Birds... I got a stone for ya

Okay, on my way home, I decided that I'd just go to GameStop and trade in my PSP for the Age of Conan game that my friends are raving about. I figure it's got to be easier than trying to sell my PSP, or returning something to Fry's Electronics beyond the 30-day limit.

I got enough credit for the base unit and carrying case to buy the game, but I decided not to trade in the one game I had. They don't take the headphones, and they wouldn't take a memory card as small as mine (128 MB). Cool.

In addition, I grabbed my sister's Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop and took it to work today... I couldn't get it to charge or start. Maybe the power cord had finally bitten the dust. I also grabbed a bunch of SDRAM that I had so I could check if my buddy Michelle from work knew anyone that could use it. Needless to say, 50+ sticks of RAM loosely collected in a few static bags is impressive. She might have someone in mind that could use them, and wanted to know how much I wanted for them. Heh, she must have thought I didn't want to trade them or something... I explained that I needed some DDR SODIMMs for this latop, and would be happy to exchange.

Then, also, on my way home from work, I stopped at the computer store formerly known as "Marks PC". It's a bit out of the way, but they often have old stuff, or might take old stuff in trade. Turns out there's an Insipiron 1100 sitting there, with no power adapter, just like the one I've got with me.

Oh, and Mark has about 1000 sticks of SDRAM, no real value to him, but he'd trade a load of them for a discount on repairing that power cable.... $45 to repair if possible, about $80 to replace. No thanks... Laptops are too cheap now, and it's not even mine. I don't think I even about asking how much an SODIMM might cost, since I have no trade leverage.

So, I took a look around, thinking I might find something interesting or useful. And I ask if they have any Socket 478 retention brackets. "No". So I look in the $1.00 parts bin and find two. I don't have any cash, and offer to pay with my PayPal debit card, but Mark figures it isn't worth spending $4 to get my $2, and tells me to bring it in cash the next time I come around. So, I walk out with two "free" retention brackets. I need to call my new brother-in-law and let him know I got the hook up for him. He had an old Dell that had a Socket 478 CPU, but the heatsink was fanless, and the fan was integrated into the case. The retention bracket was broken, and the case fan was gone. I figure the board is salvageable, as long as we find a way to cool the CPU appropriately. Boom. Best wedding present ever. LOL.