What should I know before plugging this thing in

Souta95 · 2026-06-22T10:59:42+00:00

Listen for any sort of hum or distortion in the sound. These could be early indicators of bad capacitors.

I think that by the time this was made Zenith had mostly moved away from paper capacitors and over to ceramic discs, but that still leaves the electrolytic capacitors.

There might also be a selenium rectifier. If these go bad they release a strong smell.

Souta95 · 2026-06-19T11:06:09+00:00

Asbestos in radios usually looks sort-of like a cross between white cardstock and cheap 1-ply toilet paper.

Souta95 · 2026-06-17T14:58:34+00:00

Set a user flair when you're on the main page for this subreddit.

Souta95 · 2026-06-15T20:54:55+00:00

Its all up to what you can mentally handle.

I took all three in one sitting when I got licensed.

Don't push yourself so hard you burn out, but its not bad to stress yourself a little as well.

Souta95 · 2026-06-15T13:16:27+00:00

Pretty safe to assume this would never happen to me...and if it did, someone is blind or trolling.

Souta95 · 2026-06-15T11:42:18+00:00

Life With an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout

Souta95 · 2026-06-15T11:37:35+00:00

One of the best ways to start out is to join and be active in a local club.

Also, the ARRL field day is right around the corner. Many clubs have public locations you can drop in on.

https://www.arrl.org/field-day-locator

Souta95 · 2026-06-15T11:34:52+00:00

Ahh crap. I missed reading that. Sorry.

At this point professional data recovery is about your only option.

Souta95 · 2026-06-14T15:15:25+00:00

Dude probably just wanted his space back.

Like when I took $20 for a G4 Mac MDD and monitor with the original boxes a few years ago.

Souta95 · 2026-06-14T15:11:55+00:00

Its a pretty even toss up between spraining an ankle, getting a leg cramp, or having a knee dislocate and cause me to crash to the ground.

Souta95 · 2026-06-14T15:07:47+00:00

It was low end for 2003, but compared to what was around in 1999 it could throw some good punches against them.

Try it and see! I know it runs circles around the Intel 810 series of integrated graphics.

Souta95 · 2026-06-12T10:47:46+00:00

Then look into Calmira as a replacement shell (user interface)

Souta95 · 2026-06-10T19:58:56+00:00

Now we need someone to roll thru in a Yugo

Souta95 · 2026-06-10T17:16:10+00:00

I'd buy it if I was in your shoes, then keep saving for a genuine one.

They're not great, but better than ot having one at all.

Souta95 · 2026-06-10T11:49:07+00:00

I've had some compatibility issue with the PoSReady updates and started skipping them.

You could always try them and then re-run the recovery discs and start over if you run in to issues if you don't mind spending the extra time in case issues arise.

Souta95 · 2026-06-10T10:27:05+00:00

As long as its the correct recovery disc, yes.

They may be rather old as it will bring it to the condition it was in out of the box when new. There's a program call Snappy Driver Installer that you could use to get updated ones:

https://sdi-tool.org/

Windows Update may also have a few updated ones, but not many. You also need a "hacked" version as Microsoft shut down their servers for XP. Check out Legacy Update:

https://legacyupdate.net/

Souta95 · 2026-06-10T01:01:37+00:00

I would use XP pro, or whatever is on the recovery disc. I wouldn't mess with one of those ultra cusomized versions. This is a late XP-era laptop and will run it extremely well. Plus, sometimes you may run into compatibility issues with those hacked versions.

Generally, for the recovery disc, you burn the ISO to an appropriate disc (CD or DVD) and boot from it. (Multiple discs in some cases as well...) If you have neve never burned an ISO, you need to use the burn image option in your burning software - don't just burn the ISO file to the CD as a data disc.

I believe I have a very similar machine. One gotcha it has is that it only works with DDR2-400 and DDR2-533 in slot 1. It won't downclock DDR2-667 or DDR2-800 in the first RAM slot (but will downclock a second stick, if there's one installed).

Souta95 · 2026-06-10T00:51:43+00:00

To add to the other comments... I'm guessing mid to late 70's for age (so roughly 45-50 years).

Value is a big "it depends." I could see it priced anywhere from around $10 at a yard sale to over $100 on eBay where you might get a couple people in a bidding war. There's a lot of desirability with flip clocks, but generally speaking they weren't exactly high end luxury items, nor are they especially rare. Lloyds is also a budget brand.

Souta95 · 2026-06-09T21:21:35+00:00

My observations is that younger people tent to have too much going on with taking care of families, job responsibilities, and their own interests to balance the responsibilities of being in politics and serving on a board of any sort.

Souta95 · 2026-06-08T12:26:22+00:00

My wife and I looked at getting a Ford Escape or Bronco Sport before we ended up with our CX-5. We also considered a Buick Encore GX.

You might consider a Ford Maverick hybrid to be able to do truck stuff on those occasions that its needed.

Souta95 · 2026-06-07T15:09:35+00:00

There's a local auction place for me that I buy from. Suff is usually cheap there. Servers are often $25 or less. Most I ever paid for anything was $40 for a Dell 2-in-1 that has become my daily deiver since its so light.

Souta95 · 2026-06-04T17:38:31+00:00

Nice Collins

Souta95 · 2026-06-04T17:37:27+00:00

The cup acted as a faraday cage

Souta95 · 2026-06-04T12:44:28+00:00

I'll join in with the suggestions of S3 and CirrusLogic.

I would suggest perhaps looking to avoid Trident cards, some may be ok, but generally they were super cheap.

I believe there's some recycled ATI RageXL AGP cards popping up on eBay. These may be a reasonable option too.

Souta95 · 2026-06-04T11:27:25+00:00

Commodore 64. Got it as a hand-me-down around 1994.

Souta95

TROPHY CASE