crappy laptop

I have this old junk laptop. It's like 1.8 ghz 40 gig hard drive and 256 megs of memory. my friend decided he wanted to open it up, stupid me let him. when he was putting it back together he put a screw that was too long through the motherboard where my dvd connections are... no more cd drive. I have an external but for some reason my comp wont boot off the usb drive although it is set too. it keeps going to grub. anyway. I have xp pro, and fedora core two installed on it. I was gonna upgrade to 3 but again i can't boot of the cd and i have no floopy drive. it has a rj45 connection that both os's can read but i only have a dlink wireless usb adapter that I can't get working in fedora. I am using ndiswrapper and it says it is there and i can scan for aps with it but for somereason i can't connect with it. it keeps saying check to see if cable is connected even though it scans fine. my question is what could i use this pos for as far as security is concerned.

thanks is advance for your ideas

Quote:

---

I have this old junk laptop. It's like 1.8 ghz 40 gig hard drive and 256 megs of memory.

---

OLD, JUNK.
Thats my DESKTOP you've described :D

First :
I assume you have REMOVED the offending screw :)
Mo/Bo's are notoriously easy to bollox, and extra long screw is in the top 3.

Is there no way you can get another Mo/Bo to swap into, and prove once and for all whether it is your Mo/Bo that's dead ?

Quote:

---

my question is what could i use this pos for

---

Doorstop :) Sorry.

no this thing is a desknote. basically its a laptop that takes majority desktop parts. like the ram and suck. the mb is nothing that ive ever seen before. ive looked on ebay with no luck. it is a desknote 929a if anyone comes across anything. so there isn't anything security wise i can use it for? being no cd rom makes it more secure cause u can't boot up into knoppix..... lol least thats what im telling myself... :D

Quote:

---

Originally posted here by dark5yntax
I have this old junk laptop. It's like 1.8 ghz 40 gig hard drive and 256 megs of memory. my friend decided he wanted to open it up, stupid me let him.

---

Instead of letting your friend F*** it up, you should have donated it to a good cause. A worthy charity - Me :D

-_-

everything would be fine if he didn't touch it...

I think your friend can't purely evaluate the new technology...
Why he would like to open it??? If he wants to do some practices... tell him to buy a really old computer and then practice as long as he want....

Give me this laptop.. and I will show you the real value of it.... :D

thats all well an good but my question still remains. what should i use it for?
an in house proxy?

Quote:

---

but my question still remains. what should i use it for?

---

As you have a compromised system, and therefore you cannot EVER trust its results [It's not just the DVD, USB that are in difficulties, you can no longer be certain that ANYTHING is as it says]

SO :

Quote:

---

Doorstop :) Sorry.

---

Well,

You have murdered it, you have two choices as I see it:

1. Salvage what you can and move on.
2. Donate it to a young relative.

Unless you know some really hot PCB engineers with all the kit?

Do you have a parallel or serial port, you could always load stuff via a null modem cable?

:(

i have both actually

Cheer up dark : it could always be worse ..................... :)

It could've be MINE :D

Well,

If you have the connections, try a null modem cable, it will let you move stuff on and off the box (albeit slowly!!!)

As I don't really know what other equipment you have and what you generally do computerwise (apart from trust idiots with screwdrivers :( ) I cannot really advise.

I would not, personally, look to use it for anything serious, as you really have no idea how long it will last (it may not look much, but it has been seriously damaged)

The problem is that it is the MoBo, not just the HDD or DVD/CD drive that can be easily replaced. Or, in the case of the DVD/Cd you could live without.

Quote:

---

no this thing is a desknote. basically its a laptop that takes majority desktop parts. like the ram and suck. the mb is nothing that ive ever seen before. ive looked on ebay with no luck. it is a desknote 929a if anyone comes across anything. so there isn't anything security wise i can use it for? being no cd rom makes it more secure cause u can't boot up into knoppix..... lol least thats what im telling myself...

---

I didn't know there was such a thing, a desknote, a notebook that takes desktop ram, kind of an oxy moron lol. I can't imagine it's very mobile... :p

ok The Duck.. your e-duck-u-8-ed better..

Yes the Desk notes an attempt at a merging of a Desktop and a notebook.. the portability of a notebook and the power of a desktop..

Here is a etter description:
http://encyclopedia.lockergnome.com/s/b/Desknote

And a review of the victem in this thread:
http://hardware.earthweb.com/compute...le.php/1487131

It may be possable to repair the board.. BUT.. it may involve a very steady hand and a bloody good soldering iron.. oh and an ugly face like mine
I would attach a pix of me repairing a Mobo.. with occular extensions.. dual overhead LED lights.. but you see my face.. and is not suitable for under 18's.

On second thoughts.. that thing is stuffed..had it... screwed.. had the shaft... trash..

I have a unique recycling system.. send it to me and it will be humanely returned to the enviroment

trust me it wont feel any pain.. and the enviroment will thank you... ;)

I just have never seen a desknote before, or heard of one. I have yet to see a laptop that runs for a zero amount of time unplugged at compusa or anyplace like that... which is what the article said anyway... It does sound like a good idea, did it turn out to be a bust or something? Or am I just blind... which is probably the case :p