Just bought a laptop for $5

OK, just bought a laptop from the rich part of town for $5. (soho in downtown manhattan)

the owner said it was giving him problems, 2 lines accross the screen and just plain running slow. He kept the hard drive (and caddy) for security reasons, other than that, its tip top. and he sold it for a few cups of coffee. I bought it from a 7th floor officem and it looked pretty clean so the chances of it being stolen are nill.

It's a

1ghz Dell Inspiron 8000 Pentium 3
256mb ofmemory
dvd/cdrw combo
2 extra bays for floppy or batteries (no charge on the battery)
15 inch screen
physical condition is emaculate
No adapter (have a few of those laying around , so no problem)


$5 not a bad price for a project laptop.


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Now, the 2 lines accross the screen, how do you think that can be repaired?

It looks like the system is displaying that blue line, so i doubt the whole screen has to be removed, i tried reseating the flex cable and it didn't work- what should I try ?

I worked on one of those and if any part is loose you'll get garbage on the screen. What I did was open it up strip and rebuild it with AS5, loctite and replaced any missing screws which seems to happen for some reason.

ok with playing around i'm able to get these lines removed, but it has to be in the right angle (unusable when propped up correctly) - so the good news is the lcd is good. now what you mean rebuilt it with as5 ? - the funny thing is when i put the cable in maybe 1/10th of the way if that one of the lines dissappear , but when i put it in all the way the line comes back.

If it's one of those printed ribbons, you could try cleaning the contacts off real good with alcohol, then repainting them with conductive paint.

the alcohol i can do, but conductive paint ? where do you get that ? - thats what i'm thinking is the problem is bad contact between the mb and the flex cable , so finding that and a hard drive caddy and i'm set!

I think you could just get away with cleaning it with alchohol like it's been said, and maybe fine sandpaper or steel wool on the contacts. It's also possible there is a break within the cable, which then you'd have to find which one. You could then possible use a wire from one end of the cable to the other.

Good find, btw.

Whoa, don't use anything abrasive on those printed ones, there's not much on there to start with.

Conductive paint can be found in Radio Shack, or in an automotive parts store as "Rear Window Defogger repair paint".

if there's a crack on the ribbon anywhere, or a scratch you can use this for repairing that too. Can also dot it on any suspect solder connections on headers etc, for a repair that's easier than soldering, when you can apply it with a toothpick.

ok thanks for the updates guys, will try it, hopefully i can avoid buying a new flex cable

I'm only talking a couple quick swipes, not going at it with a Dremel and sanding drum.

now what you mean rebuilt it with as5 ?

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He meens replace all the thermal paste with a product called Artic Silver 5...its a better thermal paste

yeah i know about as5 i meant where exactly to place it, i'm just going to buy a new flex cable, no point in repairing , spennding time, buying AS, getting that crap all over my hands all over a cord that costs maybe 5 bucks shipped

if anyone is selling one let me know! that or a hard drive caddy for this.

Lionsault_100 said:

yeah i know about as5 i meant where exactly to place it, i'm just going to buy a new flex cable, no point in repairing , spennding time, buying AS, getting that crap all over my hands all over a cord that costs maybe 5 bucks shipped

if anyone is selling one let me know! that or a hard drive caddy for this.

Click to expand...

I'd say, ask the guy if you could have the caddy. I can see him keeping the HDD for security issues, but the caddy doesn't have any storage capabilities.

Outside of this, look on Ebay. I have been able to get tons of parts for my IBM stuff there.

steve