Ratdude's Main rig V2

[momaka]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

Then explain the artifacts it develops when you first boot it up... that get worse and worse the longer it is powered on? I have a PCI-E ATI card with the same issue... Every expert I talked to said that's a fried GPU (I was able to steal a Zalman GPU cooler off it at least; I used it to fix a 8400GS card).

Reflow RAM and GPU. 2 out of the 4 Radeon 9700s I fixed still showed artifacts until I also reflowed the RAM.

I'm not as familiar with the 9800 as I am with the 9700, but with the 9700, if you disconnect its power cable and turn on the computer, it will display a screen with a warning that the power cable is not connected. In this mode, the 9700 is not using the RAM or any sophisticated functions on the GPU so you get no artifacts. Good way to know if something else really is toast (if it is, you won't get to that screen). But again, that's for the Radeon 9700 only. Don't know if it works with the Radeon 9800

Perhaps we need a bulletin to newcomers not to toss stuff with bad caps that they don't want to fix...

Would be nice but I don't know how effective it will be.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I still have the 9800 but I don't have a cooler for it; my only aftermarket one got put into use and the stock one got tossed in the AL scrap bin. If you want it to play with, PM me (I think I also owe you a 6600GT AGP).

I don't have the other GPU that was toast in usable condition; I scuttled it for parts Already.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I would have bought it... Curses! Another good piece of hardware gone bye-bye.

My worker was about to get P-ed at me, because I have lots of PC stuff that I haven't been using, so I just chucked it.

I have gotten accused of hoarding before, lol.

[shovenose]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I still have the 9800 but I don't have a cooler for it; my only aftermarket one got put into use and the stock one got tossed in the AL scrap bin. If you want it to play with, PM me (I think I also owe you a 6600GT AGP).

I don't have the other GPU that was toast in usable condition; I scuttled it for parts Already.

You need a 6600GT AGP?
I has

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

You need a 6600GT AGP?
I has

No, I have one with a dead (and desoldered) DVI port that was supposed to go in my main rig until the DVI port was hosed due to a blown SMD micro choke. I tried to fix it, to no avail... so I desoldered the plug and covered the bracket hole with Aluminum tape.

How much RAM does your 6600 have? If another card I may be getting for topcat doesn't work out, I may have a use.

[shovenose]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

128MB
It's got a DVI port and a VGA port.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

128MB
It's got a DVI port and a VGA port.

Meh, 128MB is a bit skimpy for running a dualie setup. Hang on to the card though, APG cards 6 and up are somewhat hard to come by and also happen to have very good linux support from nvidia (5 and below, not so much).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

Last minute addition:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321049006379

Snared for $30,w/o cables (or so my accepted offer stated).

After consulting with topcat (who knows far more about 3ware cards than I do), I found out the existing 3ware card is half-useless w/o the BBU. As it turns out, a BBU (not just the battery but the battery controller too) is $110 by itself... Not only do I get a BBU, I also get a spare card too!

I'll probably install the 12 port card... Less fussing and better cable routing that way (ports 9-12 are further back and may help eliminate loopy cables). Not to mention that IIRC PCBONEZ once mentioned that the 4 port ones are worth more (since they are low profile).

It has a projected arrival time of this coming tuesday... Hopefully my drives and cables come by then.

EDIT: Good thing I bought a fresh card... the bastards omitted the BBU connector on my Card! The PCB pads are there but the female header is gone. Must be a dell poweredge thing... Damn idiots...

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

Due to the new RAID card, I now have a clearance issue with the front audio header.

Solution:



I ended up having to cannibalize another Firewire card for the connector. Not optimal, but the card I stole from had a smashed up bracket anyway. In addition, since the key pin is on the opposite side of the pin block, I had to omit a pin. I ended up omitting the pin opposite the key, which is a 5V supply pin not used by my case.

The soldering didn't go too well either... thanks the the piss poor PCB of the sound card, it didn't like the removal of the old pin block too well. Luckily, after some careful rework, I got it in... and after testing with a live DVD, I can say the new connector is functional.

Why the bastards at chaintech didn't use a right angle plug in the first place is beyond me; they used right angle plugs for the CD in and Aux headers...

If I have issues down the road, I may end up having to go to an ASUS sound card, since those are the only other cards with AC97 headers that I know of.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

turns out that the DVD portion on the IDE drive is hosed... I am disappointed a bit, since I bought the drive NOS about 4 or so years ago (its a lite-on, my first lite-on to die).

I had crap luck with a LiteOn, too. My LiteOn CD-RW drive, model SOHR-5239V randomly stops responding in middle of the installer reading the CD and randomly get file errors. More likely when the room is less than 70 F!

Caused installation to fail randomly and at different spots.

Most recently, the LiteOn resulted in me coming back to the screen to see:

Setup cannot copy the file: town.mid

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I had crap luck with a LiteOn, too. My LiteOn CD-RW drive, model SOHR-5239V randomly stops responding in middle of the installer reading the CD and randomly get file errors. More likely when the room is less than 70 F!

Caused installation to fail randomly and at different spots.

Most recently, the LiteOn resulted in me coming back to the screen to see:

Setup cannot copy the file: town.mid

Both drives currently installed are lite-on... other than that one drive, my luck with lite-on has been exellent.

[c_hegge]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I haven't had any major problems with any brand of optical drive, except for LiteOff. Samsung, LC, Sony, and Pioneer have all been fine. I've had the odd one die from all of those brands, but I do see a few more failed LiteOffs than the others.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I haven't had any major problems with any brand of optical drive, except for LiteOff.

It does seem to be flaky. IIRC, with the above mentioned error, I did find it unresponsive. This is the most finicky drive I recall, it seems to randomly stop responding when the room temp is less than around 70 F!

Opened it up and couldn't find visibly bad caps. It's been sitting around for months now.

[lti]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

I have had two Lite-On drives. One was an LTN-301 that went nuts. When I tried to open the tray, it flashed the activity LED for a long time, then opened the tray halfway and suddenly closed it. When I managed to get a disc in it, the motor sounded like a chainsaw and it wouldn't read the disc. I recapped it and it worked until the laser died. The other drive was in a crappy DVD recorder. It won't burn a disc anymore, but it still reads discs. It also won't close on its own. I have to push the tray in.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

Due to the new RAID card, I now have a clearance issue with the front audio header.

Solution:



I ended up having to cannibalize another Firewire card for the connector. Not optimal, but the card I stole from had a smashed up bracket anyway. In addition, since the key pin is on the opposite side of the pin block, I had to omit a pin. I ended up omitting the pin opposite the key, which is a 5V supply pin not used by my case.

The soldering didn't go too well either... thanks the the piss poor PCB of the sound card, it didn't like the removal of the old pin block too well. Luckily, after some careful rework, I got it in... and after testing with a live DVD, I can say the new connector is functional.

Why the bastards at chaintech didn't use a right angle plug in the first place is beyond me; they used right angle plugs for the CD in and Aux headers...

If I have issues down the road, I may end up having to go to an ASUS sound card, since those are the only other cards with AC97 headers that I know of.

After further review of the 3ware 9500 Manual, I didn't actually need to mod the sound card. The 3ware card only will run at 66MHz, so it wouldn't have mattered whether I used the upper 100MHz slot or the lower 66MHz slot. All I would have needed to do was move the card to the lower slot.

In the mean time... I bidded on an ASUS Xonar DG card... Knowing my luck I'll get sniped on it... but given the uncertian linux compatibility, I didn't feel like risking a lot.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

No dice on the Xonar DG card. I got sniped by a auto-bid bot in the last 30 seconds.

Btw, I hate auto-bid bots!

I subitted an offer on a Creative Sound Blaster X-fi with a HD header... Knowing my luck it's HD only (no support for a AC97 header missing the port sense lines)... But I lowballed my offer, so I'll probably ahve to keep the card i have and pray it lasts.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

The card came in... and It appears to have had the crap kicked out of it:

(BBU removed)







At least one of the 3 main activity LEDs is intact. I wish th upper one was intact but, it ain't

Also, I'm dubious of the RAM module:




Supposedly it's an 128mb like the one from the old card... just to be safe, I swapped the modules.

Somehow the dumbass got the Card bracket on wrong... so when I went to install it, it didn't line up. How one could do that and not notice is beyond me.

I haven't had a chance to test since my keyboard is on the rag (shouldn't have cleaned it, now it complains about a stuck key) and I had to grab lunch and head back to class.

[momaka]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

Ouch. I hate it when sellers don't treat the stuff they are selling well. I suggest you inspect all SMD components on the board carefully. Hopefully, none got chipped.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

Ouch. I hate it when sellers don't treat the stuff they are selling well. I suggest you inspect all SMD components on the board carefully. Hopefully, none got chipped.

I looked hard... and no other damage other than the pins (the board is 100% SMD, even the pin headers).

Booted the existing HDD just fine, so I finally retired the 320gb from this system and moved it to it's new home in my supersized HTPC.

I'm Currently running a battery test (not 100% accurate, I didn't get the battery fully charged).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's Main rig V2

It said I had 225 Hrs of backup.

Now that the batt is fully charged, I'm redoing the test... but so far the battery looks to be OK.