Good source for legacy motherboards?

Mize

3dfx Fan
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I've got four HP d325 slim towers (office use) that are all dead from leaky caps (this is a FIC K7M NF18G nForce2 motherboard private labeled by HP - took an hour to figure it out). I'm hoping to find some new Socket A micro ATX boards - preferably nForce2 chipset for driver issues - to replace these with.

Anyone know of a place for such beasts?

Thanks.
 
You won't find a reseller/distributor that carries socket A boards (other than a few that list every board to man but can't actually get it, or if they can will charge you a ridiculous markup). Best bet is cap replacement or ebay.
 
If the boards are otherwise undamaged by the failed caps, then it's worth repairing if you're handy with a soldering iron or can get the repairs done in-house. If outsourcing the repairs you may as well purchase new hardware, IMO. I wouldn't normally recommend cannibalizing parts from other boards, but I had good results using nice UCC LXZ caps from an AOpen P3 board to replace blown Lelon caps on some MSI Socket A boards. Worth doing due to legacy software/drivers, in-laws, etc...
 
I'm going to replace caps on one and see how it goes...it looks like every one of the big cans is failing (bulging on top) if not already leaking. Boo hiss. Wish I'd kept a bunch of old computers I trashed two years ago...used to be caps lasted a damn long time - much longer than OS's slowed you to a crawl.
 
I'm going to replace caps on one and see how it goes...it looks like every one of the big cans is failing (bulging on top) if not already leaking. Boo hiss. Wish I'd kept a bunch of old computers I trashed two years ago...used to be caps lasted a damn long time - much longer than OS's slowed you to a crawl.

To be fair, it was down to the faulty electrolyte that was all over the place for a while. Any motherboard that didn't use those cheaper Chinese caps with the stolen/dodgy electrolyte formula shouldn't have this problem.

IIRC, both Asus and Asrock still have socket A boards listed, so anyone that carries those should at least be able to special order them for you.
 
To be fair, it was down to the faulty electrolyte that was all over the place for a while. Any motherboard that didn't use those cheaper Chinese caps with the stolen/dodgy electrolyte formula shouldn't have this problem.

IIRC, both Asus and Asrock still have socket A boards listed, so anyone that carries those should at least be able to special order them for you.

I was a Dell Certified Systems Engineer in 2006. During that time, I replaced Optiplex GX260/270 motherboards on a weekly basis due to these infamous shyte caps. Most f these systems were built in 2003/2004, so it would be interesting to see what the average life expectancy of these caps is, and if any particular vendor fared better than any other.
 
I was a Dell Certified Systems Engineer in 2006. During that time, I replaced Optiplex GX260/270 motherboards on a weekly basis due to these infamous shyte caps. Most f these systems were built in 2003/2004, so it would be interesting to see what the average life expectancy of these caps is, and if any particular vendor fared better than any other.

Basically anyone that was using quality Japanese or Taiwanese caps was okay. Anyone that was using no-name caps was likely caught out. Cap manufacturers that were tempted by cheap Chinese electrolyte, and the motherboard manufacturers that were then tempted by cheap caps were the ones with the exploding problems.

IIRC, the story was that some engineer had defected from a Japanese or Taiwanese electrolyte manufacturer to a Chinese competitor and took a stolen electrolyte formula with them. Unfortunately he got it partially wrong, and impure electrolyte was used in caps that then went on to be part of many products before it was discovered that after a year or two, the caps would start bulging and breaking.
 
I was a Dell Certified Systems Engineer in 2006. During that time, I replaced Optiplex GX260/270 motherboards on a weekly basis due to these infamous shyte caps. Most f these systems were built in 2003/2004, so it would be interesting to see what the average life expectancy of these caps is, and if any particular vendor fared better than any other.

These are all HP systems with FIC made boards. The systems were purchased in October 2004. All but two of six are dead.
 
ShaidarHaran, but his systems are HP, not Dell.













:runaway:
 
ShaidarHaran, but his systems are HP, not Dell.

:runaway:

Your point being? The failing component is common between systems. Brand becomes irrelevant then (except as an intellectual curiosity to see if one brand fared better than another).

I'm an HP Certified Systems Engineer as well ;)

:runaway:
 
I was just being silly... Hence the running man icon.
 
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