VOGONS


Reply 40 of 68, by DankEngihn

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
LeFlash wrote:
I received a nice 286 Plasma Portable with a MFM-drive. Kept all the pieces after getting a refund. Maybe, one day and much much […]
Show full quote

I received a nice 286 Plasma Portable with a MFM-drive.
Kept all the pieces after getting a refund. Maybe, one day and much much glue later, i'll have the case repaired.
Machine still working though, also, the built-in MFM controller and harddisk is kinda rare.
I just love this amber plasma panels!

Holy shit. That thing got absolutely destroyed. What'd they ship it in, nothing?

Reply 41 of 68, by LeFlash

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

It was winter, cold outside, old plastic.
And the seller only stuffed the sides, not the top/bottom, so it broke.
Maybe also related to the poor shipping company.

Had some discussions but finally got my money back.

Reply 42 of 68, by SirNickity

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I ordered a Famicom from Japan that arrived kind of like that. The outer box (if you can call it that -- very light cardboard) did nothing to protect its contents, despite a generous amount of cling wrap ( 😒 ) around the console itself. After unwrapping the shell, I was left with what looked like the bottom of a bag of tortilla chips.

No worries though, I just needed parts to repair one with a shell in better condition anyway.

Reply 43 of 68, by Mister Xiado

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
LeFlash wrote:

I received a nice 286 Plasma Portable with a MFM-drive...

Cripes, did they pack it in a plastic grocery bag with the handles tied in a single pretzel knot, then kick it to its destination?

LeFlash wrote:
It was winter, cold outside, old plastic. And the seller only stuffed the sides, not the top/bottom, so it broke. Maybe also rel […]
Show full quote

It was winter, cold outside, old plastic.
And the seller only stuffed the sides, not the top/bottom, so it broke.
Maybe also related to the poor shipping company.

Had some discussions but finally got my money back.

Were I shipping an old laptop of some value, I'd affix it in some styrofoam blocks at the corners/ends, and use crumpled newspaper and advertisements for several inches all around it, sticking up out of the box, then cram it shut and liberally tape it.

b_ldnt2.gif - Where it's always 1995.
Icons, wallpapers, and typical Oldternet nonsense.

Reply 44 of 68, by JidaiGeki

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
DankEngihn wrote:
LeFlash wrote:
I received a nice 286 Plasma Portable with a MFM-drive. Kept all the pieces after getting a refund. Maybe, one day and much much […]
Show full quote

I received a nice 286 Plasma Portable with a MFM-drive.
Kept all the pieces after getting a refund. Maybe, one day and much much glue later, i'll have the case repaired.
Machine still working though, also, the built-in MFM controller and harddisk is kinda rare.
I just love this amber plasma panels!

Holy shit. That thing got absolutely destroyed. What'd they ship it in, nothing?

Here's some footage of its delivery:
https://youtu.be/7YrpmZFixp0

Must be something about the people selling/shipping gas plasma 286 laptops. Had one shipped to me with no padding in a thin bare box, it had only very slight impact damage so I was extremely lucky.

Reply 45 of 68, by MKT_Gundam

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
SirNickity wrote:

I ordered a Famicom from Japan that arrived kind of like that. The outer box (if you can call it that -- very light cardboard) did nothing to protect its contents, despite a generous amount of cling wrap ( 😒 ) around the console itself. After unwrapping the shell, I was left with what looked like the bottom of a bag of tortilla chips.

No worries though, I just needed parts to repair one with a shell in better condition anyway.

I always thought the Japanese had the utmost care in packaging.
A friend of mine always buys something form jp and always comes well packed.

Retro rig 1: Asus CUV4X, VIA c3 800, Voodoo Banshee (Diamond fusion) and SB32 ct3670.
Retro rig 2: Intel DX2 66, SB16 Ct1740 and Cirrus Logic VLB.

Reply 46 of 68, by bestemor

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
MKT_Gundam wrote:

I always thought the Japanese had the utmost care in packaging.
A friend of mine always buys something form jp and always comes well packed.

Well, my japanese seller of a 20disc jewel cased lot just put it all in a thin though padded mailer....
Ensue plastic shards etc.... And gotten several times blank discs sent just in a bubble envelope, although those fared better....

Reply 47 of 68, by SirNickity

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
MKT_Gundam wrote:

I always thought the Japanese had the utmost care in packaging. A friend of mine always buys something form jp and always comes well packed.

Generally I have found that to be true. The stuff I've gotten from Japan is consistently in better condition, more complete, and packaged way better than an equivalent purchase from the US (or anywhere else really.)

Case in point... about a year ago, I decided that I had too much spare room and cash for my liking, so I picked up the Japanese Famicom and Super Famicom Mini consoles, and then decided it would be fun to have the original Famicom and Super Famicom boxed systems as well. (I think partially because I bought a Famicom Disk System in the box -- I wasn't really looking for a boxed one, it just happened to be a good deal.) Not only did the boxes arrive in good condition, but there was still original packing material in them (individual plastic bags, addendum paperwork, etc.), and in one case, a receipt.

That said, I did end up scoring a boxed NES with ROB, zapper, and boxed SMB, Duck Hunt, and Gyromite, in nearly pristine condition, for around $300. The seller did a great job of packing that one. So it can happen, but the Japanese stuff is consistently easier to find and cheaper. I think Americans, in general, treat their stuff as more disposable. I know I tore through the packaging and treated that stuff as toys back then.

Reply 48 of 68, by wiretap

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Well, got another one from Ebay today. Wrapped in 3 layers of thin bubble wrap only.. no antistatic bag, and crammed into a USPS flat rate box. Seller listing said the board was working, but upon arrival, about half the capacitors are bloated, one with a hole in it. The seller shipped it with heavy heatsinks on it, and it broke off the CPU socket mounting tabs. Capacitor ripped off near CPU socket, damaged traces from the heatsink sliding around, CMOS battery broken off, and a whole host of other issues. It would be quite an extensive repair. Seller photos all looked pretty good, said it was tested/working great. 😒

Motherboard is a MSI 694D Pro I was going to do a dual Tualatin mod with. Purchased for $75 shipped.

z8CQEzxh.jpg

RDAABUfh.jpg

uuIZmZ4h.jpg

TqHtbFAh.jpg

4BBikrRh.jpg

sDpWi7Jh.jpg

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 49 of 68, by Thermalwrong

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Ahh that's such a shame - it does look repairable though? You should still be able to fit a heatsink (albeit delicately) to what's left of those CPU heatsink mounting points if it's similar to the one that fell off in the picture.

Were the caps leaking like that in the seller's picture? I've had a motherboard arrive with similarly bad caps, which the seller suggested could have happened during the flight because of temperature / pressure

Reply 50 of 68, by LeFlash

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Some of the caps seem dead already. It's possible to change sockets, did this to a Super7 board some months ago. It's a pain in the ass, but doable.

When i see pictures like these, i think it's better to tell the seller to remove the heatsink/hdd and package it seperately in the case with enough bubble wrap to have it stuck to a place 😀

Reply 51 of 68, by SirNickity

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Thermalwrong wrote:

I've had a motherboard arrive with similarly bad caps, which the seller suggested could have happened during the flight because of temperature / pressure

🤣. 🤣 Sure, it was the altitude. That's definitely a thing.

I bought my TUSL2-M from a bonehead on Ebay. Couldn't quite tell from the pictures, but it looked like the caps were bulging a little, so I asked. "I'm no expert, but they look fine to me." As you would expect, when it showed up, the ones closest to the CPU were breached and spewing goo from the top. I had a stash of 6.3v 1000uF caps, and (like that MSI board) it's from a period where this is bound to happen, so I just replaced them all. Board works great now.

Reply 52 of 68, by wiretap

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Thermalwrong wrote:

Ahh that's such a shame - it does look repairable though? You should still be able to fit a heatsink (albeit delicately) to what's left of those CPU heatsink mounting points if it's similar to the one that fell off in the picture.

Were the caps leaking like that in the seller's picture? I've had a motherboard arrive with similarly bad caps, which the seller suggested could have happened during the flight because of temperature / pressure

It is repairable. If I get a refund, I'll probably repair it when I have time after this summer. It needs at least 8 new caps, a new CPU socket, new CMOS battery holder, and possibly some trace work. CPU heatsink won't mount on it. I already attempted it carefully. It just breaks away more plastic since it is a little bit brittle from heat over the years. I can replace the socket -- it only takes about 15-20 minutes with a hot air pencil. As far as the seller photo, I could only see 1 maybe 2 suspect capacitors.

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 53 of 68, by appiah4

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

I wouldn't bother with that repair on a 370 board, not worth the hassle of replacing the socket on something that is not even uncommon yet IMO.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 54 of 68, by Murugan

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Ordered an older boxed GPU once. Seller used ducttape only to ship it. Bye bye box...Gpu was undamaged. Thank god I didn't want the box *sarcasm*
Happened to me twice actually but the second time I was able to remove it without damage except a tiny part.

My retro collection: too much...

Reply 55 of 68, by dickkickem

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Not exactly hardware related, as all the hardware I got so far has shipped quite well, but I ordered a big box game on Amazon. The seller said he would flatten it. I said ok.

This is how you flatten big boxes:
s-l1600.jpg
This is how he flattened it:
c7v0NsZ.jpg
drsPYKz.jpg

It wasn't like that before, he just "flattened" it via the spine instead of folding it.

And if you collect old PC games, you should know how ridiculously hard to find and rare a boxed Mortal Kombat Trilogy is. Still bothers me, considering I still paid like $50 for it.

DOS game collection
YouTube
Instagram

My vintage rigs:
Fujitsu Lifebook E330 - Working w/ Win95
Fujitsu Lifebook C352 - Nonworking 🙁
HP Pavilion A520N - Working w/ WinXP
AST Ascentia M 5260X - Working w/ WinME
IBM ThinkPad 770 - Working w/ Win2K

Reply 56 of 68, by Windows9566

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
wiretap wrote:
Well, got another one from Ebay today. Wrapped in 3 layers of thin bubble wrap only.. no antistatic bag, and crammed into a USPS […]
Show full quote

Well, got another one from Ebay today. Wrapped in 3 layers of thin bubble wrap only.. no antistatic bag, and crammed into a USPS flat rate box. Seller listing said the board was working, but upon arrival, about half the capacitors are bloated, one with a hole in it. The seller shipped it with heavy heatsinks on it, and it broke off the CPU socket mounting tabs. Capacitor ripped off near CPU socket, damaged traces from the heatsink sliding around, CMOS battery broken off, and a whole host of other issues. It would be quite an extensive repair. Seller photos all looked pretty good, said it was tested/working great. 😒

Motherboard is a MSI 694D Pro I was going to do a dual Tualatin mod with. Purchased for $75 shipped.

z8CQEzxh.jpg

RDAABUfh.jpg

uuIZmZ4h.jpg

TqHtbFAh.jpg

4BBikrRh.jpg

sDpWi7Jh.jpg

those capacitors are crap anyways, that board has Chhsi and Teapo, both bad brands. definitely replace them with something like Nichicon, Rubycon, or Panasonic capacitors.

R5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3060 TI, Win11
P3 600, 256 MB RAM, nVidia Riva TNT2 M64, SB Vibra 16S, Win98
PMMX 200, 128 MB RAM, S3 Virge DX, Yamaha YMF719, Win95
486DX2 66, 32 MB RAM, Trident TGUI9440, ESS ES688F, DOS

Reply 57 of 68, by gdjacobs

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Chhsi is complete shit. Teapo is middling and can work ok in the right application.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 58 of 68, by wiretap

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I ended up just sending it back for a refund. Didn't feel like dealing with trying to fix it and find out it was probably dead or had more stuff wrong with it anyway. If someone can't even package something properly, they probably didn't use/store/handle it properly either.

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 59 of 68, by Ultrax

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

In late July 2018, I ordered a Compaq Presario 433 (all in one 486 machine) off eBay. It arrived in a tiny box, with some bubble wrap around it, and a few pieces of cardboard on each side. Literally hundreds of pieces. Everywhere. The CRT had a big splotch in the center indicating it had been necked. To be honest, this was more of a combination of UPS being UPS and shitty packaging. I did get all my money back, thankfully, but nothing was salvageable, not even the floppy drive. In early August, I found and ordered a 425, and demanded it be packaged to survive anything at the UPS store. Arrived fine. So at least I'm not without a Presario - but I will forever mourn the loss of my 425's fallen brother.

Ultrax
__
Presario 425|DX2-50|8MB|SB V16S|D622/WFW3.11 😎
Deskpro XE 450|DX2-50|32 MB|NT4.0/95
SR2038X|Athlon 64 X2 3800|2G|GT710 WINXP
Dimension 4400|P4 NW 2 GHz|256M|R128U AGP|WINXP
HPMini311|N270|2G|9400M|WINXP
Libretto50CT|P75|16MB|YMF711|WIN95 😎