Ultranothing
New Member
It was trash day in our town and about once every three months everyone does a REAL cleaning and you can find all sorts of junk. Sorta like a huge, free tag sale...
And I drove by this computer that from a distance looked like it was in pretty decent shape. Upon closer review I noticed that it looked like a brand-new Dell Dimension 8400.
No wires, no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse, just the unit.
When I got home I looked inside. Everything was clean and in it's place.
I plugged it in and Windows XP fired up quickly...
It was locked, though - admin password. So I booted it off of a WinLite CD and reset the password.
Once I finally got in, I got a "STOP" error, which occurred every subsequent time I tried to boot the PC.
After looking up the STOP errorcode, I discovered that it was stemming from an installation of Symantec Antivirus, which I promptly removed. Problem Solved.
There was no software installed on this computer, aside from Symantec and Yahoo Messenger. Not one document or file of any kind. It was as if someone bought this computer, only to throw it face down in their lawn.
Here's the specs on the system as I can recall them :
Dell Dimension Model 8400
ACPI Multiprocessor (Two 3.2ghz P4 Hyperthreading Processors)
1GB PC3200 240pin Memory (2x512mb) 400mhz
180gb SATA HD
128MB Radeon X300 (Device manager lists two adapters, one as "secondary"; not sure what this means)
NEC DVD/RW @ 16x
Samsung CD-R/RW @ 38x
54MB/s Wireless PCI Adapter
And the same day, at various other locations, I found a Diamondtron VX920 21" monitor (CRT, but CRISP!) two Creative SBS20 speakers, and to complete the package, a brand-new Keytronic 800 Keyboard (still in the package) and a mouse (WITH SCROLL-ROLL! WOW!).
So what do you guys think? Pretty good find, no?
I'm still trying to figure out why it was left out with the garbage pile. I almost went back to the house to ask them, but I worried that they may ask for it back.
I really only came here to gloat
- and I would be interested in hearing any thoughts or opinions you may have in regards to my find, but I was also wondering...
Have you guys ever stumbled upon any computer or even ANY electronic device, by pure chance, and want to mention it?
Of course, it doesn't even have to be some state-of-the art, mind-blowing discovery of otherworldy proportions like I'd like to believe mine was - maybe you found an old 286/12 with Geos installed on it, the remnants of an old 2400bps BBS still clinging to the old 40 meg HD (in which case, I'd like my old computer back, by the way) 
...
I'd be interested in hearing any stories like that, and I'm sure others would, as well...
And I drove by this computer that from a distance looked like it was in pretty decent shape. Upon closer review I noticed that it looked like a brand-new Dell Dimension 8400.
No wires, no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse, just the unit.
When I got home I looked inside. Everything was clean and in it's place.
I plugged it in and Windows XP fired up quickly...
It was locked, though - admin password. So I booted it off of a WinLite CD and reset the password.
Once I finally got in, I got a "STOP" error, which occurred every subsequent time I tried to boot the PC.
After looking up the STOP errorcode, I discovered that it was stemming from an installation of Symantec Antivirus, which I promptly removed. Problem Solved.
There was no software installed on this computer, aside from Symantec and Yahoo Messenger. Not one document or file of any kind. It was as if someone bought this computer, only to throw it face down in their lawn.
Here's the specs on the system as I can recall them :
Dell Dimension Model 8400
ACPI Multiprocessor (Two 3.2ghz P4 Hyperthreading Processors)
1GB PC3200 240pin Memory (2x512mb) 400mhz
180gb SATA HD
128MB Radeon X300 (Device manager lists two adapters, one as "secondary"; not sure what this means)
NEC DVD/RW @ 16x
Samsung CD-R/RW @ 38x
54MB/s Wireless PCI Adapter
And the same day, at various other locations, I found a Diamondtron VX920 21" monitor (CRT, but CRISP!) two Creative SBS20 speakers, and to complete the package, a brand-new Keytronic 800 Keyboard (still in the package) and a mouse (WITH SCROLL-ROLL! WOW!).
So what do you guys think? Pretty good find, no?
I'm still trying to figure out why it was left out with the garbage pile. I almost went back to the house to ask them, but I worried that they may ask for it back.
I really only came here to gloat
- and I would be interested in hearing any thoughts or opinions you may have in regards to my find, but I was also wondering...Have you guys ever stumbled upon any computer or even ANY electronic device, by pure chance, and want to mention it?
Of course, it doesn't even have to be some state-of-the art, mind-blowing discovery of otherworldy proportions like I'd like to believe mine was
- maybe you found an old 286/12 with Geos installed on it, the remnants of an old 2400bps BBS still clinging to the old 40 meg HD (in which case, I'd like my old computer back, by the way) ...I'd be interested in hearing any stories like that, and I'm sure others would, as well...
