aaarg

spacef · Post by **spacef** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:48 am

Hi, I'm just ranting and expresing my feeling because I'm sure people on this forum care more than the people I know

My old Asus p4be just blew away: it is the two handles that attach the heat sink to the northbridge that broke (typically the thing that should not happen with a well designed board, after only 3.5 years of use). It caused a fan noise + warnings in the asus probe (fan under threshold warning), it was really a bad noise.
I tried to fix it but then the computer did not work anymore (no graphic, screen received "no signal").

Asus doesn't make intel 478 sockets anymore, and in Paris, only Asrock mobos are available, so I am going to get one (50 euros)....

It is super hard to get socket 478 + more than 3 pci slots + udma 133 nowadays... apparently most shops were out of stock this week (fortunately I found an Asrock board in a shop)....

I just can't imagine not being able to run scope one day just because of the technology progresses....

and I felt this day had almost arrived.... fortunately, some makers are continuing to produce old technology.

I'll tell you about that mobo when it is installed (arrrg) and i hope it'll rock my ass as the brand name suggests....

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:17 am

Blimey, I've never heard of a MOBO *physically* failing before now! Usually something electronic gets fried

Glad to hear that you've managed to source a new one, maybe I should buy a backup one and keep it safe somewhere for when my current ASUS finally dies..?

petal · Post by **petal** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:48 am

I think that there will be pleanty of used gear around for us to run our Scope-systems on in the future, for prices that will seem absurd when the time comes

spacef · Post by **spacef** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:20 am

Hello guys,

I have installed a new mobo (in the other computer, the real one, not the one i'm using now).

It is an ASUS P4P800S-X which is less good than my previous one (less connection for fans, only 4 pci slots instead of 5...). still have to reinstall scope, re-do some tweaks etc... (the asrock boards were micro ATX, or i'll have to wait 10 days for delivery, which is not possible).

The problem is not only the technology and the ablity to find something that suits your needs:

- I had to remove and replug the CPU: i almost thought i broke it as it was litterarily glued to the fan. Also, fortunately, I did not forget to buy the cooling paste to put between the cpu and the fan as the old one was dry , black, and probably useless.

- I had to replug the various cables for power on/reset/leds and so on (wth an online manual, as the board I bought had zero accessories !!!)

- I had to reactivate window XP (the automatic activation system refused, I had to wait to get a real person, from there it took 10 minutes)

- I have to reinstall some drivers (scope included), new drivers for the new mobo, and so on...

It was really annoying, and without the satisfaction to have more power... (and socket 478 cpus are also not that easy to find, only oem is available, or with a socket 775 adaptor....). 1 day wasted.... but at least, I was lucky to be able to reboot the same day.

It is possible that I re-buy a cpu, mobo etc in a few monthes, to be used in 5 years....

Here is a picture of the handle that broke on the other mobo (the thing with the 3 parts black plastic base) . It was working without the heat sink, but with a scary noise (and it eventually never rebooted for some reason).

Post by **garyb** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:41 pm

i have a d865perl left.

intel still makes them though, you should be able to get one off the internet. check ebay.

petal · Post by **petal** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:34 am

Couldn't you just solder the thingy back on or reattach in a different way?

Cochise · Post by **Cochise** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 6:56 am

Counterparts wrote:Blimey, I've never heard of a MOBO *physically* failing before now! Usually something electronic gets fried

My P4B533 had 2 of those:

cpu heatsink bracket was broken a couple of months after i bought it. This kind of failures are not warranty covered; the seller support fixed it by a 'selfblocking wrapper' (don't know the right English word for it, hope you can figure out what i'm talking about)

This summer, atfer 3 + 1/2 years (!), i had one of the handles of the northbridge heatsink desoldered. I was able to notice the trouble just while attaching an HDD to the IDE chain, cause no noise or system alert for that here.
Having a good 10W mini soldering iron and several years of experience in soldering I was able to fix it. Just hope it can last.

Cochise · Post by **Cochise** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:12 am

spacef wrote:
Here is a picture of the handle that broke on the other mobo (the thing with the 3 parts black plastic base) . It was working without the heat sink, but with a scary noise (and it eventually never rebooted for some reason).

It was the same part desoldered in my PB533 during llast summer. I noticed it one day on the bottom of the case.

Ehi, nice picture! I can't zoom that close with my cheap camera.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 12:12 pm

you may not be able to zoom, but you can hold a magnifier glass right in front of the camera lens, try it

the reverse works with binoculars for extreme long distance shots.
You may not have the full field when the lenses are too close to each other, though - but the picture itself should be sharp.

if those handles are fixed by solder only, then I'd consider it a truely crappy construction. Solder is a rather 'elastic' substance and there's constant tension from the spring load applied...
It would be best if the backside of the 'handles' is long enough to be bent together and fixed by solder to add some mechanic resistance.

cheer, Tom

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:15 pm

I just need 2 PCI slots yet I fear I should make what will probably be my last Creamware computer next year before it is too late.

dawman · Post by **dawman** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:38 pm

Brotha' Man GaryB,
Save the PERL 4 me. I am building a new internet DAW w/ the 3.2 / PBZ combo I have. PM me if you want on this matter. I would like Charlie to have his built by you w. the Luna, and SRB's.

Post by **garyb** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:12 pm

done.

spacef · Post by **spacef** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:36 am

petal wrote:Couldn't you just solder the thingy back on or reattach in a different way?

I managed to glue one of them, but not the other. Moreover, on the p4pe that I had, there is cuircuitry going just under the plastic base (not on my new p4p800S-X).
In addition, i did bend the metalic arms a bit too much, so there was not enough pressure anyway (and yes, it is only tiny soldering, as much as i could notice, but of a size I cannot do myself... I usually have good result with soldering (ask my preamps

but i didn't even think about it with the mobo ).

Good job Gary B and Scope4Live

For those interested, this might be a good compromise as it has all kind of PCI slots ( http://www.presence-pc.com/actualite/as ... uxe-20256/ ) no AGP though + i don't know if SATA is 150 or 300 (by the way, is SATA 300 actually more than 2x fast as my old pci 133 ???). I don't know that mobo though.

ps: the picture is made in the "macro" mode of a lousy samsung camera, that i had in exchange of a broken "cheapest" pentax (so i had 1.2 million additional pixel for free 1 year later

. both are in the "cheap" range (ie, no stabilizer, wich is a pain in the ass, and a rather pale non sexy result for the samsung, which performs less good - with its 7.2 M pixel - than the 6 M of the pentax with carl zeiss optics. the pentax could go even closer in macro mode).