MSI 694D, newbie question...

[akhenaton22]

I'm a newbie here, but i have a question. I've been in contact with a long time dullie user. He has an MSI 694D motherboard in its original box and it has been sitting in his closest since late 2003. He knows the capacitors are bad, some leaking and some buldging, but at the time he didnt have the time to replace them so he placed it back in the box and bought another board. He is willing to give it to me if i pay shipping, but i'm very worried if it will work even after I replace the capacitors. What does everyone think.

also, can i do a capacitor replacement with just a standard soldering iron and not a temp controled one.

Thanks for the advice...
akhenaton22

[Topcat]

The 694D can be a very fickle board. However, the recovery rate on them is VERY high! Out of the many dozens I've rebuilt, I've only had a few turds. If he's giving it to you free for the shipping, take it, you have nothing to lose, even if it isnt recoverable. When they're running with good caps, they're extremely reliable.

You definitely want an iron stronger than a 15watt radio chack special. If the iron doesnt get hot enough, you'll likely destroy the board trying to remove the caps.

[Neo2_000]

Not that I am recommending it, I use a scope soldering iron (I can hear the shuuders from those familiar with them). A bit like cracking a nut with a sledge hammer really.

But the point is, the only temperature control it has is my finger depressing the on-off control. It has taken some practice to be able to use it without destroying a mobo since the substantial tip becomes red hot in about 10 seconds when activated so I am careful not to dwell on a joint too long.

A temperature controlled unit would be much better I am sure. But if you become familiar with the characteristics of your iron by practicing on a few disposable test subjects first, you can get away without one. I file flat faces on the conical tip and always keep the tip a little wet with solder to aid in conducting heat - even when desoldering.

Of equal importance is a stable rack for the Mobo while working on it. I use a couple of old house bricks covered with a teatowel and sit the board between them. This also makes for a good handrest while soldering.

A pair of magnifying glasses can also make life much easier.

Neo.

[AK0R]

Soldering Irons

I personally use a 25-watt Weller, no fancy power/temperature control, just plug it into an outlet, let it heat up, and go. Because it is lower power, this forces me to make sure the joint is adequately and properly heated, whether I am soldering or de-soldering, but also has the advantage of limiting heat transfer to adjacent components.

At work, we use 33-watt Ungar soldering irons with power control (not temperature control) stations for nuclear-grade soldering and board repair.

The point is, the power of the soldering equipment is less a factor than the skill of the person using the equipment. It all depends on what you learned. As Neo points out, a good tip is probably one of the most important factors.

[akhenaton22]

Well you all sold me. I'm starting to the idea on heat. Also, i read the flaw sticky about the C390 cap on the msi board. Can you just test the voltage with a regular volt meter? I didnt know if some special thing was involved, didnt figure there was. And, any suggestions on where to order caps from?

Thanks
akhenaton22

[bushytails]

I'm typing this on a recapped 694d right now. they definitely work.

(and my other dual box is the other 694d I've recapped)

Only notable things to be careful of with this board is c390 being backwards, making sure not to install caps such that they hit the cpu fansinks or parts on the expansion cards, and that if you use acpi the bottom two pci slots mysteriously stop working. (works perfectly with no acpi... I think it's the via usb controller not sharing nicely when the acpi irq-moving-thingy does its thing).

The boards are very stable, but keep in mind even p3s are power-hungry when used dual, and use a decently rated power supply.

As to finiky... sometimes they don't like you mixing different sizes/types of ram. as an example, on mine, if you put in 3 256s and 1 64, all you get is 64mb of ram. but pull out the 64 and you get all 768mb of ram. put another 256 in there and you get 1gb. but with the 64 in, you only get 64. go figure.

If you're using mismatched cpus, and it doesn't boot and/or only sees one, try swapping the two cpus.

The onboard raid controller (if yours is so equipped) is a POS. If you plug hard drives into it, and don't format them as raid, you'll need to press escape every boot to continue booting. I only use it for cdroms/etc, as then it still says "press esc to continue booting", but it doesn't actually wait for you to press it. I've heard some people have created their own repackaged bios updates with better firmware for the raid controller.

The pinout for the usb header in the manual is WRONG. It's one of the ones where the two ports have the pins in the opposite order on each side, rather than the ones where the two sets of pins are parallel, as the manual I got showed. If you go to use the second usb header, and don't have the right cable for it, let me know and I'll pull the lid off mine to remember what it is.

I think that's it. I've been happy with my two 694ds...

As to soldering, I desolder with a crap vacuum desoldering station, then solder at first with a 40 watt pencil iron, followed by a 140W nice and hot iron to melt the solder all the way through the vias. gives perfect solder shape on both sides of the board that way.

(well, most of the time at least)


--Randy

[akhenaton22]

Such a newb i am. What is acpi? (yeah i asked)

thanks
akhenaton22

[bushytails]

CONFIG_ACPI=n :P

--Randy

[AK0R]

Acpi

I don't think Randy really answered your question. ACPI stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. It combines power management and settings management (IRQs, DMAs, etc.) into one set of software. See http://www.acpi.info for a complete description.

[bushytails]

I never really intended that to explain what acpi was... more if a "if you don't know, you probably don't need to know" type thing.

--Randy

[willawake]

.......randy is back......hello dude...looks like a mess up with the config again cos you are supposed to be a mod not a member.....hey TC

CONFIG_ACPI=n :P

classic......come down to our level dude.