Tonight I dedicate some free time ⏱ to a few MB, I don't want to do any removal and welding of components, in total the failed or to be checked cards will be around 50PZ, I don't have the exact figure, but they could be a little more or much less.!?

A simple verification, which I suggested, is that of the power lines, with a simple tester on OHm 🕉 X1, you may be able to find any shorts (if any???), of course this check must be done with the PC turned off and disconnected from the network (electric!!!), then if you want to experiment you can do what you believe, but I anticipate that you will not get what you hope for!!!

A simple reflection, it says that what is not there does not spoil (English team), this could make you think , that what is there is very difficult to fail, yet it can happen, and the purpose of this control is to find what is broken, normally a short to a line, indicates a mosfet (or diode ???) Ko.

Then of course, it might not be just the one that is broken, but it would still be a starting point, to look for more.

Obviously, I'm not going to look for shorts in MB with swollen capacitors, if anything they have to be looked for after replacing them, in the past it happened to me that after the replacement of the capacitors, in the attempt to start an MB was fried, if the lesson I think was useful to me, I will avoid repeating this error, and lose one or two minutes for a quick check.

The first MB I check is a Siemens D1115, we'll see later what I'll find out???

An interesting thing I just found out, is that the +12V line does not show any reading, this in my opinion is abnormal, the -5 and -12 lines could go directly to the ISA slot, but the +12V should power a mosfet, at least I think it must be like that???

The problem that this MB has, is that there is no boot by pressing the pwr-on, if I had a second motherboard the same, I could easily identify which values do not match, but then I notice that there is no 16V capacitor, so you need to understand where the 12V end?

From a quick check it seems that the pin 10 of the +12V goes direct to both the ISA and the PCI slot, so ultimately there is no circuit, that voltage comes directly from the power supply.

In the same box that contained the Siemens D1115, there were two more MB, one of them is an ASUS labeled P5V-VM SE DH, Rev 1.00G, VIA chipset and the equipment includes a WiFi card, of the AzureWave AW-GA800BT 802.11 b/g, I don't know the details of this card but I think you can easily find them by looking for them.

The type of CPU that can be installed is 775, the most obvious failure is a swollen capacitor, near the quartz, between chipset and audio and LAN ports, unfortunately some SMD of the back are no longer there (lost), and to repair a motherboard I disassembled four 1000uF 16V capacitors, there are then some scratches in the back, I don't know how many tracks should be repaired, however a not easy job without adequate equipment, and believe me to repair such a board, it would be a nice satisfaction.

If the part of the capacitors is of medium low difficulty, that of the missing SMDs is quite simple if you can understand exactly what is missing and what they are, the only difficulty is the arrangement of the tracks, work of medium high difficulty even with the help of special equipment.

I will try to get some tools, in particular tweezers with very thin tips, and a cheap tool that can enlarge the area to be repaired enough, at least you can see if the traces are broken or the scratches are not so deep.

The second board in the box, is an Intel D865PERL, a Socket 478, with Intel chipset, in a memory slot there are broken release levers, other than that everything seems fine, except for the CPU-side capacitors to be changed, unfortunately they are of a fairly difficult format to find, at the limit I would have to adapt the larger ones with the same values (820 uF 6.3V), always in the middle of those, there are five other smaller capacitors (in height), one seems slightly swollen, and so doing the job I would also replace the other four.

I point out that the color of the PCB, is very dark brown, almost black, aesthetically it makes a nice effect, I think I will fix it, as soon as possible.

So, staying in the subject of Siemens, I have one that years ago worked, then suddenly it is no longer a match, as a card maybe it is nothing special, but it has some things that can be convenient, the format is uATX, with S.370 and 4 PCI slots, usually there are at most three plus one or two of different type (AGP AMR etc...), only two PC133 RAM banks, a Celeron Coppermine 566 CPU, Intel i810 chipset with integrated video and audio, the model of the MB is D1120.

The BIOS present in the chip is Phoenix Ver 4.06 Rev 1.07.1120, apart from the fact that when turned on there is no screen on the screen, and the post card remains on the codes — —, the only thing that is wrong, is the led reset always on, only recently I learned that until it turns off, it is impossible for the MB to start.

On how to solve this problem, it would be simple if the board had the switch plugged in, disconnecting it if it works, it means it is broken , that is, it remained as pressed, there is no connection here, so there is something in block , or just an SMD component has stopped working.

Maybe you could try the Clear CMOS or the Recovering system BIOS, the first I think I've already tried it (in the past), the second must be done through floppy, but first you have to download the file the same, or in any case suitable for the D1120, unfortunately the chip is welded, and in the absence of an MF extension cord (which I will build automatically next), I can't reprogram it.

Any idea or suggestion is very welcome, maybe you don't need to focus on the BIOS, but on something else.

I did some tests on the two Siemens MB, the D1115 and the D1120, the results were not seen, that is, nothing has changed, but I wanted to make some attempts, in case there was something that solved the problem of at least one card, unfortunately nothing has changed!!!

With the D1120 I did various tests, even involuntarily a sort of free charge, I accidentally shorted a +12V pin to the ground, the power supply turned off immediately, and despite other various attempts, it starts but the reset LED remains on, this blocks the start, usually when it turns off they start to scroll the post codes (on the card).

For the D1115, instead I tried to boot using another PIN, in case the switch's one was somehow damaged, unfortunately nothing, that is, it doesn't even try to boot.

Here I suspect that the problem is the ground pin, because on the other I have voltage, but it could very well be a fault in the smd that is operated by joining the two pins.

Looking for possible problems on the D1115, I scrutinized the tracks at the back and the upper ones, I do not find anything suspicious, the tracks are very well done and I do not see even the slightest scratch, if I could clean it with a special product, it would be practically like new, only in the upper part there is dust in some areas that does not come away, passing over it a brush 🖌, for the less accessible points I use the smaller one, while the rest I dust it with a 12 mm one, I made some tests to move some chips, but it was useless, there is no boot, I think I should start all from scratch, I do not know the only thing I saw is a quartz, raised on one side, and if it might seem like a thing of nothing, instead it could be very important, if it is connected to the boot circuit, we will try to find a replacement, because in any case… I don't know how to verify it.

There are cards that apparently, do not need any (repair) work, but then taking a look at it, some work can emerge to be done before doing the start test.

First if you have time ⏱ and desire, you can give a clean, at least in the places where the dirt accumulates the most, then you can take a look at the jumpers, to check that they are all ok.

However, there are cards that have priority connectors, that is, non-standard, some brands of PCs had ATX power supplies with different wire arrangement, so if 20-pin ATX power supplies are used (very normal), it is guaranteed that it does not work, and could even cause a motherboard failure.

For example, I have an MB Compaq Slot1, in which there are some oxidized points to clean up, but what kind of power supply do you use, the normal one or the priority one???

I don't know how to answer this question at the moment!!!

Also on the subject of S.7, which for those who do not know, are among the ones I prefer, because they can be upgraded with AMD K6, which I think is among the best (those with obvious L2 cache), unfortunately the non-Intel chipsets, can be in some cases particularly problematic, and the performance with the same FSB, are lower, unfortunately the TX chipset or similar, have never come out with frequencies higher than 83 MHz, except in particular cases that then work is to be seen.

A card that I have to resume, and that I keep, is the Tyan S1590 Trinity 100AT, I had put it away for blue screens in W98, I had no idea what could create problems, but on Vogons it is explained quite well, there are problems with the AGP and with the AT power supply, so ultimately you have to avoid energy and powerful cards, but also some very problematic ones, and you have to set some entries in the BIOS well.

Very simple in words, but quite complicated to do, the last problem is with the case 🏘, unlike almost all AT cards, this one can't be put in an ATX case, because it has 8 slots, while ATX cases at most get to 7.

A little while ago I took a look at another laptop PC, this is a Samsung R510, more or less it is from the same period as the two Toshiba A100s, however this also does not work, sometimes it tries to boot, but as soon as it displays the screen (SAMSUNG and Intel inside) with the logo, it turns off, and it seems that the screen turns red, or as soon as you press the button, it turns off immediately.

I used to look at the back to see if the slits are occluded, but in reality I don't see anything strange, certainly a bit of dust (normal that there is), but it does not obstruct the slats, I also notice that some holes have been made, to facilitate the entry of air.

Maybe there could be a problem with the thermal paste, but I find it strange that it turns off immediately, of course if I solve this problem, the PC I think works, unfortunately I don't have a laptop post card, maybe it could help to understand what problem there is.

Regarding laptops, right now I don't have time ⏱ to disassemble them, and see if there is anything strange or suspicious inside.

So I go back to the normal MB of home PCs, I have two MB that I have to try, they belong to different generations, one is an ABIT SE6, with S.370, it has been ready for a long time ⏱, I have to add CPU and RAM, initially I put parts used on other PCs, this would exclude that they have problems (as they are definitely working).

The other MB is ASUS, a brand I'm particularly fond of, the model is a P5Q PRO, LGA 775, here I can use dual core CPU at most, because I don't have Quad core, possibly I can get one in the future, but we'll see.

Today a lot of cards have arrived, mostly video audio modems, although nothing has been used to protect the cards, they are all in good condition, on a sound card there is a capacitor to be changed, because torn, nothing complicated at the bottom (at least for me), however in addition to the cards there was included an unspecified MB with CPU, not fantasized about cards now unobtainable, but the one that arrived is really interesting.

It's a QDI, socket 370 Advance 10T model, I don't know what Cpu is installed, but the 10T makes me think it may even be a Tualatin????? Well it wouldn't be that strange, because the card is equipped with all types of slots, AGP PCI ISA and AMR, for the rest I'll update you soon.

Another card arrived, is the Fujitsu Siemens D1217, the seller did not know what CPU was there, I was not surprised but not disappointed either, it is a P3 933, besides the card there was the VGA AGP and the sound card.

Siemens with HX chipset has not arrived yet ️, I don't think there is a delay in delivery , I will contact the seller, I hope it has not been lost, we will see in the next few days.

Waiting to arrive, I have a PCChips PC100 BXcel, the exact model seems to me to be M731 ???, the chipset is ALi, I bought it because in the past I had one that I never saw work, I have other similar cards but I like this one , because it is a slot1 and the format is AT.

I have news, I start trying the MB Siemens D1217 with P3 933 MHz, at this moment the card is at the bare minimum, that is, only video card and CF-IDE player, working works, in the CF there is a version of MS-DOS, plus Windows 3. X, unfortunately for the latter I don't have bench or diagnostic programs, but in the future I want to find some, stuff like CPU-Z or similar, we'll see what I'll find. ???

For the video card, at the moment I didn't put the AGP one, but I used the 8MB ATi Rage XL PCI, only when I complete the hardware configuration, I'll put the AGP VGA and the sound card, everything would go in a case 🏘, but even though I have some available, I have to decide which cards to put in it.

The chipset of this Siemens D1217, is Intel i815, the RAM I currently have is 256 MB, a single-sided Hynix module, if I wanted I could put a second module to have 512 MB total, which would be the maximum for this chipset.

I already have similar PCs, with the same chipset, for a period my best PC was an ACorp i815 with P3 800 (then later 1000), then needing a more powerful PC, I switched to a P4 2000, quite disappointing, because it uses normal RAM PC133, later brought to 2800 with 1.5GB, it improved but not so much, let's say that apart from a few particular cases, all P4s more or less around 3 GHz are quite fast (in my opinion).

Other benches with the P3 933 Siemens D1217, using DOS and the CF memory card, I continued by starting others, some I don't photograph them, because they give simple info, so nothing you can't see, others instead are not suitable for this PC, the scores are out of scale, so it is not possible to have a reference, however in one of the two, there is a reference for a P3 933, the score I get is lower, maybe it depends on the less performing chipset, compared to other types BX or similar, anyway a little more than 1000, this is what it does, I think It's a discreet value, maybe it can be improved, for example with more RAM, or with RAM CL2, unfortunately the BIOS seemed to me quite sparse, and rather simplified, I have no idea if you can intervene, and on what !!!

For now that's all, I hope tomorrow to do some other bench, in short it would be more interesting under Windows, but I don't have free (HD) IDE disks that can be fine, I should get some CF (in the future), from 4-8-16 GB, and load various Windows, and from there do the benchmarks.

A little while ago I made the change of VGA, not because the RAGE XL PCI has problems, indeed it's fine (at least for the boot tests), I inserted in the AGP slot the card that came together with the MB, I still don't understand what model it is, but it has 32 MB of RAM, to complete the PC I'm evaluating whether to put a 16 or 32 GB uSD card, or remove a 20 GB disk, which I currently use on the P4 2800/400 PC, which was my Internet PC (many years ago), and instead put a disk in it From 80 GB or more, unfortunately it is a job that requires time ⏱ and a lot of free space, maybe I will first find a second-hand one, as long as it costs little and is not too big, I mean as capacity.

To free up space on the bench, I put in the box a MB 462, Biostar M7NBA, for barebone PC, it works and recently I fixed it, currently there is an XP1800+, but it supports faster CPUs, unfortunately in the absence of time ⏱ I can't do additional bench, but I keep it who knows if I will have more time in the future ⏱???

I need the free place for a Slot1/370, with PIII 500, it's been stopped for a few years, I want to restart it and recover the images of the benches.

The motherboard now, is ready for further additions, first I will add the sound card (PCI), a model of the techsolo, with 6 channel sounds, the audio quality may not be the best, but thinking about it, I just noticed that there is a built-in sound chip, so in reality the card is not necessary, unless the one on board does not work, for this you have to wait for Windows and its drivers to load.

The techsolo card, would go to the collection, to be used on other PCs without audio on board, or with problems.

At this point I try to add another 256 MB of RAM, to get 512 MB of total RAM, I don't think I have a module the same as what is already there, I hope it works with a different one, and that it reads it entirely, sometimes some types of memory are read for half the capacity.

A job I just finished, is cleaning the ABIT IP35, there is a Core2 Duo CPU I think an E40XX, maybe a 4600?

Tomorrow I'll try the power supply, and if I can mount everything in the case 🏘, maybe in the Centurion, in the supplied there are various cables, and I have the possibility to connect an HD, initially a mechanical one (not SSD), then later I could change, the RAM currently present is 6 GB, 3 2 GB DDR2 modules, a quarter of 2 GB, or two others equal to those present.

Just finished the update of Siemens RAM with P3 933, now with a second 256 MB single-face module, I have 512 MB total, which would be the maximum for that chipset, then in fact I don't know if using two 512 MB modules you can also reach 1024 MB (1 GB), honestly it would not be bad at all, such a quantity, however if anyone knows something about it, I invite you to share the info.

The second module is of a different brand (chip), but it is very similar, it did not show any problems, but a diagnostic check would have to be done with programs like memtest or similar.

I tried to see if the score of just over a thousand points , had changed (i.e. increased a little), it actually looks the same, so the benefit of another 256 MB, should be seen under Windows or using programs that engage both memory and disk.

I hope by tonight, to be able to start and configure the ABIT IP35, I have some houses 🏘 that are suitable, no side windows though, the idea is to use the Centurion, then later you can change your mind, but the important thing now is to try the board, and above all that it works.

Having the original box, and the contents of accessories, including the paper manual, in Hardware Setup p. 1-7, in point 1.6.1, there is everything about the power connectors, there are three the usual two 20-24 and 4-8 pin, plus a molex per drive, between the various lines, I read that they recommend a power supply of at least 400W (minimum), it seems possible to also use old type power supplies, with 20 and 4 pins, and that the molex is needed for the PCI-E.

I have to read this page well, just to understand if I missed something, for the power supply I know that I have to use the Enermax coolergiant, which is quite powerful, about 600W more or less, I have other power supplies but I do not know if the W are real, for example I use a 500W Perdoon, but I do not think it provides the 400W necessary for the ABIT, it is also true that initially there will be very little, that is the essential and as a video card the Rage XL PCI 8MB, so the 400W could be needed only in optimal configuration, with VGA PCI-E and HD and various drives.

I continue the tests of the MB, and I must say that everything is fine, I did a check to see the voltages of the 600W Coolergiant, all within the maximum permissible voltages, they are slightly higher than a few tenths all the positive lines, but within the tolerable values.

Definitely interesting, the function that when the MB is turned off, keeps the power supply fan on, for about a minute, unfortunately if you are in a hurry to want to turn it off, you have to be patient.

I did only one boot, with the 8MB PCIe Rage XL, instead of a PCI-E VGA, but I also have those available, they are not particular or powerful models, maybe at most they are medium-low level models, I will need some suggestions shortly, to choose the most suitable one, the next step will be to make some benches, and make at least one diagnostic program work, no matter that DOS does not recognize the second core, later after loading Windows, I will be able to make more appropriate benches and diagnostics.

Now I've reached a next step, I put the PCI-E video card and I connected two drives, one IDE and one SATA, the IDE doesn't seem to read, so I added another SATA reader, which works instead!

I rummaged through the SATA disks, which I have aside, initially I had put a WD Green 500 GB / 32 MB Cache, unfortunately it must have some problems, it makes strange noises, and it seems slow, so I replace it with a Seagate 500 GB 7200 rpm, and in this I can load Windows 7, unfortunately X86, I have that 64 bit, which would be ideal, but now I'm interested in seeing how it goes, later I can go on a Windows 7 or later 64 bit.

The problem of the IDE, did not make it possible to run the usual DOS benches, it does not matter so much under Windows I can make others, certainly more consistent with the PC, which although not very modern, is in any case of the multicore generation, here I currently have two, in the future I could have four, changing CPU.

Completed the Windows installation, I ran the classification, and the VGA scores aside are strangely all 5.9!!!

I think we need to load the video drivers, and redo the classification, only then we will be able to see the real score, since the current 1.0, is the minimum.

Taking advantage of Windows, I also made some benches, I'll show you some pictures.