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Question about selling a dead T-20
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:59 pm
by karrun
Hi,
After reading many posts here, I realize that the likelyhood of fixing my Thinkpad is low. It has the blinking light of doom syndrome, or whatever you call it. My question is, should I sell it as a whole on Ebay, or will I get more for parts (DVD-Rom, memory, hard drive, etc)?
Thanks,
Karen
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:09 pm
by goofyGAguy
You would almost certainly come out ahead by parting it out. For example, if the LCD is good you could probably sell it for almost as much as an entire dead laptop.
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:12 pm
by pianowizard
Karen, how much memory do you have? If you have 256MB modules, they are worth about $35 each. And how big is the hard drive?
Welcome to the forum!
Re: Question about selling a dead T-20
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:20 pm
by rkawakami
Welcome to thinkpads.com!
karrun wrote:After reading many posts here, I realize that the likelyhood of fixing my Thinkpad is low. It has the blinking light of doom syndrome, or whatever you call it.
"Blink of Death" is what I've heard it called. As of yet, there is no known permanent cure. Sometimes a system will power up again if you leave it alone, with the battery removed, for a couple of weeks. In which case, if there's important data on the drive, be prepared to transfer it off before the laptop once again "dies".
karrun wrote:My question is, should I sell it as a whole on Ebay, or will I get more for parts (DVD-Rom, memory, hard drive, etc)?
As
goofyGAguy says, definitely you will get more for parting it out. However, with that comes the possibility of not being able to sell some of the pieces (since shipping would cost more than the part itself) and the hassle of having multiple eBay auctions and the associated fee deductions w/eBay and PayPal. Your best chance would be to sell the parts here in the Marketplace, but most of us here are cheap
.
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:42 pm
by joester
Hey Ray,
Just a note of curiosity...
Has anyone tried reflowing the BGA's to cure the BOD?
I do have access to two reflow machines......
Joe
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:58 pm
by rkawakami
Replied via PM.
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:25 pm
by compnerd4
Part it out!
i sold the screen of my t21 on ebay for $71 U.S.
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 5:46 am
by karrun
Thanks everyone for your replies. I really would like to be able to wipe the hard drive of some personal data before I sell it off. I almost got to the "remove programs" step before it once again died, frustrating as h*ll. I have removed the battery, left the CMOS battery out O/N, anything else anyone can suggest so that I can get this puppy booted up once more before I sell it?
I'm not sure of all the specs, but I know it has 256 mB RAM (2 modules), and a 10 G hard drive, in case any one wants to make an offer.
Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:26 am
by dsigma6
compnerd4 wrote:Part it out!
i sold the screen of my t21 on ebay for $71 U.S.
Your buyer was a moron!! Hopefully they're not a forum member!
My input isn't required, but I'll still say parting it out is awesome. It'll take some more effort, but you will be happy in the end. I did the same thing with a T21 months ago and made twice as much as I would have selling it as a whole unit.