Long story short, replacing the capacitors fixed it! I did a trial run removing capacitors with the soldering iron I had. It took 30 minutes just trying to heat up the solder and removing one. I ordered a new cheapish soldering iron in a kit from on ebay china with some of the extra stuff like tips, …

Just as a note for anyone in the future that might be looking for this (I dislike when I'm searching for an answer and find a forum post with someone having the same question or problem but no answer posted inthe forum thread). For those with a Compaq Deskpro (I have a 4/33) motherboard with an AT- …

Thanks all, I've got the resistor back in and I'll give the area a bit of a clean, test again and then if still no results start replacing caps. I hooked the power supply up connected to nothing but a single fan and it's still pulsing on and off so at least it's just the psu and not a short …

Thanks, I'm pretty amateur when it comes to electronics. The aforementioned smoking R42 had black residue around the smoking pin. http://i.imgur.com/6TZnb7wm.png I'm still hoping for an easy solution to this so I pulled it out and multimeter has it at 2.3 ohm http://i.imgur.com/Gpi7an3l.jpg I'm not …

Thanks. I'll start with the multi-meter on the suspect resistor and work outwards from there, checking for shorts and try to give it a clean in case the dust is causing issue. If I'm still not having success I'll move on to the caps. I'd had the computer off for 6+ months. I plugged it in and …

I was hoping someone might be able to offer any suggestions on the best way to tackle a PSU issue I'm having in my Compaq Deskpro 486 CPU. When I turn it on the power is cycling at about once per second and smoke starts to come off one of the legs of R42. At the moment i'm leaving it for 24 hours so …

Now that is an impressive collection you have there! Thanks, finding things in Western Australia is a real pain in the neck so I take what I can get. ebay postage quotes from the rest of Australia are normally pretty brutal. Fun fact, according to wikipedia Perth is one of the most isolated major …

I had a tidy up in January and stacked the beige together. Nearly all of them running, the rest are awaiting suitable hardware and/or time. http://i.imgur.com/btPbFpHl.jpg One day I'll actually catalog it all and do some better photos. Other stacks not shown contain "the black" and "the rack servers …

Finished washing the VZ300. More cleaning required though. Plugged in a spare 9V adapter and it started. http://i.imgur.com/4Az3ah7m.jpg http://i.imgur.com/W8OSJ4qm.jpg No response when I press keys yet, could be the keyboard or maybe it's just locking up, nfi. http://i.imgur.com/0UNR0llm.jpg At …

Thought this might be interesting decided to post, coworker donated Amstrad PPC512DD, Dick Smith Electronics VZ300 and some old related books to me. Spent an hour stuffing around with the amstrad just getting "Please Wait..." and a flashing cursor until I came across an old thread elsewhere talking …

Shot down in-action or other unlucky circumstances? Any particular mission? I killed some saitek rudder pedals not-in-action but rather by putting my weight on both pedals while adjusting my position in my chair. Had a 2y/o destroy an old joystick while running around the house trying to be "like …

Really impressed with some of the setup's posted. Congrats guys. I'd show mine but it's a bit of a mess. Don't get me started on the shed... I'm absolutely blown away by some of the roland kit people have shown off, they're completely absent from my gaming history except for being a setup option in …