Good morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today, I am going evaluating a “barn find” of a laptop to see if it’s worth resurrecting to limp along for someone another year or two. Let’s get started!
Eyes on the Hardware
The laptop in question was built for my church to run Audio-Visual (AV) when all it needed to do was run PowerPoint on Sabbath mornings. It was replaced after our audio CD ministry, which was hosted on dedicated hardware, was superseded by live streaming services directly to the web.
The laptop has spent the last several years tucked away in a corner cabinet built into the church office protected by its carry case. After a few calls to the other AV team members, I have permission to do with it what I can.
A further inspection of the case yields a CAT .5e Ethernet cord, a USB Wi-Fi antenna (most certainly useless by now), a bag with some software CD’s, and a tiny, little corner pocket has a slideshow clicker/laser pointer combo with an empty slot where its dongle should be stored. Unfortunately, the package is power cord not included.
Inspection of the Case
Low usage during the laptop’s lifetime means the case only has a few scratches on the lid. There’s even a hard disk logo is clearly visible on a rubber pad where it should quickly get worn off under normal use.
The lid is secured by a spring loaded slider and a couple hooks. Opening it up presents me with an old 4:3 screen. Two stickers to the right and left respectively warn the user about upside down USB ports, and advertise the Pentium 4m CPU.
The bottom has a little more information. There’s an empty, plastic pouch for a business card where someone wrote, “[name]/ SDA/ Church/ AV Dept. 7/04.” Another sticker licenses this machine to run Windows XP Home Edition, and the product key is clearly visible. Another sticker gives its serial number with a bar code, and the FCC compliance sticker says it is an A2500L Notebook PC and asks for a 19 volt power supply, 3.42 amps, 65 watts.
I also poked around, inspecting the sides. I recognize a number of USB ports, a VGA connector and a parallel port –each complete with screw holes– separate Phone/Ethernet ports, a DVD drive, and an empty bay where an optional SD card reader would have gone.
The Search For a Power Supply
This right here could kill the project before it even really starts. It’s why I’m even putting this much effort into writing about project evaluation instead of an actual project.
There was nothing in the cabinet where the laptop hid away. In fact, I left it there a couple days when I didn’t find anything looking through the AV booth, though since I’ve brought it home, my father has suggested looking behind the equipment where a mere AV tech used to operating the system wouldn’t think to look.
You never realize just how many standards of voltage consumer electronics use until you look through the myriad of transformers contributing to spaghetti soup where they collect. Each voltage has at least one different size to keep you from frying something.
My father was eventually able to find a 19v power supply, but it’s way lower of an amperage than the laptop calls for. At best, I’m looking at leaving it to charge overnight for an hour or two of work, and that’s assuming the battery is in any good working condition.
Takeaway
I honestly don’t know if you’ve heard the last of this laptop. Without a proper power supply, nothing is happening. The most we’ve gotten in terms of charging/booting is total power loss after displaying an ASUS logo, most likely while loading the BIOS. Otherwise, there’s an orange light that starts blinking when plugged in.
Future potential is mostly in learning on my end. My goal –assuming I can get it running browsing, E-mail, and possibly streaming a video– is to find someone in the church who needs a simple laptop. I’d be putting a lightweight Linux distribution on it. A friend recommended XFCE with a Win95-like aesthetic, and while I might think a 10 clone would be more readily accepted, the older look might afford it more slack, though a quick search landed me looking at a theme called Longhorn Plex I might try to look like its original XP.
In all reality, this thing is 17 years old! I am literally grave robbing here, even if it wouldn’t feel self-conscious being set up in a museum or personal collection.
Final Question
Have you ever pulled in an old laptop, only to find the power cord AWOL?