Bought a used Cisco 857w modem/router/switch at a market for $20. After taking it home and finding an antenna and power lead for it discovered that the power pack was…Err… Smoking. Not sure if it was a “hidden feature” so I cut the cable and Jerri-rigged an old PC PSU to suit. Lucky it only needs 2x5v and 1x12v, so a molex connector is fine for testing. Plugged it in and the status lights lit up – All good. Taped off the cables to make it a little safer, and connected a console cable – Still all good. Ordered a replacement power pack for it on eBay – $40 couriered from Hong Kong. In 5-8 days the total cost will be $60 for a second hand 857W (The wireless ADSL2 model of my
current modem Cisco 837), which sell of about $250+ on eBay.
Cheers.