Sander van Doorn vs Robbie Williams - Close My Eyes
Open for business
Believe it or not, you learn something new every day. I thought that
AOpen was and still is a distinct company so when I found this on the Internet I was a little surprised:
"AOpen used to be the Open System Business Unit of Acer Computer Inc. which designed, manufactured and sold computer components. It was incorporated in December 1996 as a subsidiary of Acer Group with an initial public offering (IPO) at the Taiwan stock exchange in August 2002. It is also the first subsidiary which established the entrepreneurship paradigm in the pan-Acer Group. Currently, AOpen is a subsidiary of Wistron Group, a spin-off of the Acer Group." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOpen
Acer and awesome components in one sentence? Don't get me wrong. I got nothing against Acer, I even own many laptops made by them and I have a good opinion about this company. The fact is I just wasn't expecting that a brand that is sacred to me, of which I read religiously in the PC magazines back in the day, to have ties with Acer. Truth be told I also never searched for information about Acer.
Now that we got this out of the way, if it is still the case, I must underline that I absolutely love
AOpen stuff. They have to me a certain je ne sais quois. They attract me and they speak my language.
In September 2020 I found at the flea market a motherboard that me made think about the delicious Lindt swiss milk chocolate. I love milk chocolate since childhood.
I eat it anytime, anywhere. Don't get me started about hazelnuts ...
Have no fear, I'm still in great shape at 1.83m, 74 kg and 41 years old. Come to think of it on February 26th I'll celebrate 6 years since I started with great enthuziasm on the path of HW restoring. Getting older sux in more ways than one!
I found the AOpen motherboard in a state that would've made other people to turn away. A veteran like me wasn't put off by the sad looking image and like many times in the past
I got the last laugh in the end. With experience comes confidence and you know what can be saved and what is gone into the great void beyond.
Man I love going to the flea market and travel back in time.
The exact model of the motherboard is:
AOpen AK73 Pro(A) Socket-A KT133A / AK73-1394 A / AK73 PRO(A) . A wonderful KT 133A motherboard.
I found it tossed in a big bag together with other parts. It still had its cooler and underneath it I could see something ceramic. NICE!
Even if it had three damaged electrolytic capacitors when I laid my eyes on the AOpen lettering my eyes popped out.
ME WANT! ME NEED! ME ACQUIRE!
The seller, a regular at the flea market , even if he doesn't now what he sells, has enough intuition to detect the interest of someone who happens to casually ask in an absent manner:
How much is this piece of "junk"?, immediately started pulling from the heatsink, without unhooking the clamp, to see if there is something pink under it.
All this time, completely frozen, I looked in slow motion how he twists back-and-forth the heatsink and could feel the edges of the CPU die starting to fray .
NooooOOOOO!!! The fraction of the second from when I saw him yanking the cooler and the moment I started telling him to stop and that I'll buy the whole kit ceramic CPU and all,
felt like an eternity.
Too late. What's done is done. The cooling fan had two broken blades so the kit already took one for the country, the added perversions bestowed on the meager ceramic CPU didn't make any difference if at all.
#$*@$)&@$@^$&@%%@!(*#^!&*~!!!!!!! Damn hooligans!
Ever since I saw the motherboard I was thinking about an
Athlon 1GHz CPU on a
200MHz bus and I said to myself that more water will flow down the Danube until I'll find one.
Be careful what you wish for it might just come true! I wish for a V5 6K? cough, cough, ... fat chance.
When I got to my car, I used a screwdriver and with surgical precision I removed the clamp from the heatsink.
Carnage! Carnage and even more carnage!
F..K!!! A 1GHz/200MHz Athlon!? A1000AMT3B F..K! F..K!! F......K!!!
Wait a minute! I feel the energon still pumping inside! It must still be alive!
I took a deep breath and I said to myself that all will be alright in the end.
I gently touched the motherboard and I said to her: you're safe. Welcome to my humble laboratory where amazing things happen and
pigs DO FLY!!!
I'm ready and willing to do my best!
The motherboard was quite filthy and I already knew that using only IPA 99% will not be enough.
The three electrolytic capacitors that I mentioned earlier aren't visible because I put them back into position just for taking pictures. Don't worry, I never work with half measures. All IN or all OUT! They have been replaced.
Due to the flea market treatment which mainly involves soft cushions and silk gloves, the board has a lot of scratches on the back but none of them are terminal. Surprisingly, the ceramic caps underneath the NB
are sitting fine and dandy. Phew! NICE! Die Hard mobo!
Before I started restoring the motherboard I did what must be done and I replaced the damaged capacitors. A Rubycon YXG 2200uf/6.3V was replaced with a Panasonic FR 2200uf/10V. A GL 10uf/25V was replaced with a Panasonic FR de 10uf/50V. A Lelon RXA 680uf/16V was replaced with an AISHI RZ 680V/16V. In the case of the last cap I didn't have one with a pedigree but a working cap is way better than a dead one.
When in doubt hose it down! Even if in the picture the water jet seems too strong let me tell you that in fact it was not.
After the wash one paper label went MIA but it was no loss really. In exchange I got a silkscreened string logo
AK73 Pro(A) which is way better than the cryptic barcode.
After the wash I dried the board as long as necessary. Slow drying in action.
I cleaned the CPU a little and I was able to better asses the damage. If this CPU still works I'll be both grateful and amazed, I said to myself.
Ready! Get set! GO!
Some PC133 goodness.
As expected, the temperamental and at the same funky RAM kit, of 2x256MB PC133, which only worked well on my Abit KT7, showed some fits and just 256MB were recognized.
Even if the board posted the good news was another. The 1GHz Athlon was still alive and kicking. The satisfaction I felt is hard to describe with just words. Wave after wave of adrenaline took over me and I started making all kinds of moves with my hands up in the air. YES! YES!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
I tried another kit of RAM. A PC150, 2x128MB kit and this moment was one taken straight from the X-Files.
I inserted the RAM sticks. I powered up the motherboard and I got no beeps.
A few moments have passed and I heard something like a hissing noise, the kind you hear when some electronic components get damaged. For sure the CPU is bye bye I said to myself...
What the F..K?
I approached the motherboard and I tried to identify the area that made that noise.
I smelled the board and I was expecting to feel the good ol' burned stuff smell. Barbecue anyone?
Eventually I directed my ear towards the little PC speaker I mounted on the board. The tiny one not the big kid like that from the 486 PCs.
I restarted the motherboard and I finally found the source of the strange noise.
A gentle feminine voice was informing me via the PC Speaker that:
"The memory may have a problem!"
WOW! This is something new! My jaw dropped on the floor ...
This is why the kit wasn't posting! The RAM beep code was replaced by the nice lady telling me to take out that PC150 crap and give her some love. Damn!
Wanting to solve the memory issues, ONCE AND FOR ALL, I prepared three sticks of 512MB PC133 RAM and I was ready for another round.
1.5GB of PC133 FTW!
Did it work? He he!
Clean bill of health.
Some AOpen motherboards had an option called
Die Hard BIOS. In essence this option involves two separate BIOS chips and you can switch between them, when needed, via a jumper.
The board has a soldered
SST 39SF020A chip. Because I didn't have another SST chip and because after I consulted the spec sheets I arrived to the conclusion that they are pin compatible, I mounted in the free PLCC socket a
Winbond W29C020CP90B chip.
A Die Hard mobo requires a Die Hard BIOS don't you think?
The SST chips has a R1.13 BIOS and the Winbond a R1.20 BIOS. I switched between the chips via the
JP30 Die Hard BIOS Select Jumper and all was ok.
More testing. More good news.
@100%!
The last stage was dedicated to cleaning the board. IPA 99%.
WET!
Looking good!
After a few careful cleaning passes I got the following results.
Unfortunately some scars and stains could not be removed. In the future I might use some lacquer to cover some of them but at the moment this isn't a priority. The good news is that these blemishes do not change the fact that this board is
a great one! Remember, they don't make'em anymore!
The Die Hard 1GHz CPU.
After my work was done I held in my hands the motherboard and I just stared at it for a few minutes.
A DIE HARD KIT for the ages!
I'm sure that some of you think about Sk.A as something common that still hasn't won its rightful place like many other exotic parts, but for some, including me, which used them for many years(I had 3 PCs with Sk.A CPUs), these kits have started to become irresistible.
Get them while they last!
gallery:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/Sykvzzk
More later.
