Re: Need help resurrecting a 486 dumpster find

Posted on 2020-08-16, 13:07

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

PSU voltages are almost irrelevant when you deal with 20-30 years old hardware. Just this week my test PSU started to smoke even though voltages were perfect (+12,03V, +5,08V). One of the filter caps died and I don't usually replace those. It just didn't like a 30W monochrome monitor hooked up to it …

---

Re: What's the success rate of repairing faulty graphics cards?

Posted on 2020-08-16, 12:53

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It looks easy but soldering small components is very hard. I never sell my parts, too much hassle for too little gain. I have a faulty Sapphire HD3850 with obvious memory failure, it has BGA RAM chips so that's already a big challenge. This endeavor may stop before it starts. Well, I wanted to do …

---

Re: What is your Favorite CPU and Why ?

Posted on 2020-08-16, 09:06

by

by Miphee

in Milliways

in Milliways

I can't stay faithful to just one CPU. It's fun playing with them for a few weeks but then I get bored and want something new and exciting.

---

Re: What's the success rate of repairing faulty graphics cards?

Posted on 2020-08-16, 08:22

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I fixed a few cards over the years. 4870x2 just needed a new fan. HD7950 needed reflowed using a hot air workstation and some liquid flux. various other cards with broken power connectors, solder cracks, bad capacitors. Most dead cards stay dead. I got a bunch of low end cards, many of them only …

---

Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-08-16, 08:08

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Bubblewrap is the not the best packing material, foam is better. Peanuts are the worst. Unless you owned a 9500 you have no idea how brittle that plastic is these days. I have snapped a power on button just by lightly pressing it. I like bubble wrap better. Half the price, much more cushioning that …

---

Re: Collecting rants

Posted on 2020-08-16, 05:18

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This still counts as poor packaging, the box is way too small and not enough bubble wrap. I don't get people. A huge roll of bubble wrap is like $15 and using 10-20-30 layers of that prevents nearly every damage. PC in the picture has maybe 2 layers and look at the size of that box, way too small. …

---

Re: What's the success rate of repairing faulty graphics cards?

Posted on 2020-08-15, 19:40

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the tips and experiences, I decided to get into graphics card repairs and see what I can do with them. I need to practice my SMD soldering skills and it will be a good opportunity. I just bought 15 practice cards for a few dollars. Even if I can't fix a single one they still have …

---

What's the success rate of repairing faulty graphics cards?

Posted on 2020-08-15, 08:08

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I see a bunch of faulty graphics cards for sale under $1, but are these actually salvageable? What are your experiences? I have experience in repairing mainboards but only touched pre-1995 cards before. These are 2001-2007 cards, I know it's a broad question but what are my chances?

---

Re: things you don't do with a retro PC

Posted on 2020-08-12, 11:26

by

by Miphee

in Milliways

in Milliways

My biggest task right now that is related to retro stuff: trying to figure out how to get more space to store my things without buying a new house. It's a hopeless battle.

---

Re: Monochrome monitor with cut DB9 cable: how to find out pinout?

Posted on 2020-08-12, 08:51

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got the manual so it's all good now, didn't expect to find it. Now it's time to repair it, it's quite rusty.

---

Monochrome monitor with cut DB9 cable: how to find out pinout?

Posted on 2020-08-11, 20:06

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The monitor type is unknown, it's probably a Casper GM-1489/D hercules/mono CGA. The 2 GND wires are obvious but what about the other 7 wires? My guess is: Black and grey are GND. The red-green-blue wires are for RGB pins (I know it's mono) or NC, no idea about the rest. Maybe these wire colors are …

---

Re: Why does some don't adapt newer storage types into their older systems every 10 years?

Posted on 2020-08-11, 07:57

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2020-08-11, 02:21: that is a very long and very expensive process. And it's pointless to change a system that works. What's the gain? Some IT guy uploading the update faster? Not worth the extra.

---

Re: Looking to buy 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI

Posted on 2020-08-10, 19:34

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Wow, that description in the UK listing! 😁 I feel like a criminal just reading it. 😁

---

Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-08-10, 13:16

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a thing for full-length ISA cards from the 80's even if they aren't particularly useful!

---

Re: AT cases, PSUs, and builds--are they really as hard as I've heard?

Posted on 2020-08-10, 10:59

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One important thing: Don't turn on anything before you inspect it carefully first. Just last week I got an AT desktop case with an incorrectly wired PSU switch and it tripped the circuit breaker when I turned it on. Always check the 110/220 switch on the PSU. The power connector thing is easy, the …

---

Re: Hardware failure.

Posted on 2020-08-10, 06:34

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Plenty, because that's what I'm looking for. Repairing faulty hardware is my hobby in the hobby! But I see your point, it's frustrating when you spend money on something that doesn't work or fails quickly. Luckily most of these failures are fixable if you are willing to get your hands dirty.

---

Re: Old hard disks lifetime?

Posted on 2020-08-09, 19:28

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I wouldn't expect much from drives sold by scrappers. A recycling station looks like this: huge piles of different hardware on the floor, thrown around like... e-waste. The better ones are selected for retro business, the rest gets recycled. By the time you buy them many of them are dead (they call …

---

Re: Testing capacitors in circuit

Posted on 2020-08-09, 14:11

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you have 3 blank resistors in a circuit, can you measure R1 and determine it's exact value with a multimeter? You can't unless you remove at least one leg of R1. Repairing electronics is often a trial and error thing.

---

Re: Radeon 9700 Pro - Artifacts on Boot

Posted on 2020-08-09, 10:42

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Ah, the good old AS-IS trick AKA "I know it's junk so I use Ebay's loophole to sell it and refuse returns or refunds because the buyer bought it at his own risk." But they are wrong. You can contact the seller for a return and ask Ebay to get your money back if he refuses. Don't let him scam you, he …

---

Re: My Tandy 2500 SX/33 386

Posted on 2020-08-08, 19:42

by

by Miphee

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I see. You may call them "Double-A" batteries.. I call them "mainboard killers". ;) That's exactly what I have in my IBM 6747, 3xAA batteries. :D When I first saw them I thought somebody left them there accidentally. No, turns out it's an essential part of that typewriter. The batteries were fused …

---