thecomputerguy
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Client calls me because he has a SUPER old computer from when he bought a DYNO from a shop going out of business that hasn't been working for months.
If you aren't sure what a DYNO is it's basically a massive system where you roll a car up onto some extremely large metal wheels and you can use it to test the horsepower and torque of the vehicle. See picture below.
They bought it for who knows how much ... probably $50k.
They say the system is just dead.
I get out there and take one look at the computer running the DYNO and immediately want to nope my way outta there. I see serial ports, parallel ports, ISA slots ... but I decide to give it a chance. Computer powers for a couple of seconds and then shuts off, immediately I'm thinking motherboard but go ahead and test the PSU. Same result.
They tell me the person who they bought it from told them yeah the system works just make sure not the turn the computer off... LOL ok.
So I tell him that most likely it is a motherboard and because of the age of the system I'd probably quote $1500-$2000 and several weeks for turnaround, with no guarantee that I'd be able to fix it, but they'd need to guarantee I'd get paid regardless.
They sat on it for a few weeks and called me and said they wanted to give it a shot because they are looking at a hell of a lot more in replacing the whole system. They just want it functional enough to be able to sell it. Reluctantly I go and pick it up figured I'd probably just be wasting a bunch of time but as long as I was getting paid, whatever.
Bring it to my shop and plug it in, fires up for a couple seconds and shuts off. I start trying to source the motherboard online which is a: SY-P41845peisa
As expected it's pretty much unavailable, there are some "direct replacements" but who knows. Prices ranging from $350 to $1000 for the part, and then even if the motherboard somehow works, who knows what else is broken.
I'm about ready to give up on it for the day since I have a few weeks to mess with it and think, well lets give this the old fashioned troubleshoot EY?
Yank all cards including 1xAGP 1xPCI and 3xISA and swap the PSU for good measure.
I fire it up and what to you know, it stays on and gives me 3 beeps! I assume the beeps are because of the GPU because this board has no onboard GPU, and what do you know, who has a brand new AGP video card they bought 8 years ago that just been sitting in my bin? THIS GUY.
I pop in the AGP GPU and what to you know, the thing POSTS! I plug all the cards in one at a time making sure it POSTS after each card, and it does! I plug my IDE 40GB HD back in and fire the beast up.
It BOOTS!
What a throwback! Been awhile since I got to work on a computer with ISA slots, or troubleshoot a computer successfully at a component level that didn't end up being a motherboard!
And that's how you make $1500 on a video card swap, we'll I'll probably swap the PSU too since the fan is grinding away.
If you aren't sure what a DYNO is it's basically a massive system where you roll a car up onto some extremely large metal wheels and you can use it to test the horsepower and torque of the vehicle. See picture below.
They bought it for who knows how much ... probably $50k.
They say the system is just dead.
I get out there and take one look at the computer running the DYNO and immediately want to nope my way outta there. I see serial ports, parallel ports, ISA slots ... but I decide to give it a chance. Computer powers for a couple of seconds and then shuts off, immediately I'm thinking motherboard but go ahead and test the PSU. Same result.
They tell me the person who they bought it from told them yeah the system works just make sure not the turn the computer off... LOL ok.
So I tell him that most likely it is a motherboard and because of the age of the system I'd probably quote $1500-$2000 and several weeks for turnaround, with no guarantee that I'd be able to fix it, but they'd need to guarantee I'd get paid regardless.
They sat on it for a few weeks and called me and said they wanted to give it a shot because they are looking at a hell of a lot more in replacing the whole system. They just want it functional enough to be able to sell it. Reluctantly I go and pick it up figured I'd probably just be wasting a bunch of time but as long as I was getting paid, whatever.
Bring it to my shop and plug it in, fires up for a couple seconds and shuts off. I start trying to source the motherboard online which is a: SY-P41845peisa
As expected it's pretty much unavailable, there are some "direct replacements" but who knows. Prices ranging from $350 to $1000 for the part, and then even if the motherboard somehow works, who knows what else is broken.
I'm about ready to give up on it for the day since I have a few weeks to mess with it and think, well lets give this the old fashioned troubleshoot EY?
Yank all cards including 1xAGP 1xPCI and 3xISA and swap the PSU for good measure.
I fire it up and what to you know, it stays on and gives me 3 beeps! I assume the beeps are because of the GPU because this board has no onboard GPU, and what do you know, who has a brand new AGP video card they bought 8 years ago that just been sitting in my bin? THIS GUY.
I pop in the AGP GPU and what to you know, the thing POSTS! I plug all the cards in one at a time making sure it POSTS after each card, and it does! I plug my IDE 40GB HD back in and fire the beast up.
It BOOTS!
What a throwback! Been awhile since I got to work on a computer with ISA slots, or troubleshoot a computer successfully at a component level that didn't end up being a motherboard!
And that's how you make $1500 on a video card swap, we'll I'll probably swap the PSU too since the fan is grinding away.