dell dimension 4550

[ratdude747]

i got one for free today. they said it worked...

i looked inside:



time to order caps!

[Scenic]

Re: dell dimension 4550

KZGs from the blurry looks of it..

combined with a hot-running P4 -> bad idea

[Topcat]

Re: dell dimension 4550

Seen lots of those.

[ratdude747]

Re: dell dimension 4550

yup, we have blown kzg, likely dried kze, and 2 nihicon hm 2002 caps.

[seanc]

Re: dell dimension 4550

I'm sure it does work :P just not well.

I think Junk Parts has one of these, he's not fond of it. Perhaps this will spur him into having another check of the caps.

[Topcat]

Re: dell dimension 4550

those are actually intel boards, a turn away from Dell's norm of Foxconn boards. They always make good recoveries though, easy recaps.

[shadow]

Re: dell dimension 4550

Hmmm....I thought the OEM for Intel was Foxconn. Maybe I am just mistaken.

[c_hegge]

Re: dell dimension 4550

...likely dried kze...

KZE are not bad caps. they are as reliable as the other japanese brands. It's only KZG and KZJ that can't handle any heat.

[Junk Parts]

Re: dell dimension 4550

I have had three of the Dell 4550 towers. They all have had the same type Foxconn mobo in them as far as I can tell. It does look like one of the Intel boards in way too many ways. My first one was given to me by my brother. He was thinking that the mobo in it was going south because one of the DVD drives kept disappearing from system devices. As it turned out, the problem was his cross flashed MadDog DVD burner not the mobo. My DVD drives never disappeared when using that 4550. Bill did some research on getting a new mobo for the 4550. Dell and others wanted so much money for a new mobo for this old thing. For just a few more dollars he could have built a Dual-Core home built and been done with it. If I remember this right Bill said these Foxconn mobo's for the 4550 are made in China for Dell. They just may be a special version of and existing Intel board that is licsened to Dell. I'll have to run my service tag number at Dell and see what I find on my mobo.

[ratdude747]

Re: dell dimension 4550

KZE are not bad caps. they are as reliable as the other japanese brands. It's only KZG and KZJ that can't handle any heat.

i was told they are heat sensitive. they are replaced in the msi k7t-turbo kit for a reason...

if not, then i'll leave them alone.

[kc8adu]

Re: dell dimension 4550

watch out for electrolyte on the vrm chip near those blown caps.causes a no post.cleaning with a bit of carb cleaner and a toothbrush does the trick.

[ratdude747]

Re: dell dimension 4550

the vrm chips are clean.

ill replace the kze to be safe.

[Topcat]

Re: dell dimension 4550

They are intels. Look very close at them versus a foxconn. There's a lot of manufacturing differences. No mistaking.

I have had three of the Dell 4550 towers. They all have had the same type Foxconn mobo in them as far as I can tell. It does look like one of the Intel boards in way too many ways. My first one was given to me by my brother. He was thinking that the mobo in it was going south because one of the DVD drives kept disappearing from system devices. As it turned out, the problem was his cross flashed MadDog DVD burner not the mobo. My DVD drives never disappeared when using that 4550. Bill did some research on getting a new mobo for the 4550. Dell and others wanted so much money for a new mobo for this old thing. For just a few more dollars he could have built a Dual-Core home built and been done with it. If I remember this right Bill said these Foxconn mobo's for the 4550 are made in China for Dell. They just may be a special version of and existing Intel board that is licsened to Dell. I'll have to run my service tag number at Dell and see what I find on my mobo.

[Junk Parts]

Re: dell dimension 4550

I'm going to use RD's pic as a map and see if I have the same bad caps in mine. My 4550 doesn't seem to have any issues at the moment. Its just has that same kind of ongoing "not fast" issue as the others that I have had. Maybe I'll switch out the hard drive this time just for the hell of it. Right now it has a WD600BB-75CAAO 7200 rpm IDE drive in it. There is also a Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200 rpm IDE drive in the case but its not hooked up. I also have a WD400BB-OOCJA1 7200 rpm IDE drive here. My wife's Dell PC has a WD800 something or another drive in it. Her PC is slow as shit if you don't use the WD harddrive setup disk on it first when reprograming it. This may be my problem to as I have never used the WD setup disk on mine. With her hard drive when the setup disk is used it puts the data in different areas of the disk than it does if you just do the programing raw without it.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: dell dimension 4550

Hmmm....I thought the OEM for Intel was Foxconn. Maybe I am just mistaken.

You aren't mistaken.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: dell dimension 4550

KZE are not bad caps. they are as reliable as the other japanese brands. It's only KZG and KZJ that can't handle any heat.

True
Have heard of bad ones now and then but either PSU was suspect, there were loads of CRaps blown on the board, or enough heat issues to blow Rubycons too.

[Topcat]

Re: dell dimension 4550

You aren't mistaken.

Last I knew, Intel made their own...atleast in their server boards. Look at some of their OEM's closely, like the 4550, and say a GX270, which is a foxconn ls36. They're nothing alike whatsoever. The silkscreens are worlds apart as well as the common sense layout. In the OEM world, who really knows who makes what these days, its getting harder and harder to tell.

Some of the other odd differences that set Intel boards apart from Foxconn:

1) Intel-made boards will always have the crystal standing upright in a little plastic bracket, the foxconn does not.

2) Most Intel-made boards have rounded corners, foxconn's are sharp

3) Intel-made boards are properly marked in the silkscreen for cap polarity (shaded side represents NEG pole), even on Ratdude's 4550....whereas Foxconn's (atleast Dell varieties of them) are marked with arrows to the POSITIVE side on the silkscreen

4) Intel-made boards tend to have heavier/thicker FET heatsinks, foxconn's are thinner, but taller.

5) Intel-made boards seems to have smaller through holes, whereas a foxconn you can damn near drive a car through one once its cleared out.

6) as crazy as this may sound, they have a different 'feel' from eachother.....maybe I've just been doing this too long, but the Intel-made board just seem to be a little tougher/built a little better.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: dell dimension 4550

Intel has Foxconn build to Intel's specs.
Simple case out outsourcing to cut cost and increase volume.
- Pretty sure Intel still does their own server boards though.

I've come across a few skt 478 & 775 retail boards where Intel and Foxconn are identical PCB builds up until the silk-screen and components are added.
[If you took all the components and sockets off and removed the paint markings you couldn't tell the difference.]

It seemed to me that Intel marked Dell boards changed to Foxconn marked Dell boards during the Nichicon HM/HN fiasco.
I suspect Intel wanted to distance themselves from the capacitor issues so they told Foxconn to use their own markings.
.

[Topcat]

Re: dell dimension 4550

^
The timing for dell changing over to the 'foxconnish' boards/marking would have been in 03~04, the first I ever remember seeing was the GX260, skt478 board. It was loaded with toasted HM(M) caps, and wasn't 6 months old at the time.

Your explanation makes perfect sense, and Ratdude's 4550 does fall into the questionable era for this....but the 4550 falls into I guess their 'older' designed boards. The 'Intel' boards are just laid out so much different, and seem to be a bit more stout.

It's usually not this hard to sniff out specific brands.....an Asus OEM always stinks like a dead fish, so no matter how they try to mask it, they are easily spotted. This is just kind of strange to say the least.

Yes, Intel does still make their own server boards to my knowledge. I have an SAI2 and an SHG2 here (one is a S370, other is a S603), both are top-notch boards (a little old, yes), looking alike in workmanship. They look similar to the intel/foxconn/dell version, but different enough to know that they're made elsewhere.