🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 10:50:13 GMT, relloman@beasty.com (rello) wrote:

>got a newish dell dimension 4500 in that was knocked out by a
>lightning strike......i got the job of disposing of the box :)
>
>the mobo is definitely dead but all the majors, hd, both cd drives,
>floppy ram and video board are ok...havent tested the modem and s/card
>as yet but s/card prolly ok......modem i expect to be fried .....
>
>i could sell it at a very low price [with a statement as to its
>origin], use it as a testing station or maybe hire it out as a fill in
>for people who cant do without a computer........
>
>what would opinion be on putting it back into service for the above
>applications.....
>thanks for any and all replies
>
>relloman
>relloman

It depends on how much $ your time is worth.
Sound and modem are relatively cheap items, especially since many
motherboards have integrated sound.  However if the Dell used a
proprietary power supply then your ability to source another Dell board
cheaply may determine if the rebuilt is even cost-effective, ignoring the
value of your time.    After you get it working again  you'll just have to
test it and see how it does.  If there's any chance the system would be
storing semi-valuable data you might want to replace the hard drive too,
and possibly the memory. The machine should certainly stay with you to be
tested for longer than a (non-damaged) typical system.

Be sure to test power supply, at least voltages, and memory extensively
with http://www.memtest86.com , hard drive with manufacturer's
diagnostics.  If you have need for a "testing station" then that would
seem a good role for the system.