Post your system.......

[ncovert]

Re: Post your system.......



Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, overclocked to 2.7GHz, cooled by a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. 2Gb of DDR2-667 (though the speed is higher due to overclock), dual 500Gb hard drives, a crappy NVidia GeForce 7300LE, an AcBel 550W power supply modded with a 4-pin ATX12V connector (that's what the electrical tape is .) As for fannage, we have the Cooler Master heatsink fan, the rear fan that came with the case, a Worst Buy fan in front, and two Papst MultiFan 4212H's tapped off spare Molex connectors (one on top, one on the side panel.) The green alligator lead, white cord, and bit of shredded paper are not part of the computer.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

Update on my 2nd box:Reinstalled the EPoX board and it's going to sit a time until I can recap it.
In the meanwhile,just found the caps brand next to the CPU that give me trouble,they're OST.
Will post back after recap,hope it will install XP or 98 after that.Other caps are fine though,it's like just the CPU caps went bad.
Weird,my K7VZA looks so bad,my D845GLAD looks pristine(even though 2 caps are suspect,didn't encounter a crash tho).G-Luxon caps looking creepy all over the CPU place,and somehow one RAM cap even managed to get a hole in it,even though I didn't touch it with anything.

[momaka]

Re: Post your system.......

On the 2nd box it wasn't the PSU at all.The 400w PSU survived through almost 15-20 if not more motherboards and it still runs like a char

That doesn't mean much.
Some crappy power supplies run forever. That does not mean to say they put out clean power. I've had PSUs like this many years ago before I knew much about them, and I thought the same as you. The truth is, cheap power supplies output a lot of "dirty" power that tends to stress your hard drives and the capacitors on your motherboard a lot more.

I think you need to see this thread to get an idea:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...?t=8490&page=3


At the very least, have a look on this thread to see what I mean:

For the PSUs,I opened them and they are in good shape.Just the 450w Delux PSU needed a new fan as the one it had was making a horrible noise.Now it works fine,even if it sounds almost like a plane taking off.(I used a Socket A fan so those are supposed to run loud)

Mean the PSU probably lacks a fan controller - a sign that it's a cheap PSU.

I don't mean to put down your PSUs, but at the same time I prefer that you end up getting informed of what you have before thinking, "it's all fine".

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

Mean the PSU probably lacks a fan controller - a sign that it's a cheap PSU.

The 400w PSU from the 2nd box has a fan controller.2 wires are soldered there(black and red)which are connected to the fan.So those DeluX PSUs do control the fan.I have seen the same thing when I opened the 450w too.
Also,I just opened the 400w PSU right now and there is no leaking on the caps.As for the 450w,I dunno,I'll just leave it as it is.
"If it ain't broke,don't fix it."

[momaka]

Re: Post your system.......

"If it ain't broke,don't fix it."

Yeah, I tend to do that more often than not as well.
However, having 2 video cards that got shorted RAM chips due to bad Sacon FZ caps and also a Shuttle motherboard with fried North Bridge due to failed caps, I now check everything for bad caps that I think is worth saving. In non-critical applications, I don't care as much.

[ratdude747]

Re: Post your system.......

Yeah, I tend to do that more often than not as well.
However, having 2 video cards that got shorted RAM chips due to bad Sacon FZ caps and also a Shuttle motherboard with fried North Bridge due to failed caps, I now check everything for bad caps that I think is worth saving. In non-critical applications, I don't care as much.

Same here... I probably should nuke the KZG's from my Tyan K8WE and scrap the sacons from it's PSU... but as much as I use the systems, I never have the time to look inside and make a list... oddly the recapping part isn't what sticks me up most of the time.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Post your system.......

I think this is my current workstation, has been for a long while...

430W (?) Antec NeoHE
Cheapo "mini standard-ATX" Coolermaster case
Intel Core i7-2770K + Stock HS/F, sometimes O/C to 4.1GHz
Gigabyte Z68AP-D3, using processor graphics through HDMI port
2x4GB Ballistix DDR3
180GB Intel SSD520
Gentoo Linux

Very basic. I have a RadeonHD 5770 is currently not in use but thinking about sticking it into this machine just because I want to attach two monitors... the onboard graphics is fast enough for what I need to do as it is...

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

Yeah, I tend to do that more often than not as well.
However, having 2 video cards that got shorted RAM chips due to bad Sacon FZ caps and also a Shuttle motherboard with fried North Bridge due to failed caps, I now check everything for bad caps that I think is worth saving. In non-critical applications, I don't care as much.

Well,I check boards for bad caps too,but rarely I see bulged caps here.Though,one board I have (a cheap Lucky Star 6BX2 v1.0)has all the caps made by Taicon,but they didn't even bulge or anything.The system works fine,just needs a new CPU as it freezes with a Pentium 3 for the simple reason that it doesn't support it.(I checked stason and it clearly said Pentium 2 only)

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Post your system.......

Well,I check boards for bad caps too,but rarely I see bulged caps here.Though,one board I have (a cheap Lucky Star 6BX2 v1.0)has all the caps made by Taicon,but they didn't even bulge or anything.The system works fine,just needs a new CPU as it freezes with a Pentium 3 for the simple reason that it doesn't support it.(I checked stason and it clearly said Pentium 2 only)

Sounds like it don't support Coppermine and later, which require a lower Vcore.

A first generation Pentium III should be fine.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

It's a first gen Pentium 3 that I use.Stason.org clearly says it doesn't support Pentium 3 CPUs,only Pentium 2.To support a Pentium 3 I would have to replace the CPU microcodes to add P3 support,which is not worth it.

I've got another system since that board and the EPoX previously posted,here's the specs:

Chaintech MPM800-000LE motherboard
Intel Celeron 1.7GHz CPU (when I bought the board it had a Celeron D 2.66 CPU in it)
ATI Radeon 7000 32MB (because onboard graphics are usually not worth using)
10GB Seagate ST310211A HDD (enough for a few emulators and games)
Delux 400w-ATX P4 PSU(it has a fan controller if you guys want to know)
Realtek 8139D PCI Ethernet card(because the onboard internet controller doesn't work,and at least I have a driver CD for this 8139D)
CD-RW IDE5224 drive (manufacturer is Samsung)
256MB DDR400 RAM.
Windows XP SP3 Lite (small version of XP,CD is about 175MB)

Now,this one works,I can install XP succesfully.It sometimes freezes,but that's nothing a reboot can't solve.The BIOS also has POST codes printed on the screen,under the Energy Star logo.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Post your system.......

It's a first gen Pentium 3 that I use.Stason.org clearly says it doesn't support Pentium 3 CPUs,only Pentium 2.To support a Pentium 3 I would have to replace the CPU microcodes to add P3 support,which is not worth it.

I've got another system since that board and the EPoX previously posted,here's the specs:

Chaintech MPM800-000LE motherboard
Intel Celeron 1.7GHz CPU (when I bought the board it had a Celeron D 2.66 CPU in it)
ATI Radeon 7000 32MB (because onboard graphics are usually not worth using)
10GB Seagate ST310211A HDD (enough for a few emulators and games)
Delux 400w-ATX P4 PSU(it has a fan controller if you guys want to know)
Realtek 8139D PCI Ethernet card(because the onboard internet controller doesn't work,and at least I have a driver CD for this 8139D)
CD-RW IDE5224 drive (manufacturer is Samsung)
256MB DDR400 RAM.
Windows XP SP3 Lite (small version of XP,CD is about 175MB)

Now,this one works,I can install XP succesfully.It sometimes freezes,but that's nothing a reboot can't solve.The BIOS also has POST codes printed on the screen,under the Energy Star logo.

I would recap it.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

Which one,the Chaintech or the Pentium 2 board?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Post your system.......

Which one,the Chaintech or the Pentium 2 board?

Both of them, because of freezing.

And you should reseat all cards and clean the board when you get a random freeze.

[ncovert]

Re: Post your system.......

Some changes to my main PC. It now has an Intel DP43TF motherboard, and a GeForce 8400GS 512Mb over the 7300LE 128Mb. Other than that, nothing has changed. Same Q6600, still chugging with 2Gb of DDR2, same junky case, etc.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

The Pentium 2 board,I already said it doesn't support Pentium 3 CPUs!
Here's a Stason link that proves that:
http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherbo...l#.UtjOf_tYi70
It only supports Celeron II and Pentium II CPUs.No Pentium 3 support.

The Chaintech board,everything is seated correctly.Safe mode works without a problem,no freeze.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Post your system.......

Safe mode works without a problem,no freeze.

More likely buggy anti-virus software or software in general, on Windows 95, 98 and ME.

That's known to make Windows 9x freeze in normal mode. At least McAfee 6.0! (Requires update to at least 6.1)

(Outdated long by now!)

I don't even know if a Katmai even requires a Vcore change. If you tried using a Coppermine, that's probably why it crashes.

Coppermine requires an updated version of the regulator IC on the board. It requires one that supports lowering the Vcore to 1.5 V or less.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

More likely buggy anti-virus software or software in general, on Windows 95, 98 and ME.

That's known to make Windows 9x freeze in normal mode. At least McAfee 6.0! (Requires update to at least 6.1)

I use Windows XP,not 9x.And I don't have any AV installed.

I don't even know if a Katmai even requires a Vcore change. If you tried using a Coppermine, that's probably why it crashes.

Coppermine requires an updated version of the regulator IC on the board. It requires one that supports lowering the Vcore to 1.5 V or less.

It runs at 450MHz.I know it's a Katmai.Also,the 6BX2's BIOS lacks Katmai/Coppermine support.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

Fixed the Chaintech rig.It turns out it was the 1.7GHz Celeron causing the freezes.Replaced it with a 2.66Ghz Celeron D 330 CPU and now it runs perfectly.

Got another board on the other side,but it won't POST.It's a MSI KT4AV (renamed KT4V).
Any ideas what can be the cause?The caps are only Panasonic and KZE Chemicons.I tried every CPU and memory I had.

Here's the CPUs I tried:
1.Duron 950MHz
2.Athlon XP 1700+ 1.10GHz
3.Sempron 2400+ 1.67GHz
and the RAM:
1.Princeton 128MB DDR266
2.MSM 128MB DDR266
3.Hynix 256MB DDR400
4.Sycron 256MB DDR400.
None worked.I know the parts are good,as I used them before.There is no beep and no video output.However,I found that if I don't apply any paste on the CPU (I use toothpaste,and didn't had any problems so far)it turns on for a few seconds,then turns off and starts making police/ambulance beeps.
Any ideas?Again,this board uses only Panasonic and United Chemicon KZE caps.I want to use this board and make a 3rd retro rig that would run Windows 2000.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Post your system.......

And I don't have any AV installed.

Good!

Also,the 6BX2's BIOS lacks Katmai/Coppermine support.

Sounds like the BIOS may have the wrong auto Vcore set. If it's anything like my Soyo SY-K7VTA-B's original BIOS.
That can cause crashes without error messages, especially at stock clocks! In this case, OC'ing the core may make it stable!

Otherwise, I dunno.

[Dan81]

Re: Post your system.......

The 6BX2 is a Baby-AT board,and it doesn't have any OC features.It doesn't work with my Pentium 3 because the BIOS doesn't support it.I checked the microcodes in the BIOS and there's no Pentium 3 support,although its CPUID is present in the BIOS file.(my Pentium 3 450MHz uses a 673 CPUID)
The BIOS sees it as a Pentium 2 550MHz,and not a Pentium 3 450MHz as it should.(that,if it had the Slot 1 Pentium 3 microcodes)