RIP FIC AU13

[Newtun]

Checking the status of my PCs on the World Community Grid, I found that my 8.6-year-old FIC Nforce2 PC had "No Reply" for some workunits. Looking at the box, "the lights are on, but nobody's home." I tried powering it down for hours, and jumpering to clear the CMOS, but there's no response other than the lights and fans, no disk/video activity.

​

It had a pretty good run, most of the time running cancer research on WCG or the predecessor, grid.org, 100% CPU 24/7. It was my last WinXP box.

About 8 months after I built it, I replaced the original Athlon XP 2100+ with an XP-M 2500+, when I read that the same-socket mobile procs are multiplier-unlocked, and OC'ed it from 1866 to 2100 MHz. It ran somewhat but not overly hot, using an after-market cooler.

So I'll try to find the original 2100+ to see if I finally burned out the XP-M. If that doesn't work, I might call around to the local shops to see how cheaply I could get other simple testing done (swapping out the video card & power supply), but I'm not too optimistic.

Well, I suppose I won't have to get a new case whenever I build my next PC, that old PC had a fairly nice Antec Sonata. (I guess I'll have to replace the power supply, though.) And I hope I can salvage the hard drive to use in a USB drive case.

 

[CougTek]

One word of advice from a guy spending most of his time fixing computers : don't invest money on an 8+ years old computer. If you can't fix it by yourself, it's not worth it to give money to someone else to try to fix it for you*. A computer is designed to last for five years. After that, if it breaks and you don't have the parts and/or expertise to fix it yourself, forget it and replace it. Otherwise, you're wasting time and money on a device that's worth less than 100$ in its best shape.

It's like debating wether or not to perform an open-heart surgery on an +85 years old man who already had a poor life quality. Don't morph into Santilli and move on.

* I'm talking about hardware problems. Software-related problem are worth a repair as long as the hardwware is fine and sufficiently fast for your needs.

 

[jtr1962]

This thread may be of interest. If you see bulging caps and are handy with a soldering iron, you can probably effect a repair yourself for under $15 (plus some of your time). Other than that, I agree with Coug. It's just not worth investing large amounts of cash in otherwise obsolete hardware. As for how much time to invest, that's a judgement call based on how much time you have available, and how attached to the hardware you are. I only invested the amount of time I did because my PC still largely serves my needs, and I wanted to postpone the hassle of upgrading for at least a few more months.

 

[Newtun]

Thanks for your advice; I don't want to put much effort or cash into a revival effort, and I'm barely handy with my hands, much less a soldering iron.

I didn't look at the MB too intently, but my guess is that it might be from before the crap-cap issue started. And I don't want to trouble a repair shop any more than a few sawbucks' worth of their much-appreciated time.

But if something fairly simple and cheap could bring it back from the dead, I'll consider it, if only for "Auld Lang Syne". :-D

Maybe I have an old AGP video card up in the attic, that I can try swapping out along with the old CPU, if I can find either or both.

• and Happy New Year, all you Gregorians!!!

 

[CougTek]

I don't know what a Gregorian is, so I'm pretty sure I'm not one. I searched it on Google and the most interesting result has been a remake of the Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters" by a bunch of monk-like singers.

So even if I wasn't concerned, happy new year to you too.

 

[LunarMist]

Coug,

They changed the western calendar in 1582 and it was named after the pope at the time. Everyone knows that.
Perhaps if you are eastern orthodox or from other cultures then there are other New Years days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

 

[Mercutio]

I'm almost reasonably certain that I still have some new in box motherboards of that vintage. They're cruddy brands that just happen to have the SiS chipsets my classroom PCs used for years, but if you can't find anything else I'll bet I can come up with something.

 

[CougTek]

Coug,

They changed the western calendar in 1582 and it was named after the pope at the time. Everyone knows that.
Perhaps if you are eastern orthodox or from other cultures then there are other New Years days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar

I know about the gregorian calendar (although I did not remember the year it became defacto standard). I thought he was refering to Gregorians as a certain group of people, like caucasians/arabs/Africans etc.

I'm sick today (physically sick I mean, mentally I don't need to tell) so I'm not all here.

 

[LunarMist]

Sorry, perhaps you are working too hard lately.
I assumed it was simply an uncommon and glib reference to all those who adhere to the standard Gregorian calendar.

 

[Newtun]

I'm almost reasonably certain that I still have some new in box motherboards of that vintage. . .

Thanks very much, but if I have to pull out the mobo, I'll replace it with something that can support 3 cores or more.
CPU replacement didn't fix the problem, but I did notice that the MB didn't seem to have any bulging caps, FWIW.

???

My apologies for the glibness; I should have just said "Happy Gregorian New Year".

Thanks again, all.

 

[Newtun]

I tried pulling all the RAM, and then putting just 1 DIMM in each of the 3 sockets, and still no response, so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

Re-seating the AGP card didn't help either. I didn't see any bulging caps on it or the mobo, in a closer inspection.

Oh, well, I guess I'll get something like this, pull the hard drive, and have a big new USB drive.