Isopropyl alcohol 99% doesnt always remove the rubbery feel/soft touch coating. It helps a lot but it takes a lot of elbow grease.

If the rubberized surface has just started peeling off then it will be quite hard to remove with isopropyl alcohol.In the case of my MX518 isopropyl alcohol just made a mess and it took multiple tries until I removed the bulk of the rubberized surface. The plastic surface was looking worse and I hated the feeling of it, that is why I painted the entire mouse.

Once I used isopropyl alcohol on a mechanical black keyboard palm rest to remove a decal and it affected the surface in away that black colorant remaind on the cotton disk I uses. In the end I sanded the palm rest with COLGATE TOOTH PASTE and cotton disks to restore the shine. IT WORKED! 😁

If the rubberized surface is older then it is easier to remove with isopropyl alochol becasuse it has already started breaking down and lost much of its initial proprieties.

Some plastics are aftected by isopropyl alocohol and they might become dull / lose their shine. YMMV

Some say that they used hot water and a sponge to remove some old rubberized surfaces but in the case of my MX518 I even had to sand it down.....

I HATE RUBBERIZED SURFACES!!! 😁

Today I managed to clean very well other components 😁

Until I upload all the photos and other observations ENJOY a bucket of foamy steaming stuff 😁 and a wet floppy 😁 SEE the ripple made by a drop on the surface of the isopropyl alcohol 99% that has already drained?

Nasty stuff requires drastic actions! 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2142pnk50/

What's in the bucket? HE HE HE HO HO HO and will the floppy drive survive the ordeal of the isoproyl alcohol? 😀 My gut feeling says........(answer in one of the following episodes 😀 )

More later...

NOTE! In all my posts when I say I wash my components I always use ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL 99% unless stated otherwise. I use water or other liquids only in some cases.

THE BIG STORY!

I didnt buy something hardware related for some time and I didnt feel the "urge" to go so often to the flea market as I used to, either.

The few visits to the flea market were disappointing and they only strengthened my resolve to not buy parts that were tossed in non descript boxes together with God knows what, including the kitchen sink! . The effort needed to restore them to their initial glory would be too great and besides, my stash has plenty of pieces that can take me on a trip down on memory lane....

Last sunday though, I felt the bug bitting my "computer geek" (or spider) senses 😁.

Early in the morning I went to buy some bread and some beer and I was planning to go afterwards to the flea market. So first I went shopping 😁 On the return trip home I slipped on the ice and for the first time in years and years I was lying on the sidewalk on my back with all my 1.83 m height 😁 spreaded nicely 😁 The fall wasnt hard because I felt I was falling and left myself fall. The shopping bag though had taken a hit and I registered a casualty of two combatants 😁 aka rwo beers plus a fresh bread!

I heard some passer-by saying: look the beer bottles have broken, like that was more important than my well beeing 😁...

I "collected" myself from the ground and went home with MINUS two beers and a bread the I gave away to some gypsies.

After a second trip to buy more beer and another bread , I took the car and went to the flea market. It was almost closing time.

I payed the entrance fee that goes to charity about 0.25 EUR and started browsing the merchandise 😁

First I found an Asus K8N socket 754 nforce 3 250 motherboard with a Sempron 64 CPU which I didnt buy because it was tossed in a crate with other stuff and I really didnt want to inspect all that PCB only to find out that it misses some components. Besided I dont buy newer parts unless I know they are working. Newer parts are always more sensible than pre 2000 stuff.

I was ready to leave the flea market but I saw a good looking motherboard on a piece o cloth. The first thing that attracted me was the shinning gold heatsink complete with the retaining clips. For me it was obvious that the heatsink was destined for a regular ceramic type CPU and it was the reason that I wanted to buy the motherboard. Such clips are hard to find.

Upon closer inspection I was surprised to see that laying on the ground was an almost complete socket 7 PC!

Hmmmm....good stuff, good stuff indeed!

So with the astronomical sum of around 7 EUR I bought these goddies:

1. Acorp 5VX32 Rev 1.1 Motherboard
2. Intel Pentium MMX 200MHz SL26J CPU
3. Some SDRAM
4. IDE Cable, 5.25,3.5 Floppy cable, paralel and PS/2 cable, Serial cables
5. CPU heatsink
6. Goldstar CRD-8240B (CP1) - CDROM
7. Sony MP-F17W-59D - FDD
8. S3 Virge PCI - VGA - Sparkle SP-325A Rev. A
9. Acorp-970 PCI LAN card

The seller even wanted to give me free of charge a Samsung IDE DVD writer and three mice, but I said no because the DVD unit was rusty and the mice needed to much work to restore.

The parts seem to have come from a '97-ish Compaq system.

Next on my list was detailed cleaning. I presented above how I clean my stuff so no mysteries here 😀

I took apart all the components and washed them with 99% isopropyl alcohol. GOOD STUFF!

Its winter where I live so the washing outside was more challenging. Also I was blessed with a little sun so my pictures came out nice.

The motherboard came out GREEN like in EVERGREEN 😁 or ENVY GREEN 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2tnpdkv36/

The CD-ROM unit was dirty and I washed all the metal and plastic parts with water an detergent. The PCB was washed with isopropyl alcohol and the inside mecanism was cleaned with a brush. Surprisingly it wasnt so dirty like the outside.

NOTE the loose ball bearing centering mechanism. I didnt see something like this until now 😀

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1t5so41ku/

The FDD wasnt so dirty on the outside. The inside was another story. I tried to take it all apart but I gave up and just stripped some parts and washed the entire thing with isopropyl alcohol. Next came some fine cleaning with a brush and cotton sticks. In the end it came out pretty well.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1p4ix3p6c/

All the moving parts from the CD-ROM unit and FDD drive that were washed will be lubed with Liquy Molly silicone grease . Especially the CD-ROM tray, gears and moving parts of the FDD. I will use a small quantity of grease.

The cables were also dirty and after a test I made last year with a IDE cable that washed in hot water with detergent came out sparkling, I decided to wash them also. Only the PS/2 connector-cable was removed and all other cables were washed with hot water and detergent. Some rinsing required 😁 They came out like new! The connectors will also be washed with isopropyl alcohol.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2eo0qc9b4/

The PS/2 connector-cable was washed with isopropyl alcohol.

A few weeks ago I stumbled on a Geforce 4 4200 Ti - Leadtek Winfast A250 64MB LE Its state is unknown. I changed four capacitors and a Conexant component was damaged so I removed it. I'll test this puppy later but my gut feeling says its just decoration. Anyway I dig the heatsink 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/3ai3rhxlu/

Next episode will be with pictures of all the pieces plus a test of the CD ROM unit and FDD.

More later...BEER ASSISTANT!!!!! time for a refreshing cold one!

WORK IN PROGRESS 😁

I did most of the cleanup but I need a sunny day to get the pictures I want. I think next week I'll get my wish.

After the rescue of the Goldstar CD-ROM I feel confident to go and buy some more units. I might have some luck at the flea market 😁 in the coming weeks. There's nothing better than era correct hardware. This is why the 5x86 build got the Goldstar litteraly 😀

Happy New Year! in advance.

Meanwhile enjoy some teasers 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/12pu7y5nk/

Nice weather = AWESOME pics 😁

Today I'll upload many pictures with the lastest additions squeaky clean 😁 - Acorp 5vx32, Intel 200MMX, S3 Virge,...

Also soon I'll have to find a nice CRT monitor or a nice LCD to start benchmarking my stuff 😁 I have so many pieces I cant carry them home each time I want to test them. So at my office I'll set up something in the coming weeks/months....

More later.

Ladieeeessssss and geneeeeeeeeeeetlemen (announcer type shout),

I present to you the finished results 😁

1. The complete socket 7 cooler

When I was at the flea market, this puppy was the main reason that made me to take a look at the motherboard and the other pieces of hardware. It was shining like a diamond in the goats ass 😁.

The first thing I did after I bought the heatsink and fan combo was to test it. I didnt like the sound of the fan because it was making a little noise, so with herculean power I ripped the wires off and dumped the smelly rotten fan into the trash bin. BIG MISTAKE!!!! A few days later I started to clean the parts thoroughly and I took a fresh 50 mm fan from my stash and tried to assemble the now clean gold heatsink. ?!?!?!??!?^#*^!^#*!^ the damn thing wouldnt FIT!!!

What could be wrong??? I tried to enlarge the holes of the 50 mm fan but NO DICE!!!

Without the fan, the four retaining clips simply fell off.

It became obvious that the fan was an odd size.

Hastily I calculated what day it was because on Thursadys the garbage truck comes and takes out the trash and THANK GOD it wasnt a trash day (literaly).

So with a pair of long gloves a big piece of cardboard here I was sifting the trash. There were three possible bins....

Luck was with me and in a matter of minutes I was rewared with the smelly rotten fan that I dumped a few days earlier 😁 YAY!!!!

I cleaned the fan really well and soldered the wires back. I made a concotion of a very small bead of silicone grease and thin oil and I greased the fan.

I tested again the fan and it was silent. Why did I dumped it in the first place? Hmmmm I have no explanation 😁

This heatsink was used on the black plastic Intel Pentium MMX 200MHz SL26J CPU from the pictures bellow but I think it was destined for flat ceramic CPU and not for plastic ones. I tested it with a ceramic Intel Pentium CPU and it fit like a glove.

I also measured the fan and it was 45 mm x 45 mm. So not a common size fan. The quirks of ancient electronics 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1l2uqbxnu/

2. Acorp 5VX32 Rev 1.1 Motherboard

The motherboard was in great shape. I simply did my magic and I was rewarded with something bling bling I'm such an offensive thing 😁 You MUST see me!

I really like the green colour.

After I cleaned it, I saw that at some point it was repaired and a FET transistor was replaced. The repair was pretty well done. Some marks remained on the PCB but the sodler job was pretty professional.

The motherboard was without jumpers. Why do people take away these jumpers I really dont know. You cannot use them for something else ... the mysteries of the human mind 😁 Maybe the one that took them was jumper starved and he really needed some iron and some plastic to supplement his diet.... 😁

I didnt find a manual for this motherboard. The one that can be found online it is for another model or revision. On ebay I found another ACorp 5VX32 motherboard with an Intel 166 MMX CPU and from the pictures I determined the jumper locations/settings.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2hsx02xaw/

3. Intel Pentium MMX 200MHz SL26J CPU

It reminds me of my Celeron 366A black plastic 😀 my first Intel CPU.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/3ehf5wkym/

4. S3 Virge PCI - VGA - Sparkle SP-325A Rev. A

In great shape.

It begs for a VooDoo setup 😀

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/wekb0kyg/

5. Acorp-970 PCI LAN card

Nothing fancy but it's nice it has the same name as the motherboard.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/cy9ukycg/

6. Goldstar CRD-8240B (CP1) - CD-ROM

The unit had a few plastic pieces broken and I took my time and glued them back together.

This CD-ROM completed the 5x86 build , the one that started all this madness 😀. Back in 1998 two years after I received the 5x86, I bought an LG/Goldstar CRD-8160B CD-ROM, so this Goldstar CRD-8240B is as close as it gets, for the recreation of my first PC. The Sony 52x was kind of new from the other components.

I still havent fully tested the unit, but the led lights up and the tray opens and closes nicely.

I had to replace the rubber belt with another that I had in my box of spare parts. I also cleaned the belt well to prevent slipping. With the original belt sometimes the door didnt open.

I have to buy fresh rubber belts just in case 😀

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/mzzczq5w/

7. Sony MP-F17W-59D - FDD

Super clean but untested. I'm sure that it will work.

*** X-RAY PICTURES **** for your viewing pleasure

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/xy72tuzc/

MORE LATER....

This might make an aamazing DOS machine! Excited to see what you do with it.

First I have to find a nice monitor and make a test bed of some sort, so that I dont have to carry them home each time I want to see if they are alive or not 😀

This build might get a nice case. I have some plans for a smaller new ATX case that I can buy and adapt but it's just in the realm of possibilities for now.

New hardware found! 😁 HP LP2065 20" LCD S-IPS 8 ms - 4:3 1600x1200 @ 60Hz

I bought this puppy from a local recycling center for the sum of ~ 55 USD, with a warranty of 2 years.Invoice, receipt the whole nine yards. NO BRAINER.

They had two in stock.

It has a few marks on the case, but otherwise is in very good shape. The manufacturing date is june 2006, the bar code from the refurbisher said 11.2015, tested again in 11.2016. The backlight hours counter in the information menu is at 6631 hours. Maybe it was serviced sometimes in his life and its mainboard or lamp was replaced. The total hours counter in the information menu is at 52815 hours.This thing was built to last! In the HP manual and on the internet, the Information menu presents only the backlight hours counter as the time the backlight was on. The total hours counter is not presented in the manual so maybe it registered the time the monitor was running, on standby, was with the backlight off or simply plugged. The HP manual says 45.000K backlight hours at 50% brightness. Anyway with 2 years warranty I'm not stressed at all.

This is the only thing I have found regarding total hours and backlight hours.

3rd PICTURE
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review-hp-lp2065-part9.html

a) total hours = total hours the device has been in use,
b) backlight hours = total hours of the backlight

The brightness is still good and only the tip of the top left corner 0.5-1.0 cm is a little darker than the rest.This is visible only on the white or very light colours. Viewing angles are great. The panel has no dead pixels, discolorations, scratches or streaks. I'm amazed because the seller said they came on a pallet with no cables, CD's or any other accessories. I can go in a supermarket and find a new LCD or laptop with half the brightness this monitor has knee deep in the dead 😁

It can tilt, rotate and swivel. Also it has height adjustment.

I had to tighten a nut for the tilt mecanism because the monitor wouldn't stay where I put it. All fixed now.

I could get my hands on a couple of 22" Iiyama CRT's or a couple of Samsung Sync Master 19" 997MB-S but I dont have any storage space left.

This LCD is friggin' huge enough with its stand and overall bulk. I really cant contemplate using a big CRT monitor given the fact that it is even bigger than this monster.

I really have forgotten how the 4:3 format looks like 😀 In the "old" days I only had a 17" CRT monitor. The first 19" was a Samsung SyncMaster 930BF LCD back in 2005, and it costed an arm and a leg 😁 I was really happy with that purchase. My desk was clean and BIG again.

Now the HP is on my old Acer Aspire Core 2 Duo laptop that has a crappy VGA output from a X3100/GMA965 graphic card. The image is a little blurry - this also happened when I hooked a new Samsung LED XL2370HD monitor and it went away when I hooked the Samsung to my main PC. So from this perspective I know that the image quality will be even better/crispier when I'll start to use it on a real GPU and a real PC.

The monitor has 2 DVI connections and I used a DVI to VGA adapter.

In pics the brightness is at 80 / 100 and the contrast is at 80 /100, 6500k colour temperature, factory defaults.

The pics were made in a darker area so the quality is lower than what I usually upload, but in the meanwhile this will have to suffice 😁 The weather was cloudy. I'll upload later better pictures when I'll start using it on my PC's.

The HP LP2065 will mainly be used on my retro rigs and for testing my stuff.

More later.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/20192314

The three completed builds(look at the first two pages) have received much needed attention. All of them were working nicely but werent really free of some quirks.

1. The 5x86 build

This build was suffering from a weird resources conflict regarding the sound card ESS 1868F ISA. I tried numerous settings in BIOS and Windows but to no avail. In the end the solution was to install Windows 95 OSR2 and after I installed all the drivers and I received the conflict exclamation mark in Device Manager I just reinstalled Windows 95 OSR2 on top of the original installation and this worked nicely. No more conflicts. Each fresh clean install would otherwise end up with a resource conflict notification and the sound card wouldnt work.

The FDD was reading some disks and some would made me receive the "disk is not formatted" message. In the end the FDD was just past its best. After I changed the FDD with another unit, the same unreadable disks were in perfect condition.

2.The PIII build

I installed Windows 98 SE and my gut feeling was right. The GF 2 Ti and the Diamond Aureal Vortex 2 Monster Sound MX300 - PCI were working flawlessly. Even if the soundcard was looking beat up and some connectors were cracked, and some solid capacitor were scratched, it is working like the day it rolled of the assembly line.

1600x1200 on the HP LP 2065 is looking crispy on the GF2 card.

Partition Magic 8.0 still works nicely 😀

3.The K6-2 build

This build suffered from some weird lockups from time to time. The memory test were passed flawlessly. The system would run games but it would sometime just freeze. The problem was traced down to a bent pin at the HDD connector and at least one bulging capacitor. I guess the ACorp 5ALi61 REV. D it's past its prime and is in need of a recap. One capacitor just bulged a little after beeing used for around 8-10 hours. If I would've seen this I wouldnt use it for a build.

So the ACorp 5ALi61 REV. D went out and I tested for the first time the Epox EP58 MVP3C-M 100MHz Rev. 0.8 motherboard fully loaded. It worked flawlessly. It even had recognized 512 MB SDRAM when the Acorp would struggle with 256 MB.512MB=1x128 DS+1x128 DS+1x256 DS. I will have to play with it more to see if it can use all the 512 MB. On startup it says 128 MB cacheable....I'll update this later.

I tried the 400MHz K6-2 CPU that had a ton a bent pins and this puppy worked flawlessly. I "repaired" this CPU and it was presented in the "little bent pin" guide.

I also tried a K6-2 450 MHz CPU but the revision 0.8 of the Epox motherboard would just take a maximum 400MHz CPU even if it has jumpers/settings for up to a 500 MHz CPU.So the 450 was detected as a 400 regardless of ratio settings. Later revisions can run more powerfull K6-2 CPU's. First I just installed a CPU and used a Socket 462 Titan CU5TB cooler unclamped just resting on the CPU with some thermal paste. The final setup received a socket 7 cooler with a Scythe fan.

I had to shave the retaining metal clamp of the heatsink because it would damage the transistor I changed (see the pages before). I guess the last owner was careless and ripped off the original transistor.

WEIRD DESIGN CHOICES EPOX!!! RIP

This early revision of the Epox MVP3 mother board suffers from other quirks too. Installing some expansion cards in the last two PCI slots makes the cards unable to seat fully in the slots because in one they rest onto a socketed component and in another they cover the USB motherboard connector.

The mouse would not work at all on the Epox motherboard. I tried the PS/2 connector and the serial connectors. Later the problem was traced to damaged serial cables. Now the mouse works brilliant.

I installed Win Me on the K6-2 machine. I kept the V3 3000 card but changed the sound card from the Creative AWE 64 Gold ISA to a more appropriate Yamaha YMF-724 PCI. I keep the AWE 64 in reserve for another build.

The EPOX motherboard is more suited for K6-2 CPUs because in my opinion the true K6-2 SS7 setup should have a MVP3 motherboard. Its just the way I remember them 😁

This is it for now.

More later.

P.S. Taking pictures indoors in the winter time isnt so great as taking them outside in natural light.

The testing of the Acorp 5VX32 Rev. 1.1 motherboard was a complete success 😀 The S3 Virge is in great condition too.

As expected the CMOS Odin Battery went the way of the DODO bird.

For this "problem" I have three potential sollutions:

a) Tear the case of the Odin CMOS battery and attach a regular button cell socket
b) Solder a socket for a regular button cell battery, because there is a place already on the motherboard
c) Find a new Odin Cmos battery.

I prefer the b) variant for commodity.

Near the Odin battery there is a jumper setting for 5V and 12V.

If someone has done this maybe he could give me some advice.

Because I had a PC Speaker shortage I bought four little speakers plus a BIG one and I made my won. I also bought three from a local computer repair shop.

I needed them to see if the Acorp 5VX32 did all the right noises 😀 beep beep 😁. Even with a PC Speaker the Acorp wouldnt make any noise or boot. The problem was traced to a couple of jumpers which needed to be set correctly. I dont have a manual for this motherboard.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/12bmckye6/

Robert B wrote:

Near the Odin battery there is a jumper setting for 5V and 12V.

I think that jumper controls the voltage for programming the BIOS chip.

Regarding the Odin RTC, I don't know if just soldering a button cell battery holder will work without disabling the Odin chip first. Maybe another member has some experience on similar cases.

Might be the voltage for the BIOS chip but I cant know for sure as there is no manual available. I booted with the jumper on 5v and 12v but there was no change. Originally the motherboard didnt have any jumpers so I had to improvise a little.

I found these images where the same model Acorp 5vx32, but different revision, that has an ODIN battery and a button cell socket. Weird.

The ODIN looks different.

The 5V and 12V jumper settings are indeed for:

"These jumpers set the voltage supplied to the Flash ROM. It depend on Flash ROM Brand.
Selections JP33
+12V 1-2 (Intel, MXIC)
+5V 2-3 (SST, Winbond)"

So I guess I can put that to rest. I found this in another motherboard manual.

So the mistery remains if I should solder a button cell CMOS battery or I should tear the case of the ODIN and attach it there...

Hmmmmmm

L.E. - identify clone motherboards by BIOS string/name/number :

http://lmg-data.dk/Pc/award.htm
http://lmg-data.dk/Pc/ami.htm

It seems that the ACORP 5VX32 resembles the San-Li SL-586V-PLUS / San-Li SL-586V+ but I couldnt find a manual for this either. The support was iffy back then so why should be otherwise today 😁 I only found an image of the San-Li SL-586V non PLUS and the layout looks close to the Acorp 5VX32 but the jumper location and settings are way different.
http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/superpower/Index.html

Today my gut feeling was saying GO TO THE FLEA MARKET. The weather is sunny!

I wanted to find a Creative CD-ROM unit for some time but I had no luck, until now 😁

As my CD-ROM units were getting scarce I wanted to try and see if I can rescue some from the dumpster.

The Goldstar CRD-8240B (CP1) - CD-ROM from the posts above is not working properly - the door opens, the unit is detected by the PC, the led lights up on power up but the unit is not reading CD-ROMS. You load a CD, the leds lights up and then nothing happens. You can hear the motor working.

Also the Sony MP-F17W-59D - FDD is not working. Upon closer inspection there is damage done to the motor axle.

First I will open the units I bought today, then I will power them up and if they work THEN I'll clean them up 😁 otherwise I will not even bother.

I also bought a Seagate HDD - 40GB which has a protective rubber sleeve. The chances are that it is ok.

FDD - Panasonic JU-256A428PC
FDD - Samsung SFD-321B
CD-ROM - LG CRD-8240B
CD-ROM - GOLDSTAR CRD-8160B - THE EXACT MODEL I HAD with my first PC - The door looks different but the model is the same 😁
CD-ROM - CREATIVE CD4834E
CD-RW - CREATIVE RW8435E
DVD-ROM - Pioneer DVD-120S - I bought this unit because it has a slot loader mechanism
HDD - Seagate ST340810A - 40GB - Certified Repaired HDD

I bought some surgeons gloves because these pieces look rather nasty. Especially the Creative 48X which is also rusty. If it didnt have the Creative name I wouldnt've even bothered...

More later.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/juqsak2c/

Against my better judgment I decided to first clean the optical units and then test them 😁 I know I know it's not good I did this, but man they were nasty as hell and I just couldn't connect them to a nice clean working PC 😁

Deep down inside I hope that al the units will work.....

Most important, is that I do the cleaning in a storage space at my workplace, otherwise at home it would be a nightmare 😁

First I dismatled all the pieces and washed all the metal and plastic parts with hot water and detergent. I also used surgeon gloves for protection 😁 Better safe than sorry!

Next will be some CIF cream scrub of the plastics. I wont use this abrasive paste on screen printing as it will take it of!

The worst unit was the CREATIVE CD4834E - 48x it was rusty and crusty. So first I buffed the metal casing. Then I wet sanded with fine grit sandpaper the metal surface. Then I used an auto rust remover which also stripped the paint 😁 YAY!!!

Then two coats of PRIMER.

Next I'll put two coats of gray paint that its used for painting car exhausts (it can sustain up to 800 degrees C 😁) so that I wont need clear coat for the paint. I'm still not sure if I will use clear coat as the unit will inevitably be scratched when I'll put it into a case.

The CREATIVE units have a nice mechanism and the door opened so smoothly it was unbelievable. I just used a long needle and they opened on the first try. Some goriila tried to open the door with a screwdriver and scratched the door of the Creative CD-RW.

The Goldstar and LG units are kind of generic.

The Pioneer DVD-ROM has an awesome mechanism.

I will have to wash the motherboards and clean the mechanisms with fine brushes and with great attention as I dont want problems 😁 I wont be able to make them mint but I'll be close to that 😁

Observe the huge metal CD retention / centering plate on the Creative units. One of them has two plastic prongs broken I'll have to improvise a retention hook for one part.

This will be time consuming but I LIKE IT!!!

I still dont know which works 😁 and to be honest I dont care right now 😁

More later 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/kmpetbhe/

.After a great meal a fine red wine goes like nothing else 😀 Atmosphere? CHECK! - on loop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDKH6ax2C8w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39zKhsT5naI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G22X5X49VhM

EVERYTHING IS OKAY in hardware paralell UNIVERSE!

Let's get on with the show shall we? 😁

CREATIVE CD4834E

This unit received a lot of work to give it its former glory. After coats of primer, paint and clear coat it looks pretty well despite its age. I still have to give it one more coat of clear coat and then it will have to dry a few days.

I didnt want to use clear coat but it is essential for the durability of the paint. I really didnt want to see it peel off.

By mistake I didnt repair some bumps in the metal casing but it's no biggie I like it even more with its face full of battle scars and all...

The internal mechanism is something else. I like it a lot. It is different than what I have seen until now. One BIG PLUS is the absence of the rubber belt for the closing / opening of the tray. Everything is on SPROCKETS (no, this is not a Jetsons show 😁) NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL ENGINEERING!!!

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/oito859a/

CREATIVE RW8435E resembles the Creative unit from above but in this instance we are doing with a CD-RW unit.

gallery:https://postimg.cc/gallery/1vmubvd4o/

The CREATIVE units will not be dismantled to nuts and bolts. For me it's childs play disassmeble them for better cleaning but their construction is a little more complicated and I'm worried about the ribbon cables which may be brittle after all these years.

GOLDSTAR CRD-8160B- nothing spectacular, ancient rubber belt technology. MY FIRST CD-ROM model....WOW 19 years have passed....damn....

The PCB-ul needed washing with 99% izopropyl alcohol.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/q83neh5g/

LG CRD-8240B

Standard optical drive...again nothing spectacular.

The PCB-ul also needed cleaning...

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1vcoiukpg/

Pioneer DVD-120S

I played a little with the loading mechanism. Pretty CLEVER STUFF!!! 😁

When I moved by hand the ejecting mechanism the CD was sent out without problems. When I'll make a live test, I hope I wont see a CD flying out from this unit cutting all the hanged meat in the slaughter house, like in the PREDATOR 2 movie scene 😁.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2sadjlydw/

FDD - Panasonic JU-256A428PC & FDD - Samsung SFD-321B - nothing fancy. OLD and floppy 😁 i hope they work

The door of the PANASONIC unit had a torn plastic bit. I quickly improvised a solution with a needle, a lighter and some patience 😁

gallery:https://postimg.cc/gallery/2ncn8lb20/

Seagate ST340810A HDD

This HDD received a good cleaning. The rubber sleeve saved it from destruction. The IDE socket received some damage and some pins were bent. I straightened them up quickly with a fine pliers.

I washed the PCB with 99% izopropyl alcohol.

I really like the mirror finish of the HDD top cover. IT IS AWESOME!!!

When I move the HDD gently by hand I can hear the sound of HDD motor. It sounds healthy 😀

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More to come: cleaning of the internal components of the optical drives and FDDs.

I still havent tested anything. I prefer to find out later.

Scratch scratch scratch 😁

Because the sticker was old and damaged I had to clean it as good as I could. I used cotton swabs and some 99% isopropyl alcohol.

I also encountered some overspray which needed cleaning. Because the adhesive on the corners was weak I also encountered some underspray. But nothing too excessive.

The use of surgeon gloves ensured a smooth glide over the painted surface and I also didnt contaminate the surface.

After this, I put a last layer of clear coat which sealed the edges of the sticker. I didnt want to clear coat the entire sticker for fear that it will wrinkle. But I think it would've worked. Maybe next time.

All in all it came out pretty decent 😁

I wanted to test at least this unit but it still requires some work 😁 If 2 units out of 5 will work it will be ok.

I briefly tested the HDD and the results are kind of meh.....it works but....more later 😁

Today I had 5 hours of free time and I put them to good use 😁 :

1. I cleaned with CIF cream all the plastic bits of the ODD's and FDD's
2. I assembled and tested the following units:

CD-ROM - LG CRD-8160B
CD-ROM - LG CRD-8240B
DVD-ROM - Pioneer DVD-120S

I had to use silicone grease on the rails and guides of the ODD's plastic trays so that they glide smoothly.

I also used a small quantity of silicone grease on the metal rails on which the read head glides.

The lenses were cleaned GENTLY with 99% isopropyl alcohol and a cotton stick, then wiped SOFTLY with a microfiber cloth.

The DVD-ROM Pioneer DVD-120S unit was harder to clean but with PATIENCE, with a soft long haired brush, with cotton sticks dipped in 99% isopropyl alcohol and with a soft rag, I managed to clean it up nicely. Not as I would've liked but it's better than nothing. The lens was harder to clean but I in the end I did it 😁.

All these three units have problems with the rubber belt. I washed the belts with hot water and soap followed by a wipe with 99% isopropyl alcohol and a rag. Out of three tries the doors open twice. I will replace the belts FOR SURE. This was to be expected.

Next will be a full test in a working system. It is good news that at least they work. I'll see if they read optical disc as they need to 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/jz62cb84/

Seagate ST340810A - 40GB it's kind of MEH...

On startup I thought it is in good shape but upon a closer investigation the truth was revealed: 45 reallocated sectors....

After an 8 hour HDD Regenrator process followed by three passes of ERASE in HD Tune Pro, the READ / WRITE diagram came out pretty good.

New bads havent appeared but the entire magnetic surface registers delays in HDD Regenerator. I dont know if this is caused by the IDE-SATA adapter I used but I'll update the status when I'll test it a real system

As a plus it is very silent. I could short stroke it and use it in a 486 system.

For this HDD his better days are far behind...

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2is4jcele/

The CREATIVE units require more work but I already see the changes 😁

More later.

The road to SUCCESS? - I still have to wait until I can call this endeavour a true SUCCESS.

I wanted to save some anicent electronic "artifacts" of a bygone era and for the time beeing, I'm on the right track. Some pieces still need testing but for now they are in working mechanical / electric condition. I still have to fully test their read / write capabilities in a working system. At least they are alive and kicking 😁

With what shall I begin?

AaaaaaAAA! YES! With a FDD unit which despite beeing clean as a whistle refused to work as it should:

Sony MP-F17W-59D - FDD - This unit had a problem with the movement of the read /write heads. The metal wire which was supposed to track the screw axle just jumped over the indentations. At first I thought that the problem was due to damage done to a plastic part but to my amazement the screw which tightens a metal plate which in turn keeps the metal wire on track over the indentation of the axle, WAS LOOSE. EASY FIX! Now I can't move the heads by hand sign that the unit might work. Before this fix the PC would report: Floppy Disk(s) Fail (40). I'll test the unit later. After this I can safely say I can dismantle a FDD unit in complete confidence.

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GOLDSTAR CRD-8160B

Smooth sailing.

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LG CRD-8240B

Smooth sailing. Again

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CREATIVE RW8435E

Smoo......SMOOTH SAILING my arse 😁 more like: *(#!()#*!)~~)~)~~~!@*@!#&!*()#~~~~~!!!

This unit didnt want to be saved.

Problems:

1. On one side the plastic hooks for the support / centering of the CD were torn off.
2. Sign of tampering - two screws of the metal cover were not completely tightened and the VOID stickers were damaged.
3. The metal / plastic guide for the read / write head was in bad shape with lots of cracks.

Solutions:

1. THE HUMBLE SCREW!
2. Nothing to report all screws ARE REPORTING.
3. Here I wanted to preserve the orginal part. I could have improvised a more sturdy part but for the sake of originality I decided to find a solution. I wanted to use and adhesive and I thought about POXIPOL but it was to thick and it would require sanding and could cause fittment issues. So I used SUPERGLUE. This stuff entered every nook and cranny. I used gravity and a cotton stick to distribute the liquid. Usually I dont use superglue but in this case it was the right "tool" for the job. Even without superglue the cracked pieces werent moving so this was like an inssurance. Before applying superglue I filed and sanded gently the entire part on wich the read / write head would glide.

I straightened some pins and a metal prong from the metal case. I used silicone grease where it was needed.

I tested the unit. The door opens, the led lights up and the motor spins the CD 😀

Some signs of damage from attempts to forcefully open the door still remain.

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Pioneer DVD-120S

Smooth sailing. I changed the rubber belt with a slighlty thicker one from my BOX O' PARTS and the unit purrs 😁

Man I LIKE THIS UNIT!

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CREATIVE CD4834E

This unit was MY LITTLE PROJECT.

It was in bad shape, rusty, dirty, scratched in a word: UNDESIRABLE! but if I wouldn't've bought it I would still be thinking of her 😁

It was cleaned and painted and now it stands in front of you in all its glory.

I had to clean the metal cover of the EJECT-CLOSE / PLAY switches with liquid auto rust remover as they were a little rusty.

Silicone grease was used where it was needed.

I should've removed the dents in the metal cover but I was in such a hurry to restore this unit that I missed it. Anyway I dont know if I could've make like it was new.

The biggest problems were caused by the fact that the temperature at which I painted the metal cover was very low. Also I couldnt paint in a clean closed space.

The next problem was caused by the fact that I didnt wait as much as I should have for the paint to dry. Even if the instructions were saying 30 min until applying the next coat because the temperature was low the paint wouldn't dry fast. It was dry to the touch but very soft.

After I waited a whole day before using clear coat I still had to put the finished metal case parts on supports over the radiator for 4 hours. After this the painted surfaces were good for assembly. The finished unit will stay for a few more days until I'll put it in a box.

I present you the finished results! Not to shabby!

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The tower!

'NUFF SAID!

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Next I have to:

1. finish cleaning the Samsung si Panasonic FDD's
2. test the three FDD's Sony, Samsung and Panasonic
3. test the read / write capabilities of the ODD's

This is a 5/5 in regard to the fact that the ODD's arent dead and they show signs of life. Now they are up to my standards required for testing and can be connected to a working system 😁

More later.