What to do with this laptop?

[Resident_Lurker]

I got this laptop for one dollar.

Something was obviously taken out of it. My guess is the battery, but I've never really dealt with laptops before. It's a Compaq Presario 1245. I'm really not too keen on buying a battery for something I don't even know works. Can I use a compatibile power supply to at least see if it works? Can this be done without the battery?

 

[racketboy]

pretty sure you can buy replacements

check eBay

 

[mtxblau]

radio shack has an adaptor for $70. Test it and return it, I think is the best bet. Just be careful with the packaging so they can resell it.

And yes, it can be done without the battery.

EDIT: Ugh, HPA screen. Be prepared to use that thing with a regular monitor unless you want to suffer serious migrane headaches. You can hack the monitor by replacing it with a 1400 or 1600 series TFT screen.

And another note, the board on that is compatible with the K6+ line processors (dip switches are on the board, so it can be overclocked somewhat). I highly suggest the upgrade, there is a massive performance boost.

EDIT2: If you find that you don't like the machine (which is fairly easy to do) let me know, I'll purchase it from you. I have a similar (dead - 1247) machine in need of parts.

 

[Resident_Lurker]

Another thing I just discovered: The AC adapter jack... well, there is no jack. The hole where one might plug in the adapter is just that. A hole.

I'll have to open it up and do some more investigating.

 

[Gallstaff]

Haha, it sounds like they dont want you to be able to use this thing

 

[Resident_Lurker]

Screw that, I want to use this thing. Hopefully not much else is wrong with it. Here's to hoping it can be fixed. :cheers

Actually, does anyone know why someone would remove the entire AC jack? Can you even use that on another laptop?

 

[Gallstaff]

Thats what seemed weird to me. It seems like before you bought it, the previous owner wanted to make sure there was no way that power could get to the laptop.

 

[Curtis]

Heh - are you even sure there is still a motherboard in it? Usually everything is soldered onto the PCB. 😉

 

[Gallstaff]

if nothing else he could sell the drives for a few bucks

 

[Scared0o0Rabbit]

...assuming it has drives.

 

[mal]

Heh, there is that too.

 

[Gallstaff]

Well it has a cd-rom drive... unless they decided to be TOTAL bastards and stealth the bay with the face plate so it just looks like there's one.

 

[mtxblau]

The 1200/1400/1600 series A/C port actually wears out really quick. Makes sense if they wanted to fix a 1400 or 1600.