Dell Latitude

[television]

I Have been offered one of these almost free £20 with no power supply or pass word. Its loaded with XP prof

Is this a fair laptop and any easy way to over ride the pass word

 

[WLeg]

Which one D400/D600/etc ?

They are "business" machines, generally durable, and sturdy. You will probably need to upgrade the memory (about £30ish for 1GB), as well as the power supply (get a Dell or Targus one about £20.00).

Do you have wireless LAN at home/work ?

 

[television]

Model PP01L C510/610 I can put something in at home

 

[Rose Chap]

They are a pretty old model (circa 2001) and will generally have Pentium III processors with speed ranging from around 700MHz to 1GHz.

It's likely to have a 20GB hard disk. All in all, this will be a pretty slow machine, but will happily run Windows XP and be fine for web browsing and emailing.

Malcolm, if you need a floppy/CD drive for this machine let me know.

 

[agatward]

It depends on which password isn't known.

If it's the BIOS password, there isn't usually a jumper on the laptop mainboards any more; however there may be ways around it, Dell and other manufacturers usually incorporate back doors so they can get back in.

If it's the Windows password that isn't know, this can be recovered easily; however you're probably best reinstalling anyway so you have a known good installation.

That particular series is very nice - I was considering one myself but couldn't justify the cost.

 

[WLeg]

If it's the Dell bios password, try this:
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic18780.html

If it's the Windows password, just re-install.

 

[BaldGuy]

I have a power supply for one of these.. brand spanking new if you want it... Just pay me for postage if you like...

 

[television]

I have a power supply for one of these.. brand spanking new if you want it... Just pay me for postage if you like...

Thats an offer I cant refuse I will PM my address

 

[BaldGuy]

mmm just looking actually Malcom and my psu is for a D600 which on further investigation is different to the c series... I have pm'd you the spec..

 

[television]

This is the plug,if it is the same configeration it will work

 

[BaldGuy]

Sorry to waste your time Malcolm... I have the normal round pin type... Its a no go sorry...

 

[television]

Sorry to waste your time Malcolm... I have the normal round pin type... Its a no go sorry...

Yes I know that one and I have changed some of the sockets on the main PCB,, and that is a pig of a job

Thank you very much, you are very kind

 

[BaldGuy]

Is it still of any use to you?

 

[television]

Is it still of any use to you?

Thank you, but I will decline the kind offer

 

[Sp!ke]

I have a mountain of redundant C series power supplies but I also have maybe a hundred or so redundant C series laptops.

Personally I wouldnt bother with it. Its not worth the cost of putting in a new Hard drive (dont trust the one fitted) + xp license.

A C610 will just be a constant frustration speed wise and you'll have to compromise lots. A C640 however is a P4 and actually reasonably quick. A c series is also likely be very unreliable. The C series platform suffers from a great deal of chassis flex and its more than likely a machine of this age will now have cracked joints on the mobo and have no end of stability and reliability issues.

Frankly, for £300 you can buy a brand new laptop with two years warranty. Is it really worth the potential grief and time wasted on something like this nowadays?

 

[agatward]

The power supply you need for the Latitude 'C' series is the PA-6. You can get them new from a variety of places for around £25. I am awaiting a price from Dell for their spares department to supply one.

 

[SimonsMerc]

I have a mountain of redundant C series power supplies but I also have maybe a hundred or so redundant C series laptops.

Hey, feel free to wing one or two my way! I have hard disks, on which I would install Ubuntu, and distribute to family members who don't have laptops

I could even collect from Richmond, seeing as I'm not far ;-)

-simon

 

[Sp!ke]

From experience, if I go down this road, It starts becoming rather time consuming with every man and his dog wanting one... and then for each and every lappy thats been given away, over time the inevitable requests start coming in asking if I have a spare battery or charger or floppy drive, or maybe even some memory and would it be troublesome to post or it's not booting can I help etc etc.

Before you know it a few hundred hours of time has been spent on the damned things. So now, we sit on them and canibalise the odd one for spares until no one is using that model anymore and then they pretty much get skipped. We once sent an email out to staff saying first come first served and there was a scrum within seconds and a near punch up. Never again.

We're now getting the later Pentium M, D series models coming back sometimes handfuls per day. These I hope to punt out in bulk to the highest bidder with proceeds going to the next IT knees up.

 

[television]

From experience, if I go down this road, It starts becoming rather time consuming with every man and his dog wanting one... and then for each and every lappy thats been given away, over time the inevitable requests start coming in asking if I have a spare battery or charger or floppy drive, or maybe even some memory and would it be troublesome to post or it's not booting can I help etc etc.

Before you know it a few hundred hours of time has been spent on the damned things. So now, we sit on them and canibalise the odd one for spares until no one is using that model anymore and then they pretty much get skipped. We once sent an email out to staff saying first come first served and there was a scrum within seconds and a near punch up. Never again.

We're now getting the later Pentium M, D series models coming back sometimes handfuls per day. These I hope to punt out in bulk to the highest bidder with proceeds going to the next IT knees up.

Sadly I am from a world where if I wanted a bike as a lad,finding a wheel in a hedge and a frame from a rubish tip that was they only way to get one from.

I am sinking under everything now with 4 outbuildings bursting to the seams with things that no one wants any more.

I must do something soon to save my kids the problem.


Thank you everyone that has answered you are very kind

 

[BaldGuy]

Malcolm,

Without sounding too weird... list out what you have " one mans rubbish is another mans diamond" I've been quite ruthless recently shutting my eyes and filling the back of my car with bits for the tip...
However there is always someone out there who is less fortunate than some of us and I love it when bits go to a good home for free or a small donation to the local charity.. (mine being Cancer Research")

GW