Example of More then Scrap Value

Originally Posted by ilyaz

One problem that I have had when trying to decide whether to scrap or to sell as working part is how I can test the device to make sure it's actually fully functional. With some things like harddrives and power supplies it is relatively easy, does not require a lot of extra equipment or a lot of time. But with things like MBs, PCI cards, etc it's harder. In some cases even if you put it on eBay as "non-working/for parts", you might get more for it than scrap value, but in other cases it will lower the selling price so much that it would be better to just scrap it.

One way is to have a simple test bench set up with only a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. From there you just plop the tower on it prior to breaking it down, and see what it's made of. I'm aware that this could seem daunting to one who has no prior computer experience, but it's really fairly simple. If it boots up with no excessive sparks or smoke, that is a good sign. If it has no memory, keep a few spares around ( a one pound, $14, sampling of ram would be more than enough to cover most every type memory ) and remember to retrieve them before moving on. You can check one out even without a hard drive/operating system, just go into setup at boot and take a look around ( navigate setup using left/right/up/down arrows on your keyboard along with enter/esc keys mostly ) The first screen in setup will usually tell you all you need to know mainboard/cpu/ram etc. Then you can call it working pull, or tested working. I personally would rather see one of these terms than a "refurbished" because in most cases away from the original manufacturer or an associated company, it is most likely pure bs more related to "dusted off a bit maybe"


As for your comment wdaddy, if that was pulled from a working system, and you had run it across a bench before dismantling it you may have been able to see it in system devices as "this device is working properly" etc. Most people wouldn't bother, but being primarily a computer guy i run everything across the bench and power it up, that's the point at which i decide which way it goes from there



You have an awesome Ebay record BTW