Exploding Netvistas!jawaproThu 16/08/2007 11:11 AM
I have recently been scavanging a few old computers from work that were bound for the rubbish skip outside.
Now, we've thrown a lot of old junk away since I've been here - but these computers convinced me to save them.
They are IBM netvista workstations. And they dont look like much, but the inside of the case is very well designed, and easy to work on. And after pulling apart a heap of old Acers that are the opposite, I liked these enough to save 3 of them (I missed the very first one I came accross).
Well, I offered one to Mr Turkeybrain as part of a deal (will explain shortly) and I was setting it up for him the other night.
I added some harddrives, connected the power, turned it on, and waited.
Everything started fine. The BIOS Post screen came up on the monitor, everything was going well.
Then the PC exploded.
Well - maybe that's a little over the top. But one of the barrel shaped things on the motherboard (you can see my Uni Degree shinning through here) went POP and some smoke or gas or whatever came out.
So I pulled the power quick-smart, and waited to see what would happen.
Well, no fire or anything, so eventually I turned it back on and hid behind a chair in case it blew up again. But it didnt. In fact, it seemed quite happy, other than the small fact that it couldnt detect any IDE harddrives or Optical Drives. Which, of course, makes it completely useless.
So whatever the barrel thing was (TurkeyBrain called it a capacitor) it must have something to do with the IDE controller.
And although this is the only one I've seen explode (the case was off at the time) it's the third computer I've seen that cant find the IDE drives. One was my old Mara server (had previously been my gamming machine) and the other was a PC I'd built for my cousin.
And no, there is no factor that connects all 3 computers. One blew up in Devonport, one in Exeter, and one in Hobart. No pieces were the same. And I was only actually there when 2 of the 3 died. And the old server (Mara) had been working fine for months, until one day it wouldnt boot up.
So I dont know what caused all this in the other PCs - or this one. But I've got a dead motherboard now, so I'm going to work out what to do with that.
But I still have two Netvistas to get going. One I'll give to TurkeyBrain.
Why?
Well - I finally managed to talk Turkeybrain into selling me his server case (see photo).
After the last Axon LAN I went to, I decided I wanted to make myself a new server, and I wanted to do some serious case modding (adding stuff, making it cooler) and I wanted to base it on a fat case - exactly like the one Turkey bought at an auction a while back.
He still hasnt managed to get into the case (it's locked) and I eventually convinced him to sell it to me.
He gets to keep the harddrives inside the server, gets a netvista (if they dont all explode) and an undisclosed amount of cash as well.
And in return I get a very awesome case, just ready to be case modded.
Assuming I can get a locksmith to open the lock...
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A Tale of FansjawaproTue 14/08/2007 08:26 PM
I finally got a call last night to say the PC fan I was waiting for had arrived. So today at lunchtime I took a drive across the river into Devonport and picked it up.
Here it is in its box still. It takes up one PCI slot - and is supposed to be very good at drawing the air out the back as an exhaust.
When I was installing it, I took out the Graphics Card and had a decent look at it. Turns out there was HEAPS of dust blocking the heatsink. Might have had something to do with the overheating. Maybe…
Here’s the dust I pulled out of the heatsink (I vacuumed the last of it, so that’s not in this photo.
But I’ve now got the heatsink clear, and the exhaust fan mounted in the case. And it’s a fair bit quieter than the matchstick job was.
And while we’re on the topic of fans, I bought the new Lisa Mitchell cd today as well - cause, well, I’m a fan.
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Bad DayjawaproFri 10/08/2007 12:28 PM
Well, I havent exaclty had the best day ever.
I got targeted by an ebay scam, but saw through that and alerted the seller (who wasnt reposibile).
I checked my hotmail account, and had over 1000 emails. Most were comments from this site. I'd forgotten they went straight to the hotmail account. So I deleted them all without reading them. Some might have been ligit, but I wasnt going to read them all just in case - so they were all deleted.
But the really bad news - is that it appears the domains I was still trying to transfer have been 'stolen'. www.overlordofharmony.com and www.apostlesofm.com (which I bought on behalf of Mr Pretzel) now point to an advertising site. I'll try and get them back, but it might be too late.
Fourtuantly I'd managed to move www.jawapro.com already.
Not to mention the constant bad weather lately.
On a positive note though, my computer isnt freezing when I play games at the moment. I ordered a PCI slot fan but it still hasnt turned up yet, so I bought a standard style fan as well. And here it is, cooling my graphics card down.
And yes, those are match sticks holding it up. No, not real matches - but match sticks from a construction set I've had for years.
And Mr Turkeybrain says there still may be hope regarding that server case I want. Stay tuned...
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Weekend ReportjawaproMon 06/08/2007 06:52 PM
Well – that was a fairly productive weekend.
First up I called into the bike dealer, and saw my Vespa in the flesh for the first time. I’ve got the photos to prove it actually exists too. The dealer was saying that it arrived out of the blue – and they didn’t know who it was for or anything. Communication collapsed somewhere along the way.
My old boss wants to buy it too. I don’t really have much use for a Vespa – so putting the money towards a house sometime seems like the better idea to me.
And maybe upgrading my computer as well.
Talking about computers, I went to the Axon LAN again. Heaps of fun – except my PC keeps freezing when I play games – forcing me to restart. Especially annoying in Flatout, when I was often winning the race until my PC froze.
Either a driver issue – or my graphics card is overheating. I’ll have to try some extra cooling and see if that helps.
Me and Xorg (my mate from the Martian Leader LANS) were using external harddrives – and a few people commented on the line-up of external drives on top of our cases.
And later in the weekend I got some more good news. My domain (jawapro.com) has finally been transferred to Godaddy. It’s still pointing to the same location at the moment – but it means that if Illusionfxnet (my old host) collapses, I’ll keep the domain and can point it to the new site.
Now I just got to repeat the performace with my other domains. But getting no help from Illusion (no response at all in over a week and a half), so I’m trying to go over their head and talk to the people they buy the domains from.
And today I found out that I’d passed the ITIL course (I went to Melbourne for this a while back). I got 37 questions right out of 40. That’s apparently a pretty high score, and they don’t see many of them. I topped everyone at work – including my boss :)
And since Axon, I’ve been dreaming about making myself a server again (Mara died late last year) and doing some fancy case mods. Unfourtuantly the server case I want to use is currently a possession of the great Turkeybrain – so I have to convince him to part with it before my dreams can become reality.
Anyway – that’s it for now. Stay tuned.
And Turkeybrain – you know you want to sell me that case….
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New Headlights Part 2jawaproMon 30/07/2007 07:06 PM
After reading the discussion a few posts ago about my new headlights and things - Turkeybrain decided to photoshop what my Subaru would look like with roof mounted driving lights.
Well, Klutz saw his version, and decided to go one better. Strangely, I could imagine myself driving this. :)
Thanks guys!
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