RandomStranger wrote on 2023-09-12, 08:01:

I don't know how retro friendly it could be or even if it works with any kind of desktop OS

Well, many higher end NASs had ultra low voltage Celerons etc., so at least theoretically it may be able to run some x86 OS. What might be a problem is that these boards most likely don’t have any video output and your only option is serial console. Even if they would have video output, they may not support peripheral devices such as USB keyboards or mice. And again console is the only option in this case.

That’s a Thecus N5200. Supposedly all that’s required to get video out on it is to solder the missing VGA connector to the board. Then you’ve got a 600MHz Celeron M machine.

The JP1 jumper can be used to overclock the FSB from 100 to 133, increasing the CPU to 800MHz

Turbo -> wrote on 2023-09-10, 19:33:

Found this somewhat motherboard. It has a 128mb memory module and 512 mb ddr1 RAM. I could use the memory module in some build and a ram, otherwise, I don't know if the board itself could make any retro build at all.

Are those dual Celerons? Or are the little blue heatsinks cooling something else.

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case,

after vinegar and hot water treatment, it posted on the first try,

now I need to put a new thermistor inside the cpu socket, replace the busted usb connector and its fuse then it should be good to go.

Karbist wrote on 2023-09-19, 11:50:

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case, […]
Show full quote

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case,

Before.jpg

after vinegar and hot water treatment, it posted on the first try,

After.jpg

ItsAlive.jpg

now I need to put a new thermistor inside the cpu socket, replace the busted usb connector and its fuse then it should be good to go.

That is a remarkable transformation.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2023-09-19, 13:33:

Karbist wrote on 2023-09-19, 11:50:

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case, […]
Show full quote

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case,

Before.jpg

after vinegar and hot water treatment, it posted on the first try,

After.jpg

ItsAlive.jpg

now I need to put a new thermistor inside the cpu socket, replace the busted usb connector and its fuse then it should be good to go.

That is a remarkable transformation.

Seconded. Have the exact same MB but I paid NT$200; still a great deal.

Karbist wrote on 2023-09-19, 11:50:

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case, […]
Show full quote

I found this corroded Gigabyte board inside a rusted case,

Before.jpg

after vinegar and hot water treatment, it posted on the first try,

After.jpg

ItsAlive.jpg

now I need to put a new thermistor inside the cpu socket, replace the busted usb connector and its fuse then it should be good to go.

what a nice piece of luck, another example of just how robust electronics can be!

Conner CP3000 40MB HDD and Panasonic JU-475-4 FDD, after some contacts cleaning and pin repair both work fine, even some old data and games on HDD.

Love the sound old Conner's of that era made

My first hard drive was a Conner. 250MB. 🙂

DundyTheCroc wrote on 2023-09-20, 09:27:

Conner CP3000 40MB HDD and Panasonic JU-475-4 FDD, after some contacts cleaning and pin repair both work fine, even some old data and games on HDD.
conner.jpg

Damn! I had Conner 40MB HDD on my first PC. But it had brown/bronze sticker instead of green/silver. (Can't tell much more, i was just 7 back then and knew nothing about computers)

I consider this a dumpster find on technicality. I got another ASUS 7300GT Silent for providing IT services to a coworker. It's the exact same I already had... witch I got for providing IT services to a different coworker. I guess SLI is now on the table. Or it will be if I find an SLI bridge.

A friend asked: "Hey, we've got two really old ThinkPads donated to our (philanthropist) organization but we have no use of them at all; one has no AC adapter and the other is password protected. They'll head for e-waste unless you're interested."

Me: "Sure! I've got both types of adapters; at very least they might have salvageable components."

Turned out to be an X31 and an X60!

The X31 has some strange flickering screen i.e. pixels seem to be "jumpy" in a shaky/shivering pattern. Not too bad though.

The X60, however, has the notorious ThinkPad Supervisor Password. Duh.

I've watched some tutorial videos on resetting Supervisor Password using tweezers shorting two specific contacts; haven't got enough spare time to fix the issue yet. Ironically, the HDDs of both ThinkPads still contain lots of personal files; the password only prevents others to use the X60 machine but is not capable of protecting contents within the HDD. I bet many business ThinkPads end up in landfills prematurely just because users forget to disable Supervisor Passwords before quitting their jobs.

X31 might have a case of bad LVDS cable. While not a professional fix, usually twisting the LVDS cable fixed issues I had with bad LVDS cables.

I've "fixed" some DELL machines with passwords by soldering a wire on the eeprom data or address line and during boot time i short it to ground. The machine thinks that data on the chip is corrupted and... you are free from the password!

PcBytes wrote on 2023-09-25, 18:41:

X31 might have a case of bad LVDS cable. While not a professional fix, usually twisting the LVDS cable fixed issues I had with bad LVDS cables.

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

GigAHerZ wrote on 2023-09-25, 18:59:

I've "fixed" some DELL machines with passwords by soldering a wire on the eeprom data or address line and during boot time i short it to ground. The machine thinks that data on the chip is corrupted and... you are free from the password!

Looks like most BIOS passwords can be broken using similar methods; the problem would be finding out which pin(s) to short.

dormcat wrote on 2023-09-25, 18:37:

A friend asked: "Hey, we've got two really old ThinkPads donated to our (philanthropist) organization but we have no use of them […]
Show full quote

A friend asked: "Hey, we've got two really old ThinkPads donated to our (philanthropist) organization but we have no use of them at all; one has no AC adapter and the other is password protected. They'll head for e-waste unless you're interested."

Me: "Sure! I've got both types of adapters; at very least they might have salvageable components."

Turned out to be an X31 and an X60!
X31_X60.jpg
The X31 has some strange flickering screen i.e. pixels seem to be "jumpy" in a shaky/shivering pattern. Not too bad though.

The X60, however, has the notorious ThinkPad Supervisor Password. Duh.

I've watched some tutorial videos on resetting Supervisor Password using tweezers shorting two specific contacts; haven't got enough spare time to fix the issue yet. Ironically, the HDDs of both ThinkPads still contain lots of personal files; the password only prevents others to use the X60 machine but is not capable of protecting contents within the HDD. I bet many business ThinkPads end up in landfills prematurely just because users forget to disable Supervisor Passwords before quitting their jobs.

I've had luck on a Lenovo G41 to reset the password by shorting the 2 pins shown in the tutorials. Took a bit of trial and error to find the right timing of when to do it though.

dormcat wrote on 2023-09-26, 03:23:

GigAHerZ wrote on 2023-09-25, 18:59:

I've "fixed" some DELL machines with passwords by soldering a wire on the eeprom data or address line and during boot time i short it to ground. The machine thinks that data on the chip is corrupted and... you are free from the password!

Looks like most BIOS passwords can be broken using similar methods; the problem would be finding out which pin(s) to short.

Nah - just read the markings on the chip and you'll find a datasheet from the internet. Easy-peasy. 😀

I found a big box of CPU's. A big sturdy box with MSI on the side, but it smelled like basement & death, so I emptied and discarded it as quickly as possible.

Had at least 2 of each Slot 1 Pentium II from 233 up to 450 along with a number of what look like slot 1 cards with terminating resistors on them.

And there were a lot of socketed CPU's too, but usually the slower bus speed ones that I wouldn't have bought back in the day, like D2X-80,DX4-120, 60, 75, 120 and 150 Mhz Pentiums, & 66MHz bus socket 370 Celerons. Whoever this collector was, he had a type, that's for sure.

The overdrive is just a PODP3V166, so it fits the theme, as well as the Duron 700

There's also a K6-III 450 and an P3-866

The Athlons are an XP1700+ and an XP2000+ which were more respectable for a minute. When did the switch from the brown to the green packaging occur?

Holy crap what a score! Are all the socket 4 Pentiums 60 Mhz ones?
You got a lot of pin unbending to do or were they stacked in carefully?

There wasn't really a green/brown cutoff, you can get early palomino XP on brown, slightly later pally on green, then early Tbred A seemed mostly brown, then they had green, and then some faster ones were brown... I think it might have been what packaging plant they came from.

Edit: having a hard time making out the Pentium P5/socket 4 S Specs but if the one at bottom is SX835 that's an early production C1 stepping with the FDIV bug, and the one at the top is a later SX948 maybe that's D1 stepping with no FDIV bug