TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Ahhzz]

Doom OST - MasterMind

CJ #1 aka Client Job No. 1 - Usually I don't take jobs from other people yet but I made an exception this time.

I got this puppy in for some repairs and CPR and let's not forget some SPA treatment Robert B style! FTW!!! It is not mine but heck I couldn't pass up the chance to have my way with it.

Even if it doesn't look like it, this card is a train wreck! The damage is mostly on the back. I have all of the parts from a donor V5 5500 card and a Leadtek GF 4 Ti 4200, believe it or not! Also it needs some trace repair on the back and even if I succeed in this endeavor with just my basic tools, there still is a big question if one of the memory chips has survived a shattering impact ... I like the odds! RIP and TEAR!!!

Old parts for a relic of times gone by! This seems appropriate don't you think? At DOOM's Gate

Good luck man! My soldering skills (as evident by my failure to repair my old Acer monitor last year) have seriously degraded

 

[Robert B]

Thanks a heap! As you know, practice makes perfect so don't give up!

I'll try my proposed repair on the donor card then I'll proceed to the main "attraction". While power inductor coils, ceramic caps and polymer caps are a walk in the park, trace repair is another thing. I'm 90% sure that jumper wires will be needed.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Last time I did fine trace work was on my Soyo 6BA+IV, right on traces under the 440BX that were severed which resulted in no RAM detected in any slot.

My advice is: quite a lot rosin core, fine wire, a sharp cutter/knife, and a scrap multi-stranded wire (preferably aluminium, most copper ones I've seen are pretty cheaply done.). I fixed my Soyo just nice and it's been working like brand new since then.

 

[Robert B]

Abit-TH7II - i850/s478 RRrrrAAaaaaMBUUUUSSssssss!!! Every time I see a Rambus board I act immediately!

This Abit is the $hit even if it isn't the RAID version.

Needs a recap. 6 Nichicon HM 3300uf 6.3V lost their heads. The other No Name caps look fine! Go figure! I know that this doesn't mean that they are fine but wth, I'll keep it simple and for the time being I'll replace only the 6 bulged ones and maybe a few bigger ones just for peace of mind.

I already have in stock fresh Nichicon HM caps so I got this covered.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Welp, you beat me to it The reason I ultimately decided against buying it was that I am currently focusing myself on socket 7, slot 1 and laptop stuff also got bored of Netburst as I probably have a buttload of em' (a MSI 845 PRO w/ 478 to 423 interposer, a Gigabyte GA-8I848P-G, an ECS 848P-A, GB 8IPE1000, ASUS P4P800 SE, -E Deluxe, -E (no Deluxe), P4C800 and P4C800-E Deluxe, MSI 865PE Neo2-LS, ASRock 775i65G R2.0, MSI 865PE Neo3-V,ASRock P4V88+ and the list can go on more than I can count)

I already am planning some Deschutes and Katmai action, as well as some mobile stuff ranging from Coppermine to Arrandale (excluding Netburst, including Turion 64 x2 S1G1 and S1G3 hopefully)

 

[Robert B]

IMO you NEVER EVER can have too many RAMBUS boards! Come to think of it, I have 2 x 840 OR Slot 1, ECS P4ITA S423, Abit-TH7II S478, an Intel Desktop Board I850 S478 and a dead Gigabyte GA-8TM S423. In total just 5 fully working RAMBUS boards and this is after 6 years of "collecting"! The RAMBUS boards and Slot A boards are on top of my list anytime any day. Of course that I also like Slot 1, Sk.3 and Sk.4 beasts ... and many many more ... too many to count ... too big to fit in memory. I grew up reading so much about them that when I find on of them I say: Hellow Old Friend, stay a while and rest! You are safe now! No recycler is going to get his grubby hands on you.

I guess I don't know when to stop anymore. I need to make a headcount and see what I have in my collection. The last time I did this was a few years ago. I guess that I have around 60 motherboards and a couple of hundred CPUs plus at least 100 graphic cards, 50+ CPU coolers, 20-30 fully restored ODDs, cables and you name it!

Also I need to find a i820 slot 1 motherboard. Sheeshhh begone demons of retro HW "hoarding" ( I still considet myself light weight)

 

[MaxiPro800]

My closet is full of boards lmao, so many that I've almost lost count on which work and which don't.

 

[Trekkie4]

IMO you NEVER EVER can have too many RAMBUS boards! Come to think of it, I have 2 x 840 OR Slot 1, ECS P4ITA S423, Abit-TH7II S478, an Intel Desktop Board I850 S478 and a dead Gigabyte GA-8TM S423. In total just 5 fully working RAMBUS boards and this is after 6 years of "collecting"! The RAMBUS boards and Slot A boards are on top of my list anytime any day. Of course that I also like Slot 1, Sk.3 and Sk.4 beasts ... and many many more ... too many to count ... too big to fit in memory. I grew up reading so much about them that when I find on of them I say: Hellow Old Friend, stay a while and rest! You are safe now! No recycler is going to get his grubby hands on you.

I guess I don't know when to stop anymore. I need to make a headcount and see what I have in my collection. The last time I did this was a few years ago. I guess that I have around 60 motherboards and a couple of hundred CPUs plus at least 100 graphic cards, 50+ CPU coolers, 20-30 fully restored ODDs, cables and you name it!

Also I need to find a i820 slot 1 motherboard. Sheeshhh begone demons of retro HW "hoarding" ( I still considet myself light weight)

Interesting... I don't suppose you have Asus P4T?

 

[Robert B]

@Trekkie4 - No ASUS P4T yet!

@MaxiPro800 - I know exactly the state of each of my parts and also what I have in stock. Every nut and bolt.

 

[Robert B]

I stitched the V5 5500.

Flea Market Day 2DAY!!! - fresh electronic stuff from Germany!!! The lot was dirt cheap.

Pentium III Tualatin 1266MHz SL5QL + CPU terminator
Titan Slim Copper Cooler
3 Memory Modules of which one might be a VRAM upgrade for cards like Matrox G200
A bucket load of SIMM 30 Pin, 72 Pin and SDRAM
ISA Soundcard FCC ID: DXL9IL725N, Media-Vision Jazz 16, S26361-D821-V2, OPL.
Tseng ET4000AX ISA P/N 3081 REV C, ARA 3081, ISA
Medion GF4 Ti 4200 128MB
ATI PN 109-33100-00 PCI Mach 64
UMC SST-2845 Controller card
PII 300MHz SL2HA / PIII 500MHz SL35E
Asrock K7S8X SiS 746 Rev. 3.01 + AXP 2600+
Asrock K7VT2 Via KT266A Rev. 2.01 + Duron 1.2GHz (Morgan core)
Gigabyte GA-486AM/S UMC Sk.3 - it needs trace repair but nothing too difficult. I'm head over heels for Sk.3 stuff!

I left behind a lot more stuff but even so I took waaaaayyyy to many parts but I'm not complaining.

​

 

[freeagent]

Wow 1266.. impressive

 

[lexluthermiester]

from Germany

I thought you were in South America? Weird..

 

[Robert B]

I'm from Romania. Europe.

We get a lot of "unwanted stuff from EU" including electronics. The wide majority is from Germany, Italy and sometimes France. I even found stuff from China with stickers and all. I don't have the slightest ideea how they get here but I'm not complaining. Romanians are very resourceful people.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Welp, you almost nailed it with Germany, but some come from Sweden and Nederlands too.

One of my work laptops I'll have to upgrade (old is a Belgium HP DV7-4150eo, new is ASUS K73TK-TY027V) has a keyboard interestingly coloured with NL specific keys

The K73TK will be my newest challenge - that thing is in dire need for a restoration but at least I sure hope that I can get it fully working once it's in my hands tomorrow.

 

[Trekkie4]

Yeah, I recently discovered that German supplies of retro & obsolete hardware are much better than local ones, or even "fishing" for a particular part/model from the States. All of those BTC BCD... drives which I picked up (apart from single unit, which came from UK) originate from Germany. Furthermore, I picked up yet another Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS for €16 yesterday ... also from Germany.

 

[Robert B]

Flea Market 2day too!

Kapton tape.
S3 Savage 4 GT 8MB PCI * GP3950PCI/8MB * S3 Savage Pro PCI/8MB * SP3971 REV 1
ATI Rage Pro Turbo PCI 8MB * 109-41900-10

This weekend I made huge progress and it was awesome! Two days of only HW pr0n and repairs. I was in a trance. I have so much stuff that needs my attention.

Abit TH7II - changed 6 caps and BIOS update. Those RAMBUS sticks are burning like hell! 10 minutes after power down they were still HOT! It was 29C where I was working but still, those sticks run HOT!
Asrock K7S8X - trace repair. I used a wire that was a little too thick but the stitch was successful. I managed to add some solder to the other two traces that weren't completely cut. It is an inexpensive board but it looks so well that it would've been a shame to leave it to rot and be destroyed. A multimeter continuity test revealed that all is OK!
The CJ#1 has been completed. Tomorrow it will leave towards a very happy owner. 3 ceramic caps, 1 resistor, trace repair, 1 OS-CON cap 470uf 6V and two power inductors. Fully restored. I'll present the story on the Project Logs section.
The Gigabyte GA-486AM/S also needs trace repair. 8 fine traces were cut. It is still under operation.
The SOYO SY-D6IBA has been cleaned preliminary. All that was bent has been straightened. I need to order fresh caps. FULL recap! I might try a POLY recap or I might keep it classy with Panasonic FR top to bottom.
Lots of misc stuff.

 

[Trekkie4]

Flea Market 2day too!

Kapton tape.
S3 Savage 4 GT 8MB PCI * GP3950PCI/8MB * S3 Savage Pro PCI/8MB * SP3971 REV 1
ATI Rage Pro Turbo PCI 8MB * 109-41900-10

This weekend I made huge progress and it was awesome! Two days of only HW pr0n and repairs. I was in a trance. I have so much stuff that needs my attention.

Abit TH7II - changed 6 caps and BIOS update. Those RAMBUS sticks are burning like hell! 10 minutes after power down they were still HOT! It was 29C where I was working but still, those sticks run HOT!
Asrock K7S8X - trace repair. I used a wire that was a little too thick but the stitch was successful.
The CJ#1 has been completed. Tomorrow it will leave towards a very happy owner. 3 ceramic caps, 1 resistor, trace repair, 1 SVP cap 470uf 16V and two power inductors. Fully restored. I'll present the story on the Project Logs section.
The Gigabyte GA-486AM/S also need trace repair. 8 fine traces were cut. It is still under operation.
The SOYO ST-D6IBA has been cleaned preliminary. All that was bent has been straightened. I need to order fresh caps. FULL recap! I might try a POLY recap or I might keep it classy with Panasonic FR top to bottom.
Lots of misc stuff.

Highly recommending Panasonic FR series... Not affiliated with Panasonic in any way (wish I was lol!), but I used their caps to recap both of my Chaintech 6BTM Slot 1 boards. I needed small caps that would fit the board, but also needed to retain the original, factory values of 6.3V & 1000uf. They also seem to have a good reputation, so it was a no-brainer for me.

Of course, it is still too early to tell anything for sure, but I expect at least 10 years of life before they will need to be replaced...

 

[DR4G00N]

I wish I had actual flea markets in my area. There's a few spots where people set up tables on Sunday's but it's mostly just random junk.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The Gigabyte GA-486AM/S also needs trace repair. 8 fine traces were cut. It is still under operation.

Those should be an easy fix so long as you're careful(which we know you are) and use lots of flux.

 

[Robert B]

I want to try something different and if that doesn't work out then I'll criss-cross the board with jumper wires. There is another trace damaged 10 cm further. Being tossed in a box with other boards means lots of damage like this.

I want to try and cut an 80 pin ATA cable and make a small patch and solder all of the 8 wires in a go. This way they will also be insulated from each other. There is no harm in trying. The 80 pin ribbon wire is just the right size and spacing. It is left to be seen if the wires respond well to soldering. I wanted to use a 40 pin cable but it was so malleable and too thick. I could be used but I didn't like the look.

I didn't order jumper wires yet.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I want to try and cut an 80 pin ATA cable and make a small patch and solder all of the 8 wires in a go. This way they will also be insulated from each other. There is no harm in trying.

That's an excellent idea. Would keep things neat and tidy too!

 

[stef]

Picked up GeForce256 SDR from Amibay. Was originally looking for Creative CT6970 which comes with DVI (and IBM's FRU number), but prices are prohibiting. This should go in Slot-A Aptiva ... an ongoing project.

 

[MaxiPro800]

Well, how's a MSI Geforce 2 Pro 64MB look?



HSF on it isn't original though, it's from a defunct FX5500 from Xpertvision.

 

[stef]

I serviced few cards from 1999-2001. period and also did some testing.

Test system:

• Asus P4P800 Deluxe
• P4 2.6GHz Northwood (800MHz FSB)
• 512MB DDR400

OS: Windows XP SP2
Nvidia driver: Detonator 45.23
PowerVR driver: 2.00.20.0516

3DMark 2000 (1024x768@16-bit):

• Asus V7700TI/64M (GeForce2 Ti) ....................8493
• Hercules Kyro II 4500 64M................................6334
• Asus AGP-V6600/32M (GeForce256 SDR).......4563
• Asus AGP-V3800/32M (TNT2 Pro)....................3150

3DMark 2001SE (1024x768@32-bit):

• Asus V7700TI/64M (GeForce2 Ti).....................5364
• Hercules Kyro II 4500 64M................................3980
• Asus AGP-V6600/32M (GeForce256 SDR).......2640
• Asus AGP-V3800/32M (TNT2 Pro)....................1682

Unfortunately, I don't have GeForce2 GTS, which should be closest to Kyro II performance-wise.

Well, how's a MSI Geforce 2 Pro 64MB look?

View attachment 208890

HSF on it isn't original though, it's from a defunct FX5500 from Xpertvision.

Better than original .

 

[Robert B]

Huh! Repairing cut races is no easy task but after a few f@ck-ups(big and small) I managed to get decent results. Those traces were as thin as a strand of hair. I did all the mistakes I could and then some. I tried to get perfect results with stone age tools and it was a bumpy ride to say the least. To be fair the tools weren't so much to be blamed as I was. I should've stopped when I was ahead. Good thing that the board was cooperative. The information I got first hand from this experience will be put to good use into the future. I really didn't want to use long jumper cables.

In my case, it seems that I get straight to operating on the pacient instead of working on guinea pigs. I got to tell you, repairing any broken component and then hearing the happy post beep makes it all worthwhile.

Now I know what to do for future repairs.

The GA-486AM/S is quite happy now and not to mention quite lucky. A few more days tossed in that big pile of scrap and it would've been toast. Also it needed some extra stuff to be done but now it is purring like a kitten together with the Intel DX4 100MHz - P24C. This GG board is quite nice! My first UMC 881/886A Sk.3 chipset and I am quite impressed.