Making do with parts you have.

Acquired a free computer today but it didn't have a power supply. Wanted to make sure it runs before spending money on it. So I frankensteined a couple of PCs together.



Click here to see

How did it work?

Thinking of the subject; I just recently went into Spring cleaning mode and threw out a bunch of old computer stuff. It was amazing how much cables, old hard drives, cases, dial up modems, video cards and other components I had built up over time. Many of these things are now outdated and serve no purpose. But being afflicted with packratitis I tend to hold onto things "just in case" for some time. I even tossed 3 old printers, 2 CRT's and a ton of old manuals.

I do have a spare new 350 watt power supply left that I bought for some reason. I expect it will come in handy at some point.

Looks very familiar. If you were closer I'd have been happy to loan you one of my half dozen or so "spares".

I should do some cleaning out myself. My son left his "museum" in my shed when he moved out. stuff all the way back to an 8" floppy drive and an acoustic modem. Just can't bring myself to toss the stuff, and, besides, he claims someday he wants it back. Just doesn't have room for it now. But right now I don't have room *because* of it. Oh, well.

The penguin still has a "Brother" word processor that works. You know the so called portable model (exact model # escapes me atm) The mrs's got a bit up tight will me a few months back when she discovered I had over 60 computers stored about the igloo.

60 That might make you a hoarding penguin. I suspect its still around someplace, but I used to have brother word processor too. Mine was just an electric typewriter basically with some memory and a single line to "edit" your document.

With 60 you might have me beat. But, like I said, most of them are my son's "museum", so maybe I don't qualify as a hoarder? (Don't ask my wife. Hmm, think that might be part of the reason she bought her own house?)

I did finally get around to buying a power supply, unfortuantely it doesn't quite align with screw holes so think I'll just use double sided tape lol.

I've found that if you move it around a little there's nearly always *one* screwhole that aligns, even if the rest don't. Using even one screw gives a more solid foundation for the tape. Plus that ensures a positive electrical path between the PS case and the computer chassis. Don't know if that really matters, but it *sounds* like a good idea.

I've tried to find one that aligns, but unfortunately they just don't. And the darn case doesn't have enough metal in the area to drill another hole. I thought it was a standard TFX power supply, but unfortunately its not. I love it when case manufacturers make custom fit power supplies.

Had another fun one tonight. Been working on my cousin's laptop because the hard drive quit. Well in the middle of trying to reinstall the dumb thing quit booting from the dvd drive. I was thinking it might be because I didn't have a gateway windows disc. To test my theory, I rigged up an old ide dvd drive from another computer using my usb hard drive dock.

I got windows installed for him now, but the dvd drive still doesn't work. Hoping its just a bad connection, that I can fix by popping the drive in and out.

Good winging it! And good luck. I, in general, don't do laptops, but it's more of a problem with opportunity than inclination. Just don't have old laptops/parts around and my laptop has proved remarkably stout.

Well I determined the drive was bad. Unfortunately nowhere around here carried an internal slim dvd drive. So I came up with scheme. Wouldn't it make sense that an external slim usb drive is the same? Well the one I bought wasn't. It didn't have a sata connector hiding inside, but the usb plug was soldered in its place. Oh well now I have a nice usb external drive.

That's something that could come in handy some time.