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Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

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    #21
    Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

    Stuff I have learned:

    1. Video is 16 MB 4X AGP, LOW PROFILE. Right now, Win Seven is using the basic VGA driver and gives 1024x768 (maybe could go higher) at 32-bit color. It is going to suck. Any AGP low-profile from eBay will suck almost as much. I've got a PCI Radeon 9200SE that was decent the last time I used it, but....

    2. Looks like Windows Seven was installed July 14, 2009. There are no documents or pictures on it, maybe it was lightly used since Seven was installed. The Windows license is something like "5 digits - OEM - 7 digits - 6 digits". Not sure of the age of the hard drive, but I could just set it aside, frankly.

    3. I still don't know what OS I want, but if I ever match this machine up with a 16x9 monitor, linux could do it nicely, Win98 or 2000 probably could not. It will be a learning experience mostly (first, learn soldering, then learn about networking).

    4. The reason it was trashed may be failure of the mobo's Ethernet chip/port (but the mobo caps would have killed the board at some point). I'll need a PCI ethernet card, and it might as well be wireless. No shortage of those in my basement!


    Important questions:

    1. There are 4 unused places for capacitors near the CPU. They are clearly in parallel with the other 10 (which I am removing). Should I put 14 back in, or only 10? If I upgraded the CPU to the maximum 2.2 GHz ($15 on FleaBay), would your answer change?

    2. Can I do this with my Dad's 25W Weller pencil-iron? Removal is going painfully slow. Would cleaning holes and inserting new caps be impossible? Should I grab the Weller WLC100 (with narrower tip, sold separately)? (I'm not looking to spend 2-3x as much for the fine soldering stations that you would use, just to do one project).


    Thanks in advance!
    Last edited by Hondaman; 09-24-2011, 03:12 AM. Reason: Looks like RAM is 512 MB, not 448....

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      #22
      Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

      I'll take it in reverse order as you listed the most important things at the bottom...

      Nope, a 25W iron won't cut it. It doesn't have to be expensive, it has to be more powerful. 60W should do nicely.

      There should be no harm in installing all 14 caps.

      Both 98 and 2k work fine with a 16:9 monitor. That computer however is from the XP age already, 98 will not like it very much. Win2k is a lot of work to get it up to speed. I'd just put XP on it and call it a day, or go the open-source route.
      Originally posted by PeteS in CA
      Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
      A working TV? How boring!

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        #23
        Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

        Hondaman - post pics of the mobo in this computer. It sounds like one of the Evo's I've recapped in the past 2 years. The original Nichicons had bad (too much) electrolyte and coupled with the heat in the SFF case will need a recap.

        A 25 watt iron simply doesn't have enough mass to recover from heat loss. The mobos are 4-layer (minimum) and have copper planes on the top and bottom. The copper planes will suck the heat out of a small (<50 watt) iron. I have an 800* tip on a .25" chisel tip, add 60/40 solder to that **** RoHS solder and have still problems with some Dell boards.
        Stupidity should be a crime, especially for drivers. I have NO patience for them.

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          #24
          Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

          I should get the Aoyue 937 station in a few days (45W digital variable). I hope it will have enough power. I think I got the 1.2mm and 2.4mm tips. Should I get others?

          Below is a picture of the board. (EDIT: heatskink, CPU and capacitors removed). The cutout (lower left) is where a vertical 60mm fan blows air into the front of the case and across the CPU heatsink. Paperboard glued to the heatsink then directs air onto three chokes and the bridge chip heat sink. The PSU sits above the mobo (yes, it is a slim "pizza box" desktop case). An 80mm fan blows air into the PSU (diagonally above the other bridge chip, near memory and AGP slot).

          Capacitors between the CPU and the edge of the board (side of the case) are in a "no wind" area. Plus they were made during Nichicon's "problem time" of 2001-2002, a primary reason why this website exists.

          Yes, it looks like memory, a faster CPU and add-in cards are still cheap and available. But first I need to solder successfully.
          Attached Files
          Last edited by Hondaman; 10-02-2011, 12:25 AM.

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            #25
            Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

            This thing is screaming "FILE SERVER"

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              #26
              Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

              Originally posted by weirdlookinguy View Post
              Yech, VIA controller.
              Agreed--the VIA VT6421 is junk. Expect it to only be compatible with SATA-150 drives, and nothing over 500GB.

              It even balks at SATA-300 drives jumpered to legacy mode. If the controller doesn't like your drive (and there's a good chance it won't), expect sub 1MB/s transfer rates.


              Originally posted by Evil Lurker View Post
              To combat this I found an app called Toggle Flash that lets you turn on and off flash with one click.
              One word: noscript.

              I used a 1Ghz coppermine P3 as my main box until 2008 (!!)... thanks to noscript and other awesome lightweight open-source software, I could still have hundreds of tabs open on that fire-breathing dinosaur box...



              Originally posted by ratdude747 View Post
              it has a *cough* williamette cpu... at least it is not socket 423... but any p4 pre-northwood is junk IMHO... only marginally better than a newer pIII but uses a lot more power.
              Agreed. The latest and greatest Willamette would be 2.0Ghz tops, which is likely slower or barely on par with the best Tualitin P3s--but it consumes about 2-3 times as much power. In my experience, 54W idling for a 1.3Ghz Willamette, 75W idling for a 2.0Ghz (that's with an ATX mobo, 4x RDRAM, one HDD, no optical drive). Love my kill-a-watt!

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                #27
                Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

                Soldering was successful -- put 12 caps in (1 lost, 1 ruined - slight burn mark on plastic coating from touching the hot iron). Booted up, installed Mandriva.

                Next week I'll try to start learning about networking and file servers and all that.

                Thanks!

                Comment


                  #28
                  Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

                  Originally posted by Hondaman View Post
                  (1 lost, 1 ruined - slight burn mark on plastic coating from touching the hot iron).
                  So what if you burned the sleeve? The cap has a metal can underneath the sleeve... In one of my amplifiers i have a 10000uF cap that got burned pretty hard at the bottom due to a nearby 100nF cap which decided to suddenly catch fire. It works just fine.
                  Originally posted by PeteS in CA
                  Remember that by the time consequences of a short-sighted decision are experienced, the idiot who made the bad decision may have already been promoted or moved on to a better job at another company.
                  A working TV? How boring!

                  Comment


                    #29
                    Re: Compaq Evo 1.7 GHz - a nice project?

                    A suggestion...

                    Maybe you can get an AGP riser from eBay and mount a proper full size AGP card horizontally (not sure if you have room)



                    Just search for "AGP riser" - looks like there are even flexible ones, and they're only 2-3$ and up.

                    Maybe you can pair the system with an Radeon 9200/nvidia tnt 2 m64 or something that was made around the time these cards were made... should be plenty of video power for the system.

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