best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebie was a Dell Precision T5400 w/ 2x 5450 CPU's @ 3GHz, 16gb FBDIMM's, 1tb HDD, with a quadro 310. Working condition. Tossed Mint 20.2 on it... For some reason Mint only sees half of the 16gb RAM, but windows sees it all....

Of course this post from it..

Fixed the RAM issue...it was the usual crudded contacts.... Weird that BIOS showed all 16gb, windows would show all 16gb, but only say 8gb available.... Mint only saw 8gb. After cleaning contacts on all modules and slots, all RAM is there.

Researching reveals this system supports crossfire....hold my beer, I'm gonna try something!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

This horror of a board came in yesterday, with a horror LC-200C PSU no less.


PCChips M726MRT if anyone's asking. It doesn't POST, though I might like to revive it just to see if their ALI Aladdin chipset implementation for 370/Slot1 is anywhere near good. Surprisingly filled with Teapos.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

it dont look too bad - but it needs a speaker soldered in.
i dont know why they started leaving them off the board - how the hell are you supposed to diagnose the beep codes with no beep!

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

You've probably seen the crappy L&C PSU bundled in the PC in the gutless wonder thread. My best guess is the PC was probably the cheapest thing you could buy in Romania ~1999-2002 (2002 because the PSU datecodes point to 2002 mostly)

As for the beeper, I honestly don't quite mind it. I would rather use an external one than a mounted speaker, for the sole reason that onboard beepers sound muffled, for some reason.

On another note: scored a JNC case (sans PSU and some MSI H61 mobo w/ celeron) and some remanants of a AMD FX-4100 build.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Researching reveals this system supports crossfire....hold my beer, I'm gonna try something!

Confirmed. The T5400 and the T3400 both support crossfire.

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Not sure if this counts, but I'll post it.

Best offered down a Lenovo Thinkpad T440s... 8GB DDR3 (4GB soldered + 4gb SoDIMM). 2.1GHz Quad i7. 1080p screen with one pixel line intermittent (was stuck red when I fired it up, but started working soon after). Keyboard missing the X key and the trackpoint. No chargers. After tax and shipping I got it for $135... perfect for replacing/upgrading my T440 from earlier in this thread that took a steaming dump on me a couple weekends ago (died in the middle of a youtube video); I transferred the SSD and chargers. Only real bummer is that the T440's keyboard is different enough that while the key cap transferred, it didn't fit right (too thin and wide). Oh well, that's what eBay is for!

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebies from a telecom engineer are:

Old HP sweep marker generator.



An old tube-type variable 500v @ 300mA x2 channels regulated HV DC power supply:



Another regulated variable 0~36v @ 2a DC power supply:



Some old radios.



An old LED programmable sign..... "Cybernetic Data Products model ADT 7405", nothing out there on this thing. Programs through a serial port....but couldn't find any software. It does power up/work though.....



The pick of the litter; 70's vintage Sansui 4 channel receiver amplifier...working but needs the usual pots cleaned (crackling volume control)...





Not too bad!

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

An old LED programmable sign..... "Cybernetic Data Products model ADT 7405", nothing out there on this thing. Programs through a serial port....but couldn't find any software. It does power up/work though...

The sign might use a serial console interface. Like you'd use with PuTTY. But without the serial parameters you'd be SOL.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The sign might use a serial console interface. Like you'd use with PuTTY. But without the serial parameters you'd be SOL.

Indeed.... I'll dig around before I pronounce it scrap.

Now let's have some fun!!

The sign and the 36v DC power supply.... That's all the sign does, probably the default if no programming. The PSU powered up.



I didn't put a load on it, but seems accurate. Has a cooling fan in it that's scraping on the case, I'll have to fix that.





Now for this engineer slayer! This thing could kill you real dead real quick if not respectful of it. Especially this one. Output 1 is malfunctioning.



Output 1 isn't dead; IE, no/low output...it's putting out way too much! With the rheostat all the way down it's ~300v.





This is about 3/4 the way up, maxing out my VOM. Any higher, it just displays o/l. I measured it with my scope wide open; it's safe to 2kv through the 10x probe. It topped out at 1450vdc! I didn't snap a pic though.....but below....yea, that's over a 1kv on the old GW.



Now for output 2, which appears to be functioning as it should. Rolled all the way to max.



What's on the gauge on par with the meter.



100v cal check....



7 volts off.....but who's counting....



My scope concurs with the meter by a .4v margin.



Rolled all the way down. Lowest it would go is 12v.





Lights out to see some glowy tubes!! This thing created some heat and of course had that 'smell'.....that glorious smell old electronics have when hot!





Rudolf with your nose so bright.....



That concludes today's free fun!!

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

the led sign probably has a leaked nicad battery in it - i fixed one before with that issue.

[Per Hansson]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today's freebies from a telecom engineer are:

An old tube-type variable 500v @ 300mA x2 channels regulated HV DC power supply:

Niiiice!
Be sure to check the caps in it, if they are bad you might burn out the tubes...

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Indeed.... I'll dig around before I pronounce it scrap.

And if you do pronounce it, I claim dibs!

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Niiiice!
Be sure to check the caps in it, if they are bad you might burn out the tubes...

For sure. I also need to figure out why output 1 puts out nearly 3x what it's supposed to!

And if you do pronounce it, I claim dibs!

If I can't figure it out, it's got your name on it.

[Per Hansson]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

For sure. I also need to figure out why output 1 puts out nearly 3x what it's supposed to!

Maybe it is correct, don't you get 500v from positive to the center tap and then -500v from the negative to the center tap? (Edit: no, I see it says "bias" and not "CT" as I first assumed).
Also take a peek inside the unit, maybe it will have a electrical schematic attached somewhere.

If I can't figure it out, it's got your name on it.

But if it will have his name on it then you will have figured it out!

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

What are you gonna do with the LED sign?

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

best thing to do with the sign is desolder the microcontroller / pia chip and fit an ESP module - then you can control it via wifi

[ratdude747]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Went to an estate sale on saturday and scored a lot of stuff... automotive tooling, stuff for my wife, and a grill. One item I will mention though... for $10, an OTC Pathfinder scan tool set (OBD 1 and 2). Very well option and fully functional... until I broke the bleeping pin 25 in the main unit's DB25 connector. I tore it down, discovered it's an oddball obsolete Amphenol with a nonstandard 0.5" backspacing (flange to solder anchor center). Nobody sells it...

I did find a lot of 49 NOS connectors of what looks to be a close (enough) match... $28 later and they're in the mail. We shall see if that fixes it... for now I jammed a piece of solid telephone wire in the pin's socket which works if you cock the plug.

For $10... that's the best non-free deal I've gotten all year! These are rare and just the software packs alone are worth $90 per (what I saw on eBay). For OBD1 these are very handy to have... OBDII not so much (I have torque pro on my phone, and an Autel OBDII/ABS/SRS too already for newer stuff). When I told the sellers what that tool was (they didn't know), they lost thier jaws... and they still cut my wife and I some killer deals on other stuff! RIP to the mechanic and HVAC tech whose tools I was buying from... I will see they get put to good use!

If anybody knows what the connector in the last pic is for, let me know. I have two ford EEC connectors (only one worked on my 1984 F150), two GM ALDL's (and a couple adapters, including the one for the oddball 1995's with ALDL on an OBDII connector), one chrysler, and one primtive OBD2 cable.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Today was another interesting day. It started with a phone call at 9:30am from a guy that had a 70" 4K TV hit by lightning and needed it checked out for his insurance company. He said I can keep the TV, he just needs paperwork for his insurance claim....ok, no big deal, I do this all the time....but the free 70" 4k isn't the whole story....just keep reading!!

It was wall mounted and he was older, so I went to his house to pick it up. I got it down, loaded into my truck. Of course being wall mounted, the feet are missing.... :-/

Anyway....I'm not sure if the mainboard or the power supply (or both) are bad.... Has red standby light, press power, the STBY light flickers for a split second, and that's it. Never does power up.....I didn't dig into it that deep....but it looks to have been buzzed. The power supply is missing some voltages and the processor gets VERY hot. It's a 70UH6350.





Here's where it starts to get interesting....he asks since I took the TV, would I be willing to take some computer stuff his grandson left in his garage when he left for college a couple weeks ago that's out of state, and told him to get rid of it......of course he tells me his grandson is a computer expert and knew more about tech than all the instructors in high school, and builds massive PC's for everything short of NORAD (yawn yawn, I hear that all the time)....so I'm skeptically optimistic that I'll find some kickass system out in the garage.....well, it's complete....but at no point was it ever 'kickass'.....complete HP P3 system including CRT monitor, tower, KB/Mouse, disks, some other flatpanel monitor, and a box with some empty boxes that hardware came in.

I was just going to pitch the box full of empty boxes in the dumpster....there was the box for a wifi router, a box for a NVMe SSD, a box for a 32gb DDR4 RAM kit, all empty....and then a box for a RTX 3070ti....and it felt a little heavy to be empty.....





Ok, those of you that got excited and thought there was indeed a RTX 3070ti in there, sorry to disappoint you.....but it wasn't a total loss....

This is what was in the box:





Ok, I'm thinking the same thing you are; this thing has to be bad....nobody just tosses a 1070ti...even though gramps is a doctor......the card has to be bad....

Well hmmm.... It's POST'ing...





Installed the driver, no problems.....and even a little quake.... I did some other testing as well, it never missed a beat! WTF!! Is this kid really this spoiled?

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

It started with a phone call at 9:30am...

Hey, so did mine yesterday!
But it wasn't about anything interesting.

so I'm skeptically optimistic that I'll find some kickass system out in the garage.....well, it's complete....but at no point was it ever 'kickass'.....complete HP P3 system including CRT monitor, tower, KB/Mouse, disks...

That's actually a pretty kickass system too!
After all, it is all period-specific stuff, including the matching MS and KB... and CRT!

Clean it well and hold on to it (especially if it's in very good condition.) The slightly older beige Compaq Pentium I/II cases with blue/purple plastic fronts (imitating those of the iMac PowerPC G3's, I think) can sometimes sell for crazy amount of money. With time, I imagine this one would too. Though of course it may be worth looking into the mobo and seeing if you can upgrade anything here or there... possibly the entire mobo with something else. HP/Compaq wasn't known for putting great performance motherboards or with many expansion options. So a more "open" P3 mobo could be nice.

....and then a box for a RTX 3070ti....and it felt a little heavy to be empty....
....
This is what was in the box:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1632175081

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1632175081

Ok, I'm thinking the same thing you are; this thing has to be bad....nobody just tosses a 1070ti...even though gramps is a doctor......the card has to be bad....
...
Installed the driver, no problems.....and even a little quake.... I did some other testing as well, it never missed a beat! WTF!! Is this kid really this spoiled?

TBH though, I've seen that kind of thing fairly often when I used to work at Microcenter - hardware that's no more than 4-5 years old getting tossed with no questions ask. And more interestingly, it doesn't seem to have any correlation to a person's wealth. I've seen both rich and poor folks throw good, perfectly working stuff away - stuff that could have easily fetched them a few $100. Not sure if it's laziness or ignorance... but yeah, it's pretty common. I guess companies are becoming more and more successful in turning us into a consumer throwaway society. :\

for $10, an OTC Pathfinder scan tool set (OBD 1 and 2).

Nice find!

RIP to the mechanic and HVAC tech whose tools I was buying from... I will see they get put to good use!

That actually sounds very relieving - I mean, if they guy could see you from the skies, I'm sure he'd be happy too his stuff isn't going to waste... or at least I would if some other CRT nut was to get ahold of my CRT monitors if I died.

Today's freebies from a telecom engineer are:

Old HP sweep marker generator.
...
An old tube-type variable 500v @ 300mA x2 channels regulated HV DC power supply:
...
Another regulated variable 0~36v @ 2a DC power supply:
...
Some old radios.
...
An old LED programmable sign
...
The pick of the litter; 70's vintage Sansui 4 channel receiver amplifier...working but needs the usual pots cleaned (crackling volume control)...

I'd say the pick of the litter is that tube 500V DC bench PSU. Surely you won't need that kind of voltage that many times... but when you do, it's nice to have.

Reminds me I need to get back on my HP 6291A linear adjustable PSU. I haven't touched it in years and just always figured a way around when I needed a variable DC PSU. But it would be nice to have, as it's capable of 5 Amps at 50V (and spec even says 6 Amps at 60V with 120V AC line, which I do have.) I managed to get it to power up a few times after replacing the primary-side TRIACs (or were they SCRs? - I don't remember anymore), but it was unstable when supplying anything more than 6-7V at 1-2 Amps and only worked in the 0-50V selector. I think I goofed a bunch of wires around, but it's really hard to trace them, so that's why I've been reluctant to work on it. It's a beast, though.

But if it will have his name on it then you will have figured it out!

I was actually thinking the same exact thing.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

TBH though, I've seen that kind of thing fairly often when I used to work at Microcenter - hardware that's no more than 4-5 years old getting tossed with no questions ask. And more interestingly, it doesn't seem to have any correlation to a person's wealth. I've seen both rich and poor folks throw good, perfectly working stuff away - stuff that could have easily fetched them a few $100. Not sure if it's laziness or ignorance... but yeah, it's pretty common. I guess companies are becoming more and more successful in turning us into a consumer throwaway society. :\

I got to the point where I found a mint Voodoo3 3000 (and the 16MB TVOUT flavour no less) in nothing else than a shoebox full of other GPUs (MX440, FX5500, 7300GS and a few others) for almost $11. Same card goes for nearly $70 on classifieds.