Here at Vulpine Designs, we’re always up for a challenge, but this was a tricky one. Could I turn one broken laptop into something a bit more useful? In 5 hours? Let’s see how I got on:
The laptop, as you can see, was not in the best of states. Its screen had cracked, causing the large black blobs everywhere, and in addition, it had taken to turning completely white at random intervals. For the techies amongst you, it was a Compaq A935 17″ laptop with a Pentium dual-core processor, 2GB ram, 160GB hard drive and Intel GMA graphics.

The first part was to dismantle the laptop, so that I could get at the motherboard, which I could then build the new PC around. This was rather difficult – laptops have screws everywhere, and they can be screwed in very tightly. I must admit to forcibly breaking the plastic casing around a couple of them – but I wouldn’t need it again, so I could get away with it! Firstly, I removed the battery, the DVD drive and the back panels which covered the RAM and hard drive. I removed these and stored them safely for later (aside from the battery, which was sent for recycling).

Following this, the laptop was flipped over, and the keyboard removed. This was another broken part, so had to go to the great server farm in the sky.

To ensure I reconnected everything in the right place (more of a difficulty on a laptop than for a desktop), I wrote on the connector what each connection was for before removing the plugs. In this example, this connector was for the power switch and wireless on/off switch.

The screen was next to go, and with the top and bottom plastics finally separated, I could get working on the innards I needed.



With everything out again, I reseated the RAM, and laid the motherboard out on a Lego baseboard, with the DVD and hard drives in situ (but not yet secured).

Ensuring the power adaptor connection was in solidly was important, as a loose fitting can cause too much movement of the power cable and inevitably lead to it disconnecting at awkward moments.

Slowly but surely, I added more Lego around the components to make sure that they were firmly and securely in place.

I also used some 8×8 Plates with Grilles as vents over the fan, to help keep the system cool. Vents were also added over the hard disk to give it some airflow.


Whilst not perfectly flush, the front USB ports and DVD drive were nicely secured by nothing more than Lego bricks!

I would have loved to make it look a bit neater, but with the time available (and the bricks I had to hand), I think it looks rather good.

The white tile acts as a power switch. Due to the original location of the power switch on the laptop, this had to go halfway along the top of the casing.

VGA and S-video connections provide the means of connecting to a TV. It’s currently connected with an S-video to SCART lead, but I’ll change it over to something a bit better.

For software, I chose a Linux distribution called Element, which is designed for Home Theatre PCs (HTPCs). It has a ‘ten foot user interface’, i.e. the interface is big enough to be easily seen from 10 feet away – great for watching videos from the sofa. I also installed an Android server to enable me to use any Android phone as a touchpad and keyboard, but of course, I had a standard wireless keyboard and mouse to go with it.

The HTPC is a fun addition to our lounge – comes in use for watching movies from our network hard drive, or Youtube videos on the big* TV screen.
Challenge complete!
*OK, it’s 23″ – but it’s bigger than the computer screen!!
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