momaka wrote on 2025-11-15, 15:16:

Well, why not just put Windows 10 back on them and sell them that way? Sure support has ended, but who cares anyways. The Window […]
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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-12, 06:54:

Anyway... now I just need to figure out what to do with each one. Before Windows 10 was announced as being dead in the water it was lot easier to just sell an older PC on the cheap, knowing it would do what 90% of people needed as long as it wasn't gaming. Now though, even if I can install 11 on one, I will have this concern in the back of my mind that Microsoft will break functionality on unsupported systems soon and I'll have an upset buyer. I don't care about that for my own machines, but selling one like that just creates a lot of potential headaches that I don't need to deal with. It was barely worth trying to sell one before support ended, now it just isn't worth it at all.

Well, why not just put Windows 10 back on them and sell them that way?
Sure support has ended, but who cares anyways. The Windows 10 support is really only relevant to large organizations whose IT departments don't want to be running non-updated machines anymore due to liability/legal reasons. For home use, Windows 10 is still perfectly fine, IMO. And if you price them right, they should still sell... though obviously not very fast.
FWIW, I bought two i5-4570 -based Dell SFFs this summer (3010's, I think) for $15 each - no HDD or RAM either. Probably could have haggled the guy to lower the price a little more, as he himself admitted I was one of the very few people that contacted him regarding these PCs *and* even the only one that actually showed up to buy anything. They were on CL for like a year.

Alternatively, you could put some modern flavor of a relatively more "user friendly" Linux distro on there and pass it on with that. Though I personally don't think that would sell as easily as a Windows machine.

Perhaps maybe just sell them for like $10 without any OS and hope for the best. Won't be a big profit, but it would also be the least amount of work too.
I personally absolutely HATE doing Windows 10 installs, as the configuration/debloating/neutering afterwards takes way way more time than I like to spend on configuring any PC. I used to dislike doing Windows 7 for the same exact reason (compared to XP), but even 7 is a walk in the park compared to W10. (And for this reason, I'm still stuck on XP and 7 for my personal machines.)

I would say if you're using XP and 7 still you have a bit different needs\expectations from the average PC user. Nothing wrong with it, it just isn't representative of most people.

I live in a very rural area. The market for used desktops is pretty low these days compared to 5 years ago. Selling ones with an OS that most people have heard is no longer supported would not work too well here. Also, I have been working on PCs in this area most of my life and I don't want the reputation of dumping stuff on people that is already (or is soon to be) unsupported. If I have to add an SSD and maybe some RAM to one it's already barely worth the time spent setting it up and dealing with people on Facebook to get $100 for it... plus I am self employed and have a sales tax license so, yeah. There goes more of it.

I'm not sure if it's even possible to get a machine set up with extended security updates (to get one more year) without a Microsoft account on it. I know there are ways to force a system to present the ESU enrollment window, but part of that process is signing into your account. So yeah, Microsoft did a real thorough job of killing off the used PC market. I'm sure none of the big PC vendors had any influence on this decision... 🙄

I'm sure the older Ivy and Haswell machines can be used as XP retro machines of some sort at least. Maybe there's a market for Windows 7 PCs now and I could put that on the newer ones? Too bad I'd have to get licenses for them, even though they already have Windows 10 licenses. Bleh.

I will probably have to go with just selling a pile of them cheaply. I am absolutely not dealing with people to sell them individually for $10-$15 each. I would much sooner just part them out, put all the cases at the curb (metal scrap people will grab them) and sell the boards for scrap online. I have found that the cheaper the item (or lot) you sell on FB Marketplace, the more ridiculous messages you have to deal with. 😯

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-15, 16:34:

I would say if you're using XP and 7 still you have a bit different needs\expectations from the average PC user. Nothing wrong with it, it just isn't representative of most people.

Well, kind of YES and NO at the same time.
My needs/expectations of a PC have actually become quite average these days. As I mentioned in the Are you still using Windows 7 thread, that's mostly evolved into going online occasionally for online banking, email checking, checking prices for some local stores + occasional online shopping, and even more occasional looking up "general stuff". Once in a while, I'll also watch a video or two on YT once or twice a week and maybe visit an online forum (which these days is pretty much just Vogons anymore.) I know that's pretty undemanding, but that's what the average user really does on a PC anymore... that and office type work. Facebook and other social media platforms might be the most demanding thing they do... but then let's be honest, how many people do you actually know that prefer to do that on an actual PC instead of their phone. From what I've been seeing, PCs are a dying breed in the average home. And that's why they barely sell too, as you noted (yes, even more portable stuff like laptops.)
But for those who still demand a PC, and not for gaming or heavy 3D or video work, Windows 10, despite now mot being update anymore, is still perfectly capable of meeting their needs.

So I think my statement still stands that an old i5/i7 Windows 10 machine can still get the average user more than enough computing power.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-15, 16:34:

I live in a very rural area. The market for used desktops is pretty low these days compared to 5 years ago. Selling ones with an OS that most people have heard is no longer supported would not work too well here.

Well, that's been going on mostly everywhere now, not just where you live. Like I said, PC is just a dying breed. Even the older generation like my parents are starting to move onto tablets and phones only... even more heavily so after retiring.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-15, 16:34:

Also, I have been working on PCs in this area most of my life and I don't want the reputation of dumping stuff on people that is already (or is soon to be) unsupported.

Well, it's not like you're actually going to people's houses and making them buy your stuff without giving them a choice.
The way I see it, you're just providing another option of old used tech on the market. Nothing more and nothing less. Whether that tech is any good or not for any use is every individual/buyers matter to determine. So long as you're not trying to upsell or deceive anyone into thinking that these old PCs are properly supported by modern MS OS's, then you're not really committing any fouls here. Basically, if you price them right and are upfront about what these machines really are, anyone that accuses you of wrongdoing can be considered an a-hole and not worthy of being your customer anyways. Might sound harsh, but my experience with customer service is that the customer isn't always right, and on occasion, I'll tell them to go pound sand if they ever start to think they have the right to be rude with me.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-15, 16:34:

If I have to add an SSD and maybe some RAM to one it's already barely worth the time spent setting it up and dealing with people on Facebook to get $100 for it...

Well, that's why the guy I bought the 3010's from didn't bother to put RAM or HDDs in them. He was in the same situation as you - someone he knew in IT gave the PCs to him just like that (without the RAM and HDDs) and that's how he decided to sell them too. Because, as you noted, spending any time on parts + even more time on setting up an OS (W10) just wouldn't be worth the money.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-15, 16:34:

I will probably have to go with just selling a pile of them cheaply. I am absolutely not dealing with people to sell them individually for $10-$15 each. I would much sooner just part them out, put all the cases at the curb (metal scrap people will grab them) and sell the boards for scrap online.

Yeah, that's what the guy did I got the 3010's from, I just checked my texts on the phone with him before the sale. He said he originally had about 20 of them. Some random guy came early on and bought most. Then he sold another 2-3 to another individual... and that left the last 4 sitting on CL for about half a year or slightly more before I came and bought another two.
He even offered to sell me the other two and include some RAM for free... and now that I think about it, I probably should have gone with that. But I just didn't have the storage or need at the time for the other 2 systems.
Anyways, I agree it's probably best to sell them all as a lot at the cheaper. But if someone wants or doesn't want certain systems but is otherwise still going to buy most of the lot, might as well sell that part and then individually sell what's left if that's what it comes down to.
As for parting out and selling the individual components, that's again more time and work you'd have to dedicate.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-15, 16:34:

I have found that the cheaper the item (or lot) you sell on FB Marketplace, the more ridiculous messages from you have to deal with. 😯

Yeah, I know what you mean, even though I don't use FB MP. I've gotten the hints of that on Craigslist, but for whatever reason it's not as bad as I've heard of people's horror stories on FB MP. The problem, I think, (or perhaps not so much a problem, but rather a phenomenon) is that at the bottom-dollar tier in the marketplace, it's mostly only the really scroogy and tight-fingered people that dwell down there. Not always, of course, but enough to be the norm.

I saw this 17" beige Compaq LCD dumped near my local station this evening. I tried to resist, but went back and picked it up (amazingly heavy!). But, when I powered it on, the panel is smashed.

I kinda love the housing though - even the "security" stickers - "GOVERNMENT PROPERTY" etched onto the bezel is kind of iconic! It also seems bigger beige LCDs like this seem pretty rare compared to 15" ones - I guess by the time 17" was affordable enough to be standard, silver or black were more common? The beige plastic is actually remarkably non-yellowed too.

Would it be remotely viable to replace the panel? Perhaps by grafting in the entire guts of a more modern 17" monitor?

justin1985 wrote on 2025-11-20, 21:18:

Would it be remotely viable to replace the panel? Perhaps by grafting in the entire guts of a more modern 17" monitor?

More than likely, yes.
17" panels, AFAIK, are all 1280x1024, so shouldn't be too hard to find one that fits. Only thing that might give you a bit of a hard time is if the replacement panel uses a different style LVDS connector... and you'd also want to check/trace the pinouts for it in that case. Otherwise, everything else should be more or less standard - backlights, for sure.

That said, transplanting the guts from another 17" monitor entirely will probably be easier, since you'll just need to house the donor monitor into the housing of this one. Being a beige LCD and rather old, chances are it will have plenty of space inside for the donor monitor's internals. Might have to do some plastic cutting on the inside or possibly add some mounts somewhere. But apart from that, I think it should be do-able.

Found on my scrapyard a box full of VooDoo3 3000 agp boards, 30pcs (and +1 blaster gold).

all kinds of memory, samsung, hynix, hyndai, micron, 6, 5.5, 5ns, with and without TV out.

29 out of 30 are fine, except one not lucky card -(( i removed the gpu and found a lot of ripped pads. not woth to restore. rest in peace.

dm- wrote on 2025-11-23, 07:22:

Found on my scrapyard a box full of VooDoo3 3000 agp boards, 30pcs (and +1 blaster gold). […]
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Found on my scrapyard a box full of VooDoo3 3000 agp boards, 30pcs (and +1 blaster gold).

The attachment 5267355223783574642.jpg is no longer available

all kinds of memory, samsung, hynix, hyndai, micron, 6, 5.5, 5ns, with and without TV out.

The attachment 5265103423969890667.jpg is no longer available

29 out of 30 are fine, except one not lucky card -(( i removed the gpu and found a lot of ripped pads. not woth to restore. rest in peace.

The attachment 5267404620202445756 (1).jpg is no longer available

Holy smokes! 😮

Not even sure what else to say. Someone screwed up big time throwing those away. It is obviously either someone's personal collection of cards or from a computer shop or arcade shop that had been pulling them from machines for many years.

Easily $4000-$5000 worth of cards there at current prices.

I'm sure you thought of this, but I would be watching that place like a hawk in the coming days\weeks. If someone had a collection of 30 Voodoo 3 3000 AGP cards, they very likely had a collection of other cards.

... still just slack jawed here. I can't imagine finding a box like that at a recycling center. There are no such places around here sadly, and certainly none that would let someone buy things.

EDIT: Also, I would not normally overclock Voodoo cards, but you can bet that if I had 30 of them I'd be strapping a fan to one of those 5ns cards and running it at 200Mhz. 😁

it was like a computer class/office with configuration: some blue via s462 board paired with athlon 2000/2200+ cpu and this voodoos.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-23, 07:50:

Holy smokes! 😮 […]
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dm- wrote on 2025-11-23, 07:22:

Found on my scrapyard a box full of VooDoo3 3000 agp boards, 30pcs (and +1 blaster gold). […]
Show full quote

Found on my scrapyard a box full of VooDoo3 3000 agp boards, 30pcs (and +1 blaster gold).

The attachment 5267355223783574642.jpg is no longer available

all kinds of memory, samsung, hynix, hyndai, micron, 6, 5.5, 5ns, with and without TV out.

The attachment 5265103423969890667.jpg is no longer available

29 out of 30 are fine, except one not lucky card -(( i removed the gpu and found a lot of ripped pads. not woth to restore. rest in peace.

The attachment 5267404620202445756 (1).jpg is no longer available

Holy smokes! 😮

Not even sure what else to say. Someone screwed up big time throwing those away. It is obviously either someone's personal collection of cards or from a computer shop or arcade shop that had been pulling them from machines for many years.

Easily $4000-$5000 worth of cards there at current prices.

I'm sure you thought of this, but I would be watching that place like a hawk in the coming days\weeks. If someone had a collection of 30 Voodoo 3 3000 AGP cards, they very likely had a collection of other cards.

... still just slack jawed here. I can't imagine finding a box like that at a recycling center. There are no such places around here sadly, and certainly none that would let someone buy things.

EDIT: Also, I would not normally overclock Voodoo cards, but you can bet that if I had 30 of them I'd be strapping a fan to one of those 5ns cards and running it at 200Mhz. 😁

sooo...prices of voodoo 3 have to go down...right?...

RIGHT?

Nah, he will price it above 10K and people will still buy it.

dm- wrote on 2025-11-23, 07:22:

29 out of 30 are fine, except one not lucky card -(( i removed the gpu and found a lot of ripped pads. not woth to restore. rest in peace.

Well, that's what -you- think about the dead one. 🤣

I bet you if you put it on Ebay, someone will still buy it for parts/repair.

Heck, I have a VooDoo 3 2000 AGP that needs a RAM chip replacement. Whoever removed the hard drive from the computer I found it in (Gateway Select 600), must have literally been a real life Gordon Freeman with a crowbar - that card was mangled pretty badly. Motherboard suffered a completely busted PCI slot and even the CD-RW drive was dead due to the shock (I'm guessing a crystal somewhere or a bad trace/connection.) But the mobo did end up working after removing the mangled PCI slot, so not a total loss. Actually, the PC case is in pretty pristine shape outside, despite all the internal damage. The beige plastic is still nice and white everywhere. Definitely must have been a basement PC or something.

Anyways, nice find with those cards. 😀 That is definitely once-in-a-lifetime type of find.
And yeah, like Ozzuneoj said, if I were you, I'd go to that place regularly now for at least the next several weeks or so. If they are doing some "spring cleaning", wonder what else might end up getting thrown away. Perhaps next a box of rare sound cards? 🤣

Ok, my time to post something weird (At least for me)

In my 26 years on IT i only ever seen 2 Athlon XP Based notebooks, one HP and this Compaq. Well, 3 days ago i had the oportunity to take home the latter after 15 years of maintenance at the client's home, it was going to the trash so i offered to copy his files in exchange of formatting the hard drive and taking the computer with me.

i sincerely tought this day would never come as socket A Notebooks are incredibly rare here in Argentina.

here are some quick specs:

Athlon XP Mobile 2200+ 1.8Ghz
512mb DDR 333Mhz (2 x 256MB Kingston)
Radeon IGP 320M based on the Radeon 7000 (up to 128MB shared memory)
Hitachi 30GB IDE (replaced with Kingspec 32GB SSD)
15" 1024x768 CCFL LCD (had to swap the original because gave a tinted green image)
CDRW+DVD combo
2 x PCMCIA
Parallel, 1 com, PS2 for KB or Mouse, VGA, Svideo
56k Modem, 10/100 LAN
Floppy 1.44MB
WDM Ali sound with phisical volume controls
USB 2 x 1.1

Cons:

The southbridge is based on the Ali M1533 (a super socket 7 era chip) wich limits the USB to 1.1 and the UDMA to 33MB
The graphics cant scale the picture outside of Windows
It cant boot from USB

overall, i think its a great Windows 98 computer so i might give it a try.

Living wrote on 2025-11-25, 03:27:

Ok, my time to post something weird (At least for me) […]
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Ok, my time to post something weird (At least for me)

In my 26 years on IT i only ever seen 2 Athlon XP Based notebooks, one HP and this Compaq. Well, 3 days ago i had the oportunity to take home the latter after 15 years of maintenance at the client's home, it was going to the trash so i offered to copy his files in exchange of formatting the hard drive and taking the computer with me.

i sincerely tought this day would never come as socket A Notebooks are incredibly rare here in Argentina.

here are some quick specs:

Athlon XP Mobile 2200+ 1.8Ghz
512mb DDR 333Mhz (2 x 256MB Kingston)
Radeon IGP 320M based on the Radeon 7000 (up to 128MB shared memory)
Hitachi 30GB IDE (replaced with Kingspec 32GB SSD)
15" 1024x768 CCFL LCD (had to swap the original because gave a tinted green image)
CDRW+DVD combo
2 x PCMCIA
Parallel, 1 com, PS2 for KB or Mouse, VGA, Svideo
56k Modem, 10/100 LAN
Floppy 1.44MB
WDM Ali sound with phisical volume controls
USB 2 x 1.1

Cons:

The southbridge is based on the Ali M1533 (a super socket 7 era chip) wich limits the USB to 1.1 and the UDMA to 33MB
The graphics cant scale the picture outside of Windows
It cant boot from USB

overall, i think its a great Windows 98 computer so i might give it a try.

That's really cool! Am I understanding correctly that you've been working on this laptop for the customer for 15 years?? If so, that would be super satisfying to then have it for yourself when they no longer needed it. Despite the chipset limitations it should make a solid Windows 98 system!

I can't think of a single Athlon XP laptop I've handled in person. I may have seen one 20 years ago when I worked at a repair shop, but I don't remember any. Definitely a cool system to inherit. 😀

Living wrote on 2025-11-25, 03:27:

Ok, my time to post something weird (At least for me) […]
Show full quote

Ok, my time to post something weird (At least for me)

In my 26 years on IT i only ever seen 2 Athlon XP Based notebooks, one HP and this Compaq. Well, 3 days ago i had the oportunity to take home the latter after 15 years of maintenance at the client's home, it was going to the trash so i offered to copy his files in exchange of formatting the hard drive and taking the computer with me.

i sincerely tought this day would never come as socket A Notebooks are incredibly rare here in Argentina.

here are some quick specs:

Athlon XP Mobile 2200+ 1.8Ghz
512mb DDR 333Mhz (2 x 256MB Kingston)
Radeon IGP 320M based on the Radeon 7000 (up to 128MB shared memory)
Hitachi 30GB IDE (replaced with Kingspec 32GB SSD)
15" 1024x768 CCFL LCD (had to swap the original because gave a tinted green image)
CDRW+DVD combo
2 x PCMCIA
Parallel, 1 com, PS2 for KB or Mouse, VGA, Svideo
56k Modem, 10/100 LAN
Floppy 1.44MB
WDM Ali sound with phisical volume controls
USB 2 x 1.1

Cons:

The southbridge is based on the Ali M1533 (a super socket 7 era chip) wich limits the USB to 1.1 and the UDMA to 33MB
The graphics cant scale the picture outside of Windows
It cant boot from USB

overall, i think its a great Windows 98 computer so i might give it a try.

Love the fact that you use a microscope picture of the computer's actual CPU as the background image!

Nothing too impressive, but today whilst dropping my son off at school I happened to peer into a nearby skip and noticed that right there, on top of the pile was a USB TEAC FD-05PUB 3.5” floppy drive.

I’ve snaffled it and placed it into the airing cupboard just in case it is damp. Will try it this evening and see if it’s functional. Hopefully it is as these are known to be good not only with 1.44mb floppies but also 720k.

ElementalChaos wrote on 2016-02-26, 04:18:

Last Saturday I rescued a Dell Dimension 4100 from the local e-waste center that I visit occasionally. They don't seem to mind m […]
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Last Saturday I rescued a Dell Dimension 4100 from the local e-waste center that I visit occasionally. They don't seem to mind me taking stuff... I think.

P3 866MHz, Nvidia Geforce 2 MX, Sound Blaster Live Value. It had no hard drive so I plugged one of my spares in and did a fresh install of Win98SE + unofficial service pack 3. Then I got the drivers for everything and got this USB Wi-Fi stick working with it. I'm making this post on that computer right now.

It's gonna be a great little 1998-2002 gaming rig. Only thing it's missing is an ISA port, so that pretty much rules out most DOS games sadly. (And I can't seem to get the SB16 emulation working on the Live)

Unfortunately there was a sign at the e-waste center stating that they are to close down on the 29th. Turns out, recycling stuff is actually really expensive. Another place a couple miles north closed down last year for the same reason. Are people just gonna start throwing their junk in the trash now? Hope not.

I had one like that, though I forget the model number. It had the same style of case, and mine had a Pentium III in a cardslot. I think it was 400 or so MHz. It was a major PITA to get that side cover on and slide it back on.

brassicGamer wrote on 2016-04-02, 18:06:

Was dumping some other stuff at the tip and saw this pretty looking thing sitting there in the TV recycling area. It's actually illegal to remove items from the tip here but I managed to grab it discreetly. No visible damage. In fact is in amazing external condition. It had just started raining but I think I got there in time. Plugged it in at home and got a standby light. Pressed power button and... nothing. Opened her up - no immediately obvious problems but then I noticed the inverter section in a cage and removed it. Sure enough there's possible evidence of a compromised cap and the back light definitely isn't operating so fingers crossed!

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I have that same TV. I use my PS2 on it. I also plan to try out my original Xbox when I get component/HDMI cable(s) for it. My GameCube with the official Nintendo digital AV cable looks really good on it. There's a USB A jack on it, and according to the manual, it's supposed to be used in order to update the firmware. It would have been nice if it would play media.

I've worked at this tech shop for 7 years, and saw a lot of old tech get brought in for e-waste recycling. I've taken a handful of things over the years, things I couldn't bear to see leave this existence. I took home a very nice Sony 5-Disc changer, a dual-well cassette deck, a few old Macs from the early 90s, a vintage multiband receiver that has hookups for external speakers, some sort of frequency tester which I never tried yet, a Color StyleWriter 2400 which I am going to recap. I found out Canon ink carts can be used in it, and I've found places online where I can still buy them, took home a Panasonic KX-P1123 dot matrix printer, took a few iPads that still work but can't connect to the Apple store, found a Sony Clie PEG-SJ22, scored a nice TRGPro PDA, and more that I'm forgetting ATM. There were so many things over the years, but I have limited space in my apartment.

Sadly it's closing the doors toward the end of the year.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-11-25, 05:05:

That's really cool! Am I understanding correctly that you've been working on this laptop for the customer for 15 years?? If so, that would be super satisfying to then have it for yourself when they no longer needed it. Despite the chipset limitations it should make a solid Windows 98 system!

I can't think of a single Athlon XP laptop I've handled in person. I may have seen one 20 years ago when I worked at a repair shop, but I don't remember any. Definitely a cool system to inherit. 😀

yep, altough the last 10 years were only to maintain a Lotus Calendar and phone data base on XP and disconnected from Internet since the computer was long obsolete to do almost anything else. The client FINALLY got rid of that so it was no longer needed

IF i happen to be in the exact moment that happens, the majority of times i get to take the computer with me wich is indeed satifsfying. More if you built and sold that computer, its like it makes full circle (it was the case with some computers that were in service for close to 20 years).

paradigital wrote on 2025-11-25, 09:24:

Nothing too impressive, but today whilst dropping my son off at school I happened to peer into a nearby skip and noticed that right there, on top of the pile was a USB TEAC FD-05PUB 3.5” floppy drive.

I’ve snaffled it and placed it into the airing cupboard just in case it is damp. Will try it this evening and see if it’s functional. Hopefully it is as these are known to be good not only with 1.44mb floppies but also 720k.

I completely forgot about putting this in the airing cupboard until going for fresh bedding this morning.

The drive works flawlessly for both DD and HD floppies, so that’s a nice win.

Found this "beauty" in a pile of rubbish today. Goldstar GS300 with a date of Feb 1990 and a serial number of 002000011.
Is this really the eleventh computer out of the manufacturing line?

It is the weirdest computer I have seen until today, with a 386sx processor, 5 MCA sockets and an Adaptec ESDI controller on a MCA board.
I was unable to find any information on the net about either the computer, the motherboard or the controller.
Needs a deep clean. The power supply (proprietary connector) needs to be checked too, before I attempt to power it up. Wish me luck.

I wish you luck(y goldstar).

Needs a deep clean

well you could call the number on the sticker and maybe ask for a "free servicing" 😉

Nice find!