best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

As a fair warning, the last and only Turion based DV6000 I reflowed and gave to someone worked for one more week then quietly died forever...so I'd be careful with that one...

It was a trade of sorts - I got his G86+Intel based DV6000 and gave him the Turion+Go7200. The Intel still runs to this day (and surprisingly cool for a G86 chip, though not very surprised since I have done a few small mods to the HSF that HP could care less to do)

He said he'd drop by and bring the "roadkill" one of these days, and I've talked him into replacing that DV6000 for free with something better, and am still looking for some run-of-the-mill Acer or ASUS w/ a G84, G86 or G9x GPU to throw his RAM and HDD into.

G8x chips run fairly well if cooled properly. Add a copper shim to the core if it uses thermal pad, and it runs great. I can also say I liked ASUS' initiative of making the GPU HSF on my G70S (it has 2 separate heatsinks in a sandwich - one is an big aluminium CPU HSF (though the base for the CPU itself is copper) and the one right above it which cools the SLi chip as well as the GPU, and that one is full copper.

Ok, I'm convinced. I'll use it out in the garage for a crap system....when it dies, it's done.... It's not worth buying a battery or a SSD for.

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Ok, I'm convinced. I'll use it out in the garage for a crap system....when it dies, it's done.... It's not worth buying a battery or a SSD for.

As nice as it would have been to donate it to someone in need, I think you made the right choice here.

With that said, if you do want to prolong this laptop's working life a bit more, you should install a copper shim on the GPU/chipset and limit CPU power dissipation through software... or just hack the cooling fan and wire it to run on max speed all the time (disconnect fan PWM pin and connect to the 5V supply.)

I did the copper shim + control CPU power through software (using CrystalCPUID) and was able to keep the temperature in check, as I showed in this thread (see post #12 and after):
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=64440

Pictures of my crappy shim that actually worked pretty well:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...4&d=1504815472
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...5&d=1504815472

Good luck. The one time I tried reflowing (similar HP) it lasted 6 weeks before having the same failure again. As much as a PITA they are to work on, I didn't bother trying again.

Yup, if the chipset temperatures are not kept in check, it will fail again quickly.

To fix one of these laptops requires modifications to the cooling system and experimentation with CPU control software to limit CPU power dissipation to below 30 Watts (so maybe ~35 Watts at the wall, at least judging from my experiments.)

Although my Compaq V6000 (same exact thing as an HP DV6000) is still working, the WiFi went out after I tried to upgrade the CPU to a dual-core Athlon X2 (which turns out is not supported and only Turion X2 CPUs are.) My guess is that either the SB or NB chipsets got affected somehow when I opened the laptop, because WiFi was working fine before that. Looking up the problem online suggests this is a common issue with the WiFi going out on these laptops out of the blue. So I might have to do another reflow... but like you say, they are fairly annoying to work on, so I don't know if I will do it or not.

And the fact that the GF6100 chipset should never be paired with S1G1 CPUs, the worst heaters out there.

GF6100 chipset should never be paired with ANYTHING.
Feature-wise, they are nice for what they are. But from a reliability standpoint, they are complete, utter garbage.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Picked up another m6400 on the cheap the other day. C2D @ 2.8 (will swap it out for a QX9300 @ 2.53, fastest C2Q this can take). Has 8gb RAM and a really slow scorpio blue 500gb GB HDD. The 8gb RAM is fine, but that scorpio blue sucks balls! I'll get a SSD for it. An unplanned perk, they come stock with a 512mb FX2700m...someone anted up for the FX3700M, 1gb dedicated RAM....so not bad! It has the orange shell in stellar shape. Thankfully the battery is good, finding the orange one seems to be nothing short of finding diamonds in your yard.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a G6-1205SS lol, this one has a AMD A4-3300M APU, 4GB of RAM and I replaced the 500GB Seagate it had (which came from an Acer no less) with a near brand new 750GB WD7500BPVX. Runs perfect now, might replace Win 10 1909 with Debian though.

Strange thing though is that there is some soot on the board (very light, around the battery circuit) yet nothing is out of the ordinary functionality wise - battery doesn't overcharge, KB and everything else works fine as expected. I do need to replace the battery tho, it only holds about 10 minutes of charge lol

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got a G6-1205SS lol, this one has a AMD A4-3300M APU, 4GB of RAM and I replaced the 500GB Seagate it had (which came from an Acer no less) with a near brand new 750GB WD7500BPVX. Runs perfect now, might replace Win 10 1909 with Debian though.

Strange thing though is that there is some soot on the board (very light, around the battery circuit) yet nothing is out of the ordinary functionality wise - battery doesn't overcharge, KB and everything else works fine as expected. I do need to replace the battery tho, it only holds about 10 minutes of charge lol

Nuke w10 and throw Debian on it for sure. Heck, avoid Ubuntu. Too much Microcrap garbage getting into Canonical products these days. About to nuke another system with Ubuntu 18.04.5 on it and upgrade it to Debian 10.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The 8gb RAM is fine, but that scorpio blue sucks balls!

Why? Is the reliability shit? Is it bad or just farking slow=Typical of a 5K and lesser-RPM laptop HDDs.

I have a verdict for the time being, if SFC, with the /scannow parameter comes back with the dreaded "found corrupt files" message, then the drive is automatically a suspect. (suspect silent drive corruption)

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Why? Is the reliability shit? Is it bad or just farking slow=Typical of a 5K and lesser-RPM laptop HDDs.

It's miserably farking slow. It'd be fine for just file storage....but run a bloated OS from it (Win10 2004) and barf-o-rama! I have a 240gb SSD with Mint on it that was left over from a M6400 I built and sold....I stuck it in this system. Night & day difference!! Much much MUCH better! As a matter of fact, this post created from it.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

It's miserably farking slow. It'd be fine for just file storage....but run a bloated OS from it (Win10 2004) and barf-o-rama!

X2, After getting "used to" SSDs 5k rpm HDDs generally make me want to throw the laptop through a window in short order (at least with any "modern" OS), for being absolutely agonizingly slow.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

It's miserably farking slow. It'd be fine for just file storage....but run a bloated OS from it (Win10 2004) and barf-o-rama!

Like Windows 95 with only 4 MB of RAM!

[BigTroll]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Like Windows 95 with only 4 MB of RAM!

I ran 95 on a Packard Bell 386SX16 and 8MB which was pretty bad.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If back in the day, anyone brought me a win95/98 machine to work on with less than 32mb RAM, I forced an upgrade on them to atleast 32 (although I'd try to get them up to 64 or 128)....or I just wouldn't work on it. The memory upgrade would almost always cure the complaint of why they brought the machine in....it being SLOW....

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Bolt modded the Model M and it's now a part of my main computer setup.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Bolt modded the Model M and it's now a part of my main computer setup.

what is "Bolt modded" ??

[jayjr1105]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Our E-recycling shed at work is a gold mine. This fills up monthly. Just got two i5 6500, a bunch of RAM and a 4th gen 4570S.

[TechGeek]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

what is "Bolt modded" ??

It's a process that involves removing the weak plastic rivets from a Model M that are used to hold the barrel plate to the backplate and sandwich everything in between them together. Over time, these rivets weaken and eventually fall off, causing the key feel to change. Eventually, the keyboard will be unusable as parts of it will no longer type.


To fix this, you need to break off the remaining rivet heads, disassemble the keyboard, cut off any remaining rivet stubs, drill holes, thread in screws, partially re-assemble the keyboard, screw on washers and nuts, and fully reassemble the keyboard. It drastically improves the key feel. Additionally, another mod that is best done at the same time is what I call the rubber mat mod. When reassembling the keyboard, don't reinstall the rubber dampening mat. This creates a sharper key feel and makes the keyboard louder. However, you might have to tighten some bolts more so you don't have key chatter. (keys double or triple typing due to the flippers bouncing on the membrane because there's too much room between the barrel plate and backplate)

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i think i'll stick with my sun type5's
all i need to do with those is shove an extra microcontroller in them to translate to ps2 or USB-HID.

[dmill89]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

A Lionel "RW" 110W transformer for $10. Everything works properly except the whistle button, a common issue with all older Lionel transformers as the rectifier discs become weak with age (for anyone not familiar most O-gauge trains are AC powered and inject DC to trigger the whistle), nothing a diode won't fix.





Out with the old, in with the new (I know I'm stating the obvious to most on this site, but diode left, old disc rectifier right).:


New diode installed:



Nice simple 1950s electronics here:

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

If back in the day, anyone brought me a win95/98 machine to work on with less than 32mb RAM, I forced an upgrade on them to atleast 32 (although I'd try to get them up to 64 or 128)....or I just wouldn't work on it. The memory upgrade would almost always cure the complaint of why they brought the machine in....it being SLOW....

The last 98 machine I had found in the trash (a Soyo Sy-5TF, a P150 non MMX, and S3 GPU) had 16MB of RAM. No wonders they threw it away, though the board was a HX based one, so in theory it could go up to 512MB easily (if you could find 64 or 128MB EDO sticks, did these even exist in the consumer market?)

The only way 98 would run fine with such low RAM would be if it has 98lite installed. That lil' thing does wonders, regardless of what CPU you have, as long as the machine is at least a 386 at 40MHz and it has 8MB or greater RAM (IIRC there were some hybrid 30/72pin EDO 386 mobos) and your drive isn't some older-than-dinosaurs MFM or Winchester drive.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

my old win98 machine needed 256meg of pc100 to not run like shit.

[Topcat]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

The last 98 machine I had found in the trash (a Soyo Sy-5TF, a P150 non MMX, and S3 GPU) had 16MB of RAM. No wonders they threw it away, though the board was a HX based one, so in theory it could go up to 512MB easily (if you could find 64 or 128MB EDO sticks, did these even exist in the consumer market?)

The only way 98 would run fine with such low RAM would be if it has 98lite installed. That lil' thing does wonders, regardless of what CPU you have, as long as the machine is at least a 386 at 40MHz and it has 8MB or greater RAM (IIRC there were some hybrid 30/72pin EDO 386 mobos) and your drive isn't some older-than-dinosaurs MFM or Winchester drive.

Most Pentium classic era chipsets supported 512mb~1gb RAM....but the reason I didn't promote sizes that high, do any of you remember what RAM cost back then?