Microsoft is annoying me again

[YedZed]

2 minutes ago, swordsman247 said:

Most of the ones I did were Optiplex gtx520's. For basic web stuff and even some lower res YouTube/netflix they do fine, the hard drives are what really slow them down the most, I tested them with xp, 7, and 10. Xp was the best on hard drive and 10 did the best on the ssd. 7 failed the worst for speed and responsiveness overall.

 

But with 4gb ddr2 800 and a ssd they pop right along on 10. However I didn't put an ssd in all of them just the one for testing. But I sold over half of them so far and they are fine for most office needs. Also you don't have much room for multitasking but the ssd helps somewhat.

 

But they were always intended to be workstations, and you can get them really cheap now because they lack some of the 'media' features desired now by most(i.e. hd vid streaming). A cheap add in graphics card will bring them up to 1080p streaming able but you won't be doing much else with it at the same time.

is that a profitable endeavor? Refurbishing old PCs like those and selling them? is it your main job?

 

[swordsman247]

Just now, YedZed said:

is that a profitable endeavor? Refurbishing old PCs like those and selling them? is it your main job?

 

Well not really, I do make some money but not enough to live on(10-30 bucks per unit). It's more of a side job/hobby I do in my down time when I'm not fixing computers for my employer. It's good xp for my job and I enjoy it but it can get a bit dull if you fix the same model 30 times in a row. lol Netflix and fix is a thing to me after the first couple of them.

[YedZed]

6 minutes ago, swordsman247 said:

Well not really, I do make some money but not enough to live on(10-30 bucks per unit). It's more of a side job/hobby I do in my down time when I'm not fixing computers for my employer. It's good xp for my job and I enjoy it but it can get a bit dull if you fix the same model 30 times in a row. lol Netflix and fix is a thing to me after the first couple of them.

How do you sell them? Ebay? 

I love working with computers, old and new. I've been working with my father's really old computers a lot recently, and its pretty fun. Although i imagine how it might get tedious.

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, YedZed said:

Well when i put in that processor i was hoping to see a noticeable improvement in Minecraft, pretty much our only 3D game (lol), but i couldn't see that much of a difference. PerformanceTest told me there was a theoretical improvement there, but not anything so evident. 

You're more than likely GPU bounc with Minecraft. While it will run on a Potato, a better GPU will still help give you better performance. Though a better CPU does help with certain aspects of the game.

[YedZed]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

You're more than likely GPU bounc with Minecraft. While it will run on a Potato, a better GPU will still help give you better performance. Though a better CPU does help with certain aspects of the game.

Well, it's supposed to be a pretty CPU intensive game, but i think you are right. but I definitely still had a CPU bottleneck.

[swordsman247]

12 minutes ago, YedZed said:

How do you sell them? Ebay? 

I love working with computers, old and new. I've been working with my father's really old computers a lot recently, and its pretty fun. Although i imagine how it might get tedious.

Some I sell on eBay but they have to be small/light and/or be worth over 100 to someone for me to bother with shipping them.I learned the hard way a full tower gaming system is hard to pack and ship plus it's really expensive 40+ dollars in some cases.

 

Also there's the fact that some of my money is tied up until I sell them and some don't really sell on eBay, I mean would you pay 30 bucks just to ship a 20 dollar tower? So there needs to be a way to move them locally. I run a repair store and the owner will let me sell them from there if someone asks me first if I have any. And sometimes my family or friends send me some business. I also have some local businesses that get them from me every year or two. It's a small town so it's me, one of the two other pc shops that way over charge for a very old system, craigslist or Walmart.

[YedZed]

1 minute ago, swordsman247 said:

Some I sell on eBay but they have to be small/light and/or be worth over 100 to someone for me to bother with shipping them.I learned the hard way a full tower gaming system is hard to pack and ship plus it's really expensive 40+ dollars in some cases.

 

Also there's the fact that some of my money is tied up until I sell them and some don't really sell on eBay, I mean would you pay 30 bucks just to ship a 20 dollar tower? So there needs to be a way to move them locally. I run a repair store and the owner will let me sell them from there if someone asks me first if I have any. And sometimes my family or friends send me some business. I also have some local store that get them from me every year or two. It's a small town so it's me, one of the two other pc shops that way over charge for a very old system, craigslist or Walmart.

That is really interesting. Thanks!

[swordsman247]

8 minutes ago, YedZed said:

That is really interesting. Thanks!

Sure no prob, if it's something you want to do I would recommend starting it as a hobby. I did about 10 years of tinkering and fixing my families stuff and any scrap pc I could find before anyone would hire me to do it.

 

(I would like to state trying to train repair techs on customers computers is a bad idea and most small time owners like my boss want you fully trained tested and able before they give you a paying job.)

[YedZed]

Just now, swordsman247 said:

Sure no prob, if it's something you want to do I would recommend starting it as a hobby. I did about 10 years of tinkering and fixing my families stuff and any scrap pc I could find before anyone would hire me to do it.

 

(I would like to state trying to train repair techs on customers computers is a bad idea and most small time owners like my boss want you fully trained tested and able before they give you a paying job.)

Thanks!

I just LOVE messing around and taking apart and building electronics. Although i kinda broke our VCR last week cuz of a stupid ribbon cable that ripped. Any way of fixing those by the way? Those REALLY thin, paper thin plastic sheet lookin cables?

[swordsman247]

4 minutes ago, YedZed said:

Thanks!

I just LOVE messing around and taking apart and building electronics. Although i kinda broke our VCR last week cuz of a stupid ribbon cable that ripped. Any way of fixing those by the way? Those REALLY thin, paper thin plastic sheet lookin cables?

Yeah but ribbon cables can be a pain. if it's hardwired into something you basically need to replace it and re-solder the whole thing, if they're the slip in kind find a new one the right size and hope the sockets aren't busted inside. You can connect then ends in some cases but it's hard to do right with normal tools.

 

I stopped messing with VCR's when they went under 30 bucks new at walmart, and they have stacks of them at my local goodwill for 10 bucks and I can return it if it's busted. I haven't messed with one in a few years now I just replace them for my older family members. But most of them are at least to dvd's now.

[YedZed]

Just now, swordsman247 said:

Yeah but ribbon cables can be a pain. if it's hardwired into something you basically need to replace it and re-solder the whole thing, if they're the slip in kind find a new one the right size and hope the sockets aren't busted inside. You can connect then ends in some cases but it's hard to do right with normal tools.

 

I stopped messing with VCR's when they went under 30 bucks new at walmart, and they have stacks of them at my local goodwill for 10 bucks and I can return it if it's busted. I haven't messed with one in a few years now I just replace them for my older family members. But most of them are at least to dvd's now.

Well, it was the VCR that was converting the RCA connection of our wii (which we barely use) to our super-old fishbowl TV's sole coaxial pin connection. My father might kill me if he finds out, so I'm a little worried. I have a friend who dad has a lot of old tech, so Im hoping they have one.

[swordsman247]

5 minutes ago, YedZed said:

Well, it was the VCR that was converting the RCA connection of our wii (which we barely use) to our super-old fishbowl TV's sole coaxial pin connection. My father might kill me if he finds out, so I'm a little worried. I have a friend who dad has a lot of old tech, so Im hoping they have one.

well if it can still turn on it should still do that much most of the cables in a vcr are not used for that 

[YedZed]

Just now, swordsman247 said:

well if it can still turn on it should still do that much most of the cables in a vcr are not used for that 

The reason I took it apart in the first place was to take out the broken VHS reader (it has VHS and DVD), as an experiment. The VCR freaked out over this and didn't work, and in the process of returning the VHS piece, i broke one of it's ribbon cables to the MOBO.

[swordsman247]

2 minutes ago, YedZed said:

The reason I took it apart in the first place was to take out the broken VHS reader (it has VHS and DVD), as an experiment. The VCR freaked out over this and didn't work, and in the process of returning the VHS piece, i broke one of it's ribbon cables to the MOBO.

those combination ones can have some odd wiring it may be best to explain it's busted and get a new one.

[YedZed]

Just now, swordsman247 said:

those combination ones can have some odd wiring it may be best to explain it's busted and get a new one.

Alright then. Thanks for the advice!

[dalekphalm]

10 minutes ago, YedZed said:

Alright then. Thanks for the advice!

You can also pick up an RCA to RF-Coaxial converter on like Amazon or eBay. No idea what the price would go for these days, but I can't imagine you'll need to spend more than $20 or so.

[YedZed]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

You can also pick up an RCA to RF-Coaxial converter on like Amazon or eBay. No idea what the price would go for these days, but I can't imagine you'll need to spend more than $20 or so.

Thats a thing? i assumed we had the VCR cuz that wasnt a thing. 

But i am really trying to save pennies here. Gotta get that new build...

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, YedZed said:

Thats a thing? i assumed we had the VCR cuz that wasnt a thing. 

But i am really trying to save pennies here. Gotta get that new build...

Yep, totally a thing. They were really popular in the 90's, when most consoles only had RCA outputs, and most TV's (Which were pretty much exclusively CRT - especially cheaper TV's) only had a single Coaxial Cable input.

https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-RF-Modulator-CRF907R/dp/B0014KKV7W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469765075&sr=8-3&keywords=rca+to+coax

$9 USD on Amazon.com

[YedZed]

2 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Yep, totally a thing. They were really popular in the 90's, when most consoles only had RCA outputs, and most TV's (Which were pretty much exclusively CRT - especially cheaper TV's) only had a single Coaxial Cable input.

https://www.amazon.com/RCA-Compact-RF-Modulator-CRF907R/dp/B0014KKV7W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1469765075&sr=8-3&keywords=rca+to+coax

$9 USD on Amazon.com

I'll consider, thank you very much!

[Gikero]

16 hours ago, YedZed said:

Yeah, i knew it was a known problem. unfortunately we did not have the license key just lying around, which was another compelling reason to revert.

If you end up in a situation where you are unable to revert and retrieve Office as it was originally installed, AND you don't have the ability to recover your Office license, Office 2010 Starter (Word and Excel only) or LibreOffice are my recommendation. I always go into options and tell LibreOffice to save in MS formats, AND ignore checking to see if it is saved in their ODF format. I've done this for clients who are tight on cash and need a Office suite. So far no one has complained.