Confessions of a Dumpster Diver

[JunkBear]

I have a heap of parts I`d give to you if I wasn`t on the other side of the planet

If we start digging we could join in the middle!

 

[natr0n]

Dad found me an xbox 360 hdvd player with kingkong and some cordless house phones in a ps3 box.

Not even a scratch on the dvd unit.

 

[Compgeke]

I'll admit a lot of my hardware is actually scrap\dumpster found stuff. Never worried about dirt, I know enough common sense to use gloves when dealing with laptop cleaning and simple green does a great job on most anything. Unfortunately it's been almost a year since I've actually been able to look for anything and my ewaste contact quit a couple months ago so no more fun there.

Modern-era ewaste finds are the two Precision T3500s ($2.50/ea), Vostro 3450 ($5), Inspiron 3520 (free), Precision T1500 (free), HP Z200 (free), Laserjet P3005 (free) and a bunch of various vintage mid-range audio receivers along with one Sony STR-DA5300ES AVR. Direct dumpster finds are stuff like the XPS 720, P5N32E SLI board w/ Q6600, Altec 887A speakers, Kenwood KR-4070 I used for years, 20" Acer 1680x1050 monitor, small 20ish" drugstore special TV and a few small odds and ends. Never dove in, just stuff sitting up on top or beside.

For the most part though stuff rarely has hard drives and is quite often stripped down. Rarely does anything have ram (3450, 3520, T1500, 720 and P5N32E-SLI had nothing) and if there is ram it's usually very little (2 gigs each in the T3500s). Only one T3500 had an HDD and it was an 80 gig raptor wiped clean, 3520 had a bad 500 gig and a cracked screen, Z200 a good 500 gig not quite wiped (HP OEM XP image...on 8 gigs ram).

 

[Silvertigo]

Never dove in

I do. Even wearing a smile.

 

[silentbogo]

Lately I had less luck with freebies, but here's what I gathered over the past couple of weeks:
1) A huge box full of stuff!!! Includes two broken laptops: ASUS K50AF and Apple MacBook Pro [2007]; a dozen of videocards for parts (GPU is missing, but there are many other salvageable parts for repairs, like FETs, VRAM, etc.). Also includes a working and barely used ECS H81H3-M4 motherboard for my new HTPC build.
Financial damage: $80
2) Oculus Rift DK1. Local guy is running a small attraction in one of the entertainment centers/shopping malls. The old unit broke down (after the owner gave it to his retarded friend) and he quickly upgraded to DK2. This VR headset only needs a cable replacement and maybe some cosmetic touch-ups(too much wear due to intensive use), but I have very high hopes for it. Includes all accessories: 2 lens sets, power adapter, HDMI and mini-USB cables, original box.
Financial damage: ~$60

 

[dorsetknob]

Lately I had less luck with freebies, but here's what I gathered over the past couple of weeks:
1) A huge box full of stuff!!! Includes two broken laptops: ASUS K50AF and Apple MacBook Pro [2007]; a dozen of videocards for parts (GPU is missing, but there are many other salvageable parts for repairs, like FETs, VRAM, etc.). Also includes a working and barely used ECS H81H3-M4 motherboard for my new HTPC build.
Financial damage: $80
2) Oculus Rift DK1. Local guy is running a small attraction in one of the entertainment centers/shopping malls. The old unit broke down (after the owner gave it to his retarded friend) and he quickly upgraded to DK2. This VR headset only needs a cable replacement and maybe some cosmetic touch-ups(too much wear due to intensive use), but I have very high hopes for it. Includes all accessories: 2 lens sets, power adapter, HDMI and mini-USB cables, original box.
Financial damage: ~$60
View attachment 68074 View attachment 68075

After repair of the Oculus Rift DK1

( This VR headset only needs a cable replacement and maybe some cosmetic touch-ups(too much wear due to intensive use

you should do a Dumpster tech review of it
Do not think its been reviewed on the site yet and a well used one would be more pertinent Review than a brand new unit review

 

[Ahhzz]

I've commandeered a couple of laptop LCDs from dead laptops in our office, looking to make a fold-down display in the kitchen using my RasPi with one. Also took an old server a client was done with, and while the board is an old MSI, 2Gb with a P4, the case is solid and large, with 5 internal 3 1/2, 2 ext 3 1/2, and 4 ext 5 1/2 bays. It came with an X71C LCD temperature display and fan control. not sure what all it does: they weren't using it, and the rear fan attached was completely locked down. I've oiled the bearings and it's spinning freely again. Haven't taken her home yet to work it out, but I think I'll have enough space for the dual power supplies running my current Frankenstein's monster, so I can swap cases, and get down to the business of completely modding that thing. Which was an old IBM AS400 I salvaged from the trash at my old business Wheels and all heheh.

 

[silentbogo]

After repair of the Oculus Rift DK1 you should do a Dumpster tech review of it
Do not think its been reviewed on the site yet and a well used one would be more pertinent Review than a brand new unit review

I think I'll do that under "Project Logs" sometime soon.

 

[dorsetknob]

I think I'll do that under "Project Logs" sometime soon.

look foward to reading that

 

[Freezer]

A dumpster diver knows how without those kind of issue's. basically common sense goes a long way.

Goes without saying.

Was only kidding about the maggots

Just making a joke, besides you never know what you'll encounter.

If we start digging we could join in the middle!

I heard if you dig deep enough, you'll hit Middle-earth​

 

[Atomic77]

yeah I heard you can actually dig your way to china. lol.

 

[silentbogo]

Started a repair log for my Oculus. Anyone interested welcome!
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/restoring-oculus-rift-dk1-dumpster-diver-special.216253/?=

 

[dorsetknob]

Started a repair log for my Oculus. Anyone interested welcome!
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/restoring-oculus-rift-dk1-dumpster-diver-special.216253/?=

subbed and looking foward to the article

 

[micropage7]

and i got an idea to build sleeper, using old case
maybe i could take a walk and watch every corner to find case from pentium II or III era

 

[JunkBear]

I have an older Seagate case I got in dumpster. I need sand it then repaint ...after gonna build a skt 478 3.4gigs, 4gigs ddr400, both odd and hdd sata. With an IceQ 4670 overclocked agp. The best ever made andone of the rare agp with HDMI plug that actually transfer thesound.

 

[RejZoR]

Today I've salvaged a 1GB DDR2 laptop module, a Core 2 Duo T5500 processor, Broadcom WLAN module and a pretty cool heatpipe cooler from a decomissioned laptop that I might be able to use on something. I'll just sell the rest for cheap. CPU and RAM could be useful for restoration/upgrade of an old laptop.

 

[Silvertigo]

Dumpster dived a few more PC`s.

First find is an Acer Power, with an 946GZT-AM mobo , fire-wire card thingy, ethernet card and Celeron 3.46ghz cpu. Best of all it has a nice beefy Heat sink and fan which I will put aside for another project.
I will check the HDD is in decent condition, add a GPU, add a intel stock variety HSU, fresh install of Win7 and give it away to whoever needs it.

Second find is an Asus P5G41CM-LX with a Pentium Dual Core E2180, 4gb ram, 400 watt PSU. The inside of the case was utterly filthy, I think the owner was a smoker owing to the fact the dust-stuff was sticky. I could of rolled blobs of this stuff into a ball and threw it against a wall, it would of stuck there. Yuck.

The cpu heat sink and fan was completely blocked with this horrible gunk-stuff. I`d say the cpu was shutting down very quickly after boot-up so the owner tossed the the whole rig in the trash. I`ve since cleaned her up, added another heat sink and fan, cleared cmos, and booted up no problems. I`ll throw in a quad core and have a play with this one, though I believe the OC potentials on a G41 are lacking especially with no vrm heatsink. I`ll try not fry it

 

[Jetster]

I just threw three old PCs in the dumpster. I needed space

 

[silentbogo]

Just got another freebie : almost like new 85W magsafe charger. Now that I had a chance to test that MacBook Pro I mentioned earlier, I know for sure that it only needs screen replacement.

Now, look at this beauty:

 

[AsRock]

Just got another freebie : almost like new 85W magsafe charger. Now that I had a chance to test that MacBook Pro I mentioned earlier, I know for sure that it only needs screen replacement.

Now, look at this beauty:
View attachment 68370 View attachment 68371

The only way i will own one, a free one haha.

 

[silentbogo]

It's alive!


Only 3 months and $35 later I was finally able to find a good replacement screen.
Went to a junk-heaven last November to get a compatible LCD matrix, but unfortunately the seller was full of sh%t and pulled it out of some DELL laptop (sold as macbook pro A1226 screen). Specs were almost identical, but the connector and its placement was a bit off. Had to refund the item and store the Mac in a storage box till last week.

New screen has a tiny white blemish in the corner, but otherwise works as expected. Now it's time to install El Capitan / Ubuntu dual boot and put it to work.