What is a Superpuppy?

Discussion relating to Socket 7 hardware.
Jim
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Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Correction : Long time since I did that. - Actually the card originally came with a "Passive" heatsink mounted by "Hole Through" mounts. I replaced that w/ the fan shown in the first pic which is thermal transfer epoxied to the chip. (The fan bolts into the heatsink and is therefore replaceable). The chip has solder tags on the reverse side of the board, which if they could be cooled, would help in cooling the chip.

The only way in which I could "Blow cool air over the board", would be to use those hole through mounts to mount a small fan blowing directly on the board. One of those "Sunon" fans might work if I removed it from its heatsink; or possibly a 486 fan of some sort.

EDIT : @ KachiWachi : Thanks for the IDEA :idea: Will post photo of finished card when it is done. We will have to call it a "KachiWachi 486 All In Wonder". :)

EDIT : Well I started to custom make an aluminum plate to mount a 486 fan blowing the back of the card when I had another idea. Since there is enough room and then some, between the HDD mount and the AGP card to mount one of these; and since I happened to have a new unused one kicking around, I decided to mount it, (see pic), on the bottom of the HDD pack.

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Since it sits about a 1/4 inch, (EDIT : Correction : 3/16 of an inch - getting crowded), above the AGP card, that should create enough of a "draft" across the back of the card to help cool it.

There is of course a fly in the ointment; which will have to be rectified.

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Need I say more?

So what I did was homemake a double male "Fixed Plug" which mounts inside the HDD Cooler, such that the female "Fans Plug" fits on one end; and the female "Power Plug" fits on the other end. Did it that way, because I wanted a fixed plug setup where everything is able to come apart; but I did not want a male power plug, which has the potential to short when disconnected.

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Here is a closeup of the plug setup, with the fan plug plugged in; but not the power plug. The pins in the double male "Fixed Plug" are internally connected by wires, which were bent to either side, before the structure was epoxy filled, then drilled before the cover was put on, (so I could be sure I was not cutting into the wires or insulation while drilling), then drilled again after the cover was crazy glued on to complete the hole for the bolt.

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Here is another closeup, this time with the power plug plugged in, (upside down by mistake); but not yet wired up. This type of plug is the type that you just insert the wire between two blades that cut the insulation and make contact. No soldering or crimping is required so it will be easy to replace the fans if needs be.

The shot also shows the relative scale of the original "inline" plugs versus the replacement setup. This make 9 inline plug pairs that have been replaced or removed from this machine.

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Next step is to wire up the power plug for this cooler then mount it. After that it will be time to mount the temp sensors (plural; one dedicated, the other for the front chassis fan control, because this seems to be the hottest spot in the machine), on the AGP card.

EDIT : 12 NOV 06 : I wasn't satisfied w/ the way my male to male "Fixed Plug" turned out so I made another one. The problem w/ the first one was that I used fan guage wire in it internally; and used soldered "Wire Wrap" as the means of securing the wires to the pins. This meant that the wire was vertically off centre in a rather thin housing. Then when I filed it to level the epoxy fill before gluing on the top cap, the file cut into the wire to some extent, thereby reducing the guage of an already thin wire.

This time, I used heavier guage wire; and to prevent the "off centre" problem, I "Butt Soldered" the wires to the pins w/ a short length of brass tube slid over the end of each pin forming a socket for both the wire and pin to fit into. Done this way, the wires are held centred in line w/ the pins, and will not get damaged by filing the epoxy fill. The photo below illustrates what I mean, though at the stage shown it still needs to be epoxy filled, drilled, and capped. One picture is enlarged to show the detail of it, the other is actual size.

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Have also decided that I will have to redo the wiring setup on the ducted fan HDD mount. The reason for that is because this machine is extremely crowded; and there is a real problem in finding room for the IDE cables to run from the onboard ports up to the various drives. The problem is the rear HDD mount lies parallel to the SDRAM. i.e. they are positioned side by side. The IDE cables have to fit in between the HDD mount and the RAM. It was already very tight before I added "SDRAM Cooling Sinks", which reduced the available space.

So what I am going to have to do is relocate the wiring for the ducted fans from the back side of the HDD mount to the top of it. That in turn will require some mods to be made to the mount; but at least w/ the fan plug receptacle out of the way there will be more room for the IDE cables.

Very Minor Progress Report : 19/11/06 : Actually the rewiring job on the ducted fan HDD setup is proceeding nicely. Modded the HDD mount to reroute the wiring; and made another of my little homemade slimline fixed plug receptacles, (for tight spaces), so the fans can disconnect from the power source. (These things take over a day to make.)

Image

This one is a bit different from the other, wider; but thinner. That is because on the first one I used thick stock for strength on the bottom of it; and thin stock to conserve space on the sides. This one has the thick stock on the sides; and thin stock top and bottom because the vertical space it has to go into is very restricted.

Right now I am waiting for the 24 hour epoxy fill to set, before filing it level, drilling the bolt hole, and capping it. Once it is finished, will post pics of the inside of the HDD mount before the drives are put in, and pics of the finished mount w/ drives installed.

EDIT : Explanation of method. These things are quite small; and therefore difficult to work with. What I do is take a length of brass tubing with inside diameter very close to that of the pins; and use my "Razorsaw" to cut off 4 short pieces. I then use a pair of "forceps", (I think they are called - something like a cross between needle nose pliers, and scissors w/ a ratchet lock built into the handle), to hold each piece while I file the ragged end square.

Once that is done, I slip one over each pin, then using a utility knife, cut off 4 short lengths of solder; and holding each w/ auto grip tweezers, stuff 1 down each tube. I then use a piece of brass rod to ram each piece of solder all the way down the tube till it is pressed against the pin. (That helps prevent cold joins.) Having done that, I then fire up my soldering iron and heat each tube till the solder melts thereby joining the tube to the pin.

Next, with all 4 tubes firmly soldered onto the pins, I take a file and even up the lengths of the tubes. Next, I cut 4 lengths of 22 guage wire, and strip then tin the ends w/ solder. Having done that, I check each one of them to see if they will fit into the tubes, filing the tinned ends as necessary till they will fit. If any of the tubes are so full of solder that a wire cannot be inserted into them, I use my Dremel w/ a very fine drill bit to take enough solder out so that a wire can be inserted. Once everything fits ok, then I insert the wires one at a time and maintaining gentle pressure, heat the tube till the wire suddenly goes in further.

Once all 4 wires are soldered in place, if the plastic header strip has been heat damaged in the course of soldering, I carefully remove the pins w/ wires attached from the header strip; and replace the header strip w/ a new one. (i.e. pull the pins out of another piece of header strip, and insert my soldered pins in their place.)

I then use scissors to cut the wires so all of them are exactly the same length.

The other end is done in the same manner. The result is a fairly neat job w/ good solder connections and a VERY FLAT PROFILE well suited to cramped areas.

EDIT : 21/NOV/06 12:32 A.M. Progress Report. Said I would post pics of the finished mods to the ducted fan HDD mount so here they are.

The first pic shows how I rerouted the wires away from the back side of the drives. Basically I rotated the fans180 degrees and dremeled holes in the HDD mount for the wires to go through. Apart from creating more clearance for the IDE cables, this also resolves the probem of having to tape down the wires so they would not get cut by the duct when the mount is slid into its clipin position.

Image

The second shot shows how I guarded agains sharp edges in the holes cutting the wires, (they were covered w/ heavy guage clear heat shrink); and also shows how the wires were routed so as to avoid passing under the duct. (The trick was to drill the holes inside the area of the duct).

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The third shot shows the interior of the homemade HDD mount without the HDDs installed so you can see the interior construction detail and how the wiring was loomed and run.

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Next we see the mount w/ one drive installed, so you can see how the fans are positioned to draw air across the top and bottom of the top drive; and across the top of the bottom drive.

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This one shows how the position of the fans power plug relates to the top HDD when installed. Close fit there, bearing in mind there is a washer and bolt head between the drive and the fan power plug.

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Here is a bit of a surprise. Superpuppy 2 will be getting rebuilt into the case that I modded for Superpuppy 4; and getting the ducted fan HDD mount that I built for that project.

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Here is a closer view of how the wires on the SP3 HDD mount run through the back of the mount.

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And here is a shot of the back side of the SP3 HDD pack in its cleaned up state. Besides relocating the wiring away from the back of the drive pack, I also changed the drive mounting bolts to flat headed ones to save some more space. Altogether I gained about 3/16 of an inch of additional space for the IDE cables to run through.

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But how does the bottom of the bottom drive get cooled you ask?

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I bet there arn't many ATXs out there that have HDD coolers that are that "COOL".

This will be the last progess report for a while, as I have been E-Baying lately working at getting some upgrade odds and ends. Have to wait for the new goodies to arrive before I can go further.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

I either have, or soon will have the following video cards available for SP2, SP3, & SPZ. 1) Power Colour Radeon 7000 , 2) ATI 32 Meg DDR Radeon aiw, 3) ASUS Radeon 9200 SE 128MB, 4) ATI Radeon 9000 aiw 64 Meg, 5) ATI Radeon 8500 D aiw 64 Meg, 6) ATI Radeon 8500 LE 128 Meg.

Am wondering which card should go in which machine. I am inclined to put the 8500 LE in SP2, because I am given to understand that the 8500 LE is just about the best card you can get for Super 7; and I have a sneaking suspicion that when all is said and done SP2 is going to be a better performer than SP3. That leaves the 9000 aiw, 9200 SE, & 8500 aiw for SP3 & SPZ. Don't know what the FIC can support in terms of amount of power draw on the AGP slot; though haven't had any problems w/ the DFI in that regard.

Suggestions anyone?
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Leper Messiah

Post by Leper Messiah »

I would recomend the AIW 8500DV actually, as it is just a clocked down version of the full 8500 nAIW and will do 300/300 pretty easily (at least mine did). The 8500LE has the slower 128MB RAM and AFAIK a 64 bit memory bus instead of the 128bit on the AIW, which is going to make a fairly significant difference in performance (esp with AA on). I actually used that particular card in a Pentium III 550@616 for a while (yeah I know, boo hiss pentium! :P) after my only SS7 board died while playing Morrowind.

BTW, I'd like to complement you on your awesome case mods, and how far you take antiquated cases, its pretty cool.
Jim
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Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Thanks! Are you the same guest who answered as "Me" in my "video card matchup" thread? I don't understand why 128 Meg of RAM is slower than 64 Meg. Could you or someone else enlighten me on that? What I really need to understand is how these cards should be rated on a 1 to 5 basis, and why. Thanks again.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Guest

Post by Guest »

Jim wrote:Thanks! Are you the same guest who answered as "Me" in my "video card matchup" thread? I don't understand why 128 Meg of RAM is slower than 64 Meg. Could you or someone else enlighten me on that? What I really need to understand is how these cards should be rated on a 1 to 5 basis, and why. Thanks again.
See my post as "Guest" in the video card thread you made.
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

K; have finished modding the power supply harness to accomodate the latest changes. It's a 300 Watt AT supply w/ the following specs :

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It Came w/ 3 Power cables which I have modified, both to change their lengh, (getting rid of surplus wire), and adding extra plugs as required.

Cable #1 powers the CD ROM drives; and is fitted w/ an unused 5v plug probably meant to originally power a "Display".

Image

Cable #2 Powers the rear HDD mount w/ the two Diamond Max 80 Gig 7200 drives; and also powers the lower twin cooling fan mount.

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Cable #3 Powers, (from left to right), 1) the 20 Gig Diamond Max primary master drive, 2) the chipset fans, 3) the Mitsumi floppy w/ built in card readers, 4) the twin ducted fan setup, & 5) the Enermax, (which in turn powers the Display).

Image

The reason I did it that way was I wanted as much of the extra stuff as possible stuck on a cable that was only supporting 1 major device; (the primary master).
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
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Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Should "Sleeping Dogs" be left to lie ? --- No Answer ? Thought somebody would catch on. Its done; now just have to pray that it works. There are two mods remaining to be done; but one, (the front panel mod), won't get done till everything is tested and working; and the other, I haven't yet figured out how to do. More about that later.

Looking at the back of the machine, top to bottom and left to right : 1) 300 Watt AT Power Supply, 2) Keyboard Port and Rear HDD Pack Ducted Fan Setup, 3) PS2 Port and Com 2 Port, 4) ATI Radeon 9000 aiw AGP Card, 5) NEC USB 2 Card, 6) Link Sys 10/100 LAN Card, 7) CMD 649 IDE Controller Card, 8) CL Audigy 1 MP3 Card, 9) Unused Port Mounting Slot, 10) Printer Port and Com 1 Port.

Image

The Video Card temperature sensor and the Front Chassis Fan speed control sensor have both been mounted on the Radeon 9000. The speed control sensor is a bit different from all the others; and because it may have somewhat different electrical characteristics I used the original one that came w/ the Front Chassis Fan. The two sensors are crazy glued in contact w/ the video chip on either side of it and also w/ the back of the video chip heatsink.

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Like all the other temperature sensors, the length of the wires has been custom tailored to give the best compromise between neatness and servicability.

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The Ambient Temperature sensor has also been mounted.

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The fully wired up "Sensor Bus" looks like this :

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The "Rear Ducted Fan HDD Pack", when installed, looks like this :
(Note: The DFI specifys that IDE cables may NOT exceed 18 inches in length. All IDE cables used are 14 inches long.) (Note Also : That the uplugged IDE Plug seen is unused, as only the Primary Master HDD is attached to the Onboard Primary IDE Cable)

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The HDD wiring looks like this :

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Though it is fair to say that this machine has had a pretty determined effort put into it in terms of "Wire Management" it is nonetheless still a "Mess".

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One ugly little surprize I ran into, was that PCI Cards would not seat properly in the top 2 PCI Slots because of interference w/ on board "Chip Heatsinks". This problem was resolved, by carefully examining the PCI Cards, and finding that both the NEC USB Card, and the Link Sys 10/100 LAN Card appeared to have no traces or circuitry on that part of the boards which was causing interference - (At the lower corner nearest the mounting bracket). Some sawing, filing, and drilling later, - (w/ an application of crazy glue for insulation of the ground plane), they fit. Neatly done but no photos of that however.

The remaining "Mod" that I would like to do at some point, is to utilize the "Unused Port Mounting Slot" remaining, by somehow taking one of those "Blank" slot blockers and converting it into an "External IDE Port" connected to the unused Secondary Cable on the IDE Controller Card.

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KachWachi, suggestions welcome there.

Finally the "Window Issue", - This is what the whole thing looks like :

Image

Image

Personally, I don't think a "Window" would be an improvement w/ this machine. Too much wire!!, (Case is old and stained too.)
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Troubleshooting SP3 : - There has been a lot of it to shoot!!

1) No video sometimes; - Solution : Replace Mobo battery.

2) Vantec "Stacker Fan" not running; - Trouble tracing : (After checking fan operation from alternate power source), Check wiring and find two pins not properly "Locked" in their plug shell; - Solution : Lock pins.

(NOTE : This "Stacker Fan" setup really MOVES AIR !!! - Not too loud either unless you turn the fan speeds way up.) Works great!

3) HDD Cooling Fans not running; - Trouble tracing : (Power from alternate source to check fan operation - 1 fan noisy, [Sounds like the blades are hitting something], but all working) Solution 1 : Flip fan plug to give correct +- orientation (bottom fans); Solution 2 : Find and resolder a cold solder join on power supply to back fans; Solution 3 : Loosen mounting bolts on noisy fan, adjust position till noise stops, retighten bolts

4) Front Chassis Fan speed control works spasmodically, (and then doesn't allow sufficient speed reduction); - Solution : Replace cheap stupid trimpot w/ proper wirewound potentiometer.

NOTE : The Front Chassis Fan also really MOVES AIR - HUGE amounts of it !!! (despite having to draw it through a nylon filter) Very NOISY though , which is why want to change pot for greater control of speed.

5) Floppy disk drive no longer working, (prpbably got crap in it during mods); - Solution : Replace w/ another new Mitsumi floppy.

6) I have also moved the "D" drive partition off of the primary master drive. Two reasons for doing that; first since I now have more space, I wanted to enlarge not only that partition; but the WIN98-SE and the WINXP-PRO partitions as well. Second I figured things would run faster w/ the "Software" partition moved from the back, (slow end), of a relatively slow drive to the front, (fast end), of a relatively fast drive.

No problem till I went to resize the OS partitions. (NOTE : All this was done w/ "Partition Magic" which enables you to do a number of things that are utterly impossible w/ "MS" Poopware; i.e. move, and/or merge, and or split, and or resize partitions without having to format and reinstall your OS.) Upon attempting to resize the OS patitions, (using the space freed up by taking the "D" partition off the primary master), I got an error message : "File size does not match Fat Table"

So I used Partition Magic to resize the "Clusters" in the 3.2 Gig WIN98-SE partition from 2k up to 4k, so as to allow a larger partition. That worked fine; but when I went to enlarge the partition, I still got the same error message. Realizing that in order to move 4.3 Gig of free space through the 7.8 Gig XP partition in order to get it to the 98-SE partition, I would also have to resize the clusters in the XP partition from 4k up to 8k I next tried to do that. Result was I still got the same error message : "File size does not match Fat Table".

Solution : Twigging that I resized the Win98-SE clusters by running "Partition Magic" under WINXP-PRO, I installed "Partition Magic", (normally not necessary or even desirable, because "Partition Magic" has what it calls a "Home Partition"), on the 98 partition as well; then ran the XP-PRO partition's "Cluster Resizing" under WIN98-SE. THAT WORKED, and I was able to resize the XP clusters up to 8k; and thereafter was able to resize both partitions to absorb the 8.69 Gig freed up by moving "D" drive.

More to follow. For now the Machine is booting into its old WIN XP boot, (Much to my surprize, - it was corrupt, which does say something for XP at least).

EDIT : 07/01/07 : Although XP would boot, it would not shut down properly, and there were other problems which were affecting stability.

Solution : Redo the entire install of everything.
Last edited by Jim on Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:24 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
User avatar
KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

Jim sez -

"The remaining "Mod" that I would like to do at some point, is to utilize the "Unused Port Mounting Slot" remaining, by somehow taking one of those "Blank" slot blockers and converting it into an "External IDE Port" connected to the unused Secondary Cable on the IDE Controller Card.

KachWachi, suggestions welcome there."


Um...I didn't follow you...please elaborate. Thanks.
Moderator - Wim's BIOS

PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
PC #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768 MB SDRAM
PC #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256 MB SDRAM
PC #5 - Gateway 700X, P4-2.0 GHz, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM
PC #6 - COMPAQ Evo N1020v laptop, P4-2.4 GHz, 1 GB PC2700 DDR
PC #7 - Dell Dimension 4600i, P4-2.8 GHz, 512 MB PC2700 DDR
PC #8 - Acer EeePC netbook, Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz, 1 GB RAM
PC #9 - ??? ;)
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Well its like this; - Sp3 is crowded to the max; - yet there is still an unused IDE port on the controller card. There is also an unused slot on the back of the machine where a "Bracket Port" i.e. for example a USB1 Port could be installed. What I would like to do, is take one of those "blank" slot blocker thingies, and mod it into something, (I.e. an external IDE Port), that an external IDE cable could be plugged into, and connect the modded slot blocker thingie to the unused port on the controller card.

That way, all I would have to do to bring in data from HDDs not in the machine would be to hook them up to an external power supply; and connect them to the IDE port on the modded slot blocker thingie. Capish?
Last edited by Jim on Thu Dec 28, 2006 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
User avatar
KachiWachi
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Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 10:53 am
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

Post by KachiWachi »

Yup.

So why not just build a custom bracket and feed a standard IDE cable out the back?

For a "clean look", you'd have to get an internal IDE cable that is not "cut" for master/slave...that is...100% full connetions...so in the event that you want to add two drives outside, you could use a standatd IDE cable and master/slave it...if you get my drift.

You could also add a power pinout, so you could connect that up on the spot as well.
Moderator - Wim's BIOS

PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
PC #2 - Amptron PM-7900 (M520), i200 non-MMX, 128 MB EDO
PC #3 - HP8766C, PIII-667, 768 MB SDRAM
PC #4 - ASUS P3V4X, PIII-733, 256 MB SDRAM
PC #5 - Gateway 700X, P4-2.0 GHz, 768 MB PC800 RDRAM
PC #6 - COMPAQ Evo N1020v laptop, P4-2.4 GHz, 1 GB PC2700 DDR
PC #7 - Dell Dimension 4600i, P4-2.8 GHz, 512 MB PC2700 DDR
PC #8 - Acer EeePC netbook, Atom N270 @ 1.60 GHz, 1 GB RAM
PC #9 - ??? ;)
Jim
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Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Actually I don't quite understand exactly what you mean. Are you saying "Just cut a slot in one of the slot blockers so that I can slide an IDE cable into the slot w/ the board end of the cable sticking inwards and the drives end of the cable sticking outwards?" or are you saying "to use an 'uncut', (what does that mean?), short IDE cable inside, (connecting to an unmentioned socket, similar to the IDE port sockets on the mobo, mounted on the inside of the slot blocker), w/ another similar unmentioned socket mounted on the outside of the slot blocker for the external IDE cable to connect to?"

The second method is what I prefer, though it is a lot more complicated to do, because you arn't left stuck w/ an IDE cable left permanently hanging out the back of the machine. Problem is I don't know where I can get a back to back IDE socket to mount on the slot blocker; and I am not sure how well IDE signals would be transmitted by any lashup that I might create from scrap HDD or Mobo IDE sockets.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

K, more : first, tried sticking an IDE cable in the IDE controller card's unused secondary port, hooking up a hard drive, (powered off another power supply), to it, and the machine did not pick it up. There may be a limitation on how many IDE devices the board will support from an IDE controller card. Alternative is a fairly nifty USB hookup that allows you to connect external HDDs of any type, (SATA, IDE 3.5, IDE 2.5), to one of your USB ports and import data that way.

Trouble Shooting continued :
7) My modded Linksys LAN card worked; but not very well. Excruciatingly SLOW. Solution : Replace Linksys w/ D-Link card which does not interfere w/ the onboard heatsinks when installed.

More to follow.
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KachiWachi
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Post by KachiWachi »

You should not use an external power supply (grounding issues, etc...).

Normally, and IDE port will support two devices (Master and Slave), and there are normally two ports per Controller (Primary and Secondary)...so that leaves you with four devices altogether.
Moderator - Wim's BIOS

PC #1 - DFI 586IPVG, K6-2/+ 450 (Cyrix MII 433), 128 MB EDO. BIOS patched by Jan Steunebrink.
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Jim
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Post by Jim »

Well, not sure why; but drives put on the controller card secondary cable don't work. Have vague memory that there are issues using the controller card secondary sometimes.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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