best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Dan81]

Recapped the Soltek. Chap that I got it from was Ukrainian, moved into Bucharest. It seems the board had went thru a (rather poorly done) recap prior... only to discover to my horror that the 3300uFs used were all Licons, several Choyos that were about 2x the diameter of the cap they were replacing and some slightly-suspicious-but-looking-fine 2005 Nichicon HMs were used mostly. Oh, and two lone Rubycons MBZ sitting on the CPU filtering. Surprisingly, VRM high was done with Panasonic caps, for reasons that absolutely elude me as of writing this post. First off, the board in its original state is presented below.



All Licons and Choyos went out. I left the '05 Nichicons since IIRC the plagued HM/HN datecodes stopped around 2004.
The CPU got a very sweet round of 8x 3300uF 6.3v Ruby MBZ.
Two of the Choyos in vicinity of the VRM low caps (the 8x MBZs) were replaced with Panasonic FJ 1500uF/6.3v.
The 3rd one beneath DIMM3 was replaced with a 16v 1500uF Ruby MCZ since the silkscreened diameter allowed it.
The 4th one near the AGP Pro slot (yes, this thing sports a AGP Pro slot!) was replaced with a 1000uF 6.3v Nichicon HM of 2008 datecode.
The 5th and final one inbetween PCI1 and 2 was replaced with a 270uF 16v Fujitsu poly.

While at it, I've also replaced two of the GSCs near the audio/gameport socket with 270uF 16v Chemicon polys, pulled from a Lenovo 775 mobo.

Finally, while not the best pic of it post-recap, here it is. I'm planning to get a ceramic Thunderbird going on it and downgrade its Q12 bios to REV Q8.1.
It currently runs the latest version, which supports mobile Bartons and Applebred/Thoroughbred chips, which look a bit out of place for the 2000/2001 target vibe I'm trying to get it at.
Heck, its main drive is a 20GB IBM Deskstar 60GXP, the few drives that (at least to what I found) has metal platters and not glass.

[Topcat]

Got another Precision T7910. Motherboard is bad and case is rough. Has 2x 2.3GHz 18 core CPU's, 256gb PC4-2133P (8x 32gb modules), 1300w PSU, and a quadro M5000 in it. A board can be for ~50 for one of these. Worth the board replacement...but the finish on the case is poor. I'll be creative with it. 🙈

[Dan81]

Got a Soltek SL-75KAV. Neat KT133A mobo w/ ISA and some more interesting OC support.

[TechGeek]

I've got a GoVideo DDV9500 VCR for that sort of thing. Macrovision Level I and II it spits out without an issue, but Level III it struggles with.

[Max029]

Hondaman thanks for the comment here. I guess I finally have a good reason to hold onto my All-in-Wonder card. Burn some older things to DVD, which I have a ton of quality discs as well as systems I can put the card into. Some day. When I have time...

[Hondaman]

For $2 at a barn sale, I got an Apex DRX-9200. It is a DVD recorder, but it probably only has a pre-2006 NTSC tuner, not an ATSC tuner. But rumor has it this unit IGNORES MACROVISION VHS copy-prevention used in the USA. If it works, and if I can get an old / universal remote to work with it, I can play a VHS tape into it and it will record the footage onto DVD with chapter markers every 5 minutes (crude, but effective). (I suggest my ATSC Toshiba D-R550 will probably see the Macrovision and refuse to make a copy.)

I have a couple of VHS tapes that will never, ever be on DVD.

I have a VHS copy of "Where the Spirit Lives" (1986?) which involves kidnapping Canadian First Nations children in 1937 and forcing them into boarding schools, and beating them if they wet the bed or cry or don't finish their meals or try to speak their native languages. Something like the recent "Indian Horse" produced by Clint Eastwood.

I also have a VHS copy of "Convicted" (1986?) with Carroll O'Connor and John Larroquette. A postman is wrongly convicted of rape in Tennessee, even though the real rapist confessed. Similar to "An Innocent Man" (Tom Selleck plays an airline mechanic) or "The Thin Blue Line" (music by Philip Glass) or or "In the Name of the Father" or "Hurricane" with Denzel Washington. EDIT: Blind Justice (Tim Matheson, Bryan Dennehy) is also a great example of innocence, before DNA made it cool. But that one did make it to DVD.

If I can't get this Apex to work, it is still available online NIB (but since it was a dodgy brand, it might be DOA and NIB at the same time). I think I also finally found my old Win 98 32-bit AMD Athlon 2900. It has the ATI All-In-Wonder 9200, which should let me copy VHS to digital. At least, I think it will. You might think a TOWER COMPUTER would be hard to misplace, but my basement is VERY messy.

[Dan81]

Just got these recently:

- Antec Earthwatts EA-500 - Seasonic OEM
- PS1 SCPH-7002 + Dualshock
- 2x ASUS P8H61M LX + 2x Celeron G530 Sandy Bridge
- PS3 CECH-2503B 0D w/ overclockable GPU
- Galaxy S5 G900F that needs a new battery
- HP 90W charger

[dmill89]

Nice score, especially to be in such good condition.

It looks like it was hardly used. There wasn't even any dust to speak of in the heatsinks (though I did replace the rock-hard thermal paste), and the 18 year old battery even still holds a charge (only for about an hour, but I believe these only lasted around 2 hours when brand new).

I'm not sure why someone spent $3k+ on a laptop back in 2006 and didn't use it, though I suppose since this was quickly rendered obsolete once the Core2Duo came out only a few months later, someone may have bought it, used it for a year or so and then immediately upgraded and threw it in a closet.

[Topcat]

Nice score, especially to be in such good condition.

[dmill89]

Here's a real "blast from the past", an Alienware Aurora M9700 (in the "Conspiracy Blue" color).

Specs:
CPU: AMD Turion 64 ML-34
RAM: 1GB DDR
GPU: Nvidia GeForce Go 9700 GS
SSD: MSI Spatium S270 240GB (not original)
HDD: Toshiba 500GB 7200 RPM (not original)
ODD: DVD-RW
Screen: 17" 1440X900 (Samsung LTN170X2-L02)
OS: Windows XP Media Center Edition (originally had a Vista Home Premium COA, but I found an image for XP MCE restore discs for this system which is a much better match for the hardware)

[Dan81]

Scored these last Sunday. Did I mention I love the local car boot sale?

1. A whole Baby AT build consisting of:
- LuckyStar 6BX2 r1.0
- P2 350MHz
- 32MB RAM
- Intel 740 AGP (my first i740 AGP card, yey!)
- S3 Sonic Vibes PCI soundcard (now this gotta be rare )
- BTC 40x CDROM
- JNC case that looked pretty sturdy and had an JNC PSU as well (y'all remember the gutless 200C units, don't ya?) - sold to a regular client, not before installing a Linkworld AT PSU (that looked slightly better than the JNC, but had the fan installed the wrong way, sasuga Stinkworld )
- WD Caviar AC26400 that somehow survived the whole ordeal.

Recapped the CPU VRM with caps from one of the VP6s from Topcat - unfortunately it was a dead end for the recapped mobo - the chipset has some form of internal short, as POST card shows nothing (just 4 dashes) no matter the CPU used.

2. ABIT NF7-S - fixed it fairly easy - bad 1800uF 6.3v Nichicon HM preventing POST, and some dumb schmuck left the CMOS jumper to clear . Oh, and the BIOS had to be externally reflashed as the original somehow corrupted itself. Perfect timing to get in the legendary "D27 Taipan" BIOS that allows for mad overclocking on a mobile Athlon XP, and I get some good enhancement on the Sillicon Image 3112 SATA/RAID controller with that BIOS. Slapped a pair of blue sinked GeiL sticks, a mobile AXP 2400, everything runs great. Photos below show the board, alongside its other sibling, the standard NF7 without RAID.



3. 2x PS3 slims - CECH2003B and CECH2504B. Both work, both needed TLC and the 2003B needs a shell transplant. 2504B came with a free Sixaxis (same as Dualshock but no rumbles)

4. Gigabyte GA-PA65-UD3-B3 - the only board left untested from the bunch as I don't have any 1155 CPUs handy...

5. HP/Seagate 300GB SAS 10K - haven't tested further than the LSI Logic BIOS from my controller, but no funky sounds were happening. Just sweet 10k purring.

6. Seagate Barracuda ST31000528AS - needs a SMART reset as it bogus reports 28% health despite the drive being fine.

7. Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro AGP 512MB - works fine, no weird juju on screen. Tested w/ FX4300 and 8GB DDR3.

Looking forward this upcoming weekend for more sweet scores.

[Dan81]

As far as Ali goes, none. Just some random SBCs, a CUV4X-D that's priced at as much as a limited edition OGXbox (read - high af) and heatsinks, but no skt370s w/ pins available.

An idea would have been removing the other socket as well and soldering 2x Lin-Lin adapters, but aside from the amount of pins, I'm not sure whether that would work out of the box.

[Topcat]

I removed the 2nd socket entirely since I could not replace the plastics at all. I'll have to solder a new one in there, and I suppose the recapped one will serve as socket donor.

Is there not some new-old-stock S370's out there? That would be a difficult soldering job as it is, especially having to reuse & clean the pins off a used socket.

[Dan81]

I removed the 2nd socket entirely since I could not replace the plastics at all. I'll have to solder a new one in there, and I suppose the recapped one will serve as socket donor.

[Topcat]

Welp, pretty sad news for the fully recapped VP6. Might likely be a dead chipset - bought a POST card off a regular client of mine - no codes, just 4 dashes. The working board (which is currently missing its 2nd CPU socket) does go thru codes properly.

That's a bummer. The other one wasn't missing the socket, just the tab that holds the heatsink on. I knew there was something with that board, but for the life of me couldn't remember what it was at the time I sent it. Its been stored in the closet for quite a few years.

[Dan81]

That's one thing I haven't tried but pretty sure it won't work. I tried pressing down on the chipset and no change.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

ok then. have u tried reflowing the chipset yet? still no worky after reflow? sad to see a board like that go into the computer graveyard...

[Dan81]

I used the same SL52R CPUs that work on my 694D Pro-AR. All dashes. FETs output the proper voltages as I have a working VP6 that I compared voltages from.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

4 dashes can also just mean a problem starting or initialising the cpu or no cpu inserted. i have mobos with a bad cpu vrm section that dont output the right voltage required for the cpu thus the cpu doesnt start so the mobo just thinks i didnt insert a cpu and displays 4 dashes on the post card. check the cpu vrm section is outputting the right voltage and try to fix/replace the mosfets and/or the vrm controller ic. whats the issue that makes u think that it is the chipset that is focked instead?

[Dan81]

Welp, pretty sad news for the fully recapped VP6. Might likely be a dead chipset - bought a POST card off a regular client of mine - no codes, just 4 dashes. The working board (which is currently missing its 2nd CPU socket) does go thru codes properly.