The ghetto mod thread

[Shocker]

Nice mod, though. I really need to try something similar for some of my HDDs as well. This old IBM Deskstar DTLA-305030 in my daily-use P3 computer drives me nuts sometimes. Actually, I don't think I'll be able to silence it, even if I used 3x the insulation you did. When it's reading/writing lots of random files, it sounds as if the heads are literally banging on the platters. I've never heard such loud heads in a hard drive before.

I don't know whether it supports AAM, but try it and tell me what happens.

Bearings are quite noisy too.

Maybe you could try something like this:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article67-page1.html

Or just get another drive with a FDB motor.

[TELVM]

Originally Posted by momaka

... the HP case it's in has great acoustics, so all of that noise is amplified at least 10x ... Oh and that thing runs hot too. It's 20 to 21C in my house right now, and it still manages to run at 36 to 40C. In the summer when it's close to 27C in the house, this thing easily reaches 44+C. I can't even imagine how hot it would run in a tight insulated enclosure ...

Enclosing such a hot rod could fry it, but you could try decoupling it from the case to kill resonant vibrations, which sometimes are the main source of noise from HDDs:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article109-page1.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article39-page1.html

Even after enclosing my WD with the black box, vibrations were still transmitted to the case frame. Then I suspended the box from elastic bands and vibrations finally disappeared.



However the best procedure for silencing HDDs is replacing them with SSDs . If SSDs weren't still so expensive per GB I would have totally discarded platters.

And this gives me the excuse to torment you with another of my mods:
The Poor Man's SSD

First we get a CF card, the larger and faster the better. I got a Trascend 8GB 400x.

Then we get an IDE adapter for CF cards:

(Careful here: Desktop PCs use 40-pin IDE, while laptops use 44-pin IDE, so adapters are not interchangeable).

Then we plug it in our dinosaur PIII:

Problem now is that Windows XP will try to break our party labelling it as 'removable device' and complaining that it's not a boot drive. So we cheat XP with the Hitachi microfilter trick (scroll down to 'On flash drive only the first partition works'):

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html

Now that we can smoothly boot XP from the CF card, next problem is that, unlike Se7en, XP doesn't correctly align the partition. So we use Paragon to correctly align it (otherwise there will be stuttering when writing to the CF card):

Then we finally enjoy the much faster access times from our flash CF card, even under the castrating UDMA33 of this ancient i440BX PIII carrack.

[Junk Parts]

This is my world. I wish it had more neat computer sruff in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q972LRH0OzQ

[ben7]

Originally Posted by TELVM

Enclosing such a hot rod could fry it, but you could try decoupling it from the case to kill resonant vibrations, which sometimes are the main source of noise from HDDs:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article109-page1.html

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article39-page1.html

Even after enclosing my WD with the black box, vibrations were still transmitted to the case frame. Then I suspended the box from elastic bands and vibrations finally disappeared.



However the best procedure for silencing HDDs is replacing them with SSDs . If SSDs weren't still so expensive per GB I would have totally discarded platters.

And this gives me the excuse to torment you with another of my mods:
The Poor Man's SSD

First we get a CF card, the larger and faster the better. I got a Trascend 8GB 400x.

Then we get an IDE adapter for CF cards:

(Careful here: Desktop PCs use 40-pin IDE, while laptops use 44-pin IDE, so adapters are not interchangeable).

Then we plug it in our dinosaur PIII:

Problem now is that Windows XP will try to break our party labelling it as 'removable device' and complaining that it's not a boot drive. So we cheat XP with the Hitachi microfilter trick (scroll down to 'On flash drive only the first partition works'):

http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html

Now that we can smoothly boot XP from the CF card, next problem is that, unlike Se7en, XP doesn't correctly align the partition. So we use Paragon to correctly align it (otherwise there will be stuttering when writing to the CF card):

Then we finally enjoy the much faster access times from our flash CF card, even under the castrating UDMA33 of this ancient i440BX PIII carrack.

Wow! How well does that work?

Would it be possible to make home-made adapters for those.

I am intrigued

[Topcat]

^
I'm intrigued as well....where do you get the adapters? I could see all kinds of interesting uses for that, especially for field servicing.

[TELVM]

Originally Posted by ben7

Wow! How well does that work?

Been working flawlessly for a year or so. However (politically correct disclaimer follows) CF cards aren't designed for this application, so try it at your own risk.

Would it be possible to make home-made adapters for those.

I'm sure you electronics gurus could DIY it easily.

http://pinouts.ru/DiskCables/ide2cf_cable_pinout.shtml

Originally Posted by Topcat

where do you get the adapters?

Got it from Amazon Spain for 12€ or so. In the US you can get it everywhere, just search for 'CF IDE adapter':

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...dapter&x=0&y=0

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...cf+ide+adapter


BTW with Windows 98SE it's even easier, just plug&play, no tricks needed.

[eccerr0r]

I was looking into the CF-IDE adaptor solution and it tends to be more expensive than getting a real SSD per GB except if you don't have SATA ports... or if you can get the CF cards cheap.

It seems to work quite well as long as the CF card supports the old PCMCIA IDE mode - as CF is a subset of PCMCIA, most of them do support IDE mode transfers. I used to use it on one of my embedded boxes with a 1G CF card. Have to watch out, some cheap CF-IDE adaptors don't have DMA wired, and some CF cards don't support DMA. The former causes hell to break loose if the CF card supports it, and the latter is very slow...

I modded two of these "broken" CF-IDE adaptors with bits of 30-gauge kynar wire to support DMA/UDMA... would that be called ghetto?

[momaka]

Here's a failed attempt at ghetto modding that I tried a few weeks ago:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1356135914
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1356135914
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1356135914
Basically, a friend of mine gave me 2 "naked" HiPro PSUs. I wanted to just take the cases from some of the low-end junk PSUs I had, but it turned out the spacing for the mounting holes on the PCBs of these HiPro PSUs was slightly different. This called for a custom PSU case! (Or so I thought.) Unfortunately, the roll of galvanized steel sheet I had was too thin (probably 24 AWG or more). After bending into the above shape, it still felt very very flimsy. Actually, I still think there's a way to make it work. However, I have put this whole project on hold/at the end of the queue because I wanted to get at least 1 of these HiPro PSUs running so I could use it for testing. Last week, I was finally able to complete a case for the other, but I haven't taken pictures of that yet. It's , but not as much as my failed attempt above.

Also, here's another non-computer project of mine - this one worked, though:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1356135914
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1356135914
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1356135914
In case anyone is wondering what it is... it's a 9.6V "battery-powered" drill hooked to a 203W Xbox 360 power supply . I've used it only once so far, but it works. I still don't trust it too much, though, just because that brown wire I used is only 20 AWG and the drill has a 550 size motor in it (so it probably uses a few good amps at 12V). Also, the brown wire is very hard so it's kind of annoying to work with the drill. But even if that wasn't so, I still prefer our corded Ryobi drill - it's much stronger and more fun to use .

[Per Hansson]

Aww yeah!

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9708

[TELVM]

That's why they switched from iron to aluminum for cylinder heads back in the day, better thermal management.

Reminds me of the Heatsink from Hell.

[momaka]

Originally Posted by TELVM

Reminds me of the Heatsink from Hell.

I have a 3 GHz Pentium 4 Prescott sitting here that could probably use such a heat sink .
.
.
Here's some handy work I did recently (scroll at the end of that thread to see the pictures):
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpos...97&postcount=8
Basically, I replaced a SOIC-8 MOSFET with a DPAK MOSFET. Soldered some used up braid on the tab of the DPAK MOSFET as its heat sink. It doubles as a holder for it too .
The hack works and the buck regulator is outputting the proper voltage. Unfortunately, the mobo is still dead. Good thing I didn't waste money on a replacement SOIC-8 MOSFET. I have plenty of DPAK MOSFETs.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Topcat

^
I'm intrigued as well....where do you get the adapters? I could see all kinds of interesting uses for that, especially for field servicing.

Fry's sells them... I have one in my junk box as well.

[gilly1984]

I am now an expert at fixing traces on circuit boards, that good you cant even tell where i mended them

The fix/mod/whatever can be found in the audio section on this site.

Amp is now working fine, just a dim vfd

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25220

[momaka]

Cool repair. Glad it works too . One of my friends tried to repair a laptop before but ended up scratching traces on the board badly when he had an "oopsie" moment with the screwdriver. Asked me to mend the traces and I did. Those were all tiny hair-like traces as well going between the CPU and SB and I could solder only to the vias. He never found the original problem with the laptop, though, so it was a complete waste of my time (I kind of knew that already).

On the line of fine repairs, here's an S939 AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 CPU I fixed:
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1357267053
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1357267053
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1357267053
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/attachm...1&d=1357267053
This CPU was left by some customer in my friends repair shop and sat on my friend's desk for over a year (if not 2). During that time, the CPU has had various stuff sitting on it. It even took a drop to the floor a few times. As a result, almost all of its pins were severely bent. 2 of them were actually broke when I found it, but as the pictures show, I was able to solder a thin piece of wire from some through-hole 1/4 W resistors. I expected fireworks when I plugged it in my mobo, but it actually worked fine. Unfortunately, my only working S939 motherboard - an AsRock 939Dual-SataII - is a finicky piece of turd that crashes very often even with my Athlon 64 3200+. Installing the FX-57 just made the board crash even more often (in games, that is).

By the way, sorry for the crappy pictures. My camera cannot take such close up shots so I had to use an old camcoder that can only take snapshots in 640x480 res.

[gilly1984]

Is it worth the time to fix that cpu? I have no idea about 939 cpus?

[loknar28]

Added a heatsink from an old SGI Origin 200, which allowed me to overclock the router safely in DDWRT. Plus it looks fast.... ;-)

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by loknar28

FYI, don't do what you originally did with the image... Please upload them using the "manage attachments" tool in the new post editor. One uploaded, you can post the internal link inline.

We ask this because offsite images slow down page loading quite a bit and also ruin posts when the offsite image ceases to exist.

Don't worry this time, I fixed it.

[c_hegge]

That router reminds me. I did something like that to a Netgear DGN1000. I might still have it.

[TELVM]

Originally Posted by momaka

... almost all of its pins were severely bent. 2 of them were actually broke when I found it, but as the pictures show, I was able to solder a thin piece of wire from some through-hole 1/4 W resistors. I expected fireworks when I plugged it in my mobo, but it actually worked fine ...

That's superb craftmanship . Processor pin fiddling is a difficult art that can easily drive you insane . My Tualatin 1400-S is still trembling from the incredibly harsh language it required to run OK in the i440BX mobo .

[kc8adu]

looks like my overclocked desk lamp with the altilon led mod.
i dont think there is anything on my workbenches or desk that has not been modded.

Originally Posted by loknar28

Added a heatsink from an old SGI Origin 200, which allowed me to overclock the router safely in DDWRT. Plus it looks fast.... ;-)