What to do with old computers...

[Crescent Pulsar S]

So, I have three computers (maybe four, depending on my best option) that are no longer needed, and I kept their hard drives. If possible, since our household could really use it right now, I'd like to make at least a bit of money off of them. Of course, I don't really know how to go about that, or the best way. I suppose they could be scrapped, but I don't know if they're made of iron, steel, aluminum or what, what the going price for them are by weight, or if they'll be accepted at all. I don't know if anyone/anywhere buys them if the various hardware still works, or if they'll just buy said hardware rather than adding a new hard drive for the whole package.

As for other details that might be relevant... They all work, last I checked. The CD-ROM of one doesn't work, though, and one other ceased to turn on even though nothing seems to be wrong with anything (I'm guessing/hoping there's something wrong with the start button). They are: HP Pavilion a1430n, eMachines T3410, and a Dell Studio 540.

[Cheb]

I always thought the money you invest in a computer is a one-way affair.

The quantity of scrap metal is so negligible it probably is not worth the effort of trying to sell it.

The only value you can get back, I think, is selling it as spare parts. But then again, that would only bring a tiny fraction of the original cost, as computer parts grow obsolete in only 2 or 3 years. And only a fraction of these parts could be sold.

In all my life I only got rid of 3 computers: I sold my first 386 to buy a 486 -- but then, the market was extremely undeveloped these days -- then exchanged that 486 for parts to assemble a Pentium machine. The third was the one I lost in the early 2000s to the capacitor plague. All other machines, I just keep. That's 13 pieces by now (if I count the one mom uses), all in working condition. My collection includes a 266 MHz K6-2, an Atom nettop I can't find use for, and three netbooks. But to sell them or throw them away? No, my precioussss! At least I found use for the 3 extra desktops: I use them to test the game engine I'm developing across different platforms (and boy, do older video cards love springing surprises on a coder). Btw, did you know that there's a combination of video card and drivers that allows you to have OpenGL 2.0 in Windows 98?

(I'm guessing/hoping there's something wrong with the start button)

There's that. Or the reset button could have jammed. Or the power supply unit burned out.
If you can find the pins on the motherboard the power button is connected to, you can try shorting them manually (requires caution). The best way is to wrap a screwdriver in insulation tape, except the very tip.

P.S. I always keep a spare computer at hand, in case someone's work machine dies. That way, I can hope to transplant the hard drive and continue working until a replacement could be bought.

[PCHeintz72]

For the one that does not power up... there is another possibility. If this not starting started after the removal of the hard drive, some power supplies refuse to power up unless there is a minimum draw on the drive power lines. I've seen instances where I've built a system, and it would not power up until at least one drive was connected on the drive power connectors... It has to be a drive that actually powers up, soa floppy drive for instance would not suffice.

[Spica75]

So, I have three computers (maybe four, depending on my best option) that are no longer needed, and I kept their hard drives. If possible, since our household could really use it right now, I'd like to make at least a bit of money off of them. Of course, I don't really know how to go about that, or the best way. I suppose they could be scrapped, but I don't know if they're made of iron, steel, aluminum or what, what the going price for them are by weight, or if they'll be accepted at all.

Guaranteed that you will get barely any cash out of them by selling as scrap metal. You have no useful means of separating out all the MANY different metals and you are very unlikely to have anywhere good enough to sell them that it wont cost you more to do such a separation of raw materials.
So that is 100% certain a LOSING proposition.

I don't know if anyone/anywhere buys them if the various hardware still works, or if they'll just buy said hardware rather than adding a new hard drive for the whole package.

There´s lots of people buying and selling old/used parts, even parts as far back as from the 90s are still traded today. It´s far from an automatic "if you sell it someone will buy it", but there´s usually someone, somewhere that wants just about anything that anyone wants to sell, just a matter of buyer and seller finding each other.

Your best chance is to find a website that has a very active trading forum, and if you´re willing to take some time, you might even be able to find local or at least regional buyers.

They are: HP Pavilion a1430n, eMachines T3410, and a Dell Studio 540.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... ct=1843642
Athlon 64 X2 (T) 3800+ 2.0 GHz
Motherboard Name: Asus A8N-LA
Memory Installed 1 GB (2 x 512), 184 pin, DDR SDRAM
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7208289_speci ... t3410.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6883114016
AMD Sempron 3400+
512 MB PC3200 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 based motherboard
48x CD-RW/DVD combo drive

Apparently the Dell Studio 540 isn´t always the same specs, but this is overall a pretty GOOD system.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... No=5680658
Intel Core 2 Quad, commonly the Q8200
2-8 GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_nkw=D ... 0538322040
There´s two Dell Studio 540 for sale there, both for >200$.

If this system runs fine then you might consider keeping it, because even today it´s pretty decent.

Of course, it´s also the one of your systems that you might be able to get a decent amount of money for if you sell it(150$ minimum probably). The cpu is definitely something people might want, same but less so goes for motherboard and RAM both. The PSU is abit anemic(as usual for these kind of systems), and since it´s at least 5 years old, probably wont fetch all that much money. The case should be possible to sell as well.
That cpu is probably also fairly decent for overclocking. If there´s anyone nearby running with a Core 2 Duo on a motherboard that can run a 1600 FSB, putting this cpu in and upping the FSB will change it´s clockspeed from 2.33Ghz to ~2.8Ghz, and with 4 cores that´s totally respectable even today even if it´s no longer a highend cpu. (Dell often locks FSB tampering to prevent this kind of thing so probably can´t be done in the original system, might but probably not)

Since you already got HDDs out, if you sell you should probably sell as individual parts, but it´s not impossible to find someone who wants the whole system minus HDD, especially the Dell one.
>150-250$

Don´t expect getting much from the Sempron system, lowend CPU and small amount of old RAM with an all integrated motherboard that has been outrun many times over. You might be able to get >50$ for it/the parts.

The system with the Athlon 64X2 isn´t too bad either even if it´s skimpy on RAM. >100$

That´s just me guessing though, price expectations where you´re at could be radically different.

##########

All other machines, I just keep. That's 13 pieces by now (if I count the one mom uses), all in working condition. My collection includes a 266 MHz K6-2, an Atom nettop I can't find use for, and three netbooks. But to sell them or throw them away? No, my precioussss!

I have my current E8400 in front of me, behind it to the right(on the second desk) is my previous Athlon XP 2400+(originally dual cpu but one was broken while moving *sniff*)(Win2k), behind it to the left is my older Athlon XP 1700+(Win98SE). All 3 working, all 3 connected through a Gb LAN switch, with my second, old 15" LCD monitor standing beside this one and ready to run either old system.

Oh and then there´s a Pentium 166 and a K6-2 500 that needs some tinkering/reassembling before they can run again, and some functional old 286s and a 486(or was it a 386? i forget lol) and IIRC a 6x86 PR233 in my closet.

"my precioussss!" indeed.

Btw, did you know that there's a combination of video card and drivers that allows you to have OpenGL 2.0 in Windows 98?

Huh, cool.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

That sounds like an adventure. XD The Dell is probably the only one I'll put that sort of effort into, but it's also the one with the start-up problem so... Selling hardware individually might be for the best.

For the one that does not power up... there is another possibility. If this not starting started after the removal of the hard drive, some power supplies refuse to power up unless there is a minimum draw on the drive power lines. I've seen instances where I've built a system, and it would not power up until at least one drive was connected on the drive power connectors... It has to be a drive that actually powers up, soa floppy drive for instance would not suffice.

It happened while I was still using it at the start of the year, which is why I have this computer. The power supply light still lit up, so that seemed to be fine. There didn't seem to be any light that would turn on if the motherboard was receiving power, so I have no idea if anything is wrong there.

[PCHeintz72]

It happened while I was still using it at the start of the year, which is why I have this computer. The power supply light still lit up, so that seemed to be fine. There didn't seem to be any light that would turn on if the motherboard was receiving power, so I have no idea if anything is wrong there.

Ok.... that rules out what I was suggesting.

An easy way to see if the motherboard is working at all is if any fans come on... The CPU fan in particular should come on nearly the instant it gets power. likewise and video card fan or drive or case fans that are motherboard controlled. Generally a motherboard will beep at you, if it has a case speaker.

If none of tat is coming on, the motherboard is probably shot, even if the drives may be ok.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

I don't recall a beep when turning on that computer (I wasn't paying attention, though, so...), but the motherboard is possible. The last time I used it, I had been playing a game where I ended up in a very crowded channel, so I was worried I killed the RAM or something. I can't be sure, though, since the computer worked fine up until I turned it off for the last time. I can understand if something breaks when in use, but I don't think the computer would still operate (the same, if at all) in that case. I don't know what could go wrong while it's off.

[PCHeintz72]

I don't recall a beep when turning on that computer (I wasn't paying attention, though, so...), but the motherboard is possible. The last time I used it, I had been playing a game where I ended up in a very crowded channel, so I was worried I killed the RAM or something. I can't be sure, though, since the computer worked fine up until I turned it off for the last time. I can understand if something breaks when in use, but I don't think the computer would still operate (the same, if at all) in that case. I don't know what could go wrong while it's off.

The motherboard controls all, even if the power supply is perfectly fine, the motherboard controls power going to all the other devices, because it tells the power supply whether it can send the power or not (one of the 20+ connectors is for that purpose, sort of a feed back acknowledgement).

If the motherboard fried itself, then it would not send that signal, would not beep on start (it can beep only if there is a tiny case speaker connected to it, most systems have this), would not power up the fans it controls, and drives would not light up...

Visually, a proper boot sequence on the screen you would see a memory check, a bios an/or system brand logo, and maybe a system diagnostic or graphic card memory check. That would all pass in a few seconds (with no hard drive it may need to time out for some 30seconds trying to find it) and then if had a hard drive take you to the OS boot screen, be it windows or Linux or something else, or give a message if it cannot find the OS.

If a motherboard is fried, nothing will start except maybe the power supply itself. no beep, no drives turning on, no fans spinning.

A motherboard can fry itself from a number of ways, mostly heat build up related, for example if the CPU fan died, or was blocked, or the vents blocked, that would do it. A pest infestation like ants inside the case can do it. Excess dust or animal hair or cigarette smoke particles can actually raise the temperature to extremes...

[Spica75]

so I was worried I killed the RAM or something

Almost certainly not. Only way to realistically "kill the RAM" is if you go into BIOS and set it at dangerously high voltage levels and then keep it there until it breaks. Or use it for so long that simple degradation over time takes it out, and unless the RAM had some flaw from the start, that might take a few dozen years of use.

Extreme overclocking could also potentially kill RAM, but unless you played around very carelessly with software for doing that, then nope.

I can understand if something breaks when in use, but I don't think the computer would still operate (the same, if at all) in that case. I don't know what could go wrong while it's off.

It´s not that it breaks while off, it is that something happened last time you had it on, something that didn´t prevent it from remaining on, but does prevent it from turning back on again once you shut it off. This is not an entirely unusual turn of events unfortunately.

For example, a capacitor that goes bad while the system is on, unless the system is stressed, it might keep working ok, but the next time you try to turn it on, when you do, there is always some degree of power "surge" because of how most parts draw the most power right when turning on, the capacitor would then be unable to provide the current needed and the system wouldn´t turn on, or the first time this is done, the failed cap could even burn out. Example only, there´s loads of things that can cause this.


Does the PSU start up at all when you try turning it on?

[Crescent Pulsar S]

If the light turning on when I switch it on means that it's working, then yes.

I recall the computer making popping noises a few times in its life, and during the last year or so they seemed to be coming from the power supply only. Never smelled anything electrical or the like, though, and it hadn't happened prior to the computer failing to start. Maybe a few weeks before. I had a power supply ten years ago that had popped in the same fashion, though, and the first time had been the last: everything had been fried. Got the smoke and smell, too. (I suspect that it had been hit with a power surge when the air conditioning had turned on, since it happened right when it turned on (and the lights always become duller and brighter as certain things turn on and off). Dummy me didn't have the computer plugged into a surge protector back then, but that changed that. Can't be helped when something else running in the house can do that, rather than worrying about lightning and whatnot.

A motherboard can fry itself from a number of ways, mostly heat build up related, for example if the CPU fan died, or was blocked, or the vents blocked, that would do it. A pest infestation like ants inside the case can do it. Excess dust or animal hair or cigarette smoke particles can actually raise the temperature to extremes...

Well, I certainly have a dust, animal hair and cigarette smoke problem... And I only cleaned it once in five years, before it stopped working. <_<;

[camk4evr]

The popping noises could have been something shorting out (you probably should have taken it to get it looked at), If the popping came from the power supply then it's probably shot. You could try taking one of the other power supplies and hooking it up to the Dell to see if the rest of it works but sometime older power supplthat might not work even if the motherboard is fine.

[PCHeintz72]

The popping noises could have been something shorting out (you probably should have taken it to get it looked at), If the popping came from the power supply then it's probably shot. You could try taking one of the other power supplies and hooking it up to the Dell to see if the rest of it works but sometime older power supplthat might not work even if the motherboard is fine.

Transplanting a power supply, even temporarily, is not a simple task for the non-tech oriented person... I would not recommend Crescent do this, as it does not sound at all like he would have the knowledge to do so... May have a friend that could though.


Given the popping noise, I'm in agreement with you and Spca75, if that was the power supply, it could have taken out the motherboard. whom know what it might have been sending the motherboard in way of surges and or brownouts... it could have fried itself trying to compensate.


And Crescent... the light coming on but nothing else doing so does not indicate anyting is working or ok... there are normally a lot of other things starting up when you hit that button, that they are not is definitely a indicator power supply and or motherboard bad.

Since the HD has already been stripped, it probably is not worth putting any work into it. You may be able to salvage the keybard, mousse, and other drives. Possibly swap the cd/dvd drive with one of the other systems if you wanted. that is probably it. If you had more tech knowledge or knew a way to test them, the video card and memory could probably be pulled, but I would say not worth it.
None of this is worth it if just getting rid of the system though.

[Spica75]

I recall the computer making popping noises a few times in its life, and during the last year or so they seemed to be coming from the power supply only.

Well that probably means capacitors or maybe other components that broke. So, PSU is likely dead then, while the rest may be just fine or not.

Never smelled anything electrical

Not a must happen. Or it might not be noticeable until you open the PSU and stick your nose in it.

I suspect that it had been hit with a power surge when the air conditioning had turned on

Yeah, roughly what happened to this system early in its life, when refrigerator turned on the same moment as i switched the computer on. Stupid electric wiring in this apartment, still, only the motherboard got actually damaged, the PSU and all other parts still work, almost 6 years later.

Dummy me didn't have the computer plugged into a surge protector back then, but that changed that.

Yeah, while it´s not a guarantee against damage, it´s a cheap way of avoiding a lot of potential damage.

[Cheb]

, when refrigerator turned on the same moment as i switched the computer on.

That's why I can't stress this enough: people, use UPSes!
Not only it protects you in case of outages (and worse, one second-long outages) but it also protect against surges! As soon as it feels something fishy with the power, it says *click* and switches to battery, if only to switch back a couple seconds later. So, in reality, a UPS is mostly for protecting your PC. The ability to have a few minutes to save your work in a case of a blackout is just a cherry on top.
Honestly, plugging your desktop directly into an electric outlet is a sin!
UPS is usually cheaper than any one of the computer parts that can fry, too.

On top of that, as soon as I could afford it I equipped my entire apartment with voltage stabilizers. Not only they keep the voltage in sane limits, but also shut it off for a few seconds in case of a surge. And you know what? One night I noticed input voltage being 252. While the nominal is 220. That day, the entry phone system fried. So, I think, the extra money and effort worth not having to replace the fridge. Because *that* would have been a pain!

[Spica75]

Well, unfortunately i just don´t have the money to take those precautions, no matter how i would like to.
Currently saving up for a replacement computer for this one, since it´s 6 years old soon...