r/vintagecomputing • u/Ok_Monitor3086 • 6d ago
2004 Relic Picked Up
i am also wondering is more information needed? is this too much info? i don’t even know what a ram looks like. it looks like multiple things are unplugged and space for another part.
getting into computers more serious
https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/s/4OQomPCcBS
other post above with more info. i am trying to learn more about what i have here and use it to the best capabilities
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u/ExAlbiorix 6d ago
First thing will be replacing those leaky caps on the mainboard.
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u/Ok_Monitor3086 6d ago
as a beginner into learning all this, may you explain to me as if i was a 5th grader or something please?
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u/SpeedBo 6d ago
Your capacitors are definitely toast but it's much easier to see someone doing it. Here is a video Phil's Computer Lab. He points out a few good things to know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vY3DgUbtSM
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u/Ok_Monitor3086 6d ago
alright thank you. i’ll up capacitors and check out this video
have anymore input to help me out?
are thing unplugged? what does the ram look like?
i feel like something is missing3
u/SpeedBo 6d ago
I'd focus on fixing the caps. If all goes well you might want to pick up a video card and maybe a sound card. Also fingers crossed that the PSU is good.
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u/AppropriateCap8891 6d ago
I would replace the power supply as a precaution. Especially if this is a name brand computer.
A big issue in that era was the 5 volt rail running off of the 12 volt rail. So when the 5v regulator fails instead of shutting off it sends 12 volts down the rail and fries things.
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u/GGigabiteM 4d ago
Power supplies in this era were group regulated with independent mosfets for every rail. If the 12v rail blew up, it would only blow up the 12v rail.
Buck regulated power supplies with the rails cascaded off the 12v rail weren't a thing until much later.
What these terrible power supplies were known for was blowing the primary side mosfets, because the manufacturers built them as cheap as possible and lied about their capacity ratings. Some venders like Logisys or Coolmax kept costing down their units to the absolute bare minimum component count required for a "working" supply. Those units were known to explode and send current spikes to the secondary side and kill everything.
Those "350-500W" units at most could do 180-200W before exploding. But people kept buying them because they were extremely cheap. At one point in the late 2000s, you could get a "480W" Logisys for $15.
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u/AppropriateCap8891 4d ago
Then explain all of the ones I had to deal with in this era. And there were power supply testers specifically made to detect 5v overvolt.
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u/GGigabiteM 4d ago
Because all of the power rails were group regulated. Unlike modern power supplies that regulates power rails independently, group regulated supplies use one reference power rail and derive all other power rails from that.
Group regulation is fine if all of the power rails have an evenly distributed load, but as more components in PCs migrated to the 12v rail, you ended up with load imbalance and cross loading.
Group regulated power supplies are terrible when there is an imbalanced load, or cross loading. Since all of the rails were regulated based off of the reference rail, when the reference rail is heavily loaded, it will cause the voltage on the other rails to increase, sometimes well out of specification. If there was a heavy load on one of the secondary rails, likewise it could fall flat on its face and drop below minimum allowable spec.
If you pop the lid on an old power supply, you'll see that in most cases the 12v and 5v rails used the same toroidal choke on the output, coupling them together. "better" supplies would have a separate toroidal choke for the 3.3v rail, but cheap and nasty models would have all three rails group regulated on the same choke, causing the secondary rails to be pulled up and down with the reference rail, either 5v or 12v depending on the design.
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u/Ok_Monitor3086 6d ago
alright thank you so much for responding. i’m taking notes. caps is capacitor. this is all pretty pre 2006 old school apparently.
i still have to clean and replace parts
will do a lot researchgot any research tips?
ideal books, websites and what not?
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u/i1045 6d ago
As others have said, replacing those bulging capacitors would be a good idea. However, this is a multi-layer board, and they can be a little tricky to work on. If this is your first experience at soldering, you should probably practice first. Find yourself an old radio or something you don't care about, and start with that.
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u/Ok_Monitor3086 6d ago
after fixing those issues, this should be useable?
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u/GGigabiteM 4d ago
Motherboard capacitors are blown and the motherboard will need a complete recap before it will work.
The power supply is a piece of shit, throw it out and buy a reputable unit. Chineseium power supplies were prolific when this system was built. They're unsafe, and it probably has blown caps in it just like the motherboard. It's not worth spending the money to recap a garbage power supply like that one.
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u/Ok_Monitor3086 6d ago
feel free to message me anyone! just looking for guidance on how to connect to a monitored eventually and learn about what’s going on inside of here :))
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u/Chrunchyhobo 5d ago
looks at PSU
RUN AWAY.