Where are all the parts?

[kaboom]

Semi-gutless wonders can sometimes be helped, but only sometimes.

This had saturn primary caps and fuhkyoos everywhere else. Automatic power supply roaster (~9V for fan) didn't help. The system was getting random errors and CDROM no longer read. Lotsa ripple getting into the servos and signal amps, ya know. Also looked like bad RAM, more on that later.

The line rectifier was rated for 2A, despite having the appearance of a KBL404 or a variant. NTC thermistor also only good for 2A, ceramic caps instead of UR Y caps, a missing Y cap from the negative side of the rectifier to EGC/GND (EMI), tiny wire on the common mode choke, #20AL for output leads (ampacity of #22CU), stupid heatsinks, too-small rectifier for +5 and diodes-on-a-bracket for +12. Anything else is blatantly obvious

+12 had no PI filter, so I added one. I also did not forget to move the feedback point to after the coil! Now, not having enough room to terminate all the +12V wires, I came out with a single #14 and spliced all the 12V wires to that. All the wires to the M/B connectors were replaced with #18CU, except the PG signal. The two main output rectifiers were replaced with SBL3040's. Even with the higher operating temps caused by their small heatsink, they are loafing along. The primary switchers never got excessively hot, thanks to the two new, good caps in their base bias ckt. The fan was hotwired. Here are the voltages after the improvements:

+5.15V/15.3A
+12.5V/6A
-5.3V/0.25A
-12.0/0.65A

In addition, two hard drives were connected along with the loads. Lookin' good!


Onward to the 'puter. The board was recapped, aw 'Jee.' Pure junk, those things. I added a few that were missing from 'cost cutting.' We're on the way, now... The front bezel's only holes were 5/32", starving the fan in the PS for makeup air. I opened them up, as they should've been.

Now since the RAM in these AT dinosaurs is powered straight from the +5V supply, all the trash from before the PS was fixed went right to the memory. Not so anymore. With 128MB from both SIMMs and a DIMM, memtest held for hours. The CDROM works again, and I just serviced it. Vacuumed out dust, fresh lithium grease, 2-26 on connectors/switches, cleaned lens, etc. The system was almost perfect at this point.

A 10GB HDD on the old BIOS required the EZDrive overlay. As usual, "32-Bit Transfer" was disabled. I just put my EZDrive floppy in and fixed that. Defrags at least twice as fast now. Gotta love lazy automatic installs, that 32 bit transfer was never enabled after all this time.

Now nearing the finish... I REM'd out some real-mode drivers in config.sys and autoexec.bat, as they are simply not needed in win98. Made sure all was well with the AWE64 and finished up.

Not wiping this one out as there's still data on it.

Hope you all enjoyed,
-Paul

[momaka]

Re: Where are all the parts?

230 Watts?!?! Yeah right, more like 23 Watts with those original schottky diodes and heatsinks. With PSUs like this, poor Tony probably went out of business many years ago .
You did an amazing job upgrading this thing, though.

[kaboom]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Thanks, momaka.

Schottkys? You wish! Those two for 12 are fast recovery, so in addition to limited current capacity, you also had excessive junction drop. This would compound the heat problem.

This was from a time when there were computer 'shops' scattered about in the area. None would stay around long, mostly because of the examples here.

I replaced the CPU heatsink with one from a junked system. The one it had belonged on a 486, and there was no compound at all. At one time, 'clone builders' would assemble K6-400 and similar Super 7 systems w/o grease, too! I've even seen a K6 system with a sticker left on- between the top of the CPU and heatsink! In addition, they used Deer power supplies labeled as 'CROWN.' Some boxes even had nice Epox mobos- with those wendell caps. They are not around anymore...

What ignorant asses- ask about the grease and you'd get the whole "it works fine" bullshit. No wonder the Dell ovens are ubiquitous around here now...

This crap is what made people ASSume that the little nagging errors with their computers was 'normal.' Sure it was, if you didn't know any better. It was a shame, since odds were that your neighbor or friend's 'puter came from the clone shop, leaving you without an honest comparison.

Unfortunately, it continues with vista, spyware, DRM, 'desktop advertising,' etc.

[momaka]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Unfortunately, it continues with vista, spyware, DRM, 'desktop advertising,' etc.

Yes, it's a shame really, because I think the overall quality of computers has improved over the years (nVidia chips and LCD monitors aside) or perhaps more users are now aware of crappy caps and bad PSUs. Regardless, I see many good computers today ruined by dumb, bloated software. Is it me, or is it that no one cares about writing efficient, resource-friendly software anymore?

[Rulycat]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Yes, it's a shame really, because I think the overall quality of computers has improved over the years (nVidia chips and LCD monitors aside) or perhaps more users are now aware of crappy caps and bad PSUs. Regardless, I see many good computers today ruined by dumb, bloated software. Is it me, or is it that no one cares about writing efficient, resource-friendly software anymore?

I think considerations for cooling has improved - all the machines I see now are decently cooled. OEMs seem more conscious about using jap caps too. And as for the bloated software, well they need it to sell you the 4GB RAM package right?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Where are all the parts?

How did i miss this one? Hmm... judging by the PCB style and color it looks like a Linkworld, but they use their own custom crap ICs not 494s.

Anyway, good job. Those "saturn" (CS) primary caps are quite decent, i keep those and YCs (their logo also looks somewhat like saturn). I've had good luck with YC secondary caps too (the ones with gold text), used some pulled out from old PSUs to fix a number of stuffs including my STB which had popped a Samxon GF. I've seen failed CS secondaries, but only when they were put next to those pesky minimum load resistors. CS's naming scheme is dubiously similar to Fukyoo though.

For the 12v rail i woulda kept the feedback point before the pi filter coil, putting it afterwards is asking for trouble. But since that system draws 90% of its power from the 5v rail the supply won't really care about that. Good job otherwise.

[kaboom]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Thanks.

This thing wasn't complicated enough, if ya know what I mean, to have 'cared' where the feedback point was. I wasn't too keen on having it before the choke, 'sampling' whatever the choke was rejecting. I used an HN cap before the choke and a PW after, and it's quite happy! Step loads did not upset it- no 'hunting' or chirping/squealing.

While it's less than desirable, sometimes dangerous, to add that extra phase shift, this is either uncompensated or 'improperly' compensated. Similar to the one you wanted to rebuild and blow up that had no AC feedback/comp cap and a stupidly low duty cycle. You know, the one you 'turned up' and discovered had no OVP.
As I recall, you 'rested well' and 'prepared yourself' only to have the AUX section eat itself for breakfast.

-Paul

[TheLaw]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Always gives me a laugh to see nice caps in places you'd least expect it.

[Krankshaft]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Aww man before I even saw the pics but read your description of this piece of crap I was going to say.

Did this PSU have one of those hacky rectifier jobs with the two discretes tied together by solder and cobbled onto the heatsink?

Then I saw the pic. Nailed it !

I recognize the logo on that PWM IC it's made by Daewoo many of these generic gutless Chinese crappers use proprietary ICs like the 20xx (year) ICs. At least with datasheet accessible ICs you can determine which types of protection they have if any.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Where are all the parts?

The Daewoo IC is simply a TL494. I have a few myself, you can see them in really old Deers.

[Agent24]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Semi-gutless wonders can sometimes be helped, but only sometimes.

Hope you all enjoyed,
-Paul

Nice job! Now this machine will probably outlast almost everything built this year - even with crap components these older ones just keep going and going.... A friend of mine had a 133Mhz Pentium with some ancient and really bad PSU (the fan sounded like a race car revving) .. I had it over at my place to fix the hard drive, and that evening the PSU made a huge blue flash of light, the light in my room went so dim it was almost out... but the thing was STILL RUNNING. How the hell that was the case I will never know, I think I threw the old PSU away

Needless to say I replaced the PSU as well after that!!

Is it me, or is it that no one cares about writing efficient, resource-friendly software anymore?

It's not just you... I also get pissed off at the crappy quality of a lot of software nowadays. I think the main problem is because 3Ghz Quadcores are so cheap, a lot of software devs get the idea that *everyone* has one. Well newsflash, they don't.

Things like .Net don't help, it makes it easier for idiots to write rubbish, and then of course YOU have to install the bloated .Net runtime as well.

Take the ATi video card 'Catalyst Control Center' - I hate that thing. It's far too big and bloated for it's own good, uses .Net for no good reason (it didn't use to use it, and nobody else's video card software does)

Then take this: http://www.electronics2000.co.uk/download.php

Not exactly bloated but it uses .Net!! WHY? It's just a glorified calculator with some very basic graphics - I could make a clone of that in Visual Basic 6 which wouldn't require a bloated .Net runtime - OK it might require VB6 Runtimes but that's less than 5MB and installs in about 10 seconds - unlike .Net which is over 50MB and on an older PC installs in over 15 minutes.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Nice job! Now this machine will probably outlast almost everything built this year - even with crap components these older ones just keep going and going.... A friend of mine had a 133Mhz Pentium with some ancient and really bad PSU (the fan sounded like a race car revving) .. I had it over at my place to fix the hard drive, and that evening the PSU made a huge blue flash of light, the light in my room went so dim it was almost out... but the thing was STILL RUNNING. How the hell that was the case I will never know, I think I threw the old PSU away

Most likely something in primary side shorted to ground. The system i currently use as a router, i got for free last year because of that. It belonged to the school librarian, i fixed it up, after we copied some of family photos off the thing, we decided to move it on another desk. When the move was done and the computer was plugged back in - bam, the PSU exploded. I got to keep the computer. Inspection revealed that some time ago the PSU was taken apart for a fan replacement. Whoever did it screwed the PCB in under the standoffs (it would go in either way). When we moved the machine, the casing bent enough to momentarily touch one leg of the bridge rectifier to ground. The bridge was its only failure and the system booted up happily after its replacement. No bad caps.

I upgraded it to a Celeron 566 on a slotket (highest CPU it'll take) and 256MB RAM. It makes a great router and print server. It's also a really quiet machine - when it is not needed, the CPU fan STOPS entirely. Never seen that before on a desktop.

It's not just you... I also get pissed off at the crappy quality of a lot of software nowadays. I think the main problem is because 3Ghz Quadcores are so cheap, a lot of software devs get the idea that *everyone* has one. Well newsflash, they don't.

Same goes for most websites today as well.

Take the ATi video card 'Catalyst Control Center' - I hate that thing. It's far too big and bloated for it's own good, uses .Net for no good reason (it didn't use to use it, and nobody else's video card software does)

Meh, nVidia was first to lead the "bloated control center" movement. nV doesn't use .net AFAIK, but it's still slow to load and BUGGY AS HELL.

Not exactly bloated but it uses .Net!! WHY? It's just a glorified calculator with some very basic graphics - I could make a clone of that in Visual Basic 6 which wouldn't require a bloated .Net runtime - OK it might require VB6 Runtimes but that's less than 5MB and installs in about 10 seconds - unlike .Net which is over 50MB and on an older PC installs in over 15 minutes.

I use and love that software, but agreed, it runs like ass even on a modern PC. However people are moving away from VB since it was way too buggy. Last time i checked VB was only good for making booters... or am i wrong?

I was checking some C64 demos today - man, the things skilled coders can do in 64KB RAM. It's insane. I didn't catch the C64 times - but i did have a brief encounter with an Amiga. I've always wanted one. I still do. No luck yet.

But hey, i had a computer in the Win98 heyday - and there were so many cool games on it. Take MDK (1997). I played that a lot. And if you look at it even now, apart from the 640x480 resolution, the graphics are impressive. Overuse of transparency and sick level design. And the most hilarious weapons. World's Most Interesting Bomb anyone?

[Agent24]

Re: Where are all the parts?

I never played MDK but I have MDK2 which is great, if you haven't tried it I recommend it.

[momaka]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Things like .Net don't help, it makes it easier for idiots to write rubbish, and then of course YOU have to install the bloated .Net runtime as well.

Take the ATi video card 'Catalyst Control Center' - I hate that thing.

Yes, the ATI Cataclistic Control Center sucks hard. .Net software generally runs like shit anyways, though.
I have this old game, Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed - it runs on just about anything - even ran it on max settings (800x600) on an old 400 MHz PII with 128 MB of RAM, a 16 MB video card, and XP installed. Memory usage never went above 200 MB (roughly 100 MB for XP and 100 for the game). Now I tried installing that game on one of my other computers - a 750 MHz socket A system with 384 MB of RAM and a 64 MB Radeon 7200. After installing the stupid Control Center, my RAM usage would peak at 700 MB, even though I had the same graphics settings in the game! And you know why? - because of that stupid ATI Control Center. Apparently, whenever I ran an application that requires 3D capabilities, the Control Center would start multiple instances of a process called CLI.EXE, each taking about 20 MB or more. Solution: uninstall the Control Center but not the drivers, and now that computer happily runs the same game without peaking over 250 MB. Thanks ATI
/rant

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Windows Live Messenger is also an extremely bloated piece of shit. Is it .net based? I cringe whenever someone asks me to install it for them on an older computer, it always runs like a horses ass on anything less than a Core-based processor or one of the faster P4s. Luckily, it seems to be dying out and Skype seems to be taking its place. Good riddance.

[Ami Sapphire]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Microsoft buys Skype
Case of irony.

[Agent24]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Yeah I gave up on that thing a long time ago, and now I use Pidgin - been using it even back when it was still called Gaim.

But Skype has just been bought by Microsoft, if I heard right, so expect them to turn that into a piece of crap too, probably - Edit: Looks like Ami beat me to it!

I think I'll stick with Pidgin and maybe Ekiga if I need it.

[Scenic]

Re: Where are all the parts?

Windows Live Messenger is also an extremely bloated piece of shit. Is it .net based? I cringe whenever someone asks me to install it for them on an older computer, it always runs like a horses ass on anything less than a Core-based processor or one of the faster P4s. Luckily, it seems to be dying out and Skype seems to be taking its place. Good riddance.

Use MSN Messenger 7.5 from oldversion.com
set it to run in win2k compatibility mode and you're done.
(7.5 is the last version that runs on win2k, so it's not affected by the forced upgrade crap (yet...))

that's actually what i'm doing on Win7 64bit on a quadcore lol
i just can't stand the bloated and overly complicated (compared to the oldschool versions) windows live messenger crap..

[Agent24]

Re: Where are all the parts?

I'm surprised that would actually work... but surely you run a higher security risk with such out of date software... unless it's old enough that nobody cares to attack it anymore.

Anyway I would certainly recommend you give Pidgin a try... of course it does have its drawbacks such as webcam support only on Jabber\Gmail and only in Linux, but it also gets rid of all the rubbish that MSN comes with as well, not to mention it's always being updated for better security.

[Scenic]

Re: Where are all the parts?

i've been using 7.5 ever since MS "disabled" that version with the forced upgrade years and years ago.
either win2k comp. mode or hex-edit the msnmsgr.exe file-version to the most recent one. (yes.. that's usually all that MS checks for the forced upgrade apart from the OS version)

alternative / multimessengers are a nogo for me as i actually use stuff like webcam chat or audio conversations.
on my netbook, i use Miranda IM though (with the normal MSN messenger installed side by side just in case)

edit: http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/badcaps/msn75-win7.jpg