VOGONS


First post, by Almoststew1990

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I have picked up a Socket 7 system as you may have seen in the System Specs. I have having a few simple problems with it!

Problem 1: Cards won't fully insert into the slots. It's almost as if the motherboard is too far back / deep into the case and it needs to be brought forward so that the cards can fully insert into the slots. I'm not sure this was an issue I noticed when I took it apart, so it could be something to do with how I've put the case back together. You can see the gold pins sticking out the slot. If I try to screw in the bracket, gold pins will still be visible.
ytKTCCoh.jpg

Problem 2: Possibly related to Problem 1 is that the case isn't "square". The case's back panel comes off with the motherboard attached for easy access to the motherboard. This means the case only consists of a top, front, base and rear and it is wobbles back and forth slightly if I push on it. I've remounted the back panel of the base but it is not lining up square. I have to really push on the case to get it to line up and it won't hold that position:
MpPKyu5h.jpg
bKXBnqGh.jpg

Problem 3: Less of an issue right now but I didn't record what cables go where for the front panel. The motherboard is nicely labelled with reset switch, speaker, HDD LED and a couple of others. However, it has a front panel LED, which looks like this:
W7Kl8k8h.jpg
Does the power/turbo button go into this, which then goes into the motherboard? Or does the power/turbo button go into the motherboard, which then goes into the LED front panel thing. The Front panel has a LED screen (I saw it say "HI" rather than 100MHz), a power LED, HDD LED and Turbo LED.

Reply 1 of 6, by wiretap

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Are the PCI/ISA card brackets actually going through the holes on the motherboard tray? If not, you can slightly bend the end of the PCI/ISA card bracket to get it to go through and it should fully seat. Additionally, you can loosen up the motherboard screws to allow the motherboard wiggle room to line it up better, then tighten it down once the cards are inserted. Or, maybe the motherboard tray needs to be loosened up and re-aligned. I think I see a screw in the picture above the top PCI slot on the back of the case that may allow for this.

For the turbo display, does the motherboard have a turbo header? I know on of my Socket 7 boards does, but it is non-functional since it doesn't support turbo functionality. You'll have to look at the motherboard manual. For socket 7 boards, it seems that many AIB motherboards still included a turbo button header, but it doesn't do anything. If you want the turbo display to show numbers instead of HI, you'll have to reconfigure the jumpers. There are threads here on Vogons that show how to do it. You'll have to do it with power applied to the display if you don't have the schematic of what the jumpers mean, and it will be trial and error. One row of jumpers will be the open contact state of the turbo button, and the other row will be the closed contact state of the turbo button.

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Reply 2 of 6, by dr_st

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Almoststew1990 wrote:

Problem 1: Cards won't fully insert into the slots. It's almost as if the motherboard is too far back / deep into the case and it needs to be brought forward so that the cards can fully insert into the slots. I'm not sure this was an issue I noticed when I took it apart, so it could be something to do with how I've put the case back together. You can see the gold pins sticking out the slot. If I try to screw in the bracket, gold pins will still be visible.

You didn't, by chance, forget the stands on the motherboard screw points, and screw the motherboard directly into the case, did you?

Almoststew1990 wrote:

Problem 3: Less of an issue right now but I didn't record what cables go where for the front panel. The motherboard is nicely labelled with reset switch, speaker, HDD LED and a couple of others. However, it has a front panel LED, which looks like this:

Was that little board which has the blue/black/white wire supplied with the motherboard, or was it always part of the case? That should point you to the correct manual. The other wires should be easy enough to deduce based on the location of the LEDs/buttons on the case that they go to.

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Reply 3 of 6, by PARKE

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Almoststew1990 wrote:

However, it has a front panel LED, which looks like this:
Does the power/turbo button go into this, which then goes into the motherboard? Or does the power/turbo button go into the motherboard, which then goes into the LED front panel thing. The Front panel has a LED screen (I saw it say "HI" rather than 100MHz), a power LED, HDD LED and Turbo LED.

If you want the full original functionality the turbo button needs 2x2 wires attached to it because the turbo button services both the display and the motherboard simultaneously . The original turbo button had 2x3 wires attached but only 2x2 are needed:
http://www.suntekpc.com/htm-2/power-switch-pu … urbo-3p3c-2.htm

Reply 4 of 6, by TheMobRules

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I have found problem 1 to be somewhat common with cheap AT cases. It sucks. You can try installing longer metal standoffs so it creates more space between the case and the tray (as long as the plastic standoffs can take this extra spacing), alternatively you can use some of those red washers between the metal standoffs and the case to increase the height.

As for problem 2, it's probably also due to the shoddy build quality of these cases, but unfortunately the solution might be to take apart the case entirely with a drill and re-rivet it making sure the different parts are aligned correctly (it's not as bad as it sounds assuming you have a rivet tool).

Reply 5 of 6, by Almoststew1990

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wiretap wrote:

Are the PCI/ISA card brackets actually going through the holes on the motherboard tray...

Yeah the pointy part of the bracket is going through the slot around the back of the case

wiretap wrote:

...Additionally, you can loosen up the motherboard screws to allow the motherboard wiggle room to line it up better, then tighten it down once the cards are inserted. Or, maybe the motherboard tray needs to be loosened up and re-aligned. I think I see a screw in the picture above the top PCI slot on the back of the case that may allow for this.

I'll give this a go, but most of the "screws" are these weird plastic clips/standoffs. The things LGR had to use in his 486 build video.

wiretap wrote:

For the turbo display, does the motherboard have a turbo header? I know on of my Socket 7 boards does, but it is non-functional since it doesn't support turbo functionality. You'll have to look at the motherboard manual. For socket 7 boards, it seems that many AIB motherboards still included a turbo button header, but it doesn't do anything.

it does, it has Turbo LED and Turbo Switch. Can I bypass the front panel for now?

dr_st wrote:

You didn't, by chance, forget the stands on the motherboard screw points, and screw the motherboard directly into the case, did you?

No 😜 !

dr_st wrote:

Was that little board which has the blue/black/white wire supplied with the motherboard, or was it always part of the case? That should point you to the correct manual. The other wires should be easy enough to deduce based on the location of the LEDs/buttons on the case that they go to

It appears to be part of the case as the LED is attached to the back of it and it has proper plastic mounts for the screws in the case. I think there are only two wires when I took it apart - a power and the blue one related to the turbo button. In the photos I took before taking it apart, there is nothing connected to the turbo connectors on the motherboard, but there is to the HDD and power LEDs.