Month: June 2016

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Throughout the years, the increased demand of getting the best 2.1 speakers has influenced many manufacturers making these speaker systems. The large amount of speakers offered in this category has made the process of choosing the best speakers quite complicated. For this reason, the following overview on factors to consider when buying the best quality speakers might come in handy during the process of selection.

1. Size

The size of the speaker is an important aspect that should be considered when you pick the speakers for your home. If the speakers are intended to be used as an additional sound system for computer, the smaller ones would be a smart choice. For other typical uses such as playing music, watching movies or playing games, when you wish great quality sound, a large speaker system is recommended.

2. Power

The power of the 2.1 speaker system is considered as one of the main qualities when picking the best option. Power is typically translated as speakers with a higher wattage produce a higher power output. The power of a speaker also influences the depth of bass generated. As a result, if you wish to get a system that produces solid bass, you should aim for a system which has high wattage or power output. Otherwise, if you are thinking about a system that delivers lower bass then a system with low wattage will do just fine.

3. Features

The features available on a 2.1 speaker system also come into play when picking your ideal speakers. Some of the features available in these systems include radio, Bluetooth connectivity, memory slots, dedicated bass and volume level control as well as docking stations. Finding a model that incorporates all these features is highly recommended because they often guarantee the best experience for the user.

4. Cost

Last but not least, this purchase can be quite costly if you choose one of the premium models. If the budget is something you consider an important factor, you should do a price comparison of the several chosen models in order to find the best deal: the speaker system that fits within your spending budget while including the features that you are mostly excited about.

The factors above will give you a great base on how to choose the best 2.1 speaker system that meets your needs. That includes features, design, sound quality, while not forgetting the price.

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Source by Matas Baranauskas

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There is never a good time to encounter the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). This infamous system glitch has been known to show up right when you are in the middle of something important and it will bring your computing activities to a crashing halt. Though it may seem like your computer has turned against you, it is actually calling out for help. When this untimely annoyance makes an entrance, it is usually a sign of stability issues or critical system errors. Here's the good news: BSOD errors provide hints of the underlying problems so you can fix them.

Blue screens are accompanied by messages and hexadecimal values ​​known as stop error codes. These codes contain vital information that can be used to troubleshoot the cause of the problem and ultimately lead you to a solution. Below are some details and resolutions on a few stop codes that typically accompany the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Stop Code 0 × 0000001E – KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED: This code commonly means there are issues occurring within the kernel of the Windows operating system, a problem that often stems from device driver files. The recommended resolution for this blue screen error code is to remove, disable or update the driver file in question. This file will be specified in the error message so it should be relatively easy to find. If this does not work, make sure the hardware installation was completed properly.

Stop Code 0 × 0000007F – UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP: This code means that your Blue Screen of Death problem is the result of a glitch the system was not able to detect. It is typically rated to hardware components such as RAM. This error code can also be caused by defective components on the motherboard or the CPU over clocking. To address this blue screen error you can do one of the following:

* Run memory diagnostics to check the status of RAM.
* Restore over clocked settings to their previous state.
* Repair or replace the motherboard.
* Disable the sync negotiation function in SCSI BIOS.

Stop Code: STOP 0 × 000000D – DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL: This code means the Blue Screen of Death occurred because the system is trying to access page memory at a process IRQL that is too high. This error is usually related to a device driver or application installed on the system. Address the problem To, the disable or update the drivers in question, or uninstall and reinstall any backup utilities or anti-virus software the recently installed on your computer.

Stop Code 0xC000021A 0 – STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED: This blue screen error means that the user-mode subsystem has been fatally compromised. When this occurs, security and integrity can not be guaranteed. The most common cause of this error is third-party applications on mis-configured system files. To fix this error, try one of the following:

* Remove or roll back any device drivers recently installed on the system.
* Uninstall and reinstall any new software installed.
* Make sure you only Windows utilize-certified backup utilities.
* Restore the security on the system root folder by doing a fresh installation of Windows on a separate partition.

Conclusion

BSOD errors have a number of causes and therefore, numerous stop codes exist. While your first instinct may be to kick your PC to the curb, these problems can be easily resolved with a little troubleshooting and patience.

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Source by Colin Richards

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I had stopped repairing ATX power supply many years back due to the new one cost very cheap. It's not worth to repair it because the spare parts sometimes were much more expensive than getting a new power supply. Searching for ATX power supply spare parts was not easy as many of them you can not even find them on the internet. Not only that, many complicated and different designed by power supply manufacturers had eaten up our precious troubleshooting time too because of we need time to understand how all these different designed power supply work.

Some of the power supply designs were using the PWM IC (UC3842) and power FET, some use the double transistors while some use only a single power IC in the primary side. Because of the manufacturers wants the design to be made into compact size, many secondary or even primary power supply circuit were build into a modular board (smaller board). This made troubleshooting even more difficult because many times the meter's probe can not reach to the testing point.

The real reason why I had stopped repairing ATX power supply was the profit margin. If you charge to high the customers rather buy a new unit with one year warranty given. If you charge too low, you may end up in the losing side because of the components replaced, electricity and etc. If you charge reasonable, the profit margin gained can not even cover your time spent on troubleshooting it. I'm here not to discourage you to stop repairing ATX power supply, however if you have the time, have contacts getting cheap power supply components, easy to access many power supply schematic diagrams and etc then you may go ahead to repair it.

Okay back to the article, one of my customers had asked me to repair his ATX power supply. I told him to get a new one (since it was very cheap) but he said he could not find one that suits his customer's CPU. He wanted a power supply that is either same size or smaller then the original one with same or higher specification but all he could find was a standard size power supply!

As a favors to my customer, I would do my best to help him to repair the ATX power supply. When the power supply was switch on, measurements were taken. The results were over voltage. The 12 volts line shot up to 13 + volt and the 5 volts line became 5.6 volts. After the casing was removed, I found the inside was very dirty and I used a vacuum cleaner and a brush to clean off the dirt. Then I saw four filter electrolytic capacitors had bulged at the top casing.

As you know, we as electronic repairers can not just see things at only one side; we have to see the other sides too. What I mean was, try to see if there are any suspicious components that contributed to the failure of the power supply such as broken components, dry joints, loose connection, decay glue and etc before start checking the suspected area.

What I saw was at the primary side there were some components covered with decayed glue as seen in the picture. I have to carefully remove it by scrapping off the layers of the decayed glue while preserving the outer layers of the components. Once it was done, I clean it with the Thinner solution. Decayed glue could cause serious or intermittent problem in electronic equipment because it can be conductive.

If you repair any ATX power supply, make sure you check the fan too because some power supply failure was due to heat caused by a faulty fan. The purpose of the fan is to suck out all the heat generated by the components inside the power supply. In order for the fan to run smooth, you can service it by using a Philips oil base spray as shown in the photo.

Once the four electrolytic capacitors were replaced and the decayed glue removed, I then have to plug it into a junk motherboard together with a hard disk to test the performance of the ATX power supply and measure all of its output voltages. It seems like the output voltages were back to normal. Once everything is okay I then test it in a working CPU to check for the display.

The reason I test it with a junk motherboard first as a way not to cause my good motherboard to go bad just in case if the output voltages is still very high. Better safe than regret later. By the way you can not test a power supply without load otherwise it may turned on for a while and then shut down. If you do not have a junk motherboard you can always at least connect a hard drive and a wire jumper to its connector to turn on the ATX power supply.

Do you know that most ATX power supply is using dual schottky barrier rectifiers to convert the ac wave into DC voltages? Even in LCD Monitor power supply, a dual schottky were used in the rectification too. For your information, checking schottky diode is different from checking a normal diode. With analog meter set to X10 K ohms, it should show some leakage reading when doing the reverse bias test. If this component becomes faulty it is very easy to get a replacement, of course you have to get one with the right specification. That's all for today, hope you enjoy the article and come back more often to check out for any latest repair techniques that I'm going to share to you.

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Source by Jestine Yong

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Hi,
I'd like to tell you a little bit about the latest Sky HD box. But before I do let me give you a little bit of history regarding Sky or rather BskyB set top boxes. Over the years there has been a number of manufacturers of Standard Sky boxes, Sky + boxes and now Sky + HD boxes down the years – some better than others.

Pace, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Amstrad / Sky, Thomson and Grundig. There are no other manufacturers of Sky boxes. All have had their fair share of faults and problems down the years and again some more than others.

In 2007 Lord Sugar, sold Amstrad to BskyB – Sky for £ 125m. This was the turning point for Sky box manufacturing as from then on there was no third party manufacturing. Sky had complete control of the boxes and what went into them where they were manufactured and complete control of their software too. Because they had a decade of fault data from previous boxes to go on they were determined not to make the mistakes that had gone before in previous models. Together with that and the advancement in chip design they produced the Amstrad DRX 890 Sky + HD box. Its smaller by design and runs much cooler.

Everything about this box is well made and built to last. The capacitors which is the component that mostly gave trouble in the past are made by Rubycon. This is one of the world leaders in capacitor manufacturing – nothing cheap about Rubycon and will last for years.

The main micro processor is made by Broadcom – American I think and are world leaders in this field.

The Hard Drive is Seagate again only the best. So to conclude from somebody who has had more than their fair share of having to fix sky boxes. The Amstrad DRX 890 and Amstrad DRX 595 and Amstrad DRX 895 are very reliable and extremely well built set top boxes. I highly recommend these units and they are very future proof as they can be linked to your broadband and avail of all the online services available e. g BBC iplayer, Itv player and 4OD etc and Now TV. Some time back Sky removed the Amstrad logo and now boxes say manufactured by Sky. This you will find indented into the plastic casing on the top of the box at the back. To my knowledge the insides are still the same apart from some minute changes to the motherboards. Amstrad DRX 890 boxes I can highly recommend if your thinking of buying a Sky HD box.

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Source by Martin M Greene

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A PC is not an acronym and here and there truncated as comp or 'puter. The expression "PC" was initially given to people (human PCs) who performed numerical counts utilizing mechanical adding machines, for example, the math device and slide principle. The term was later given to a mechanical gadget as they started supplanting the human PCs. Today's computers are electronic gadgets that acknowledge (information), prepare that information, produce yield, and afterward store (stockpiling) the outcomes.

The primary computerized PC and what a great many people consider as a PC was known as the ENIAC, worked amid World War II (1943-1946). Early PCs like the ENIAC utilized vacuum tubes and were vast (once in a while room size) and just found in organizations, universities, or governments. Later, PCs started using transistors and in addition littler and less expensive parts that permitted the normal individual to possess a computer.

Today, PCs make occupations that used to be confounded much less difficult. For instance, you can compose a letter in a word processor, alter it at whatever time, spell check, print duplicates, and send it to somebody over the world in a matter of seconds. These exercises would have taken somebody days, if not months, to do before PCs. Likewise, the greater part of the above is only a little division of what PCs can do.

Today's PCs have a few or the greater part of the underneath segments (equipment). As innovation advances, more established advances, for example, a floppy plate drive and Zip drive (both demonstrated as follows), are no more required or included with PCs.

• Bay

• Case or Chassis

• Case Fan

• Optical drive: Blu-beam, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, or DVD

• CPU (processor)

• Floppy plate drive

• Hard drive

• Keyboard

• Memory (RAM)

• Microphone

• Monitor, LCD, or another presentation gadget

• Motherboard

• Mouse

• Network card

• Power Supply

• Printer

• Sound card

• Speakers

• Video card

At the point when discussing a PC or a "PC", you are normally alluding to a conventional PC that you would discover in a home or office. Today, be that as it may, the lines of what makes a PC are obscuring. The following are all the diverse case of what is viewed as a PC today.

Above, is only a couple of the most surely understood PCs and a case of exactly how distinctive PCs can look today. The following is a finished rundown of PCs of over a wide span of time.

Console (eg Xbox and PS3)

Diskless workstation and Thin customer

Implanted PCs – The most widely recognized and utilized PC. An implanted PC is a PC with a particular capacity found in such things as ATMs, autos, microwaves, TVs, the VCR, and other home hardware.

Cross breed PC

Tablet, versatile, scratch pad computer

Centralized server or Supercomputer

Microcomputer

Nanocomputer

Netbook

PDA

PC (otherwise known as desktop and home computer)

Server

Set-Top box

Cell phone

Tablet

Who makes PCs?

Today, there are many organizations that make and construct computers, on the off chance that you get the majority of the essential parts for a PC you can even make your own PC. See our PC organizations page for a posting of organizations (OEMs) that make and fabricate PCs.

Know View More To – Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssHoLGIeC7Y

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Source by Nure Alam

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For those who prefer to design and build their own computers from scratch, the internal features that comprise the system's operating power are but one of the considerations that go into the design and planning process. The casing is another of the important computer components that can not be overlooked. Not only does it cover your CPU, motherboard, and other essential elements – it also provides protection and aesthetics for what would otherwise be an open collection of sensitive parts.

There are a wide variety of cases available to house your computer components, most of which are based on the industry's ATX standard for size and layout for housing motherboards. Since all of your computer components will be housed within the casing, it can easily be considered the backbone of your computer system. When choosing a case, there are some important considerations you need to make.

Those considerations include the number of expansion bays, and ease of access. Expansion bays are the slots in the front of the casing through which you can access various removable drives like a DVD or DC-Rom drive. If you plan on upgrading your system throughout its life, you will want to ensure that you have an excess of expansion bays to accommodate future drive additions. The ease with which you can access the internal components is an important factor, as it will determine how easily you can perform anticipated upgrades, as well as perform regular cleaning to remove dust and dirt.

How your casing is laid out will indicate how efficient your computer's fans are at keeping the internal computer components cool – thus reducing or eliminating the cause of most computer freezes and crashes. In addition, casings with quality filters over the fan area can help to eliminate dust and other particles that can contribute to excessive heat.

As you can see, the casing for your computer is one of the most critical computer components you can buy. Taking the time to choose the right case can go a long way toward ensuring that your custom designed computer has a long and efficient life.

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Source by Jeffrey Frasco

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A NIC (network interface card) is designed to communicate over a computer network. It allows users to connect to each other either by using cables or wirelessly if the NIC is a wireless NIC (WiFi / WNIC). Every entity on a network, a PC, printer, router, etc., that needs to communicate with other devices must have a NIC if it is to communicate over the network. On older computers, the NIC is probably an expansion card, usually PCI or PCI express. High performance cards can cost less that $ 30. NIC functionality is now often integrated into the motherboard chipset or implemented with a dedicated Ethernet chip on the motherboard.

A similar situation is true for laptop computers. At one time, a PCMCIA network card would be used in a laptop computer for the NIC just as the PCI card was used in desktop computer, but now, NIC functionality is often integrated with the motherboard.

Ethernet is the dominant standard for cable connections for wired computer networks. An Ethernet connector looks similar to a telephone connector, only larger. This connector is called "RJ45". Ethernet cables are either a shielded or unshielded cable of four twisted pairs of 24 AWG connectors, specified at 100 ohm impedance. Maximum cable length for CATX cables is 100 meters.

Early versions of Ethernet cables were CAT3 or CAT4 (CAT being short for category). These versions were not long lived. CAT5 and CAT5e are currently the most commonly used cables (bandwidth of 100 MHz, 100 Mbps), with CAT6 (bandwidth of 250 MHz, 1 Gbps) available and the configuration of the near-future. A CAT7 cable (bandwidth of 600 MHz) specification is in development, and should be available in a few years.

Each Ethernet NIC has a unique serial number called a "media access code" (MAC address) that is used to identify the NIC and associated computer on the network. No two NIC will have the same address, because the NIC manufacturers must purchase blocks of addresses from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

NIC cards are capable of different speeds. Speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps) are now available. Two NIC can communicate if they differ in speed ratings, but they will communicate at the rate of the slower NIC.

On a very simple network, NIC can be used to link personal computers (PC). If the computers are connected directly to one another, the network is a "peer-to-peer" (P2P, also called an "ad hoc") network. If computers are connected directly to one another, a "cross-over" Ethernet cable is needed (also called a "Null-Modem cable"). This cable is not "straight-through" like standard Ethernet, but crosses the send and receive connectors, so that send line from computer A connects to the receive line of computer B.

For networks of a few computers, a "hub" can be used, with all of the computers connected to the hub. Any message sent from any PC will be seen by all of the computers, but only the computer with the correct MAC address will receive the message. P2P networks are useful for many purposes. File and printer sharing are the most common applications.

Networks with more than four active computers at a time will benefit from using a "network switch" instead of a hub. A network switch will direct the message to the appropriate destination, instead of each message packet being broadcast across the network. Computer A can send a message to computer B, while simultaneously, computer C sends a message to computer D. This increases the efficiency of the network. This is a simple form of a server network. An example of a client-server design is a computer server where the clients initiate a download or upload of files and the server reacts. The server would also often be responsible for interacting with printers and other servers on other networks, including satellite networks (SATCOM) or the Internet.

"Latency" is the delay caused by a network to communicate data. Latency causes not only slow service, but can result in data loss as well. Latency is usually tested by sending a message packet that is immediately returned to the sending computer. The round-trip time is defined as the latency.

Networking performance can be optimized for either latency or throughput. Networks can use a technique known as "interrupt moderation" to increase throughput and lower CPU utilization by queuing message packets and issuing fewer interrupts to the CPU. A network optimized this way would favor large transfers, reducing transfer overhead. CPU and network throughput benefit, but network latency would increase. The alternative is to fragment each message and pipeline the fragments through the network. Multiple paths from source to destination can allow overlapping. Latency can also be addressed with techniques such as prefetching (anticipating the need for data requests) and / or using multiple execution threads (multithreading).

There are two indicator LEDs on a typical NIC. A single lit green LED indicates the computer is connected to the network. This is called the "link" light. The second LED is amber in color. A flashing amber LED indicates message packet collisions are occurring. Occasional collisions are normal on a busy network, but a frequently lit amber LED is an indication of problems. A quickly flashing link LED (green) is a network activity indicator, meaning that communication is occurring. If the green link light is off, and the amber LED is blinking, then the NIC is in "power save" mode.

A wireless network interface controller (WNIC) is a NIC for connecting to a wireless network (WiFi). The standard for WiFi is IEEE 802.11. A WNIC uses an antenna to communicate with an Rf signal, most often at 2.4 GHz. Wireless connectivity development in recent years has closely paralleled wired connectivity. Like its wired cousin, a wireless card was once integrated with a PCI or PCMCIA add-on card. Now, integrated WNIC's are becoming common, especially for laptop computers.

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Source by Brian Bradshaw

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Imagine a scenario where your laptop, motherboard of your PC, printer or even the keyboard develops a malfunction, then what will happen? Our dependence upon these gadgets is such at even a few minutes without them is unimaginable. What if your warranty period has exceeded the deadline of repair services? Worry not, wherever there is a problem, there lies a solution too. It is here that AMC (Annual Maintenance Contract) comes into picture. It is for your convenience that these services are provided by some well known names in the technical support industry, this service is also known as post warranty agreement which is devised to help you out of such situations.

If we think on terms of a situation where the motherboard of your PC is not working and it needs to be repaired or replaced then the market price would cost you a fortune, you would rather buy a new PC which would be relatively cheaper. But why not eliminate the problem itself instead of ignoring it?

For the purpose of annual maintenance opt for a company that offers reliable services, this would help save you time and money. How? The answer is quite simple, choose a company that offers its clients the best deals at competitive pricing, coverage of all computer hardware equipments and printers as well. The customer would enjoy the privilege of maintenance and repair of hardware throughout the year by just shelling out an annual fee. So, if you are offered to pay an annual maintenance charge that would be approximately equal to one time repair or replacement of your equipments then it would be more beneficial to you.

Though there are numerous providers of AMC but you must choose wisely, go for a company that offers benefits and advantages at the competitive level to its customers. Offering world-class services while maximizing client satisfaction should be the core area of ​​concern. Ensuring that customers receive prompt and cost effective services.

Choose to be associated with a well known name that sets a standard benchmark against which the maintenance services measure, watch out for testimonials by big clients who are providing the opportunity for maintenance of their own machines. Big names and renowned customers like, Toshiba , Lenovo, IBM, Acer, just a few names out of many such well known names in IT and Telecom. All this proves how highly the company providing AMC is regarded in terms of providing the best ever services in terms of hardware maintenance and post warranty services.

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Source by Ritu Kumari Sharma

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The rate at which new computer hardware products are arriving in the market is simply mind-boggling. As the technology advances, the size and the price of the devices come down, while the efficiency and capacity increase. The scenario is same in all cases, whether it is about internal components like processor, motherboard, RAM, graphics card, and hard disk or for peripheral accessories like mouse, keyboard, and monitors. Personal computers became popular only before about three decades back. But already there are huge piles of outdated and antique hardware components and devices. This is a tribute to the tremendous rate of development of latest technologies in computer hardware field. Perhaps, the newest entrant into the archeological catalogue of computer peripherals is CRT monitors. The sleek looking LCD monitors are spreading like computer virus.

Data storage devices have attracted considerable attention of the technology developers. New kinds of storage devices such as newer versions of flash memory cards, hard disks using latest technology and disks of ever-increasing capacity are the results of advancement in latest technology in compute hardware. The memory size of the random access memory (RAM) cards is soaring to enable the smooth functioning of graphics animation software packages and streaming video websites. Also, computer motherboards have undergone substantial changes over the years. More and more functions are being added to the motherboard. Also, despite the incredible improvement in performance and functionalities, the price of these components has actually fallen steadily.

The most vital component of a computer is the microprocessor. It is in this field that a battle of developing latest technologies in computer hardware takes place. The pace of development of microprocessor increases as the competition between the major processor chip manufacturing companies, Intel and AMD, intensifies. Both the companies are engaging in a neck and neck competition and continuously outdo each other in introducing new technologies.

In the field of computer peripherals, the latest technology in computer hardware is in developing yet another version of wireless mouse and keyboard. The concept of wireless mouse and keyboard is about a decade old. But the development of these items is still a work in progress. The latest products of wireless mouse and keyboard are said to be highly durable and error free.

Some of the developments in the latest technology in computer hardware are gearing up for changing the present concept of desktop and laptop computers. With new developments making possible the convergence of mobile phone technology and computers, a new breed of fully functional palm-top computers are going to be introduced in near future. With touch screen monitors and without the need for a mouse, these gadgets are likely to become the next big leap in the constantly leaping technological development field.

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Source by Candis Reade

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When one decides to start in the exciting and lucrative world of computer and electronics recycling there are bound to be some mistakes. When I first started my company I made plenty of mistakes and they cost me a lot of money. However, after those mistakes I continued to adjust how I handled the materials and it has paid off in a big way.

The first thing that you should do is ensure that you have plenty of room to sort the materials because just about everything in a computer sells separately and to different sources in most cases.

So let's run down how to strip a computer for maximum value.

Step 1: Gain access to the inside of the computer tower. In my experience each tower is different. Getting inside can be as simple as removing a couple screws and sliding off the panel and can be as complicated finding the locking mechanism and pulling apart the case. There are some great internet sites that show the different methods for opening computers that can be found with a simple Google search.

Step 2: At this point I like to remove the power supply as it will get the wires out of the way. In most cases the power supply is screwed to the outside of the case with either 2 or 4 screws. Once those are removed the supply comes loose. From there simply unplug the various wires from the boards and drives and then set the power supply aside for disassembly.

Step 3: Now I like to remove the ribbon wires. These are the flat wires that connect the motherboard to the various components. These will usually pop right off. I then put them into a box or barrel and save them with other wires that will go into the local scrap metal yard.

Step 4: Now it is time to remove the drives. This can be a little tricky with some towers. Each tower is different as to how the drives are installed. Some can be as easy as compressing a couple of tabs and then sliding the drives out while others have screws that need to be removed. Once the drives are out of the case I set them aside for disassembly later.

Step 5: Removing the slot cards is next. These are usually controllers for devices such as video and sound cards as well as modems. They are attached with a screw at the top and then plugged into the motherboard. After the screw is removed they will pop right out. I then throw them into a box slated for sale to a refiner.

Step 6: Now it is time to remove the motherboard. Again there is no one way that they are attached. However, most of the time they are attached with screws and once they are removed the board will come right out. But, there are also some companies that use tabs that means that the board needs to be slid to one side before removal.

Step 7: With the motherboard out you can remove the ram sticks. These pop out by pushing down the tabs on each end. Once out they should be put into a box and collected for sale to a refiner.

Step 8: The last thing is to remove the heat sink, fan and then the processor. The heat sink and fan are likely held on with a lever that can be easily lifted off. Most heat sinks are aluminum and can be collected and then sold to the local scrap metal yard.

Step 9: Removing the processor is a simple case of pulling up the arm on the side that unlocks the pins and the processor can be pulled out. I toss the processors into yet another box where they are collected for sale to a refiner.

Now on to the other items.

Power Supply Disassembly: The power supply is a fairly simple unit to tear down. There are usually some screws holding the steel case together and once removed the case will come apart. Then there will be some screws holding the circuit board to the lower part of the case. Remove those and then toss the case into a box that will be taken to the scrap metal yard.

On the power supply are many wires that should be cut off. A simple pair of wire cutters can be used to clip off the wires which will then be tossed into the box or barrel where you put the ribbon wire.

The board is what is known as a "low grade brown" circuit board. These are actually pretty low on value and I collect mine and sell them to the local scrap metal yard for about.50 per pound and it adds up fast.

CD / DVD / Floppy Drive Disassembly: Disassembling CD or Floppy drives is fairly simple. Just look for the screws that are holding the cases together and remove them. Once you have access to the inside you need only remove the boards and the cases can be tossed into the scrap steel bin.

The boards from the CD / DVD / Floppy drives are considered mid-grade boards. They have moderate precious metal content. I place them all into the same box and then sell them to my refiner for $ 1.00 per pound.

Hard Drive Disassembly: Hard drives are a bit more valuable in the grand scheme of things. However, they are also more difficult to disassemble as well. Most hard drives are held together with star screws. On the front cover remove all the screws that you can see. Under the label there is going to be at least one more screw if not two. Once you have the screws out the top will pop off. This is aluminum and should be placed in your aluminum box.

Once you have access to the inside you will see the round, silver discs that hold the information for the hard drive and an arm that is resting on them. You will need to remove the screws around the collar holding the discs down. Then you will remove the brackets holding the arm on. They are held on with screws and two magnets that are made of rare earth materials.

The magnets can be saved in another box and sold online for a decent price. The discs should be collected and sold separately as they have a layer of platinum on them.

Once these items are removed you will need to turn the base over and remove the circuit board. These are known as hard drive logic boards and they are valued at $ 9.00 per pound and up. They should be saved and then sold to a refiner.

The base is made of cast aluminum and can be tossed into the box with the other materials.

This completes tearing down a computer tower for refining. You have several options for selling materials. eBay is a resource that a lot of e-cyclers like to use for selling their materials but there are other options.

A bit of warning: Never sell to the websites that say that they are buying for gold refining and offering to pay for the shipping with a pre-printed label that they will send to you through email.

I decided to do a small experiment. I collected two boxes of motherboards and listed one on eBay and sent the other to one of those places online. About a week later I had a check from the website for $ 7.50 for 25 pounds of motherboards and a PayPal payment from a buyer on eBay for $ 600 for 25 pounds of motherboards.

I found a refiner that operates in Ohio that I send all of my gold bearing material too. They pay some great prices and it makes things a lot easier. It also saves on the eBay and PayPal fees that have become quite high over the years.

The other materials, such as low grade brown boards, wires, aluminum and steel I just transport to the scrap metal yard. Collected over a period of time these items can really add up to some serious cash. For me it makes a great way to keep my gas tank full for picking up more computers from my various clients.

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Source by Craig E Weaver