I Fried It By Mistake-very Electrically Unstable

[Dtaylor]

I had a socket 7 that was very electrically unstable. It had black tape holding the CPU fan to the power supply. The parts were hot-glued right in(all of 'em). There was black tape all over and it was full of dust. It ran so hot that just defragmenting the drive for 20 min. brought the temp. to 85C.

The CD drive ribbon came unhooked every 2 seconds. Eventually it heated up to just 60C and something shorted out in the CMOS. Can you replace the CMOS?

[Sovek]

why would you want to replace the CMOS, just replace the whole system, I can build a decent 754 system for cheap, save yourself the time and money and just build a new computer.

[markiemrboo]

If you could find it I guess it could be replaced. Don't know what on earth makes you think that, out of any of the components on the board, it was the CMOS that shorted though.

[cybergrunt69]

I dunno that you'd want to even attempt to replace the BIOS, it's more trouble than it's worth. What would probably work better is to take the whole thing apart, clean what you can, and replace any parts that are visibly broken/damaged. From there, put it back together the way it was intended to be (screws, brackets, etc). No electrical tape, duct tape, JBWeld, hot glue, bubble gum, whatever... Get it to the most basic setup needed to boot (power, cpu, HS/F, video, and ram). From that point, use the jumpers on the mobo to reset the bios. Then, try to get into the bios. If you can't, replace whatever parts you can with known-good working parts; if you still don't have any luck, you're probably SOL, as you probably fried your mobo or CPU...

 

If you can get in, try adding in one component at a time, making sure to connect everything securely with good equipment.

 

For the heat issue, try making sure you have the proper amount of thermal paste on the CPU; and mount the heatsink properly - tape just doesn't cut it. Also, running the box with the sides off and a big fan next to it may help while you're troubleshooting.

Edited May 6, 2005 by cybergrunt69

[suchuwato]

check to see the model number of your board... check the manufacturer's specs to find the right chip and ebay it. (although the other's are right - it would probably be less hassle to purchase a new board )

[bigred]

new board? how about shoot this thing and put it out of everyone's misery?

 

c'mon man it's so poorly put together who knows if it's only the bios at this point. I wouldn't trust it even if you fix it.

[Fireonice]

lol bigred

 

that thing is a POS!! u would be better with a cheep semperon....

[kobalt]

I have a lot of old socket 7 boards, what's the model number?(the board #)

[flareback]

wow, thats an impressive system you got there. My hats off to your rigging skills to get it all to stay together.

[Dtaylor]

Yeah, it was not good in the first place. My friend crashed it and gave it to me to fix. The CMOS is probably what died because it had been running at 90C seconds earlier(average being 50-70C). I'd build a really awesome modded socket 7, but Dad says it's too hard to find a motherboard and Power supply that will go together. But won't all motherboards and power supplies work together(with the same ps1/2 wires, and all that)? The Acer I'm working with now has a RAM parity error and is held together with... I haven't even thought about what holds it together...one of the great mysteries of the universe...Well, its a socket 4 in REALLY bad condition, but it runs nicely. Say, would a socket 7 go with a newer, power supply mod?

[cybergrunt69]

if it's an older socket 7, it's going to have the old 2-molex power connector (usually numbered P8 and P9 - I forgot the name), while most power supplies made in the past several years have only an ATX power lead.

 

Just go with some new hardware - it will only cost a little more but will save untold hours of frustration, misery, and cussing. besides, you'd end up buying about twice as much of the old stuff 'cause they will be DOA or die quickly.