View Full Version : What to do with a dead laptop...
I have a dead laptop. It is a Compaq Armada M700 at 500 Mhz. It was saying that its' drive was "drive locked" meaning that the drive was defective. However, after securing a new drive, it is confident that it was drive locked as well... After some research I managed to get the laptop to simply say disk controller failure. To put it simply, the motherboard is dead.
The system can boot anything from the accessory port which means CDs and Zip disks (since those are the only working items that I can stick in there). The hard drive port is unreliable and the hard drives connect through a caddy. On the motherboard (and a bit on the caddy) I see white "mold like" stuff that cannot be easily cleaned up (I tried for an hour with rubbing alcohol... it isn't visible when wet and reappears when it dries). The white is at the pin area where the hard drive connector reaches the motherboard... and I don't see any bad traces. Perhaps the conductance is being blocked...
Anywho, I have a laptop that can NEVER see a hard drive. So, what do I do with it? Do I try to find another motherboard on Ebay? (can I TRUST ebay?) Do I try a repair? (CAN it be repaired?) Do I shove it in a box forever? What are your thoughts?
As a sidenote... I have completely torn apart the laptop and reassembled it... and I never sodered anything (however it is spelled). The laptop has ran hot ever since I put thermal grease on the video chip (the video was flaking out badly... the thermal grease corrected it but made the casing of the laptop quite hot). One day the hard drive suddenly stopped working and this was shortly after my thermal grease experience. I did use Creamique, so it wasn't a conductivity issue in that regard.
Something that old is not worth repairing. The costs of repair are greater than the value of the laptop.
unfortunately ps2cho is right, laptops are in essence disposible computers
sell or trade it to me before throwing it out.
Adragontattoo
10-01-07, 05:28 PM
uses for dead/dying laptops
Boat Anchor
Doorstop
Bookstop
Wheelchuck
prop for a wobbly table/chair
foot rest
Barbell
Target Practice
toy for a VERY large cat/dog
ammo for a catapult/trebuchet
I think that is all.
thideras
10-01-07, 05:29 PM
Run a live cd with folding on it?
Install to an external drive?
Network boot?
^^ Thats why I wanted to buy it from him... but it looks too slow to do that. Maybe a live dos CD with those old games... wolf, doom, duke, fx fighter, etc...
The computer cannot boot from USB, which is 1.1 by the way. A Live CD is a solution I suppose... but that might come later. For now, all live CDs are just too darn slow. A dos machine... that might be interesting...
uses for dead/dying laptops
Boat Anchor
Doorstop
Bookstop
Wheelchuck
prop for a wobbly table/chair
foot rest
Barbell
Target Practice
toy for a VERY large cat/dog
ammo for a catapult/trebuchet
I think that is all.
hahaha! I like your sense of humour...
you could put it in here
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=396441
icantfindone
10-02-07, 12:28 PM
FrisbeeGolf
EchoTheDolphin
10-02-07, 03:53 PM
Tennis
Psychotron
10-02-07, 03:57 PM
put it in the microwave
Mathersalan
10-02-07, 04:11 PM
Find some guy that weighs well over 400 pounds, slide it into his seat before he sits down
Find some guy that weighs well over 400 pounds, slide it into his seat before he sits down
lol...made my night :)
outercipt
10-07-07, 06:13 PM
i think you can sell the HD, the ram, the optical drive and the battery. You can earn some money with that.
My laptop died a few days ago an I was thinking of making a mod for my desktop with the 15" lcd that comes with the laptop.
Or maybe keep the hard drive and rackmount it and use it as a external harddrive.
If you can get some tnt you can make a very nece fire work thingy ^^
Niku-Sama
10-07-07, 09:53 PM
interesting, compaq, drive controller failure. didnt see that comming /sarcasm
curtis1552
10-07-07, 11:04 PM
Why waste?
It seems that the LCD is working, and I has a controller built in.
Add it to the side of a case!
Boot to a live cd with some images and turn it into a digital picture frame.
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/a4a95adebbf6a010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
http://www.frontiernet.net/~pictureframe/
interesting, compaq, drive controller failure. didnt see that comming /sarcasm
I now make that association VERY clearly.
I might find a barebones base for the laptop and therefore a repair for it. If I do, then I need to find a CD-Rom for the dead machine so I can continue to to do "dead computer stuff" with it. The computer won't boot from a Zip drive (even though it replaces the CD drive... that makes no sense).
What would the power usage of this system be? I want to have a 24/7 server of some sort (nothing too major... just something to play with. :))... but I cannot because of power concerns. Due to renting an apartment, I have a rather low energy limit each month. It is one where I wouldn't like running 100s of watts for 24/7. If it is down to the level of a light bulb... then maybe... I still would like to know how many dollars a month that would be.
Similar idea for a picture frame. I have the hardware... yes... but the electricity is the concern.
Should I be concerned about this or am I being worried for no reason...?
If power is not a concern, then the laptop could become a Linux server (running DSL maybe?) that would do printer sharing, some file sharing using a USB external hard drive or jump drive (how ironic...), and perhaps some other small tasks. It would be a small Linux hobby server... because that is all it can do anymore. Before you can ask... it cannot boot of of USB or zip disks either... (just CDs)
One last question... is there any way to add something interesting via a PCMCIA slot? I know I cannot boot off of such a slot... but I'm wondering what can be jammed in there. I know I can add USB 2.0 ports...
hkgonra
10-17-07, 02:50 PM
I am hoping for some good replies , I have 5 laptops in similar condition to this one.
Mpegger
10-18-07, 05:46 AM
Can you boot from the PC Card slots with a Compact Flash Adapter? You can use a 1GB+ CF card as a hard drive of sorts and turn that laptop into a web/email station for your home.
blackersabbath
10-21-07, 08:30 PM
You can't buy motherboards for laptops? I was hoping you could so I can take the gf's laptop and make it nice lol
^No. No standard form factor. Unless you have crazy mod skills. Even then the LCD controler and battery and what not.
=ACID RAIN=
10-22-07, 02:25 PM
Dead laptop? Cold cathode works? See sig :)
=ACID RAIN=
10-22-07, 02:26 PM
You can buy motherboards if you use ebay, but older machines, IMO, are not worth it.
AlexanderB
11-06-07, 03:17 PM
ofcourse, feel free to trade any unusabel laptops to me ;)
I'd go with the pictureframe idea (or server)
besides a laptop uses what... maybe 60 watts tops? thats a lightbulb ;)
just look at the specs on the power adaptor, and usually thats maxed out consumption
(my desktop p4 3 ghz with a much larger lcd uses only 200 watts, yours has a mobile p3 processor, much lower mhz, and no harddisk... that cant consume much power...)
WiglyWorm
11-06-07, 04:55 PM
Sounds like what you have going on there is some corrosion. They make pens (sort of like the tide pens) that you can use to clean corrosion off of metal parts. I'd get one of those and clean it up before it spreads if you intend to do ANYTHING with it.
Who knows, after you clean off the corrosion, the drive controller may start working again. If not, do what the others have said and get a linux live CD and run folding or the like on it.
NettieZoom
11-08-07, 09:03 AM
Wel my old Dell 14.m laptop died i gave it to the kids to play with, my 4 year old would sit next top me on the couch and pretend he was doing whatever i was.
Well, I tried a "new laptop base" and that didn't work. Now I'm purchasing a new drive caddy. I just had to choose the expensive "repair" option didn't I?
Enablingwolf
11-10-07, 01:37 AM
*waggles finger* (while not pointing)
The offers for trades and such are not cool. There is a forum rule ya know, about that kind of stuff. If he wanted to sell or trade it, he would of posted it in that area.
The question was:
What to do with a dead laptop...
A good reply if your interested in getting it, would be:
You could list in the classifieds.
Ok now on the better things.. :D
Destroy it, then post it in the hardware destruction thread. Videos works for me. :D Afterwards take it to a Best Buy for repairs. See if they even give an estimate. Making surethey know your very fond of this one. Not letting them try and sell you a new one.
thideras
11-10-07, 01:59 AM
Destroy it, then post it in the hardware destruction thread. Videos works for me. :D Afterwards take it to a Best Buy for repairs. See if they even give an estimate. Making surethey know your very fond of this one. Not letting them try and sell you a new one.You just temp me to destroy my laptop don't you? :eh?:
Enablingwolf
11-10-07, 02:13 AM
Hey if you do it. Blog it with some humor. Grab some light ad revenue.. PROFIT!
Way better then selling an old junker. I have serviced so many Compaqters, it is not funny. It is easier to just try and part it, Since there is nothing to service really. The innards are junk.
Malpine Walis
11-17-07, 10:40 PM
OK, I am not going to tell you how to make thermite but you can google that easily enough. Just be very careful when you do that and stand like 50 feet away when you set it off. Best hardware destruction video yet.
But make sure that you save the charger. They can put out quite a bit of current and can be used to make largeish volumes of hydrogen fairly quickly. Ever put a hydrogen filled balloon to a candle?
Oroka Sempai
11-23-07, 11:42 AM
Baby fodder! My son loves playing with every piece of electronics I have, so I donated a functional cell phone (battery is dead), a dead digital camera, and a old keyboard to his collection of toys. He is 8 months old today and is already well on his way to being a tech geek :D
Mpegger
11-23-07, 01:42 PM
I'd be abit worried if the LCD screen ever broke around a baby, or if they managed to knock a key loose and then try to eat it...
WiglyWorm
11-23-07, 02:56 PM
Well, I tried a "new laptop base" and that didn't work. Now I'm purchasing a new drive caddy. I just had to choose the expensive "repair" option didn't I?
Did you clean up the corrosion?
As I said before, 100% garunteed your motherboard is getting corroded from your description in the first post. If you don't do that, any ammount of repair is only going to be a temporary measure as that corrosion spreads your system will die and you will have spent a lot of money for nothing.
Did you clean up the corrosion?
As I said before, 100% garunteed your motherboard is getting corroded from your description in the first post. If you don't do that, any ammount of repair is only going to be a temporary measure as that corrosion spreads your system will die and you will have spent a lot of money for nothing.
The original base is not in use right now. I put the caddy in the 700 Mhz new base that I purchased and I am using that. This way, I can avoid issues if any more were coming up.
The old base still gives this thread purpose too.
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