Buying a used computer, things to look for?

Factual Questions
1

I have been searching for a used desktop tower. I found this ad on Craigslist.

**"You are bidding on an HP Pavilion A1600N Desktop in excellent condition. Included is original mouse/keyboard it came and original System Recovery CD’s.

I am also throwing in approx 10-15 HP Branded DVD+R 8X which can be used with Lightscribe. And 15-20 HP Branded Lightscribe CD-R 52X. Also a 6-outlet surge protector, 4 port USB Hub, and Microphone are all included.

AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual Core, NVDIA Graphics 6150, 1024MB Memory, 200GB HD, Windows XP Media Center, DVD Burner with Lightscribe"**

I contacted the seller and plan to meet him Monday.

This looks exactly like what I have been looking for and I am excited about it. I Googled for reviews on the system and they are all positive.

My question is what sort of things, other than looking at the system specs, should I look at before buying it. Are there any sort of hidden things I should look for?

2

Make sure it has the original XP license sticker attached and the XP disks.

Also make sure it isn’t stolen.

3

The surge protector is probably next to nothing. 1024Meg of ram won’t be enough for Vista. Is the USB hub powered? It should be. Make sure the adaptor and connection cable are included. Also, make sure the USB is 2.0. USB 1.1 is not enough and outdated. The CD’s he’s throwing in are nothing. CD R-RW’s are cheap. The processor and hard drive look OK to me.
How much are you paying for it?

4

[QUOTE=Quartz]
Also make sure it isn’t stolen.
[/QUOTE]
How, exactly, would I do that?

I could get the serial number off the machine, and check with HP, to see who it was originally sold to. (Assuming HP will give that info out.) But if they do, and it is a different name than the person selling it (and usually Craigslist doesn’t even have a real name attached), then what?

That could be a friend or relative that he’s selling the machine for. Or the machine may have been sold before, to him, and now he is selling the machine that he bought. Or there may be several past buyers-sellers of the machine.

Or he could be thief or a fence selling me a stolen machine. How do I tell? I can ask him questions, and ask for proof, but thieves tell lies. Can I do anything other than depend on my common sense instinct about th honesty of this seller?
P.S. The “You are bidding on…” opening of this description makes me think this seller also/previously tried to sell this via ebay or similar. That would make me a bit wary. At the least, I would ask questions about that.

5

[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net]
Can I do anything other than depend on my common sense instinct about th honesty of this seller?
[/QUOTE]

How much are you spending here…look up the machine on ebay and see what they are going for.

Thinks to be wary of, passworded machines that they dont know password, make sure the machine powers up fine, and not only does it have an xp licence sticker but make sure it matches the version that is installed.

6

I like to crack the case open and check for large amounts of dust.

I have have had many computers side by side in my house. Some will pick up dust and others will not. The ones with great cooling and working fans almost never accumulate dust.

Good cooling and circulation is helpful for long lasting components.

Another great thing to do is check to see if that is in fact the specks.
Many buyers are at the mercy of the seller and just have to trust that it has a 1gig or ram or is a dual core blah blah.

There have been cases in the past of people misrepresenting things. Buying a cheepo system and selling it as something much better. And to tell you the truth many users will never know and wont even notice.

7

Have the seller start it up. See how it boots. Then have him download *Belarc Advisor * (Free). It’ll tell you a lot about the system.

8

What Jake said…

9

Is the previous owner a smoker? Are you? If you aren’t that would really suck.

10

Make sure there’s no kiddie porn.

11

[QUOTE=Quartz]
Make sure it has the original XP license sticker attached and the XP disks.

Also make sure it isn’t stolen.
[/QUOTE]

I will check the properties on MY Computer and makes sure the license numbers match the sticker and the disks.

I have his real name, as he emailed me back from work, so I can also make sure the registered name matches, but that does not guarantee he is the original owner. The system I have on loan now from my mother was a system given to her by someone else and has his named listed as the registered owner but if the names do not match his name then I will ask about that.

[QUOTE=Jake]
The surge protector is probably next to nothing. 1024Meg of ram won’t be enough for Vista. Is the USB hub powered? It should be. Make sure the adapter and connection cable are included. Also, make sure the USB is 2.0. USB 1.1 is not enough and outdated. The CD’s he’s throwing in are nothing. CD R-RW’s are cheap. The processor and hard drive look OK to me.
How much are you paying for it?
[/QUOTE]

I have my own surge protector, the kind with a battery backup, so I don’t really need that.

1024 of RAM is not enough for Vista? I didn’t know that.

It has XP loaded anyway, which is what I wanted as I have the HD from my old system I want to place it in this tower as a slave if possible. I was told I had to have a tower with XP loaded to use my old XP loaded HD as a slave.

I will have to look at the hub when I get there and make sure the cables and adapter are there.

The system is from 2006 so I am sure the USB ports are 2.0, but I will check that as well.

He is asking $250 for it. I have looked at a lot of towers on eBay and this seems like a fair price for the specs.

[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net]
P.S. The “You are bidding on…” opening of this description makes me think this seller also/previously tried to sell this via ebay or similar. That would make me a bit wary. At the least, I would ask questions about that.
[/QUOTE]

Hey good call. I searched and there were only two listed and would you believe he has the system listed on ebay. The picture is exactly the same.

Here is the auction which gives a lot more information than his Craigslist ad.

His feedback is 100% but he has not sold very many things.

[QUOTE=Jake]
Have the seller start it up. See how it boots. Then have him download *Belarc Advisor * (Free). It’ll tell you a lot about the system.
[/QUOTE]

I will defiantly have him boot it up.

12

[QUOTE=SomeUserName]
I will defiantly have him boot it up.
[/QUOTE]

That’s the ticket! Be defiant, show him he’s not going to take you for a mug :slight_smile:

13

[QUOTE=SomeUserName]

He is asking $250 for it. I have looked at a lot of towers on eBay and this seems like a fair price for the specs.
[/QUOTE]

If you have a WinXP license already, you could build it from scratch for maybe $50 less than he’s asking. If you were willing to spend the $250 and put in some sweat assembling it, you could definitely build a better system, and you’d know what you were getting. So yes, he’s asking a very fair price; just understand that you do have other options at the same price point.

14

[QUOTE=Jurph]
If you have a WinXP license already, you could build it from scratch for maybe $50 less than he’s asking. If you were willing to spend the $250 and put in some sweat assembling it, you could definitely build a better system, and you’d know what you were getting. So yes, he’s asking a very fair price; just understand that you do have other options at the same price point.
[/QUOTE]

I don’t. My old system had XP already loaded and I have no install disks for it. I heard that if you can provide all the information to Microsoft that you can get those disks but I don’t have it. It was a gift from and old BF many moons ago so I don’t have all the purchase information.

The motherboard is fried on my old system. I have no way to recover that data with out paying an arm and a leg to have it done. I want to make the old HD a slave drive on this system so I can retrieve my information. Hopefully I can do that, if not I may just have to cut my losses on the old HD. It was 120 GIG and about 100 GIG of space was used. It can be cleaned up a lot though.

I would look into new tower but they all have Vista now or the refurbished ones with XP are out of my price range.

15

[QUOTE=SomeUserName]
It has XP loaded anyway, which is what I wanted as I have the HD from my old system I want to place it in this tower as a slave if possible. I was told I had to have a tower with XP loaded to use my old XP loaded HD as a slave.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure that’s true. Do you just want to be able to look at the data (pictures, .MP3s, etc.) on your old disk? If so, then you should be able to run the drive as a slave to pretty much any computer (well, at least Win2K, WinXP, or Vista, and I’m not sure which varieties of Mac). And if you want to run programs on the old disk, you’d probably have to re-install them on a new computer anyway.

Not that I’m saying that Vista is a better choice, but I think it is an option, if for some reason you wanted to go that way.

16

Buying a used computer, things to look for?

His passwords and credit card numbers :smiley:

17

[QUOTE=Quercus]
I’m not sure that’s true. Do you just want to be able to look at the data (pictures, .MP3s, etc.) on your old disk? If so, then you should be able to run the drive as a slave to pretty much any computer (well, at least Win2K, WinXP, or Vista, and I’m not sure which varieties of Mac). And if you want to run programs on the old disk, you’d probably have to re-install them on a new computer anyway.

Not that I’m saying that Vista is a better choice, but I think it is an option, if for some reason you wanted to go that way.
[/QUOTE]

I am not sure either but that is what I was told. To access my data from my old HD that had Windows XP on it that it had to be set up as a slave drive in another system that also had Windows XP.

I got that info from a computer message board so I guess we can both take that for what is worth.

I really prefer to stick with XP anyway.

I don’t have any programs on it. At least I don’t think I did. The motherboard went in June of last year and have been using a loner from my mother since then. I am not even sure what is on the old HD anymore that I really want other than pictures, MP3s and some TV shows I had downloaded from AOL video.

:stuck_out_tongue:
I actually emailed him today to make sure we were still meeting and that the system was set up.

He said he has reformatted the hard drive and that I can verify all specs when we get there.

18

[QUOTE=SomeUserName]
I am not sure either but that is what I was told. To access my data from my old HD that had Windows XP on it that it had to be set up as a slave drive in another system that also had Windows XP.
[/QUOTE]
No, that is certainly not true.

I have taken the hard drive from my old Win98 machine, connected it to my new WinXP machine, and transferred data. Also have helped others do this for a drive from a Win2K machine.

The computer doesn’t really care (or even know) what OS was used to write data to the hard drive. As long as it was written in format that the current OS understands, it will be able to read it. (And most current OS’s can read several different types of drive formatting.)

[QUOTE=SomeUserName]
I really prefer to stick with XP anyway.
[/QUOTE]
Very good idea!

[QUOTE=SomeUserName]
I would look into new tower but they all have Vista now
[/QUOTE]
Most of the major manufacturers (Dell, Gateway, HP) will sell you a new tower with XP instead of Vista. You have to ask for it, and you won’t get a discount, but you can get it.

19

[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net]
The computer doesn’t really care (or even know) what OS was used to write data to the hard drive. As long as it was written in format that the current OS understands, it will be able to read it. (And most current OS’s can read several different types of drive formatting.)
[/QUOTE]
A drive on a WinXP is probably written in NTFS, so it would need either a WinXP (or newer) host, or some kind of plugin to make an older Win system (or something else) read the data. I’m pretty sure there are reverse-engineered NTFS drivers for Mac/Linux that will read NTFS just fine, but I don’t know how good the write support is. Last I heard it was nearing full support.