Looks like I have myself a freebie

[DREDIOCK]

Week or two ago I posted about building a system my buddy and his wife for $800

Scenareo of how it went down went something like this.

she calls me telling me she tried to upgrade the ram but it wouldnt fit right so she took it out and put the old back in and now "the computer wont start"

So I ask her the usual. "did you make sure the ram was in all the way?"

"Yes and now the machine wont start at all. the fan starts then it goes silent and nothing happens"

Seems I've heard this before. Like when my old machine died.

So I tell her that anything I can think of at this point doesnt sound good and the machine is a few years old so.

She tells me shes been wanting to buy a new one anyway. Thus came into being my building one for her.

So I build the machine install windows etc etc and deliver it.

I ask if I can take the old one (An E machine) for either spare parts or to see if I can slap a basic machine together for my daughter.

They tell me to take it. but if I could see if I can retrieve the files on the hard drive as they have tax and business stuff on there they dont want floating around.
I was running late so I told em no problem. I'd just take it with me and when I had the HD out I'd bring it back. and just slap it in the new machine and they would have an extra hard drive will all their old files on it.

So I take it home plug it in and sure nuff. the fan starts whirring then it gets quiet and nothing else happens. no beeps. nothing.
Its getting late so I unplug it and figure Ill get to it in a day or two and see what if anything is useful in it.
so there it sat for a few days.

Then I was sitting there doing nothing I figured I'd pop the case off.
I power it up again and notice that while the fans made an initial whirring sound on start up. they quieted down but were still running. So Im thinking maybe CPU?

So I start lookin around and notice that one of the memory moduels seemed out of place and the clips werent latched.
Power it down again. Put the memory in its proer slot making sure the clips snapped and started it up.
Machine then booted perfectly.

Now keep in mind she specifically said the memory was seated all the way. I had asked her this several times over the phone and she said "yes"

so I call them up and ask to speak to her.

"Lisa?"
"Yes"
Hows the new machine running for you?
"wonderful I love it"
"How do you feel about the words black-mail?"
"Not nice words. why do you ask"
"you just wanted a new machine didnt cha?"
"Well yea, but why do you ask that"
"Cause there is nothing wrong with this old one. You didnt seat the memory correctly"
"Laughter. (then whispering.) you mean you got it working?"
"Like I said. there isnt a dman thing wrong with it other then you didnt have the memory in right. Now do you want it back? or do you still only want the hard drive? doesnt matter to me I was just going ot see if I coudl aquire enough parts to slap something together for Kaitlyn.(my daughter)

"I'll take the machine. We can always keep it as a spare."
"Ok I'll drop it off to you tomorrow"
"So I just charged the parts for a new machine and the other one was fine?"
"yup. I asked you 3 times if you had the memory in all the way"
"Well...yanno I really only need the files n the hard drive"
"Well I'm going to bring you the entire machine back"
"No... Just bring me the files on the hard drive"
"you want only the hard drive?"
"yea I just want those files. you keep the machine"
"You sure?"
"really I just want those files."
"Ok so I'll bring you the entire drive and we will connect it to your new machine.
I'm guessing you would rather I not mention this to Joe?"
"Laughing. Yea. that would be a real good idea."
"he'll want to kill you huh?"
"Yup, thats about right"
"laughing. Ok I'll pop the hard drive out in a few days and bring it over when I have time. In the meantime if you change your mind let me know."

LOL not bad for free

 Anthlon 64 3200+
MSI K8NGM2-L  mother board   http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8NGM2-L
512 ram
Media card reader
DVD RW burner

Figure I'll throw in a cheap hard drive and a gig of ram
and my daughter will have a pretty decent system for less then $200
Less then $100 if I throw in one of the old hard drives I have laying around here
I think I can do one more install with my XP upgrade. but still. Even if I have to buy it.
Cant beat the deal witha  stick LOL

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Yeah and you get to keep a copy of her nekkid pictures too! 

[Getback]

Yeah and you get to keep a copy of her nekkid pictures too! 

 

[Getback]

Sorry for the hijacking, however, this is somewhat related. If you give the lady back the harddrive will it have the original windows operating system on it? If so does this harm anything? Is there a way to delete the original os?

[DREDIOCK]

shouldnt as the system isnt set to boot from that drive

[MrRiplEy[H]]

It's a worthy note that if that copy of OS is 'left over' on the HD you can most likely recycle it to an another computer. Might save an easy 80 bucks.

With bad luck you won't pass activation but OTOH it doesn't cost anything to try.

[Getback]

How can you recycle it Ripley?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

If the computer has the certificate of authenticity in place you can get the serial from there. If not, you can use magic jellybean keyfinder to harvest the number.

After you find out the code you can use any installation cd with the correct XP version to install to an another computer. After that it's a question of passing the activation - usually you get away with 1-2 changes if not by internet then by phoning MS.