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Skybuck's Dream PC 2006 needed an operation again ! (sympton was: severe vibrations)

S

Skybuck Flying

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello,

The last few days I have been disassembling, cleaning, oiling, and
re-assembling my Dream PC from 2006.

I needed a good cleaning, because I thought some of the fans had collected
to much dust and fine dirt from cars and I suspect the oil wasn't good
anymore.

The reason for this suspicion was rattling and pretty severe vibrations
which seemed to come from the external fans.

So I pulled off all the stickers from the antec 1200 case fans, opened them,
cleaned them, I noticed lot's of smurf snot and green snot, and buttery
snot, the oil had turned into that.

And then I did a somewhat shocking discovery:

The AMD heatsink plastic bracket that was holding up the cpu fan had
fractured, which may be the cause of the vibrations.

Perhaps the case FANS and the cpu FANS interacted with each other and caused
the vibrations, perhaps it was warm/cold weather that fractured it further.

It was already damaged because of screws wrecking the plastic.

The AMD X2 3800+ heatsink/fan design is utter crap... it's way too flimsy.

Furthermore there were additional problems:

The antec 1200 top case fan needs a washer to hold up the fan, without this
washer it will not spin up properly and will hang a bit, fortunately I saved
the metal washer and managed to re-attach it... I would have to remove the
big fan otherwise cause I wouldn't know for sure if it would spin a little
bit in the correct direction.

I also didn't bother placing back washer on the rest of the case fans. I did
place back a washer on the OCX X Stream power supply.

I noticed glue inside of this power supply, fortunately it did not become on
conductive... if I had become conductive like the gigaworks s750 drama then
people could have been electrocuted possibly.

There was a lot of dust in this power supply, so I cleaned that too, I
basically cleaned every little corner of this case and it's equipment.

The winfast motherboard did not have markings on the motherboard for the
front panel connectors (hd led, power switch, power reset).

I had to boot up my old Pentium III 450 mhz to download the winfast manual
which fortunately is still available on some third party website.

However first I wanted to update the Windows XP 32 bit operating system. It
took the web-based windows update 5 fokking hours to find the 103 updates.
Then I cancelled the stupid "malicious software scanner tool" and then it
aborted the whole update installation ! Stupid web-based crap !

So then I tried again, and another 8 hours went by and it didn't find
nothing... it just kept scrolling that green bar. So I thought it was time
for a reset and simply try and leave the computer running without doing
anything so that windows xp can automatically download updates.

This fortunately worked much better, it still took many many hours of
shutting down the computer so it can install all 100 updates or so and then
some more reboots.

But after 20 hours or so... the old pentium III 450 mhz was finally updated
with windows patches.

Anyway I decided not to wait for this and go ahead and try to find the
manual, risking pretty much everything... if the system had become infected
wow, I would have had a major problem, it has no more cd/dvd drive and I
don't even a 32 bit linux boot cd or whatever though not sure, but I should
make one it could come in handy someday.

Fortunately my old computer didn't get infected like last time (it already
had sp3 or so)... and I could continue on my build.

I booted the DreamPC without the CPU fan... unfortunately the winfast
motherboard has some kind of driver bug so it tooks 10 minutes of booting.
This was a scary period... but I set all case fans to max. And then later I
noticed the CPU temperature was close to 40 degrees, it probably started to
smell a bit or maybe that was the old monitor, I vented my place well.

Then I put windows on minimum processor state/usage. So that it cuts back
usage to 50%.

Ofcourse I didn't feel comfortable without a CPU fan for this hot AMD
processor.

Then after playing some online stratego on my old computer I searched for a
heatsink online and then I saw this review and then I remembered... I have
this Scyth Zipang cooler lol.

So I was like YEAH ! That gonna be pretty good/perfect for my system.

Last time that cooler probably fried my memory chip and motherboard, but
that was when using dust filters as far as I can remember, I don't use those
anymore.

It does turn my PC into a big vacuum cleaner, but it runs cooler.

This time I noticed something slightly odd... I think the orientation is a
bit different on this winfast motherboard which could be a really good
thing.

The heat pipes are actually pointing downwards and upwards, away from any
critical components like memory chips.

Even the graphics card is at a safe distance.

This time I decided to flip the FAN on the Scyth Zipang ninja... I noticed
how the stock AMD heatsink got real hot so I definetly don't want this
Scythe Zipang CPU Cooler which normally blows "cold air" towards the
motherboard blowing down on my motherboard ! Cause I simply don't believe.

I think those Chinese motherfokkers are crazy to blow air towards the
motherboard... I don't believe for one second that that air is actually
cold. It's probably fokking hot like a hair dryer... especially in the
summer.

It's now winter...

Anyway so now/this time I decided to flip and turn the fan on it... and have
it blow away from the motherboard and also towards the exit. Fortunately the
fan has markings on it... indicating airflow.

As always when cleaning my PC I break something off:

1. The AMD heatsink <-> fan attachment is broken beyond usage.

2. The motherboard graphics card pin that snaps into the graphics card broke
off ! LOL... it's the white plastic that looks very weak... and indeed it
snapped straight off while trying to remove the graphics card so I could
snap in the AC97 connector cause sometime in the future I may want to try
the onboard audio chip, instead of the fantastic creative labs x-fi
soundblaster, though even linux mint 11 manages to output sound on this
great soundblaster...

Then something strange happened, while connecting cables to my computer, my
computer turned on by itself, multiple times... it was very strange... but I
am used to strange things happening when reconnecting power cables.

For now I believe there was some kind of electrical loop occuring inside the
cabling. So I unplugged all cables everywhere, so that the electricity stops
looping around (perhaps ground wire loops etc).

Hopefully this will solve the "computer turns on by itself" phenemon.

What's also weird is that I noticed my computer turning on when I pressed
the mouse button on the usb mouse... it shouldn't really do that as far as I
know... there is nothing in the bios indicating that it should do that... so
that's kinda strange... perhaps the mouse button was stuck but I don't think
so.

This was the first time I saw the computer auto turn on... however as I
write this another explanation could be the E key it's slightly stuck I had
to place some paper under it because it's plastic spring that holds up the
key was broken beyond repair a while ago... so this logitec keyboard not too
great when it comes to surviveability but it types nice.

I don't think it was the E key though... it would seem like a logical
explanation... but it's not... if it was logical then that would have
happened before... this was something else, something different, some weird.
Perhaps something is weirdly connected inside my PC but I don't think so.

I had plenty of light this time and I checked everything and did everything
according to manuals etc... so it's truely one of those unexplained x-files
mysteries lol.

For now I shall file it inside my brain as another unexplained electricity
mystery though I am used to seeing electricy do spooky stuff to computers !
;) Like spooky action predicted by einstein :) Enough about the spooky shit.

Now onto the rest.

Windows 7 wanted to format A: ? wtf that kinda weird but probably floppy
drive detection for the flash drive ? But there is not floppy drive in it
lol. Ofcourse I cancelled, for all I know it might even try to format C:
lol. Oh that reminds me I'll have to check my harddisks to see if there are
any bad sectors, hopefully not.

Anyway the only thing not working yet is the volume control on the break-out
box from the soundblaster x-fi... perhaps it will work after a re-boot or
so.

Maybe the usb-reattachement somehow prevented its detection.. I also had to
reconfigure volume outputs to not use AC97 or realtek or whatever but X-Fi
elite soundblaster.

I was very nice and relaxing to be away from my DreamPC for a few days... I
felt like I was on a big "brain vacation" lol... putting my brain to rest...
even while I was doing "hard labor" it still felt like a nice vacation when
sitting behind my old computer :) So I am kinda a little bit sad that my
DreamPC is now back online... it also makes a bit more noise than the old
computer...

Temperatures right now are looking pretty excellent, I want to mostly keep
motherboard temperature down so that it stays alive... fortunately the
winfast motherboard has overheat protection so it's a great feature... it
also had dual bios... another great feature.... and it's orientation and cpu
brackets seem/are pretty good. I am glad the scyth fitted on it without a
hassle. Ofcourse those plastic pins holding it up could break off like on
other motherboard but I was a bit more carefull this time... it's heavy so
the motherboard is in danger of fracture... but I ll risk it.

If my DreamPC from 2006 does die in the next few years then it will probable
be from micro-fracture... I got the overheat issue under control mostly I
think ;)

I will be monitoring temperatures the coming day to see what my "mod" is
doing to the CPU fan situation :) So far I like it.

Here are temperature read outs at 19.5 ambient temperatures (accoring to my
shitty digital deskptop real workd clock), so temperatures according to
CPUID HWMonitor software:

(Oh yeah I just slapped a little fly lol... I noticed it early... glad it's
DEAD ! I think I also found a little spider leg inside one of the case fan
ducts... so that may explain the rattle also).
(no fokking fly is gonna fok up my newbly rebuild/re-assembled dreampc from
2006 ;))

The only thing I didn't do yet is flash the bios... so this system currently
can only use 3 GB and not 4 GB... I hope this does not affect dual channel
usage... I hope memory performance will still be good in just 3 GB mode ?
hmm ;)

According to it's gui:
thrm: 40 degrees celcius
sysin: 24 degrees celcius
cputin: 27 degrees celcius
auxtin: 40 degrees celcius

core #0: 25 degrees celcius
core #1: 21 degrees celcius

harddisks: 25 degrees celcius
graphics card gt 520: 29 degrees celcius

So far these temperatures look pretty impressive for idle... later on I ll
check when gaming or so ;)

I also took some pictures and some video of some part of the re-build...
though my flash disks were full though I got the most interesting parts.

Maybe I will post some pictures/videos later but there are quite gruesome
too look at... like a surgeon performing surgery...

I am pretty sure that most of you people don't wanna see all that AMD damage
lol... nor all that dirty dust ! LOL.

Or even the antec 1200 horror for the top fan which thankfully completed
successfully, I have a nice video for that maybe some day I ll post it...

But why go through all the trouble for me huh ?... just read my posting
carefully and you'll be able to figure it out hopefully if not I sum it up
shortly here:

Yes it is possible to re-attach the washer to hold up the antec 1200 top
case fan in it's case... so try ! there is also a spring in it ! So watch
out if you remove the washer
stuff will jump out, there is also a metal big ring in it and so forth.

I levered it out, and levered it back onto it... so don't give up... it's
possible and quite easy to do ! ;) Easier thank you would think... just use
a large enough screw driver
to get some good leverage, it must still fit into the shaft though ;)

I am just happy that everything is now functioning again... at the start and
especially when I "broke" the top fan washer... I felt gutted I was like oh
my god... I may have to "junk" the entire system...

But nope... I could have left the top fan out of it... and fortunately I had
spare parts... like the Scythe Zipang cooler... so it's kinda cool and
happy... this cleaning session had a happy ending ! ;) =D

It was a close call though... I consider this Dream/Nightmare PC to be:
"Computer evolution" All the bad/weak parts are thrown out and the
better/good/strong parts remain.

This blacknight will have some more years of usage... as I wrote in the
post... I plan to only buy a new computer in the year 2016 !

I am not sure yet what it will be, maybe an ARM chip, maybe a sealed PC so I
don't ever have to clean it ever, maybe an intel chip, maybe a noiseless
system.

All I know is it will have to shit diamonds, it will have to be a diamond...
it will have to have overheat protection, dual bios, low noise, low heat,
and hopefully no cleaning and still good capabilities.

Cause quite frankly... I don't like this blacknight anymore... it's like
fokking batman... it's brutal and it's mean... it has it's own will and it
wants to die a lot... it's under attack from all kinds of baddies... yeah
apperently
black computers/niggers ?! attract lot s of baddies like: Mr Dust and Mr
Overheat and Mr Electric and Mr BugUpYourAss and Mr BreakOff and Mr
BiosBadSetting (yeah I set clock multiplier to 4x lol that didnt work lol.
Had to remove bios battery so dont do that ! ;))
Mr ReoilWasherProblem and so forth. But so far... just like Batman... he
hangs on... kicks their asses and survives in it's batcave ! ;) =D

(Many lessons learned.. hopefully I don't forget most... also this posting
will remind me of some of them).

This report not too good but I ll include it anyway, gonna do some
temperatures manual above^:

CPUID HWMonitor Report
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Binaries
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

HWMonitor version 1.2.3.0

Monitoring
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mainboard Model NF-CK804 (0x000001EB - 0x00B41AC8)

LPCIO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

LPCIO Vendor Winbond
LPCIO Model W83627EHF
LPCIO Vendor ID 0x5CA3
LPCIO Chip ID 0x88
LPCIO Revision ID 0x63
Config Mode I/O address 0x2E
Config Mode LDN 0xB
Register space LPC, base address = 0x0290


Hardware Monitors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hardware monitor Winbond W83627EHF
Voltage 0 1.11 Volts [0x8B] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 1 1.86 Volts [0xE9] (VIN0)
Voltage 2 3.34 Volts [0xD1] (AVCC)
Voltage 3 3.34 Volts [0xD1] (+3.3V)
Voltage 4 1.72 Volts [0xD7] (VIN1)
Voltage 5 1.73 Volts [0xD8] (VIN2)
Voltage 6 1.73 Volts [0xD8] (VIN3)
Voltage 7 1.46 Volts [0xB7] (VIN4)
Temperature 0 24°C (75°F) [0x18] (SYSTIN)
Temperature 1 27°C (80°F) [0x36] (CPUTIN)
Temperature 2 40°C (104°F) [0x50] (AUXTIN)
Fan 0 7337 RPM [0x17] (SYSFANIN)
Fan 1 927 RPM [0xB6] (CPUFANIN0)
Hardware registers
Register space LPC, base address = 0x0290

Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 40°C (104°F) [0xC3C] (THRM)

Hardware monitor NVIDIA NVAPI
Voltage 0 0.90 Volts [0x384] (VIN0)
Temperature 0 29°C (84°F) [0x1D] (TMPIN0)


Processors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 2

APICs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0 0
-- Core 1
-- Thread 0 1

Timers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACPI timer 3.580 MHz
Perf timer 3.580 MHz
Sys timer 1.000 KHz
BCLK timer 200.92 MHz


Processors Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 2 (max 2)
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Codename Manchester
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
Package Socket 939
CPUID F.B.1
Extended CPUID F.2B
Brand ID 5
Core Stepping BH-E4
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 1004.7 MHz
Multiplier x Bus Speed 5.0 x 200.9 MHz
HT Link speed 1004.7 MHz
Stock frequency 2000 MHz
Instructions sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64
L1 Data cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line
size
L1 Instruction cache 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte
line size
L2 cache 2 x 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line
size
FID/VID Control yes
Max FID 10.0x
VID range 1.100 V - 1.400 V


K8 Thermal sensor yes
K8 Revision ID 4.1


Thread dumps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Thread 0
APIC ID 0
Topology Processor ID 0, Core ID 0, Thread ID 0
Type 02002008h
Max CPUID level 00000001h
Max CPUID ext. level 80000018h
Cache descriptor Level 1, I, 64 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 1, D, 64 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 2, U, 512 KB, 1 thread(s)

CPU Thread 1
APIC ID 1
Topology Processor ID 0, Core ID 1, Thread ID 0
Type 02002008h
Max CPUID level 00000001h
Max CPUID ext. level 80000018h
Cache descriptor Level 1, I, 64 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 1, D, 64 KB, 1 thread(s)
Cache descriptor Level 2, U, 512 KB, 1 thread(s)

Display Adapters
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Display adapter 0
Name NVIDIA GeForce GT 520
Revision A1
PCI device bus 5 (0x5), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)
Vendor ID 0x10DE (0x1043)
Model ID 0x1040 (0x83A0)


Bye,
Skybuck and his Batcomputer ! ;) =D
 
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