Repeat after me: mi mi MI MI(clears throat) mimimi (in fast succession)tsu tsu TSU TSU(slow succession) mimimimi -ahem, cough, cough- MITSUMI!!! 😁

At one moment I thought I wont be able to say it: MITSUMI. Try to say it with a japanese accent 😁. You see, the name Mitsumi makes me remember the Good Old Days, yep Good Ol' Mitsumi. The name might even be the name of a character in an ecchi anime 😁 yeah baby you dont know Mitsumi? Who the F..K is Mitsumi? Eeeeeehhhh M-i-T-s-U-m-I Chan! 😁

Today I'll present to you the complete restoration of a Mitsumi optical 4x CD-ROM unit. Among many of my hardware obsessions, vintage CD-ROM units also have a top spot.

Mitsumi Quad Speed (4x) CD-ROM unit - CRMC-FX400E

Hey, nurse check out this patient! Look at his coated tongue, something is not right here. DOCTOR LETS OPERATE! Prep the OPERATION ROOM!!! - Is it time for another sponge bath DOC??? 😁

Arrival state

The unit came dirty but in good working condition. It is manufactured in November 1995. Yeah baby I was 16 back then. 🤣!!!

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/39jbw1qhy/

Cleaning

At first, the dismantling of the unit was a straight forward job. Just some screws needed to be taken care of.

Ejecting the tray was another business who made me go, what the HELL is going on! First I took a good ol' paper clip and I tried to eject the tray as I always did with CD-ROM units. In the case of the Mitsumi unit you could feel that something was sliding inside but the tray would not come out no matter what I did. When I powerd the unit, the tray came out without problems. WHAT GIVES? hmmmm I said to myself with a raised eyebrow. HMMMMMMM!!!

So I left the unit with the tray out and then I detached the plastic front bezel and the screws from the metal cover.

The metal bottom cover came out first.

Removing the top metal cover was tricky. As stated above, first I left the unit with the tray out but when I tried to remove the top cover three black plastic hooks from the black plastic body of the CD-ROM mechanism wouldnt let me slide it out.

So I took off the removable plastic front plate of the tray. The one with the "Quad Speed" and CD-Compact Disc logos. It was a case of careful used force and a little bending. I also removed the front bezel.

Then I powered the unit and I closed the tray.

After this, the top metal cover was easily removed. Behold the inner workings of the CD-ROM unit. The CD centering mechanism is an integral part of the top metal cover.

I tried to slide out the tray by hand but I couldnt do it. Checking closely I saw that the manual ejection of the CD-ROM disc was something new to me. It had a head like a regular screw. I used a screwdriver and I saw that if you turn it clockwise the tray would stay in and the laser head assembly would rise. If you turn it counterclockwise the tray would start to move slowly. WOW!!! what sorcery is THIS?!?!?

After I released the lock that held the tray I managed to slide out the tray by hand. It required some force and I was sure that the rubber belt would be toast. To my surprise there was no rubber belt in sight. THIS IS AWESOME. The open/close mechanism of the tray relies on a big light blue sprocket with a system of grooves and an exposed contact. WOW!!! How mechanical of her 😁

I slided the tray all the way and I tried to remove it completely but at first I wasnt able to do it. I looked for some hooks that held the tray like some newer CD-ROM units but I couldnt find any.

I tried to push pull and you name it, nothing worked.

I took a pause and looked closely at the problem. I slided again the tray all the way and I used force like this: with one hand I held the sides of the tray and with the other I raised the middle of the tray so that it would clear the teeth of the sprocket. PROBLEM SOLVED. Take pictures or notes so that when you put it back you will know over how many teeth you would need to place the tray.

After this I had a better look at the manual eject mechanism. Simple and efficient.

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

RUST MY ENEMY No 1! For this I had to use surgen gloves and thicker rubber gloves. HEALTH HAZARD DETECTED!!!

As soon as I removed the bottom metal cover and the plastic front bezel I saw a lot of rust. At one moment this unit had contact with water or was stored in a humid environment. What to expect from recycling centers....😁

I carefully used my slightly corrosive rust remover solution in small quantities and I cleaned all the metal surfaces. On the bottom metal cover the rust was mainly embedded in the clear plastic protection film. I had to use fine grit sandpaper 1000 and water to remove it. To remove the superficial rust I also wet sanded the metal cover and I tried to remove as little as possible from the remaining silver coating as I didnt want to paint it or clear coat it. The eject button came out very well. The rust from the plastic parts was cleaned with CIF cream and cotton sticks or a soft sponge.

Deep rust was removed and the surfaces were painted with a cotton stick soaked in spray paint.

All the plastic parts and metal parts were washed with soapy water. CIF cream was also used to remove some spots. The sponge strips were thoroughly cleaned. I also took the time to soften some damage done to one of the corners of the bezel.

The PCB was washed with isopropyl alcohol 99%. It came out as new.

The insides were cleaned with cotton discs, cotton sticks and isopropyl alcohol 99% until they were spotless. I didnt want to take all the thing apart.

The motors and other mechanical components were pretty clean. The original grease was still soft and I reused the excess to grease the places that had little grease.

Such an elegant construction. I LIKE IT!!!

The laser lens was GENTLY cleaned with isopropyl alcohol 99% and a microfiber cloth. THE LENS IS HUGE. See a comparison with some newer units in the pictures bellow.

Assembly was a breeze. I used some silicone grease on the rails of the tray.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1lcvowi5i/

Final results

The results speak for themsleves.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2pc5s7lra/

Testing

Another success story. Ignore the 100% CPU usage for 4x and 8x it's just a quirk of the CD Speed 99 program.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/lxlq6die/

More later 😁

I have a few updates to make regarding some more or less important bits that I consider I must post.

The V4-L saga is still going but ATM I dont see a solution. VIDEO BIOS NEEDED for PowerColor EvilKing IV VooDoo 4 / VooDoo4 4500 - L shaped - 210-0908-01 / 210-0435-001

Last week when I did a CPU upgrade for the PIII build from 550MHz to 800MHz I had the pleasure to play with the Diamond Aureal Vortex 2 Monster Sound MX300 and I must say it was quite a treat.

A little bit of housekeeping. (again)

When I post something I try to be as correct and complete as possible. This is why when I revisit older problems and I find a solution, I always write my findings.

With the CPU upgrade I was again forced to find a solution to an irritating problem. In the middle part of this post I was telling you that the PIII build with the Lucky Star 6VABX2 lost its BIOS settings after it was disconnected from the mains. I tried changing the BIOS battery and I tried to bend the contacts of the battery socket but to no avail.

Re: Hello, World! :D - Robert B's PC builds - oogle away freely :)

I changed the PSU and even if I was amazed by this SF solution, the problem went away and the PC kept its BIOS settings the day after.

Fast forward to our present time. I did the CPU upgrade and again the PC lost the BIOS settings once it was disconnected from the mains.

I took my multimeter and I did a quick test. On the Gigabyte GA-6BXC the reading was OK with the battery in the socket. On the Lucky Star 6VABX2 the reading was very low.

I saw that if I pressed a little the battery in the socket the reading would be OK and once I left the battery alone the reading was low. I tried again to bend the contacts of the battery socket but this proved unsuccessful. For sure, the plastic part of the socket is too loose and any movement would make the battery to loose its contact. I also looked for broken solder joints but I saw none. There were no cracks in the metal contacts either.

So I took some electrical tape and started to experiment. The wining combination was a piece of silicone under the "-" lead and some thicker electrical rolled tape at its base. After this when I pressed or moved the battery in the socket, the voltage stayed stable or the drop was 0.01V.

With these updates I must tell you that ATM I dont have any other ongoing projects or components to receive.

The V4-L will still haunt me and the only wish I have now is to find a working or not working V5 5500 AGP for which I wont have to pay an arm and a leg. After the V4 experience I take greater care how I spend my retro HW funds 😁

Over and out!

More later?

Hellow everybody! I'm back in action! Missed me?

After the V4-L mess I was a little down on POWER, sort to speak, and I was reluctant to start getting more HW. During these 40+ days of not posting I still managed to find some pieces. Once you get bitten by the retro bug there is no going back. THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

Expect interesting stories:

1. PNY Geforce 4 4600Ti AGP 8872 Ver:200
2. Diamond S3 Savage4 Pro - Rev. A - AGP 8MB - Diamond STL III S520 ATX AGP 8MB
3. Diamond nVIDIA Riva 128 - Rev. D - VIPER V330 PCI 4MB
4. nVIDIA Riva TNT2 M64 - AGP 32MB
5. ASUS VL/I-486SV2GX4 REV. 2.0
6. VLB FDD/HDD/SERIAL/PARALLEL/GAME PORT Winbond W83787F, W83758F / Promise PDC20630- EIDE / Super-I/O VLB Controller
7. RAM 3x512MB DDR400 - KINGMAX, 30 PIN SIMMs, 72 PIN SIMMs.
8. Cache stick - 256KB COAST module Elpina HT-VX Ver. 3.1
9. Cache stick - 256KB SPB CACHE - COAST module - HP 0960-0944
10. Heatsinks - Cyrix-unfortunately without CPU's, Generic, Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 3
11. Protac Fastware AG240D Intel i740 AGP 8MB -VER 1.2 SL292
12. Intel Pentium II 450MHz SL2U7
13. AT PSU Minebea 145W - 73G4374
14. Intel Pentium IV CPU -S423- 1.7GHz - SL57W
15. Inno3D 6600GT AGP
16. Unknown socket 3 VLB/ISA/PCI motherboard.
17. Miscellaneous.

I'm almost done with all of them.

‎‎‎

Thank You ElectroMan - 😀 I wish you good luck on your endeavours and I'm looking forward to your posts. Geting started is harder. Dont lose your focus 😀

The illusive i like I in the Intel kind of i (Protac Fastware AG240D Intel i740 AGP 8MB -VER 1.2 SL292)

This is a story with a happy end.

Several months ago, somewhere around the begining of summer, I dont remember exactly, I went to the flea market to see what new parts I can find. That day, the offer was slim and I didnt find anything worthwhile even if my spidey senses were tingling when I left home.

During that time I was set to find an Intel i740 video card, an illusive creature, of which I only read in magazines. When i740 had its heyday I used to see it in the HW stores offers but I wasnt planing to buy one. Back then, I dreamed of TNTs and VooDoo was something out of reach. I dont remember any of my friends having one but I remember talking about it.

I found an i740 on the national OLX site but I didnt contact the seller and after a time it was sold to someone else.

But lets not get sidetracked here. I was in the flea market, there was nothing interesting and the weather was rainy and gloomy. Yeah BABY! Super OK for HW hunting...As I walked slowly, having an absent look on my face, I saw a glimpse of a golden card. I dug into a pile of cables, PCBs and various parts and took in my hand the GOLDEN ARTIFACT. I checked it out. 8MB ON BOARD. Hmmm.It had no bracket and it looked banged up. I stared at it and it didnt speak to me at all. I didnt even took out my phone to check out the model number. During all this time my mind was telling me that it might be my i740. What IF? Even so, I gently placed the card back on top of the pile and I walked away.

Over the following months I still remembered the GOLDEN CARD and I wondered what made me not to check the model number. Mysterious ways of the human mind. I still felt it WAS AN i740!

Fast forward to September. I'm at the flea market again.Believe it or not I am back at the nondescript pile of whatever you wanna call it. Inside I see again the GOLDEN CARD. During this time the card got a few more scratches and the heatsink is loose.

This time I took out my phone and I checked the model number AG240D VER 1.2. Sure enough it said i740. You see, back when I first saw it, my spidey senses werent wrong, I was just BLIND.

How much is it? less than 1 EURO. No comment. Here you go!

I checked the card closely and I saw that all the capacitors will have to be replaced. Besides that it might be alive.

As soon as I got back to my car I removed the heatsink which even if it was moving freely it was a pain to remove as the push pins had their ends deformed after the card was tossed all over the place. Yep i740 in all its glory! I saw that the heatsink was attached with thermal glue and I knew it will be a PITA to remove. The graphic chip was "stained" with a semi-transparent film which was extremely hard.

The thermal glue was hard to remove I already knew that. In phase ONE I tried to use isopropyl alcohol 99% and a credit card but this didnt yield the expected results. In phase TWO I soaked a cotton disk with isopropy alcohol 99% and I placed it over the graphic chip. I closed the card in a plastic bag to reduce the evaporation of the alcohol. The card was kept in the bag for about 30 minutes and I added more alcohol from time to time. I used again the credit card and a pointed bamboo stick. This time the graphic chip looked better but I wanted more. In phase THREE I resorted to the BIG GUNS and I used a little bit of acetone. This stuff is potent so use it wisely. I used cotton sticks dipped in low amounts of acetone and I took great care to avoid spills over the black top of the graphic chip. Even so I wasnt able to remove all of the glue and I decided to leave it as it was aka as good as it gets scenario. I also did a TIM test. I used too much Arctic MX-4 and the heatsink was held down hard and I had to remove it sideways. I was satisfied with the results and I decided not to put additional stress on the graphic chip. Phase FOUR would've required a blade and/or fine grit sandpaper, methods which arent my cup of tea.

I had in stock new capacitors. They had regular specs and changing them was a breeze.

Next came a process that involved, isopropyl alcohol 99% washes, rust removal from the VGA connector, straightening of bent pins, removal of glue from missing labels, etc you know the drill.

Satisfied with the results I used less Arctic MX-4 and the card was GOOD TO GO! NOTE: After I use thermal paste I always gently press and twist the heatsink until I see that the paste comes out, sign that I got an optimum coverage. I try to have minimal bleed and a little as possible excess paste. This way I get better contact as the push pins arent so strong.

After all this work the card still remained with scratches, spots and other marks, signs of a hard life but even so it smiled at me in the light of the sun while I was taking photos.

BAM! In you go! PIII 800 MHz FTW! Clear image and a 3D Mark 99 test revealed a healthy card.

This is the way I found my illusive i740 card. Yep, true story!

More later.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/29whqj1jw/

Great news on that i740, think I'd have left it for dead in the conditions you describe. Amazed it worked!

I'm glad it worked. The i740 also came with a badly bent transistor which required careful straightening and two enlarged solder holes from beeing tossed all over the place. The odds were unfavorable but this card is a survivor and lived to tell the tale. The difficult part will be to find a suitable bracket as the position of the VGA connector is out of the oridinary and I couldnt use another from my stash.

NEXT WEEK: THE TNT that actually BLEW UP in MY FACE (not literally) 😁

THE TNT that actually BLEW UP in MY FACE (not literally) 😁

I should've cut the blue wire or the red wire? It seems though that someone already took this decision for me and I'm just a mere spectator 😁

The story of the TNT that actually blew up in my face is in fact about an nVIDIA TNT 2 M64 32MB AGP graphic card. I havent been able to identify the model and I'm still wondering what made me buy it.

This TNT 2 M64 was the result of one of a few visits I took at the local flea market this year.

Initially I was attracted by the green heatsink but when I looked on the label and I saw TNT2 M64 32MB I said to myself : YUCK!!! and I put it back. If it would've been a regular TNT 2 it would've been better. I'm sure that I wont see a TNT 2 PRO or an ULTRA in the garbage heap anytime soon. The chances of finding a Canopus TNT 2 are even lower...rara avis...

I went on to see what else I can find in the flea market but I still couldnt take the M64 off my mind so I bought it for less than 2 EUROs and I took it home. I said to myself that these old cards are bullet proof and most likely the card is working.

In a way it makes me remember my first 3D accelerator: ACorp nVIDIA Vanta AGP 8MB 😁 By the way, I still have this card and boy Carmageddon was a blast with it, coming from an ATI RAGE IIC 4 MB. The difference was night and day.

First I took care of the bracket, onto which a monkey with the intelligence of an M&M button shaped candy, carved in an impecable calligraphy: "B LU E" ahem "BLUE".

Damn, the blue wire was already cut and the clock is still ticking?

The metal of the bracket is soft. I used a vice to hold the bracket and a couple of cardboard strips to prevent further scratching. I used my hands and I managed to return it to its original shape.

After I used a metal polish paste and a rag I removed almost all of the offending writing and in the end even I was amazed by the results.

Next I took care of the card itself. It is small and it was a piece of cake to clean. I "sweated" more when I polished the bracket.

After an isopropyl alcohol 99% wash it came out clean as a whistle.

I was very pleased with the results and I wanted to put a small 40 mm fan on the card as it already had a fan connector. I postponed this until I tested the card.

With a confident look on my face I put it in the PIII 800 build and I pressed the POWER button.

BOOM!!!

Check out those NICE ARTIFACTS on the screen bro'! C H E C K IT O U T!!! After I saw the nice colours on the Win 98 SE boot screen I turned off the PC and took out the M64.

I found components in far worse shape than this one that are still working. No luck today - NO SOUP FOR YOU. Just a a waste of my time.

To make matters worse now I cant dump the M64 in the trash bin so it will join the small group of dead cards that are in my stash.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/26f57rla4/

NEXT WEEK: My 4600Ti ordeals continue with the PNY Geforce 4 4600Ti AGP 8872 Ver:200

More later.

Funny thing that you found the same kind of TNT2 M64 32MB that I have 😁

I have a Riva TNT2 M64 (VisionTek NV996.0 Rev. B) 16MB AGP 2x card that has the horizontal grey line issue (maybe my PSU is on the fritz) or rusty/cracked solder joints on the VGA port.

@bjwil1991 - You might have a point there as the card came with a twisted bracket and the VGA port is a little out of its place. The PSU is most likely fine but I'll check the solder joints on the VGA connector. I had the same symptoms with the second 4600Ti I got, so my expectations are l o w...

********************

All my stuff is clean as a whistle. Now I can focus on telling the stories.

The VL/I-486SV2G (GX4) REV 2.0 motherboard excites me the most. I'll try to test it and see what it can do. THOUSANDS of jumpers will have to be set on the motherboard and on the VLB controller...fun times ahead 😁 For starters, most likely I'll put a AMD 486 DX4 100MHz CPU just to check the pulse of the motherboard.

I also did a CACHE upgrade from 128KB to 256KB FTW!!!

Until now, the motherboards with only ISA and VLB ports intimidated me a little but not any more 😁 for me each component is just a piece of a greater puzzle 😀 which in return will take you in another world. I get goose bumps remembering my first contact with my 5x86 in 1996...

The trip down memory lane will continue shortly...

Robert B wrote:

@bjwil1991 - You might have a point there as the card came with a twisted bracket and the VGA port is a little out of its place. The PSU is most likely fine but I'll check the solder joints on the VGA connector. I had the same symptoms with the second 4600Ti I got, so my expectations are l o w...

I diagnosed my Riva TNT2 m64 card, and it looks like the solder joints are good, but there are some traces that are showing the bare innards of the card (some small spots), which could be an issue, or not. My desktop requires a power off and on to get it to POST, so I believe the PSU is on the fritz (the PSU is 9 years old, and my Packard Bell's PSU is over 23 years old, and still running), or maybe one of my memory modules is going. It has 768MB SD-RAM installed (overkill for Windows 98SE, but worth it since FireFox takes a lot of memory).

Edit: one of the 256MB modules was the culprit (wouldn't POST).

KICKED in THE TEETH AGAIN!!! - My GF4 4600Ti ordeals continue...

Kicked in the teeth again
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win
Kicked in the teeth again
Ain't this misery ever gonna end?
And I've been kicked in the teeth
Kicked in the teeth again (AC/DC - Kicked in the Teeth)

Kicked in the teeth again uhhhhh YEAH!!!. This story is about my second GF4 4600Ti which like the one before it, presented in the episode: "A not so lucky Asus Geforce 4 4600 Ti" will prove to not be in good working condition. I got burned again.

In one of the visits I took at the local flea market, this September, I found this gem: a PNY Geforce 4 4600Ti AGP 8872 Ver:200 128MB AGP . (A round of applause please). The sheer size of the card attracted my attention and I grabbed it in an instant. MINE ALL MINE! JUST MINE!!!!

The heatsink was loose and it was held just in one push-pin the other was MIA. The label on the back said it was a good ol' GF4 4600Ti. The HOLY GRAIL ahem in this instance the HOLY unexploded GRENADE.

I closely inspected the card and after I saw that it had all its bits and pieces I haggled a bit and got it for a good price. The bracket was bent and some damage was visible on the DVI connector. Some cosmetic damage was present but nothing too scary.

Said and done - I paid less than 3 EUROs for it and it WAS MINE!

One solid capacitor near the VGA connector was clinging for dear life and it fell in my hand as soon as I touched it. No biggie though.I put it inside the fan so that I wont lose it. Initially the markings on the capacitor werent too useful to me - 29 330 6A. After a few unsuccessful searches on the internet I took out my other 4600Ti: a V8460-600 Asustek Geforce4 Ti 4600 128 MB and with the help of some clear pictures of other cards, I found out it was a 330uf - 6V capacitor.

At this moment I knew what I had to do and the restoration of the card begun.

The heatsink was the first to receive a SPA treatment. At one moment it had a prolonged contact with water and the interior, besides being dirty, it was also blackend and corroded. I tried different methods to clean it, isopropyl alcohol 99%, pointed bamboo sticks, metal polish cream and a rag but to no avail so I resorted to immersion in a corrosive rust remover solution even if I knew it might remove some of the copper plating. After 30 minutes I took a tooth brush and I scrubbed the heatsink vigorously and it came out almost as new. Yellow spots were left on my white latex gloves and I knew the solution did its job. Afterwards I washed the heatsink with hot water and detergent. I was very pleased with the results.

I also cleaned the transparent plastic cover and the fan. To remove the four screws that held the transparent plastic cover, I had to buy a pair of new Wiha screwdrivers. They were so seized that they busted the cross on my NO NAME screwdrivers 😁.In all that's bad there is also something GOOD in the sense that now I have two nice screwdrivers and a full bits set for other projects $$$ well spent!

The fan construction was a little surprising in the sense that the end of the propeller rests on a round magnet. I havent seen something like this before. Without the magnet the fan wouldnt work as the propeller would sit too low.I couldnt remove the propeller as it was held tight and there was no retaining washer in sight. I put a little oil inside an it spinned freely. The PNY logo got its shine back. The fan was good as new and it was very silent. Go figure 😁

Next came the real deal. The video card itself. I inspected again the PCB and this time I found a ceramic capacitor that was out of its place and I soldered it back.

I removed the bracket and I was confronted with a disaster. I knew the DVI connector was cracked but I wasnt expecting what was to come. I pulled a little from the tip of the DVI connector and it came out into my hand. This made it easier to return the metal part into a usable shape and after some work and a DVI cable test I decided to solder it back to the metal bits that were left in the PCB. I polished the metal parts with metal polish paste and a rag until they were shining. Some filing was required to reduce the size of one of the solder joints. Again I obtained satisfactory results.

Looking at the two 4600Ti cards - PNY & ASUS something else caught my eye. The PNY was missing a SANYO OS CON 510Uf 4V capacitor. Good LUCK finding one locally! In the end I removed one from the ASUS and I put it on the PNY.

The solid 330uf 6V capacitor was replaced by a regular 330uf 16V electrolytic capacitor just to see if the card was OK.

The cleaning of the PCB was nothing too challenging. Isopropyl alcohol 99% aplenty.

After all this work I started to think that maybe the card is dead. There were so many problems with it. Even so, I still felt that it might be a survivor...if only I knew...

After I assembled the card using my trusty Arctic MX-4 grease and I saw all the parts shining like a diamond in the goats ASS I was very pleased. YEAH I DID IT!!!

SHE'S READY TO ROCK!!! (the kicked in the teeth again was getting ready to be played in my mind but I didnt know it yet)

I put the PNY 4600Ti in the PIII 800 MHz build and as a precaution I used two thick cardboard pieces for protection just in case one of the capacitors might go BOOM!

I pressed the POWER buton and in a few moments I knew the card was busted and that the DVI connector is also toast as it wouldnt put out any signal.

This made me play in my mind the AC/DC -Kicked in the teeth melody.

A similar situation happened when I was searching for a GF 4 4200Ti but in that instance I found a good one on my second try. It seems though, that for a good 4600Ti I will have to wait a little more.

Even after this ordeal I have no regrets and I would do it again! 😁

More later.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/3bw3d2g70/

NEXT WEEK: THE TWO ROUGH CUT DIAMONDS which needed a polishing. 😁 YEP true story 😁

The one VooDoo3 card that I have decided to display artifacts itself (got cooked - overheated) and displayed artifacts.

My GeForce4 MX440 doesn't display anything, and my guess is the VGA port went south or the SMD Electrolytic capacitors are bad (didn't see any gunk on the card). I'm going to order Desoldering braid and a new solder tip for my soldering iron, and I need to figure out how to solder properly.

This thread has lately replaced Warhammer codices as my toilet reading.. That's just how good it is.

@ bjwil1991 - from my experience you need a hot air station and some special solder to do it right. You might get away with a soldering iron but it's going to be tough. I did it a few times but it is best that you first try on a damaged part to sew how it goes. The soldering iron would have to be temperature controlled for best results. I have an eye on a GORDAK 968. It's not pro quality but for small jobs it is perfect.

@appiah4 - I'm glad you like the thread 😁

I had to buy some ARCTIC MX-4 TIM - GOOD STUFF!!! 20 g because 4 g werent enough! 1 mm Arctic Thermal Pad was also required for the PII-450 I rescued from the dump.

I used a snap-on soldering torch for SMD stuff in the past, looks like crap but works. Even those super small smd resisters.
That was until I came up with the idea of heating up the end of a set of micro tweezers an using them to remove SMD parts.

Robert B wrote:

@ bjwil1991 - from my experience you need a hot air station and some special solder to do it right. You might get away with a soldering iron but it's going to be tough. I did it a few times but it is best that you first try on a damaged part to sew how it goes. The soldering iron would have to be temperature controlled for best results. I have an eye on a GORDAK 968. It's not pro quality but for small jobs it is perfect.

I diagnosed the TNT2 M64 card, and the capacitor closer to the VGA port is dead, but the other one had a reading. That, and I get an error message when booting into Windows 98SE:

1Windows Protection Fault. You need to restart your computer.

I don't understand how that happened. The other day, it was going into Windows without issues. MS-DOS still boots up without problems though. Maybe a driver bug?

Robert B wrote:

… The heatsink was the first to receive a SPA treatment. At one moment it had a prolonged contact with water and the interior, b […]
Show full quote

…
The heatsink was the first to receive a SPA treatment. At one moment it had a prolonged contact with water and the interior, besides being dirty, it was also blackend and corroded. I tried different methods to clean it, isopropyl alcohol 99%, pointed bamboo sticks, metal polish cream and a rag but to no avail so I resorted to immersion in a corrosive rust remover solution even if I knew it might remove some of the copper plating. After 30 minutes I took a tooth brush and I scrubbed the heatsink vigorously and it came out almost as new. Yellow spots were left on my white latex gloves and I knew the solution did its job. Afterwards I washed the heatsink with hot water and detergent. I was very pleased with the results.

I also cleaned the transparent plastic cover and the fan. To remove the four screws that held the transparent plastic cover, I had to buy a pair of new Wiha screwdrivers. They were so seized that they busted the cross on my NO NAME screwdrivers 😁.In all that's bad there is also something GOOD in the sense that now I have two nice screwdrivers and a full bits set for other projects $$$ well spent!

The fan construction was a little surprising in the sense that the end of the propeller rests on a round magnet. I havent seen something like this before. Without the magnet the fan wouldnt work as the propeller would sit too low.I couldnt remove the propeller as it was held tight and there was no retaining washer in sight. I put a little oil inside an it spinned freely. The PNY logo got its shine back. The fan was good as new and it was very silent. Go figure 😁
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I have a Creative Labs Ti4600 which is exactly this PNY model (its actually made by MSI). I changed the stock heatsink/fan config because its noisy, but wanted to give the original heatsink a good scrub, because mine shows the same corrosion, and didn't know how. I'll be using your methods! 😜

@Jade Falcon - micro twezzers? who knew! I might try this in a pinch 😁

@bjwil1991 - sometimes it is best to buy a working part instead of looking for a solution. The M64 can still be found easily. In my case this is what I intend to do and I already have a source for two of them if I want them. Even if I still dont like the fact that components die I must accept it and move on.

@silvercr - the stuff I used is sold in my region and it is called Szuper Evipass - It has in its composition phosphoric acid 18-22% and boric acid 1-3%. It doesnt harm chromed surfaces, rubber or plastic. Be careful how you use it. I got it on my hands and it is a little oily. It washes off easily and I had no adverse reactions in contact with my skin. I suggest you use gloves. In contact with rust it emits a bad smell. If you pour it over concrete it starts to fizzle a little then it evaporates. If you use it like me, in a container with the part you want to clean, it is safe. I also use it in small quantites with cotton sticks when I have to clean spots of rust. It takes some time until it does its job. For example if I have a spot of rust I use a little solution and when the rust gets black I remove the black crust with a pointed bamboo stick, a needle or a pointed screwdriver and then I use again the solution and clean the black crust until I see shiny metal. Afterwards I use metal polish cream and a rag to get the part to shine. Regarding the brass copper plated heatsink of the 4600Ti I had nothing to lose so I tried this stuff and in the end it worked. I hope you will get the same results. Keep an eye for the time you leave the part submerged. Before I used the rust remover as I was looking for a way to clean the heatsink I also used isopropyl alcohol 99% , metal polish cream and a rag and the heatsink has already been washed several times so in the end the results you see in the pictures are a combination of the facts I mentioned above. You might get away jumping straight to the rust remover solution but I dont know for sure.

When I use this stuff on a VGA connector to take off the rust, I use a cotton stick dipped in the rust remover solution and to clean it I use isopropyl alcohol 99% when I cant/dont want to wash the part with water.

Some elbow grease will be required until you will get the results you want 😁

TAKE CARE when you use it.In general it is recommended for the preparation of rusted parts before they are to be painted. It is pretty cheap. In your area it might be called differently. I bought it from a shop that sells car paints.

I must say again: USE IT CAREFULLY. It is not very dangerous but you must use it with caution. Gloves and protective eyewear should be used. Also keep it away from children after you use it.

Recently after almost 3 years since I use isopropyl alcohol 99% for the first time I got some of it in my right eye as I blew over a component to get the alcohol out. It burned a little but I had no problems afterwards. I used lots of water to wash it away and I was soon called RED EYES as I put my eye directly in the water jet. It wasnt nice but I survived 😁 In the end I used my trusty air compressor. This should serve as a reminder to use protective eye wear when handling this type of substances 😁 You never know when they might harm you.

Also if you get isopropyl alochol 99% on your skin for a long time it might get a little white and dry. In the begining I used latex gloves then for a long time I didnt and lately I used them again. I bought generic, cheap ones from the drug store. 100 pcs in a box, thin ones. They are also good for protection because you never know what lurks on those dirty parts.

Remember, common sense(if you have it) is your best friend! 😁