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Miscellaneous Forums => The Orphanage => Topic started by: Magnum on October 12, 2010, 01:27:51 AM

Title: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Magnum on October 12, 2010, 01:27:51 AM
I did a search and found this info.

Someone threw out a computer with XP Home Edition.
It's a lot faster than my old P-3.

It is a Compaq Presario SR1303WM.

Speed supported PC2700 DDR SDRAM DIMM

What it has for RAM.

Capacity   128 MBytes
Memory Type   DDR (PC2100)
Speed   133 MHz

Capacity   256 MBytes
Memory Type   DDR (PC3200)
Speed   200 MHz

Is it O.K. to mix these different speeds.

System shows all the installed RAM.

Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: dedndave on October 12, 2010, 01:47:34 AM
it's probably OK
it is likely that 133 MHz is the requirement for that machine, and the 200 MHz RAM meets that requirement
that is a pretty large difference - if the machine required 200 MHz RAM, it would probably crash on the 133   :bg
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Twister on October 12, 2010, 02:28:20 AM
That's not bad at all. (BONUS!: You got it for free!)

I usually take my pickings around at yard/garage sales, rarely the dumpsters. :P
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: dedndave on October 12, 2010, 08:06:29 AM
back in the day, i got a 386 machine i found in the junk-yard and fixed it
it was a compaq 386-16 MHz - the very first commercially available 386 machine
for a while, it was my fastest machine   :P
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Magnum on October 12, 2010, 01:44:41 PM
Quote from: Baluga Boo on October 12, 2010, 02:28:20 AM
That's not bad at all. (BONUS!: You got it for free!)

I usually take my pickings around at yard/garage sales, rarely the dumpsters. :P

From the same dumpster in my apt. complex, I also found a DVR that had a 160 Gb hard drive.

I try to recycle things and minimize the impact on the planet.

The front cover of the computer is missing.

I am trying to find an appropriate part to go over the on/off switch, then I can fabricate the cover.

Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Magnum on October 12, 2010, 01:45:40 PM
dedndave,

Good to see you like to recycle.
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Twister on October 13, 2010, 12:04:06 AM
I also too like to recycle. :bg

I don't usually find much in the dumspters except week-old banana peels and busted microwaves. Maybe my times of pickings are too late. :P
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: dedndave on October 13, 2010, 01:22:38 AM
 :lol
thing is - i found that machine when i lived in a small town in the desert
a town of "167 friendly people and 1 asshole" (that's what the sign said, coming into town)
so - i found out who tossed the machine - he was the guy that owned the little restaraunt where we had sunday breakfast
Bob was his name - he was a beginner C programmer, too   :P
he was a little pissed when i told him i fixed it by replacing the battery
but - compaq's were one of the most propriatary-laiden machines ever - lol
if you wanted to upgrade the memory, it almost had to be compaq
also - it was "mechanically unique" in that many cards would not fit into it, etc
kind of a pain to upgrade, all in all
but, it made a great DOS machine, and for a while, was my main machine

i got a free VCR from another guy in that town
he brought it over and gave it to me - said he'd bought a new one
i replaced the batteries in the remote control and away it went   :bg
you can see why everyone in that little town thought i was some kind of Einstein
the town average IQ wasn't a very high bar to limbo under
it showed in the way things were "fixed", too
half the buildings in town were held together with duct tape and bailing wire
i've never seen more cutlery in breaker boxes   :lol
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: hutch-- on October 24, 2010, 10:46:51 AM
I tend to recycle my own junk which is a reasonably large collection after owning computer for 20 years. I had nightmares some time ago trying to get a Prescott box going until I learnt that the OEM Intel boards made for IBM were all duds and I gave up on it. After this revelation I ended up with a 3.8 Prescott gig PIV, a 2.8 gig Northwood PIV and a 1.2 gig Celeron on a crap board that I filled with what I think was SD ram, everything that would fit into the board, a couple of PATA disks, a DVD player from a broken machine that I rebuilt for a friend and WHOHOOOO overclocked it up to about 1.4 gig and it actually works OK for a crapheap with built in crappy video. I still have good video cards from that era but the board does not have a slot for it and I refuse to mess around with an S3 video card in a PCI slot.

Main gain was it cleaned up the mess of computer bits all over the place and I have just about used up all of the junk apart from 2 draws full of expansion cards from the last 15 years or so.

I work mainly on a 3.0 gig Core 2 Quad running XP SP3 and have an i7 quad with Win7 64 bit on it which I have not turned on for the last month. What I dread next time I turn it on is the mountain of sh*t it will want to download from Microsoft.
Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Magnum on October 24, 2010, 11:12:27 AM
Quote from: Baluga Boo on October 13, 2010, 12:04:06 AM
I also too like to recycle. :bg

I don't usually find much in the dumspters except week-old banana peels and busted microwaves. Maybe my times of pickings are too late. :P

Times aren't critical, just widen your net.

Title: Re: Computer from a dumpster
Post by: Magnum on October 24, 2010, 11:15:25 AM
Speaking of M.S.

Did they ever get it right on Vista and Win7 with explorer.exe.

Can you do a search without restarting explorer.exe?