Comments on: What should I do with my 10 to 15 year old desktop pcs?

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:43:11 +0000

Another idea: Using the HDD for sanding
http://www.bildschirmarbeiter.com/content/images/picdump-13-05-03/picdump-13-05-03-086.jpg

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:43:11 +0000

Another idea: Using the HDD for sanding
http://www.bildschirmarbeiter.com/content/images/picdump-13-05-03/picdump-13-05-03-086.jpg

By: René Pickhardt

René Pickhardt — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 13:33:38 +0000

there is nothing wrong with giving them away for free. but apparently no one wants to have them… I called and mailed many institutions that are looking for donations. it is really an incredible problem.

By: René Pickhardt

René Pickhardt — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 13:33:38 +0000

By: RG

RG — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 10:57:22 +0000

What is so wrong about the idea of giving them away for free? You don’t know what to do with them, but someone else might. I’m already happy when someone else uses them for his profit, while I’m rid of the burden.
Overall if you find noone, make sure they are recycled at an official place and don’t end up at dump sites in africa to be scrapped by little children.

By: RG

RG — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 10:57:22 +0000

By: Jonas Kunze

Jonas Kunze — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:58:03 +0000

Well do you have ssh running on the notebook? If yes you can use it as a home server (attack some disks via usb…).
It’s also a good idea to compile serial console support into your kernel. Than you can easily log into your broken notebook with a com port. But this you should do before breaking it 😉
Sometimes it’s worth repairing your display. At ebay you can buy adapters from whatever standard theses displays have to vga or dvi. But it’s quite expensive.
If it’s not the display but the graphic card you can try one thing: baking the mainboard. Put the whole Mainboard into your oven for a while (please google for the right temperatures. I think it was around 180°C). With a little luck it runs again afterwards. In my case it was running for a day but than broke again 😉 What happens is that on a notebook you have quite some forces which can break soldering joints and by baking the board you can meld the solder again. But if it’s too hot some components could fall off.

By: Jonas Kunze

Jonas Kunze — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:58:03 +0000

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 16:58:20 +0000

In HDDs are strong magnets to move the heads (not to write or read!). Maybe you could use them.
I have an old notebook which does not work, because the display is broken. But I don’t want to throw it away, too. I’m curious what ideas people have!
Aren’t there services that recycle old phones and pay you a little bit for it? Is there something similar for old computers?

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 16:58:20 +0000