oh yeah, lots and lots of trying stuff. thanks for watching!

35:06 lol. It me.

i'm 44, and also missed being in the game at the right time in the 90's, but 20y ago I've bought some Sun hardware from friends : two Ultra30 + one Ultra1 + one SPARCstation 4 + 2 SunBlade 100 (those 2 last ones came from a national french lab, INRIA), all of this works flawlessly yet. Honestly I think it worths the experience to invest a few bucks in such old piece of hardware even on auction and have fun playing with it. Of course it's not that fast compared to modern hardware but it's nice and rock solid. Can support Solaris or NetBSD or FreeBSD for some. When you look at how powersupplies were enginereed you understand they designed all of these very seriously. One day i'll buy some SGI station, just to play with Irix on its original dedicated hardware. This is not a matter of nostalgia, as we didn't know the era when it appeared on the market (would love to play with a Next Cube too), but it keeps all of this alive and maintained, but it's more like collecting old cars, from time to time you just enjoy the ride 😎.

I think Athlon XP had that protection built in, not sure if that applies to all the XP models. Athlon Thunderbirds and Durons would fry themselfes to death for sure because those didn't have any built in protection at all.

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

thanks for watching!

good idea

Yeah couldn't find my spudger, new kit on the way :) It does have a VGA port and unfortunately no output from it.

hp recently took my pc off the website 😢

@@realstealthninja which laptop is that?

@@RedShift5 not a laptop but a desktop with a a laptop motherboard, HP P2-1366il

interesting... I had tried the input button, but not while giving it an actual input. I'll give that a shot!

@@clabretro It's also worth trying to connect the VGA output of the board to an external monitor, to see if anything comes up to prove the board operational

thank you!

Thanks as always!

Modern laptops (particularly consumer model HP ones) often have critical screws under rubber feet which are impossible to put back. Older laptops have more screws but are also seemingly better built overall.

Yeah they're super hard to work on. Haven't been inside a newer one but glad to hear it's a little better haha

Believe it or not I haven't actually been, just wanted to support the museum, been enjoying their KZfaq channel. I grew up in Seattle so I make it back there fairly often, it's on my list. Glad to hear it was good!

😆 thanks for watching!

thanks!

agreed, I know I was complaining but this one wasn't actually too bad haha

Planned obsolescence started back in the 50's with automobiles, it's gotten way worse, now subscriptions expire and a device won't work if you don't renew, That's why I only buy open source. It's really sad to have watched all this happen in the computer industry, I started using them in the early 80's, by llate 80's and early 90's it exploded and you could buy tons of parts and just build a pc no proprietary crap, had to be compatible but that's not the same. And everything was made to repair or upgrade

I have a 2021 ASUS gaming laptop and if its CPU was in a socket, I could probably have it out in about 4 and a half minutes. Of course, now that access has improved greatly, so much more is soldered to the board.

I have an old Toshiba satellite & it was the worst. Only broke one speaker connector from age & had a few screws left. Just to apply fresh arctic silver and clean the fan.

Good call, I had cleaned it with IPA but that was weeks ago, so I think I'll clean it again

They'd been cleaned shortly before the video and I actually cleaned them really well after the video to have another try, no luck. They might look worse on camera than they actually are; I sure was hoping it was that though.

Yeah I'll get it working one way or another. Thanks for watching!

@@clabretro Slim chance, but maybe both of the cpus are bad? Maybe there is a way to get the post codes out of the card?

it definitely could be, I'll try another CPU if the re-cap doesn't work

not a bad idea, I had cleaned it several weeks ago with IPA but I'll give it a more thorough look now

Yeah I forgot to film trying that, it doesn't respond to input button changes. I also tried (after the video, after some viewers had the good suggestion) to try that with a VGA input actually connected and also no luck.

yeah good question, I haven't actually tried it yet. I'll let you know when I do

Yeah the laptop was like that, the SunPCI is *similar* but without an actual sliding mechanism. I did try to make sure it had good contact, but I'm still suspicious of it.

@@clabretro sad trombone :/

great minds!

nice!

Yeah it might come to that!

Thanks for watching!

so, you're totally right - I did try that a few times but it still didn't work. I think it's part of the puzzle though, that socket is pretty low quality and some of the pins are a little suspect. I can never get the CPU back in as firm as it was when I first took it out either. I think there's still a good chance there are bad caps or other components at play here, but I might actually just replace the CPU socket entirely when I get some better desoldering gear!

These socket-types are a bit clunky. You need a well fitting screwdriver, maybe you can wedge another one between the cpu and the first one to get more leverage. Had those in laptops of that era. Changing sockets is a pain, even with good equipment. I did that several times. Best way seems to be hot air, but with a big nozzle, high airflow and matching temperature (

yeah also a chance I didn't seat a ribbon cable properly too, I'll update when I get back to it!

I can't remember if I get it on video anywhere but the fan does work, so probably caps or that CPU unfortunately!

@@clabretroThanks for the comment! My fan was bad, took care of that but ran it without a cooler or heatsink which was unwise - so I had to order another CPU ebay which will hopefully work.

Same questions.

Yeah - the laptop has an actual sliding locking mechanism, but the SunPCI doesn't. I think the chip is meant to be slid sideways against/into the connectors. I did try to make sure it had the best contact I could, though I'm still suspicious of that.

Maybe it needs a thermal pad then? To press it down firmly into the socket.@@clabretro

Not a bad idea, that might help

Yeah been thinking about that, probably a good idea

No PC speaker connector on the SunPCI that I can find, but yeah... I wonder if I have some BIOS chip issues here.

@@clabretro, I found from experience that the Sun PC on-a-card suffered from the same issue as the old GoldenGate Amiga Bridge Boards, with the BIOS chips going bad after not being powered on for a while. Depending on the make and model, I found that the chips, needed to be re-flashed, or if, the were a weird flash-mask fromtheybrid, replaced. Also, for the Sun PC on a card, the power delivery to the BIOS Roms can be a bit unstable as the Caps age, and the caps that deliver power to the ROM are also part of the chain that powers the CPU and RAM, so if the ROM gets fried, the RAM and CPU may be damaged too. I advise testing the circuits for continuity and the voltages and amperage being in spec.

Yeah the laptop has the typical slider to engage the CPU, and I did that. But the SunPCI doesn't... I did push the chip to engage the pins as best I could (it seems to be the same mechanism, just without the thin sliding layer of plastic typical sockets have, if that makes sense). So I'm still a bit skeptical of the connection the SunPCI is making.

good idea!

I did try hitting the input button (forgot to film it) but it had no effect. another viewer suggested actually hooking a vga input up to see what it does which I'll try next

Maybe try the VGA input with another computer to see if that even works.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking, all the video components operating just fine.

No fix yet, but I haven't looked any further. I'm fairly certain it's something on the main board itself rather than the video circuitry.

The one on the laptop does but the SunPCI board doesn't... but it does feel loose in there. I made sure to push the chip tight in the direction of the socket pins before tightening the fan down, but I'm still a bit suspicious of it.

testing those parts (probably in that laptop, after I fix it) is next on the list. yeah I did try the input button on the 270 (forgot to film it) and it didn't make a difference. but one viewer suggested doing that with an actual vga input going in, so I'll try that next

@@clabretro what about the vga out? I’m curious if either the broken or working system also output simultaneous vga at the same time as internal video?

yeah I *did* try the VGA out of the 270 (and the PCI card for that matter) but no luck. forgot to put all that in the video too, of course!@@JohnKiniston

Oh yeah I'm sure I could find one in good outer physical condition. In the meantime I think the fix is looking pretty good, just that small crack!

Yeah good call out, I did actually try the other slot off camera without luck, forgot to include that in the video.

Hey! Interesting, I read in the 3.1 product notes that the III supports the v240: docs.oracle.com/cd/E19614-01/817-2968-11/817-2968-11.pdf (though I have a PCi III Plus here). I did see it post once but never again, which lead me to thinking it is an issue on the card.

@@clabretro might be possible, but I'd wager there's a stack of caveats including a minimum OBP version. It's been over a decade (obviously) but 'failed to respond. flags are 0' is to the best of my recollection, a failure in reading the PCI registers and NOT the card itself. The card itself is about 99% self-contained. So I suspect what's going on here is that even if the V240 gets VenID and DevID, it's unable to figure out the state of the card from the PCI configuration space. Especially since the BDF looks incorrect and it's failing to read the MAC address. Doing a `set-defaults` (will set ALL defaults including passwords!) in OBP might help, but I think the version of OBP is just unhappy. However, thinking on it, I also wonder if the battery on the SunPCI might not be the fault. Yes, there IS a battery - it's part of the RTC, and of course, 'not user replaceable!' I believe it's between the SODIMM and the large QLC marked 'BELLEROPHON' (next to the USB/FW riser connector.) /var/preserve/sunpcilogs might have something useful too.

weird, it didn't get held for review or anything, I don't see it on my side either. I did see it before it disappeared though just hadn't responded yet! I'll try that jumper to see if I can get a boot screen

@@clabretro YT probably thinks I'm a bot, because I keep editing my comments multiple times. For some reasons, my thoughts start to flow only after hitting the Submit button.. I'm weird like that.

I bet it would, but I'm thinking it's not the CPU at this point

If this is it I'm gonna my rolling laughing

I did, it wasn't that haha. I forgot to film trying that out

@@clabretro That's fair, it was worth a shot to ask! Lol

I haven't yet but I'm thinking the same direction... get it in a machine where it's convenient to probe around with the multimeter and see what it's up to. It's not a total failure... there is a status LED on the back of the card that consistently blinks amber (which means "potential problem" according to the documentation), forgot to put that in the video. Will be an interesting one to figure out.

I did try it on Solaris 8 with the same outcome

Yeah all great ideas. The back VGA has no output, unfortunately. While it's a PCI board itself, I don't think I have access to whatever internal PCI bus it's using somehow for the x86 machine it hosts. There is what appears to be a JTAG header on it, so that could be interesting. I think I need to do a little voltage probing while it's in the machine to see if there is a basic power failure going on. It does have a diagnostic LED on the back which blinks amber at all times, the manual says this "may indicate a problem," which we obviously have haha.

The SunPCI is just a PCI card, so it goes in those slots. Yeah I love the v240!

what about the VGA on it?@@clabretro

Yeah the trick is the display board gets its power through the main CPU board. It's something I'd like to try though, figure out how to power just that board properly to see if it does the same thing.

Heh I know, I couldn't find it. I have another kit on the way though, no harm done in the mean time.

Yeaaaah couldn't find my plastic smudger. Nothing got hurt, luckily. I've got another kit on the way now though haha.

@@clabretro the plectrums last a lot longer. I still have my first 😆

haven't tried it yet!

strange, right? I had no idea until I filmed this video, I had thought those slots were clips holding the case together or something. The Sun Ray 2s also have the same thing. This is all I've found about it so far: www.infoworld.com/article/2656281/sun-rolls-out-new-sun-ray-thin-clients.html Apparently they were thinking admins could store device config on the sims?

@@clabretro ooh you found *something* about the sims, i went looking and couldn't find anything - at first i thought they would use the sim as some sort of out of band managment... for some reason, lol. Interesting, I wonder if anyone has actually ever used the sims in the sunrays!

Also, you really should pick up an iFixIt toolkit. They come with very high quality screwdrivers and bits, and lots of plastic spudgers for opening plastic parts like that without causing damage. They are extremely useful!

Yeah couldn't find it, I actually have another kit on the way. The whole time I was thinking "hmm I should really wait for that to arrive" haha. No harm done though.

yeah 😆

Heh I know, couldn't find mine. I actually have more on the way, the whole time I was thinking "hmm I should have really waited for those to show up." Anyway, no harm done haha.

Very good point. I did actually push the CPU towards the connector like you say, but I forgot to get it on video! The laptop has the sliding style socket, but the SunPCI needs to be pushed like you're describing. It still doesn't sit very tight, so I'm a little suspicious of it still.

@@clabretro In my experience this type of socket needs "unreasonable amounts of force" to connect the CPU properly. Every time I applied reasonable amounts of force the machines acted exactly like the Dell & the SunPCI! I call this kind of state "braindead". If a Socket A-CPU dies because of overheating (cooler not properly mounted - Socket A-CPUs don't have overheating protection because there is no thermal sensor inside the Die) they usually have a brown spot on the underside (the side where the pins are) in the middle spot that is free of pins.

heh yeah... I couldn't find my spudger. didn't break anything though, I have a new set as well.

hey, how'd you know? 😂 this might be my excuse to finally get a scope.

Couldn't find mine, bought another kit 😂. No harm done though.