff was always pretty much the same stuff as was released on PC, which I would rather play on PC. PS1 and PS2 are also nostalgic for me since I got to play the PS1 one X-mas at my grans apartment when my uncle brought his over and it was freaking amazing! (At the time I had only an NES at home and had also seen a cousin playing Sega Genesis (which by itself was a pretty impressive console). Then around 2002 I got an upgrade finally for Xmas which was the PS2! Can you imagine going straight from NES to PS2? It was incredible. 🤣 So yeah I'm a bit of a Sony fanboy but honestly not a huge fan of the PS3 and it's library, but neither was the 360 particularly impressive (maybe cause I had a proper Core 2 Duo gaming computer by that point). 😜

The guy above me is right. Even if you hate Xboxs they have standard 8GB Seagate hard drives in them. Grab a proper screw driver (security torx) and you can tear down a system to grab the hard drive in a couple of minutes. The DVD drives read in reverse though so there useless.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

The hard drives are locked to the motherboard or I would have replaced it. I didn't want to lose 7 years worth of save games though.

I guess you're a bit too young to remember the xbox modding scene or you may have caught the tail of it like I did. There are quite a few ways of making it work, way easier than DVD drives in 360s. On a side note, you may want to FTP those save games to a server. Xbox drives are failing at a much higher rate now.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

The guy above me is right. Even if you hate Xboxs they have standard 8GB Seagate hard drives in them. Grab a proper screw driver (security torx) and you can tear down a system to grab the hard drive in a couple of minutes. The DVD drives read in reverse though so there useless.

If anybody does this please have the decency to backup the hard drive key first so you don't waste good xboxes.

luckybob wrote:

STEP OFF! IT'S MINE! […]
Show full quote

xplus93 wrote:

IMO, it's 10x cooler than any PS/2 system due to it's oddness. I thought that after the XT clone manufacturers were bored with making knockoffs.

STEP OFF! IT'S MINE!

But seriously though, I have NO RATIONAL reason to get it, but I am completely compelled to get it.

I see your meme and raise you a

xplus93 wrote:

I guess you're a bit too young to remember the xbox modding scene or you may have caught the tail of it like I did. There are qu […]
Show full quote

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

The hard drives are locked to the motherboard or I would have replaced it. I didn't want to lose 7 years worth of save games though.

I guess you're a bit too young to remember the xbox modding scene or you may have caught the tail of it like I did. There are quite a few ways of making it work, way easier than DVD drives in 360s. On a side note, you may want to FTP those save games to a server. Xbox drives are failing at a much higher rate now.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

The guy above me is right. Even if you hate Xboxs they have standard 8GB Seagate hard drives in them. Grab a proper screw driver (security torx) and you can tear down a system to grab the hard drive in a couple of minutes. The DVD drives read in reverse though so there useless.

If anybody does this please have the decency to backup the hard drive key first so you don't waste good xboxes.

luckybob wrote:

STEP OFF! IT'S MINE! […]
Show full quote

xplus93 wrote:

IMO, it's 10x cooler than any PS/2 system due to it's oddness. I thought that after the XT clone manufacturers were bored with making knockoffs.

STEP OFF! IT'S MINE!

But seriously though, I have NO RATIONAL reason to get it, but I am completely compelled to get it.

I see your meme and raise you a

If someone mass dumped Xboxs odds are they already have issues. If there good, a smart man would resell them for $25 a piece and reinvest into whatever they find interesting.

liqmat wrote:

They can't find the key and it is the larger round type. Kind of a pain or do you know a way to get that open without damage. They are selling all these items dirt cheap.

Lockpick it? Most of those locks aren't exactly complicated and you can find lockpicking kits and tutorials online...

liqmat wrote:

They can't find the key and it is the larger round type. Kind of a pain or do you know a way to get that open without damage. They are selling all these items dirt cheap.

It looks to me from the pictures that the lock is already turned to the unlocked position. Did you try to open the case?

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

If someone mass dumped Xboxs odds are they already have issues. If there good, a smart man would resell them for $25 a piece and reinvest into whatever they find interesting.

Nah, most likely they were dumped because the optical drives shat the bed. The Thomson and Philips drives suffer laser burnout, and the Samsung ones lose the eject belt (an easy fix). All you need is one working DVD drive between them (they aren't locked like the 360) and a copy of Splinter Cell with a hacked save.

Boot up the softmodder, dump the eeprom.bin, feed it into xboxhdm, and prep a larger IDE drive. Then softmod the upgraded drive and you can FTP games right to the console and ignore the DVD entirely.

OG Xboxes are super easy.

King_Corduroy wrote:

I dunno personally I've always thought the Playstation had a better library. The Xbox stuff was always pretty much the same stuff as was released on PC, which I would rather play on PC. PS1 and PS2 are also nostalgic for me since I got to play the PS1 one X-mas at my grans apartment when my uncle brought his over and it was freaking amazing! (At the time I had only an NES at home and had also seen a cousin playing Sega Genesis (which by itself was a pretty impressive console). Then around 2002 I got an upgrade finally for Xmas which was the PS2! Can you imagine going straight from NES to PS2? It was incredible. 🤣 So yeah I'm a bit of a Sony fanboy but honestly not a huge fan of the PS3 and it's library, but neither was the 360 particularly impressive (maybe cause I had a proper Core 2 Duo gaming computer by that point). 😜

Panzer Dragoon Orta, JSRF, the best version of Burnout 3, Crimson Skies, Ninja Gaiden Black, Phantom Dust, Steel Battalion, Metal Wolf Chaos, Otogi, Gunvalkyrie, Shenmue 2, Arx Fatalis, the MechAssault games, Breakdown, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, not to mention the best looking versions of the multiplats.

Xbox had tons of good stuff, and this is from someone who had a PS2 at the time.

Rawrl wrote:

It looks to me from the pictures that the lock is already turned to the unlocked position. Did you try to open the case?

Of course, I unscrewed the two back screws, but the lock holds the side panel in place like it should when it's locked. Like all of us in this forum I am very curious what's inside and the condition. From the looks of the outside, I am guessing all the internals are in good shape and just have a few decades of dust on them. From what I understand it sat for most of its life in one spot as a print server, but no one really knows for sure. The repair shop it is sitting in has tons of the smaller PC case keys, but none of the larger keys required by this era server case.

liqmat wrote:

Rawrl wrote:

It looks to me from the pictures that the lock is already turned to the unlocked position. Did you try to open the case?

Of course, I unscrewed the two back screws, but the lock holds the side panel in place like it should when it's locked. Like all of us in this forum I am very curious what's inside and the condition. From the looks of the outside, I am guessing all the internals are in good shape and just have a few decades of dust on them. From what I understand it sat for most of its life in one spot as a print server, but no one really knows for sure. The repair shop it is sitting in has tons of the smaller PC case keys, but none of the larger keys required by this era server case.

See if you can gently pop off those drive bay covers. If so you can dismantle the mechanism from the back.