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Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) piperpacer Profile Ran across this "Computer Geeks" item for a brand new pentium 4 motherboard that apparently was destined for use in a Chaintech (IMO-DESK)Laptop. Looks interesting at $16.50 plus shipping. It does require a laptop style power brick (Output: 19V DC, 120W Input: 100~240V AC, 50/60Hz universal). I would think it would be of interest to hackers here. http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=9SLF0-U Chaintech link: http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=17&PISNo=256 I'm downloading the laptop manual now, and its taking forever! 11-03-2004 15:14:53

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) piperpacer Profile After looking at the manual it appears that this MB is a little different than the one in the manual. For starters this MB supports 2 DIMMS instead of one and has more USB ports. Although it doesn't mention it in the Geeks ad, it might include a flash reader as it appears to be built-in to the front of the laptop. In fact this MB seems to include at least one of every imaginable port available. The Manual includes instructions for adding drives (3.5") which draw power somewhere off the MB with a std connector. The first challenge after finding the appropriate power brick would be "how do you turn the thing on?" Other questions: Where does the laptop keyboard and mouse plug in? Where does the laptop LCD panel plug into? Will a std power switch work and where would it plub in? Does it use a std P4 (P4 looks smaller in pics)? Have I finally found the basis for my low cost, low power server? I'm in! 11-03-2004 15:47:16

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Lincoln_man Profile Read the discription of the outputs on Computergeeks. Two PS2 ports - ie mouse and keyboard SVGA port - ie monitor 11-03-2004 16:06:00

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) piperpacer Profile Lincoln-man "Read the discription of the outputs on Computergeeks. Two PS2 ports - ie mouse and keyboard SVGA port - ie monitor" True, these are available as external ports typical of a laptop. But there appears to be a flat ribbon connector and it appears that the laptop did support internal connectors for LCD, mouse, and Keyboard. I really don't care about the internal connectors so long as I can get into the setup/bios to default to the external devices. Others on this board might be interested in fiddling with the internal stuff. I'm not sure how or what I'm going to shoehorn this thing into. 11-03-2004 16:22:10

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Pete7919 Profile This ought to be interesting. I'm picking one up. Now I need to find power. any suggestions? Also: will a Pentium M chip work with this? I don't really have the time to look, but if anyone knows please post. 11-05-2004 08:25:10

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) chillywilly Profile Hello, Here is a site with some nice pictures and specs: http://www.overclockzone.com/spin9/review/notebook/chaintech/imo-desk/ Another site that has all the drivers and BIOS: http://www.imo-desk.com/eng/I-service/I-download.asp I'm going to take the plunge on the motherboard. Chillywilly 11-05-2004 10:13:44

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Pete7919 Profile Is that in Russian just on my computer? Nice pics, though. 11-05-2004 14:04:29

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Pete7919 Profile Some more info- http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mobile/display/chaintech-imodesk.html 11-05-2004 17:15:35

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >Pete7919 >This ought to be interesting. I'm picking one up. Now I need to find power. any suggestions? >Also: will a Pentium M chip work with this? I don't really have the time to look, but if anyone knows please post. Get a laptop power supply that gives 19v - I believe most IBM Thinkpad and Compaq/HP supplies are 19v and I have a Dell Inspiron supply that's 19v. Anyone feel like posting the ohms law math? how many amps do we need at 19v for 200 watts? I think any chip that is socket 478 and 400 or 533 mhz will work - but I might be wrong - specs all seem the same for the socket 478 p4-M. Here's something for everyone that was only hinted at before: The Power button is going to be accessed via one of those ribbon cables and we have no schematics - this baby wont be PnP! Last pessimistic observation: How the hell are we going to attach a heat sink? All that said - I think I will buy 2, just for giggles, now - where to get a cheap processor and heat pipe... As for the manual - it seems this was for an upgraded version that chaintech isn't listing - maybe. I have dealt with chaintech in the past and it's not impossible that the manual is wrong, at least their English translation is getting better :) If anyone receives one of these, some close-ups would be great! I will try myself when I get them ONLY 67 LEFT IN STOCK (oops, 65 now) 11-06-2004 03:37:54

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Pete7919 Profile W=V*A Sooo... 200=19*A --> 10.5A? My Dell power supply only puts out 3.16A. Hmmm... Thats on the output side, though. If you use a laptop power supply your gonna have to figure out the connector. It looks proprietary. I put a call in to chaintech and I don't see how there english could be any "better". And they're in CA! I'm an easterner, seems to me like anyone in CA that deals with computers doesn't speak english. I guess it's like going to the dry cleaners here. Anyhow, they told me to send an email to them with what part I needed and my address. I'm not very hopeful, though. 11-06-2004 16:39:10

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email OK, I bit on this too I thought it was interesting the first time I saw it advertised. Lessee: In one of the specs it says 6A 19v power supply. That's pretty easy. Another article says that the latest BIOS flash lets it run 3.04MHz Pentium IVs at 400 or 533 FSB. I think the hardest part will be finding/building connectors for the internal important switches. First one to get one, holler and give us an assessment. Chris 11-07-2004 07:32:33

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Linuxguru Profile | Email > In one of the specs it says 6A 19v power supply. That's pretty easy. That's *not* easy. 1) Standard cylindrical DC connectors can't handle that kind of current reliably - about 4A continuous is the max. 2) 19v, 6A laptop AC adapters are uncommon - 19v, 3 to 4A is widely available. 3) You may have to rig up 2 standard PC SMPS with the +5v of one in series with the +12v of the other, and make sure that the chassis grounds of the two SMPSes don't come in contact. The whole thing is a messy kludge, and only gives +17v. I think this whole desknote motherboard is a bad idea. OTOH, if it had been a Transmeta Crusoe, Via Eden or Pentium/Celeron M, it would have been workable. 11-08-2004 10:03:13

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Ok, here's my 2 cents worth... I've salvaged (Yeah here I go again,dumpster diving) MANY like new aftermarket AC and DC (car) notebook power adapters that were returned by customers then tossed by the store personel as defective without actually testing them. About $1,000 worth in the last few months. IMHO,one very common problem with the current available generic power adapters is they are not capable of supplying enough current for those high end power hungry P-4 notebooks. I've even seen some OEM supplied (HP for one) adapters actually fail completely. Pfssst! They either get too HOT and thermal shutdown occurs or just flash off and on not able to supply the nessessary current... I've used these same generic "recycled" adapters on lower end notebooks (Celeron and Amd +2000) and they work fine! The HP ones I just cut the off the DC cable end at the adapter and save the cable with plug for some future project and toss back the adapter. Again just my 2 cents worth... I'm staying away from this motherboard project just because of potential power issues. 11-08-2004 19:35:09

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Pete7919 Profile I emailed service@chaintech.com and requested the power adapeter. Below is the text of my message and their reply. I even messed up the model number. I thought it was a 1 and its an I. I'm crossing my fingers: Deleted Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 12:57 PM To: service@chaintechusa.com Subject: Replacement power adapter for IMO-Desk 1651U I recently acquired this computer. It did not come with a power adapter. I called service and they told me to request one through this email address. The model is IMO-Desk 1651U. My address is: Deleted Please let me know of any further action I need to take to replace this part. Thank you in advance for your help. Pete ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Their reply: we are going to mail it today by US mail. Regards Chaintech America Corp. Customer Service Dept. service@chaintechusa.com FAX:(510)656-2297 11-09-2004 06:56:46

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email UPS came with the geek box today and there it was. The power supply connector is 4 pins, 3 on a square pattern and the 4th offset diagonally. They don't label the pins, of course. The board is very free of connectors and jumpers. There's the cmos reset jumper, 3 fan connectors, what looks like another usb header (in addition to the 4 ports built in), what looks like a modem or sound header (two pins). There is a mini-PCI slot, two memory slots and an ATA connecter. What looks like a floppy power connector is next to the ATA connector which I imagine powers the hard drive since it is marked 12v, Grnd,x, 5v. In the middle of the board is a really tiny 50 pin (dual 25 row) connector I can't really figure out. On the bottom of the board are three connectors for laptop-like ribbon cables for the LCD, the KB and the Inverter (for the lcd, I imagine). The socket 478 ZIF has two tiny tabs on each side like a socket 370 ZIF and with a bit of tinkering I think you could use a socket 370 fan/heatsink (mechanically) but I wouldn't know about cooling capability. So I hope one of you geniuses can figure out how to power this thing and maybe where the power button is Chris 11-09-2004 15:06:35

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email Now that I think about it, the little 50 pin connector might be for the laptop CD-ROM drive, but I thought those were 44 pin connectors? 11-09-2004 15:22:45

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I think the biggest problem with power is pinout - this things rated for 120w, and there's lots of 19v 120W supplies available. Keep in mind that we are not (at least I am not) using the LCD interface - that alone has to be a 25W savings so there should be no reason we cant use one of the even more common (and cheaper) 90W @19V supplies out there. Besides, this is a MOD board - what say we crack open the case on the PS and bolt some decent cooling onto one of the units that's reputed to overheat? We can certainly beef up those sealed boxes. Of course, hazardous voltages are in there, we need to be cautious when opening up a power supply - and you need to remember that it might still burn - a vented and fan-cooled metal box would seem in order, maybe some bolted-on heat sinks too? Pete7919: I think I will try your route - but just in case, please see what you can do about determining the pinout on the supply if/when you get it? - At minimum, try to find 19V and ground? If we have those 2 we might be able to trick the board to come on with ANY 19V supply. - dont be surprised if you have 2 grounds or 2 hots or both - an oddball wire might be some type of communication line between the system and PS - status sensor, PS type identification, or something - might even be Power Good... I found a bunch of laptop specs that match the 19v spec at 90 and 120 watts - I will post a list of laptop models and their power input tomorrow. 11-10-2004 00:54:17

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email ctorkildson >Now that I think about it, the little 50 pin connector might be for the laptop CD-ROM drive, but I thought those were 44 >pin connectors? The motherboard side of those connectors is not usually a standard - I believe IBM is 50-pin too. I have access to lots of broken laptop parts and will see if anything looks close when I get the boards (delivery expected today, but I might miss Fedex) 11-10-2004 01:06:26

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) linuxaddict Profile Just ordered one, will be more than happy to post lots of pics as soon as I get the Mobo 11-10-2004 01:13:52

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Those older Imac all in one machines use 50 pin ide cables for the cd rom drive too... 11-10-2004 10:36:46

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Pete7919 Profile Now they said they are out of stock at Chaintech. They are suposed to email me when they get more in. Looks like we're not going to have an easy way to get power. Oh well. I imagine they got a few emails about the same power supply and figured it out. I am still going to try and buy one if they ever email me to say they have stock. I've found being annoying can sometimes be very effective. 11-10-2004 10:55:29

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I think we blew it - chaitech just emailed me and said $49.99 plus shipping for the PS. I received the boards - they look promising- 1: The 4-pin power connector looks like the pins are shorted in pairs, both "top" (board side) pins are also connected to the shield, so these would be negative/ground (probably). 2: I don't even want to hope here, but on the "top" of the board, theres a blank for "SSW4 RESET" and a BUTTON labled "SW_PW" a power switch?!?!?! - makes sense, as theres no other ZIF that would work for it BTW, I say "TOP" because its the SOLDER side, as thic board is supposed to be installed upside down, the switch is on the top, which will look like the bottom to those of us used to normal PC motherboards. This applies to both my power pin statements and the button - TOP is BOTTOM I believe that the 50-pin connector is indeed a slim-ide of some sort - of note here is that it's a nice match for a CF connector, although the wrong sex for the board-side connection. I am pretty sure that, whatever it does, they USED a CF connector - it's a perfect match. 11-10-2004 16:32:39

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email 02U2: >Those older Imac all in one machines use 50 pin ide cables for the cd rom drive too... Just checking, if you mean the 5 1/4 inch drives, those were SCSI on older MAC hardware - this is a TINY 50-pin connector. 11-10-2004 16:34:56

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Slimline CDROM drive used the 50 pin ide... I think it was 2mm pitch....I've still got the interface cable around somewhere... 11-10-2004 18:49:08

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Imac g-3 series...had a 333mhz cpu cartridge. 11-10-2004 18:51:54

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email OK, my trusty OHM meter tells me we have 2 grounds and 2 positives on the input connector - grounds are those closest to the board Now I will stop typing to test a mickey-mouse connection to my 3A dell 19V and see what that SW-PW button does - pray for lights! Hi Guys.. its about 20 minutes later. Here's what I did - I plugged in a P4 1500 and tied an athlon heatsink on with some pieces of wire - I hooked up the power as outlined above - I havent any memory handy though... - anyway - I hooked up the Dell supply and got a little spark. I backed down, but it was a SMALL spark, so I re-connected and checked for smoke/hot components - none found - I kept mu volt meter on the supply and verified volts were still 19v - I noticed an LED was lit on the component side (bottom) of the board - so far, so good. Now I pushed the button - guess what? (is the suspense killing you?) the POWER LED BLINKED on and STAYED ON - I held the switch for about 10 seconds and the power LED went out. Houston - we have ignition... 11-10-2004 19:02:47

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email One quick observation - that chipset was supposed to have a heatsink/pipe on it. Watch your temp if you start playing without one 11-10-2004 19:10:51

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Another correction on the specs - this board has only ONE ps2 port - the other is (YAY) S-VIDEO and is (not so) clearly labled "video" on the board. Unfortunately, there are no media card slots - I suspect the media slots were part of the slimline multibay thingy. Of note is the empty section marked SMART CARD - looks like theres no chips missing, just the adapter. Also - there IS a location for DIP switches - theres just a bunch of soldered shorts instead of the switches - wonder what THOSE do... I am fighting the urge to buy 2 MORE of these and a couple of celeron 2.0's... 11-10-2004 19:29:20

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email OK last post - I am looking at a bios setup screen - It recognizes my p4 1500 and my 512M memory module. The system comes up with the CRT and SVIDEO disabled. I got in by using the clear cmos jumper - after doing this you get ONE shot at hitting delete - you miss, you gotta clear cmos again. Once inside, you need to enable the crt display and save your changes. As predicted, the chipset seems to be in need of some heat sinkage and wind. My little dell power supply is still churning out 19v - it's only warm to touch - but then - all it's doing is giving me a DISK BOOT FAILURE error and running a CPU fan. I can't wait to snap a hard drive, cdrom and ethernet cable onto this sucker but it has to wait until tomorrow. Oh yeah - it shows dual IDE interfaces - I think the use of that 50-pin is pretty much confirmed by now - incidentally, I checked and found that the cdrom side of ALL standard slimline drives is FIFTY pins - looks like a simple cable end is all we need on this one - now.. where to GET one... 11-10-2004 20:42:50

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) chillywilly Profile Great job strae, I got my boards today and I had also notice that little switch which I thought might be the on/off button. That 50 pin connector could be the connector for a CDROM but it seems smaller than the 50 pin connections I've normally seen on other motherboards. I'm thinking this might be for a daughter card (possibly for the media card slots). I've got to get me a CPU to start playing with mine. One question I have, what exactly is a chipset heatsink/pipe? thanks and keep up the good work. ChillyWilly 11-10-2004 21:21:37

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Ok I lied - ONE MORE post... the chipset is the big chip that says SIS M650 on it - it should have a heatsink. A heatpipe is a special type of heatsink that has rods that pull heat away from the heatsink (like a pipe pulls water) Heatpipes are probably what was used in the original design - they are pretty much always present in new laptops these days (please don't flame me, Transmeta fans - I know about cold CPU's but it's OT) Anyway - that chip gets kinda warm and it needs some help that probably was a really neat-looking cooler in the original unit - I am gonna bolt on some ALUMINUM :) (somehow...) 11-10-2004 21:55:07

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email Super job, strae. I was thinking about the media card capability. You can buy 6-in-1 media converter that attach to a USB internal port. That's how I was imagining putting it on this card. 11-11-2004 05:56:07

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) fuzbo Profile I picked up 2 of em durring sunrise savings last thurs. For heatsinks I think you can use standard P4 heatsinks with the P4 retention module also avail from compgeeks http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=WRP4-16W1-51&cat=CPU its only $3.75 I ordered on Monday's midnight madness as well so it should allready be in my mailbox rental place by now. ill let ya know if it fits BTW Use "trickorgeek" without quotes as promo code at checkout with 25$ total or more, they'll give you a free http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=DAZZLE-N&cat=CAM Dazzle 6-In-1 Universal TV Photo Show & Card Reader hook it to your computer to read cards at USB 1.1 speeds or hook it to your TV and impress someone who cares to look at your digital pics. 11-11-2004 06:39:44

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email Two duh's for me. I didn't even notice the 4 big holes around the cpu ZIF. I wish I had some time today to mess with it, I have a dead socket 478 board I could strip the heatsink retainers from. I also didn't notice the silk screening on the bottom of the board for the reset and power switch. In my case I have an actual microswitch for power. It's really tiny but it must have been mechanically connected to the external switch. On a different subject, eBay has got several "universal" 19v 120w power supplies for about $40. They come with a bunch of different tips. I don't imagine they would have the unique connector for this board but I was wondering if it would be easier to kludge up a tip with that kind of setup? Chris 11-11-2004 08:19:58

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email Hmm, come to think of it, that might explain that internal USB header - probably there for the media hub. Now... who's seen one of these 50-pin headers somewhere before? Is it identical to the ones in the MAC G3's? The only slim IDE cables and adapters I can find are all 40-pin to 50-pin, there's no 50-pin to 50-pin out there that I can locate but then, I don't have a name for that header. fuzbo: Looking again, you might be right - those actually MIGHT be standard mounting holes - they just look so close together, but I think it's perspective. The only thing is, I have a 3G P4 cooler and there's no way it would fit even if the bracket were there - it looks like it will hit the other components on the board. Here's a list of some ac adapters that might be adaptable for us. I have chosen units from 18.5-20 volts and over 80W - As we've discussed, I have no idea if these will work - just a hunch that we are cutting out 25-40 watts by not using an LCD and it's companion FL Bulb - this will be an "off-label" use of any of these supplies so we are on our own regarding fire, sudden death and obnoxious odors :) COMPAQ 18.5V 4.9A 90W AC Adapter for Armada, Evo, Presario Series Notebooks - 283884-001 COMPAQ / HP 18.5V 4.9A 90W AC Adapter for Presario 3000 Series Notebooks - 310925-001 SONY 19.5V 7.7A 150W AC Adapter for VAIO GRV, GRZ series Notebooks - PCGA-AC19V9 SONY 19.5V 6.15A 120W AC Adapter for VAIO FRV/GRT series Notebooks - PCGA-AC19V7 SONY 19.5V 5.13A 100W AC Adapter for VAIO GRV, GRZ series Notebooks - PCGA-AC19V4 SONY 19.5V 4.1A 80W AC Adapter for VAIO R505, GRX, GRS, FR, NV Series - PCGA-AC19V3 HP 18.5V 7.3A 135W AC Adapter for HP Compaq NX9100 and NX9105 Notebooks - DR910A#ABA HP 18.5V 6.5A 120W AC Adapter for HP Pavilion Z and Compaq Presario R3000 series Notebooks - DC687A#ABA LITE-ON 19V 4.74A 90W AC Adapter for HP, Compaq and Toshiba Notebooks - PA-1900-05 HP 19V 4.74A 90W AC Adapter for Pavilion XT and ZE series - F4813A DELL 19V 4.74A 90W AC Adapter for SMARTSTEP 200N 250N Series Notebooks - 9T458 DELL 20V 4.5A 90W AC Adapter for Inspiron 8200 series - 6G356 DELL 19.5V 4.62A 90W AC Adapter for Latitude D400, D500, D600, D800: Inspiron 8500 - 310-2862 and here's a 12V DC universal unit that fits my 90W spec and looks promising: http://www.bixnet.com/unautpowad.html Oh, and Chris: I would say a universal adapter and a soldering iron will satisfy MY power connection needs - if you need the plug, you need it - I can't see any use for it though - just one more connector that can fail. We all DUH, you know... I sometimes DOH! too... 11-11-2004 09:01:06

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email http://www.bixnet.com/12acad18unac.html How about that power supply? From my uninformed point-of-view it looks OK and the price is good. Chris 11-11-2004 11:45:37

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email >Now... who's seen one of these 50-pin headers somewhere before? Is it identical to the ones in the MAC G3's? >The only slim IDE cables and adapters I can find are all 40-pin to 50-pin, there's no 50-pin to 50-pin out there that I can locate but then, I don't have a name for that header If it's standard pitch, and not 2mm, it'll be the same as the iMac CD/DVD connector. If it is, you're in luck, as the last 40 pins of the iMac 50 pin IDE is standard IDE. Check this out: \ http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=269727&postcount=88 This is showing the imac slot-load DVD slimline adapter (some slot loads have a flipped JAE-50 connector, and the iMac adapter is the only one available) and how to hook it up to IDE. If you want to hook up a slimline drive to one of these, you need to use an iMac adapter on it (carries power and audio on the same cable). Slot-load (i.e. if you got in on the $3.99 slim CD deal): http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.394315/sc.2/category.115/it.A/id.834/.f Tray-load (most slim-line drives): http://www.midwestmac.com/page61.html search for J1066 on the page If it's 2mm pitch, it may still have the same pinout, but you'd have to build your own cable. 11-11-2004 13:41:32

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email ctorkildson: > How about that power supply? From my uninformed point-of-view it looks OK and the price is good. I am finding 120W supplies for 59 $$$ - depending on shipping we can probably do better and the 90's are closer to $45 Does anyone know the wattage of an LCD these days? it HAS to be at least 25 watts. Tom61: The connector is very small, exactly the same size as a CF card I found an IBM laptop drive caddy that has the EXACT same connector on the laptop side and a mini-ide for a 2.5" HDD on the other - only problem is it's the wrong gender. I am going to tap into the thing and see if I can find the power and ground lines - this would give us the direction of the IDE bus and I would guess it's standard pinout based upon the fact that doing anything else would be stupid and would cost more - -but hell, I like it when the power connector sparks so what do I know :) 11-11-2004 13:57:24

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I think I now remember... The Ide interface cable attached to the logic board via a 50 IDC (OLD SCSI type) connector, One end has a standard desktop type 40 pin ide connector, The other end has the 50 pin 2mm to the CDROM drive.... Sorry for the waste of time...Turning 50 and it's catching up... 11-11-2004 19:31:59

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email isnt 2mm the pitch for a standard ide cable? 11-11-2004 22:12:33

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile i think i know where power on connector , yep it is part of keyboard and the keyboard connector is on the bottom of mobo yep i got the mobo today and looked over with a maginfier i see 3 fan connector 1 speacker connector lcd/inverter connector and minipci slot as for 4 pin power connector accually only 2 pin are used for power and your right about the sis chipset missing a heat sink i can see 2 holes on both side of corner used to mount the heatsink and 4 pin connector next to blue ide connector is power for hd and that black 50 pin is also ide connector with power/audio one thing it doesnt have is a floppy port! 11-12-2004 19:57:30

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email umm, yep. anyhow- - FWIW, if you have a dead power supply, you have instant access to an HDD power cable - I just cut off the cable with the FDD and HDD style connectors on it - the pinout works out just right - I checked around for one that had 2 molex and 1 FDD power connector so I would have 2 molex when done - Trim the wires real close to the connector and you get a neat, effective adapter. Now the bad news - I fried the p4 processor - turns out that when you use wire to tie the heatsink on, you need to make sure you dont keep turning the mobo upside down (which you have to do to hit the power switch). Anyway, if you do the heatsink can fall off on one side and this is (obviously) a bad thing. Symptom: Unit turns off and goes into a kinda suspend mode like 1/10th second after turning it on Cause: You toasted the processor. Anyone wanna buy a p41500 paperweight? HAs anyone had any chance to test a p4 heatsink clip? 11-13-2004 11:08:02

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile you big dummy! dont us wire to hold in the heatsink thats is also unapproved ,buy the approved p4 plastic holder for mobo and use p4 heatsink that comes with clips that hooks to side of the socket's notches and youre happy being carelessly can get your nuked,done 11-13-2004 12:23:55

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email Yep - I know - but I still am waiting for ANYONE to tell us if the standard clip will work - as I said b4, I bought a p4 heatsink and I am fairly sure it is too big - plus the more I look the less sure I am that those are standard mounting holes. Anyway HAS ANYONE TRIED A STANDARD CLIP??? (I shout because no one has answered yet) BTW - the Athlon heatsink was working great - the ATH XP processors run a LOT hotter than the P4's. But regardless - no matter how we cool these - we need to use a secure mounting arrangement for the cooler. 11-13-2004 17:34:43

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) fuzbo Profile CRAP!!! the mounting holes on the board are 2 1/2" x 1 3/4" inches... which means a standard 478 bracket wont fit (including the one i bought of compgeeks) Standard size holes are 2 3/8" x 3" 1/2 shorter on length and a little more on width too small. (measured from center of hole to center of hole.) no dice on using a standard P4 mounting bracket HS and fan. 11-14-2004 03:36:24

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email That stinks - but I think there's some hope. I checked the spacing on those holes - they match up with the size of a socket-A/370/7. Because of the heat spreader, I think we need to use an FCPGA2 heatsink. Anyway I have 2 ideas how we can acheive socket 370 mounting; 1: we rip a socket off a dead MB and cut the 2 sides with the clip points off, then we drill holes to match our motherboard. but we have to carve space on the bottom sides for the motherboard's chips and such. 2: I have had a lot of luck custom shaping plexiglass with my dremmel - luck has it that it (looks like) a double thickness will give us the perfect spacing we need. to clear the motherboard components, we would need to make 4 little spacers (out of plexi) to go over the holes, then a 2 rectangles to be the actual mounts. We use the dremmel (or a file) to carve the 2 clip points onto the plexi. Of the 2, I think the 1st will result in a better mount, but carving and cutting into the socket might make a mess. I am positive the 2nd will work, but am not sure how long we can expect the plexi to hold up - perhaps a metal strip above or under the mounting strip would make it sturdier. 11-14-2004 14:00:27

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Me again. There seem to be some boards around that use a different mount for p4 coolers. If you look, there are clips on the socket for a PGA-like connection for a heatsink. Here is a board that seems to use a little adapter tom make a taulatin heatsink work: http://www.orbitmicro.com/images/sbc%20images/psb4170b.gif here are a couple of P4 sbc's that have no room for a normal bracket, so they must be using those same clips: http://iei.industrialpartner.com/SAGP_845MEV.htm http://iei.industrialpartner.com/SAGP_648E.htm While these guys list coolers, I am unsure how we can check to see if they are right before ordering - any suggestions? -S 11-14-2004 19:02:21

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile I'm not the seller nor affiliated in anyway... Just a suggestion. I don't know if this will work for you? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31532&item=6722574619&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW 11-14-2004 19:36:51

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Thanks. I don't know either, but it looks so close I am going to find out. I've been reading up on the p4's -it seems they are supposed to be self-protecting and very hard to overheat. Supposedly, they slow themselves down when they get hot. This would lead me to believe that there might be a different problem with my no-more-power-on issue. Anyway geeks is down to 36 so I will buy a couple more and throw in a couple of celerons. I have some serious potential projects for these, in a PVR/Media server, a home automation/security system and for an automotive media system with gps and (hell , why not) maybe even real-time engine control. Anyway, the socket is called micro PGA and what we could use here is a microPGA cooler that mounds directly on the socket. As I said, the clip points are there and I see that they get used somewhere - now how the hell do we find and buy them? 11-15-2004 00:07:11

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) fuzbo Profile >I'm not the seller nor affiliated in anyway... >Just a suggestion. I don't know if this will work for you? >http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=31532&item=6722574619&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW I actually asked the seller a question last night on the exact same item (diffreent auction) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6722052841 ... last night,to find out distance from seller of the mounting "screws" no response from seller yet.... but looking at it now the fan would be in the way of Dimms and or copper coiled doohickys and capacitors. none the less i am still lookin arround for a Heatsink solution. 11-15-2004 00:47:04

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) fuzbo Profile The board has a unique feature that most boards dont have a "smart card" reader (think Satellite access card) not a 6 in 1, maybe some engineer called for a card reader and they took it to read smart card reader... who knows... True, chaintech does have motherboards with smart card headers but the only "video on demand" and satellite models they have use a smart card reader. I googled every possible variation of "smart card" and "chaintech" "imo-desk" etc.. to give us a clue as to what heatsink was used and manuals specs ect.. i found nothing, except that the components from the IMO-desk U651 (power excluded) wont work. That heat sink is in a different location and is held in place with 3 screws in a triangular pattern. and if there was info on this board it would be on the net by now as my board is dated 11/21/2002 its almost 2 years old. Did look up specs for chips on board. this is what i got. ITE it8705f- hardware monitor, fan speed controller, ITE "smartguardian" SIS 301LV- video bridge for tv out, and LVDS Interfaced LCD Panel Display ALC201a- Avance Logic sound codec ICS 1893y-10 10Base-T and 100Base-TX CSMA/CD rtl8801b - IEEE 1394 (firewire) rtm680-627 Realtek Zero-delay DDR clock buffer, (supporting upto 3 DDR) SIS 962- southbridge USB/1394/NIC/audio/modem/ide(upto ata133)/pci/keyboard/mouse SIS M650- Northbridge 400&533FSB/DDR266&333/Video(CRT)/mpeg1&2 decoding 11-15-2004 05:41:42

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email The USB header on the board probably connected to a 6in1 media reader there's about a million of them to choose from - the smart card reader seems to be an unused feature both on out boards and in production models. Find a single-board-computer with a micro-pga socket and you've probably found our heatsink... 11-15-2004 07:00:16

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email More people are finding out about this, so if you want one, better get it now. http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=830178&page=1&pp=20 Might be some usefull info in that thread for you (looks like CompGeeks has a powersupply that might just fit it for $40) 11-15-2004 14:11:30

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email you missed the best info - use geekcode bensbargains 11-16-2004 02:03:40

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email NE1 have an idea how we can get the pinout for the LCD cable? 11-16-2004 16:30:51

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email For anyone interested in hacking in a new power switch: the 4 contacts are in 2 pairs - if you grab either 2 it should work - here is the layout of the pins: SW_PW X---X Y---Y Where the SW_PW is the reference to the label on the board and the ---- indicates the 2 x's and 2 y's are already shorted - you need to connect an x to a y I imagine we can get ourselves a reset switch too. Of note: I might have been wrong about frying the CPU and have a piece of trivia that might help others. when I switched out my 2-wire cpu fan with a 3-wire unit, the system seems to work - I say "Seems" because I cannot re-create the kludge I used to get the CRT to work. This might be a sign of a dead processor, but with a 3-wire fan the board ACTS like it is working - I just cant see anything. URGENT REQUEST!::: If anyone gets the CRT to come up, or somehow gets an LCD on one of these, PLEASE record the EXACT keystrokes required to enter bios and activate the CRT so that I can do it blind and maybe see what's going on. If anyone has access to a functional system with one of these boards, maybe the keystrokes will be the same so please post the blind-man walk-through! I have another (cheeper) cpu on order and will post updates - I've also joined that other board cause it looks like they have some LCD experts over there. FWIW - one of those hard-wired jumpers might specify the video default as LCD (or it's part of firmware - I believe I have seen it both ways) 11-16-2004 22:03:26

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) knyghtryda Profile Anyone have a spare laptop keyboard lying around? I'm pretty sure that to switch the display, you can just hit the fn key and some corrosponding F key (F1-F12). Who knows how standard laptop keyboards are... but its worth a shot. it would sure save time from hunting the bios... 11-17-2004 02:41:53

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Wild_Pencil Profile | Email strae: While working on the TFT hack for the IOpener, I've gone blind into the BIOS by just hitting <del> once per second for about 30 seconds (to be absolutely sure I'm in the setup menu), and then worked the arrow keys to navigate to the correct screen and item. If this board has an Award BIOS, you can practice the keystroke pattern by running MODBIN against the BIOS image, and launching the setup screen from there. Even better, you could use MODBIN to default the CRT and SVIDEO options to "Enabled", and flash that new BIOS image. If the BIOS is on a removable chip, maybe flash that image to a new chip via BadFlash. As tempting as this board is, I'm probably not getting one 'til an easy power supply solution is available. I'm not an EE, just a software dink. -WP 11-17-2004 11:40:50

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile strae, you didnt tell me where the power switch location is??? i looked over my mobo and couldnt find any power switch refernce near what compoment? 11-17-2004 13:29:26

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile never mind i found where that is its on the bottom of mobo near audio connectors and yes mine has soldered in button that if used in a laptop case is puched by a mechanical button linking 11-17-2004 18:18:08

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Yes, but if you tack-solder some leads on, you can have a more conventional power button. The PS is really simple - all you need is 2 pins with 19v on them - I plan on soldering wires right onto the power connector. I have located supplies running 90watts for $45 - I will re-locate and post a link. 11-17-2004 19:44:25

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email The bios is phoenix - any hacks for that? 11-17-2004 19:51:28

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email sorry - i get forgetful. Fortunately, it IS a socketed module - but I am just gonna try for an update and hope the keystrokes are the same 11-17-2004 19:59:43

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email you mean send the bios to badflash.com, or is badflash a program? problem is, we have no bios image and cannot run award utility to get it as we cant see.. 11-17-2004 20:18:12

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Wild_Pencil Profile | Email Blargh, Phoenix BIOS. Shoulda known, as this is a laptop mobo. There are no easy hacks for it, as it wasn't designed for modularity. Yeah, I was referring to sending the updated image to BadFlash to get it onto a chip, but since there's no image, we're out of luck for now. Wiping out the CMOS and doing the "hit <del> once per second" trick sometimes works, as I see you've tried before. I've also had success with wiping the CMOS, and then powering up while holding down a key to generate a "stuck key" error, and then disconnecting/reconnecting the keyboard to work the setup menu. 11-18-2004 11:29:17

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 4 times) strae Profile | Email power switch mods I added headers for the switches - just wanted to post some pics for anyone interested: wired-in power switch with header: http://www.streigh.com/images/power-wired.jpg closeup of power switch connections: http://www.streigh.com/images/power_sw-closeup.jpg closeup of board-side header: http://www.streigh.com/images/power_sw-header-closeup.jpg wired-in reset switch with header: http://www.streigh.com/images/reset-wired.jpg closeup of reset switch connections: http://www.streigh.com/images/reset_sw-closeup.jpg closeup of board-side header: http://www.streigh.com/images/reset_sw-header-closeup.jpg top-side view of reset header on board: http://www.streigh.com/images/reset-header-on-board.jpg Not tested yet (still no processor) . If these work, I plan on using 5-minute epoxy to glue down the wires and gluing the pins into the MB holes. 11-19-2004 16:14:52

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >Wiping out the CMOS and doing the "hit <del> once per second" trick sometimes works, as I see you've tried before. I've >also had success with wiping the CMOS, and then powering up while holding down a key to generate a "stuck key" error, and >then disconnecting/reconnecting the keyboard to work the setup menu. cmos clear DOES work (maybe) see my earlier post. But resetting will restore the default, which is CRT and S-vid DISABLED - although it seems like there might be a 1-shot solution (again, see my earlier post) Has anyone besides me gotten one of these to run? I am confident that my earlier cooler failure won't happen again now that I dont have to flip the mobo over to hit the power switch (provided my switch hack worked) 11-19-2004 16:22:26

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email BLIND KEYSTROKES TO ENABLE CRT AND TV: After Delete to enter setup: (3)down<enter> (6)down<enter> (3)down <enter> F10 Y <enter> FYI - my first chip did NOT burn out - I had switched to a monitor that didnt support the MB's output of 25hzX60hz The clear cmos only works for SOME monitors - it gives you a single boot at 25hz - my princeton monitor locks out anything below 30hz. 11-20-2004 17:07:18

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email (3)down<enter> (6)down<enter> (3)down <enter>(crt+tv) (2)down<enter> (TV ONLY) (1) down<enter>(CRT only) F10 Y <enter> The clear cmos only works for SOME monitors - it gives you a single boot at 25hz - my princeton monitor locks out anything below 30hz. I have also verified that NOTHING will make this board work with my princeton eo900 unless i boot the MB to my compaq v700 first, then move the cable to the eo900. Any attempt to boot with the eo900 gives me an out-of-freq-range error from the monitor - but booting to the compaq then moving the cable works - weird and beware of monitor incompatabilities... Oh yeah - my MB switch mods work perfectly - including the previously unavailable RESET function. 11-20-2004 17:19:59

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email http://www.shentech.com/noacpoad.html here's a list of laptop supplies (no affiliation) - prices are good and there are several that seem to meet our spec (sans the 4-pin connector we need...) 11-21-2004 17:25:12

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) petejengkol Profile Thanks for blind step by step instructions, finally. My NEC Flat screen CRT monitor can not display , just scrolling screen at the first time :(. I can play around with the system through Knoppix live-cd , everything runs smoothly. no harddrive currently, just CDROM attach to the motherboard on IDE . I am using gateway Laptop 19V 60W for supplying the power,and the system is running smoothly. the motherboard has pentium 4 celeron 2.0G on it plus CDROM :). I am using old athlon/duron heatshink ( rectangle shape, not a square one), it fits on the motherbaord. For securing the heatsink, I'm using plastic-tied. the power connector has the same connector and configuration of HP LCD Monitor power brick ( I have one 15' ). But HP only give 15V 60Watt not 19 V as we wanted. I think this motherboard is a good candidate for car PC, like a thin/flat system, so we can put it under the seat. just a small contribution from me. Pete. 11-23-2004 12:10:37

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Any input is good input. (IMO) Try the SVid - if you need it, there's a few really simple s-vid to composite hacks. You should be able to get it configured using a TV screen. I believe that, once we get the OS up and running, you will be able to select a useable refresh rate. 11-23-2004 18:28:57

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email tested compatable power supplies for sale on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11168&item=3494458810&rd=1 11-23-2004 18:43:44

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I have an idea about that tiny IDE header - we could do a group buy of a custom PC Board with a 40-pin IDE header, and some pin-through holes for the 50-pin. I have determined that we can buy 16 boards for about $100, prices drop sharply if we order more, $125 for 32 and $135 for 48 boards - hell , I need 4 and would take a spare so that's 5 right there. I am doing multiples of 16 because I made a big board with 16 complete circuits - we would have to cut the board up, but thats not a big deal Here is a drawing of the board: http://www.streigh.com/images/ide-40-50-adapter.jpg please note that there is an error in this thing where the 40-pin #1 crosses 2 pins on the 50-pin board - don't use the drawing as is, it's just a concept drawing for cost. Also, the price does not include silkscreening, solder masking or the actual pins and headers - if we can do a larger order, i imagine silkscreen and mask would make sense - price for 48 w/screen and mask is about $150. Who might be interested in these adapters? Lets get a count... 11-24-2004 21:17:48

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile i picked up one of these boards, and a sager power supply off ebay. I can't wait to play with this thing ... I don't have a p4 or spare DDR ram though ;) also, i read this board has a mini PCI slot. would this be compatible: http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=280657 ? What else can you put in a minipci slot? 11-24-2004 21:54:21

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile anyone know if different brand wireless minipci cards give you different quality? anything to stay away from? anything to look for? any sites that compare/contrast/review them? 11-24-2004 22:17:44

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) tritron Profile Microsoft pci wireless card that you can buy for cheap has mini pci card that works great with linux and windows. Did anyone heard about mythtv www.mythtv.com great linux pvr. I was thinking that with lcd screen, linux, mythtv this motherboard would be great for in car media center. We could build 12 to 19 v conventer like one for virgin web aplliance . 11-25-2004 01:32:10

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email Acer, 19V 120w, laptop auto power supply for $55 http://store.yahoo.com/shopbattery/actr131313se1.html here is a one with the correct power connector at 20V that has been tested in it's 120V model already: http://store.yahoo.com/shopbattery/sa88888888se.html 11-25-2004 01:45:31

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email So I have to admit I've been waiting for a power solution before going too much further but strae's ebay link was enough for me. Now we'll have to wait. I was also hoping for a solution from heaven for the cpu cooling issue. I think in the back of my mind I was hoping there would be a fire sale on IMO-Desk cases or parts, but eBay/Geeks has not produced anything :-/ I'm currently planning using long cable wraps being very careful how much I ratchet them down. I've been half-heartedly thinking of mounting the board on the back of the airport computer LCD (see thread about zillion down the list) but it's only 800x600 and this board demands a better display than that. strae, I'd be happy to buy in to one of the parts, although I'm planning on just using one IDE channel Chris 11-25-2004 06:30:29

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) mattress Profile that's interesting information. by microsoft card, you mean PCMCIA card? do you know which model? --i just re-read that, you said PCI. That would be cool, that way you'd get the external antenna too. would you still be able to use it? ctorkildson -- about cooling I've read that the zalman 7000 lines up perfectly with the mounting holes, and you can use the brass mobo stand offs because they are the perfect height. I haven't tested this myself, because I don't have a p4 cpu, nor a zalman 7000 lol.. 11-25-2004 08:55:45

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I have seen pics of the zalman cooler installed - its a bit awsome looking as the cooler is pretty big, but it does seem to line up nicely. It's a $35 cooler which kinda makes me want another solution. I am positive that there are single-board computers that have a little extension on the cpu socket that accepts a socket370 cooler - i just have no idea what the part is called or who sells them. Theres 2 little homes on the inboard side of the cooler that align perfectly with the second clip point if you clip a 370 cooler onto the tab on the outboard side of the cpu socket. I am going to locate a dead socket 7 MB and rip one side of the cpu socket off, carve it to fit with trusty dremmel and screw it in from below - maybe a drop of epoxy on the board for extra holding power. If you try this before me, you might want to make sure the screws dont short the traces on the underside of the board, a copule of fiber washers should do the trick. I have everything I need except the coolers - and after my previous scare I am taking my time with the coolers now :) Oh yeah - happy Turkey Day all! 11-25-2004 13:04:30

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 2 times) strae Profile | Email Correction - they don't align perfectly - I just tried with an actual clip instead of just the heatsink. I still think I can cut up a socket-7/370/A cpu socket and mount it using the 4 holes, some washers, and carving the underside of my contraption to make room for the components on the motherboard. I will post pics if it works and I will try this weekend. >that's interesting information. by microsoft card, you mean PCMCIA card? do you know which model? >--i just re-read that, you said PCI. That would be cool, that way you'd get the external antenna too. would you still be >able to use it? No, he means PCI card, many PCI wireless cards are really miniPCI cards mounted on a PCI adapter - look under the little metal cover. >strae, I'd be happy to buy in to one of the parts, although I'm planning on just using one IDE channel > >Chris Keep in mind that the optical drive will slow down an ultra-ata hdd if you put it on as a slave - IDE always slows to the speed of the slowest device, I doubt you have an ata133 cdrom drive. 11-25-2004 13:14:08

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) PeteC Profile I have been playing with a variety of mini PCI cards lately (combo NIC/modem, modem, NIC and combo WLAN/modem). They are cheap if you look on Ebay. Regarding getting them to work with XP I have had no problems with any of them so far. Getting them to work with various flavors of Linux is another story. (for Linux - stay away from 3Com NIC/Modem Mini PCI combo). There was one (MiniPCI) in the odd shaped small footprint "ugly" odd colored computer mentioned here down a ways (bought two of these) and that combo mini PCI card had audio, NIC, modem, etc and it had problems with XP but worked fine with 98. If you purchase a mini WLAN mini PCI card make sure you purchase antenna with it. The antenna connectors are pretty standard and are all the same. The antennas are set up usually to be installed around the LCD. Some WLAN mini PCI cards have single and some have double antenna connectors. I believe one works find. 11-25-2004 22:04:52

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email I've ordered a Zalman 7000 so I'll be able to report on how it works. Like it was mentioned the price was $35. Now that I've got also got a power supply on order does anyone have ideas about a case for this? None of my little computer cases work well (nlx, matx) so I've been thinking about making something. Not being a cabinent maker...... Chris 11-26-2004 06:46:46

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) inx3us Profile I have been lurking since the begining and have bought two of these boards. Can someone who has one of these with memory installed measure the distance between the top of the highest mem mod and the lowest spot on the bottom of the board. I have about 10 black plastic enclosoures that might just fit this board with memory installed and a laptop HDD. 11-26-2004 08:27:45

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I plan on making some of my cases from plexiglas. For 2 others, I have some small form factor IBM Netvista cases that are abouut the size of a VCR. Elsewhere, some people are talking about gutting a DVD player and installing out board. As for board height, I think you need to worry about our heatsinks and drives more than you have to worry about DIMM height - especially if we're using a zalman :) 11-26-2004 10:14:32

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email link to info about making custom plexi cases: http://www.bit-tech.net/article/99/ Acrylic/Plexi have a small flaw - they are high-static items and normal paint wont stay on them. Theres an anti-static coating called Staticide ESD that solves the problem and theres paint from Krylon called Fusion that will stick nicely to plastic sheet. 11-26-2004 10:48:03

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I found Spire RackSper VII Intel CPU Cooler for $8 with reasonable shipping: http://store.yahoo.com/outletpc/c1947.html its xeon 604, someone on the other site said the holes match - I would wait for confirmation, as he has a 604 cooler on order. Impatience got the better of me - i stuck a 440bx passive chipset cooler on and nylon fast-tied the athlon cpu cooler on my p4 1.5 again - I am currently up in winxppro and am connected to the chaintech web site downloading drivers. The chipset was getting pretty hot - I plugged a case fan in and placed it on top of the chipset - nice and cool now. My MS USB Wheelmouse Optical did not come up until windows found it, and of course - I had to hook it up to the compaq v700 monitor, as it still wont work on the princeton eo900 - hopefully, with video drivers it will function once windows loads on the princeton. 11-26-2004 22:07:27

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I have a report that the xeon heatsink will NOT fit - ignore the RackSper VII link! 11-26-2004 23:01:40

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) tritron Profile what about this fan http://e-geeks.org/details.asp?invtid=TR2-M13-N 11-27-2004 00:45:21

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I dont think so - other pics of socket t mounts look like the screws make an almost perfect square - this is clearly NOT what I see on the motherboard - it's a clear rectangle. The zalman 7000 remains the only known good fit. I located some for less than $35: http://store.jl-computer.com/zacn.html $24 but shipping isnt great -- 3 units is about $90 shipped http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?src=FG&item=59509 $22.95 with good shipping, but they seem out of stock http://www.nwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=products.showDetail&header=&subheader=&productID=1570&flag=Standalone $26.95 - very reasonable shipping 11-28-2004 00:49:07

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email A rectangle you say? Maybe this 1U P4 cooler will fit then: http://www.neutronexpress.com/prod.cfm/227366/SUPERMICRO/SNK0032/1U_HEATSINK_FOR_478_PIN_P4_SUPERMICRO_1U Or maybe another 1U cooler found in this Froogle search:(check out the retention clips links too) http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=P4+1U&scoring=p 11-28-2004 14:25:16

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >A rectangle you say? Maybe this 1U P4 cooler will fit then: > >http://www.neutronexpress.com/prod.cfm/227366/SUPERMICRO/SNK0032/1U_HEATSINK_FOR_478_PIN_P4_SUPERMICRO_1U > >Or maybe another 1U cooler found in this Froogle search:(check out the retention clips links too) >http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=P4+1U&scoring=p I dont think so, both of those look like they mount with a regular p4 mount or something close to it - we don't have a p4 bracket so we need something that mounts like the xeon (with screws/posts). I made an adapter by carving the inside out of a socket370 and fitting it around the mpga socket - I will post pics after I get some screws and washers to actually attach it with. It looks like it will work. I pulled the top off the pga zif socket then ripped the part off the board (which helpfully pulled all the pins out too) - it looked a little flimsy, so I filled all the holes with 10-minute epoxy then carved out the center to fit around the mpga socket, and carved the bottom to make space for the bigger surface-mounted devices on the motherboard. The 4 corners just reach the 4 mounting holes, and I plan on using oversize washers to give the screws a bite on the adapter. Since I was willing to pay $15-20 for a cooler, and since I found zalmans for $25, I decided it was not worth the effort to save $15-$30 to build more adapters and just bought 4 zalmans - but I want to finish the adapter to prove the concept. Pics when I get screws. 11-29-2004 17:47:53

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email The good news is that the power adapter from strae's 11/23 ebay link has a compatible power adapter. The label on the back of it is: Hipower, Model: EA11203, AC INPUT: 100-120V~2.5A, 50-60Hz, DC OUTPUT: 20V 6.0A. The seller still has them on eBay for $49. The semi-bad news (for non-mechanical me) is that the Zalmon 7000, while a wonder of engineering to behold, seriously, doesn't just drop in. The Zalman is this giant heatsink/fan with mount running through it with holes on each end. It comes with a whole bunch of adapters for Socket 478, Athlon, etc. that mount/clip/bolt to the MB. You then bolt the Zalman to the adapter that you choose. None of the adapters work for this board. However, the holes on the Zalman line up reasonably well diagnolly with two of the holes on the motherboard. I guess it should be possible to just use the right size bolts and nuts to fasten the Zalman to the MB, being very careful with the torque. Not having the right size bolts means a trip to the hardware store..... Last thing, the Zalman is huge. When mounted on the motherboard some of the fins stick out from the borders of the board meaning putting it in a case will be a challenge. If we come up with a better cooling solution I'd love to put the Zalman on my main gaming machine which gets pretty warm during Half-Life 2 Chris 11-30-2004 16:01:21

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email Well, I'm an idiot, as usual. After staring at the Zalman pieces for a while I realized that the big black plastic thing which goes under the motherboard for Atlons just had some nuts embedded. Popping them out let me use the brass standoffs which let me mount the Zalman just fine. After puzzling over strae's BIOS instructions for a while and trying 3 monitors (a real old Dell turned out to work), we have ignition! Everything seems fine, although I don't have a chipset cooler mounted yet. It's not too warm but I won't take chances. Thanks everyone for the help! Chris 11-30-2004 16:51:50

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) petejengkol Profile Guys, I have upload some pics to free web space for sharing: http://home.earthlink.net/~tjahjadi/ Pete. 11-30-2004 22:38:16

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 2 times) strae Profile | Email I made a socket-370 cooler adapter - pics and details here: http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1026935268&postcount=196 12-01-2004 18:05:12

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Just curious, will zeon plastic motherboard cpu brackets line up with the holes? 12-02-2004 20:09:19

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile oops typo, Xeon...duh! 12-02-2004 20:16:16

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Just an idea...don't know if it will work for you guys...not my auction... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1484&item=5734995781&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW#ebayphotohosting 12-02-2004 20:19:08

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >Just curious, will zeon plastic motherboard cpu brackets line up with the holes? >12-02-2004 20:09:19 > >RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap 02U2 >oops typo, Xeon...duh! I think this has been addressed earlier in the thread - xeon cooler holes do not seem to line up. 12-02-2004 23:12:06

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Bummer , getting to be a long thread..... 12-03-2004 11:51:57

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) shadowmorph Profile | Email Got my board up and running. Converted an Athlon processor. I tried a Dell heatpipe cooler for a laptop, but everything was wrong. I ended up converting an athlon cpu coolerfor the purpose. I built my own regulated power supply. I'm currently working on a mobile power supply. I'll post a link to some simplw schematics with radioShack parts as soon as I test everything. 12-03-2004 21:57:41

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Dude - post the pinout and schematic for the processor conversion.. ;) 12-04-2004 00:35:01

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile holy crap, i didn't know you could convert stuff like that, please tell us how, and can you do it with any chip / board? 12-04-2004 11:09:23

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Neither did I, but he wouldn't post it if it wasn't so... <BSEG> (BigStinkinEvilGrin) 12-04-2004 15:31:18

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email Uhh, I would bet a lot that there is no such thing as a device that converts Athlon CPUs to run on P4 motherboards. Being in the business I would have heard. Perhaps he meant an Athlong cooler? 12-05-2004 06:37:59

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) strae Profile | Email I am fairly certain that's what he meant - or he's just kidding altogether. The real question is, what does he mean by modifies an athlon cpu cooler? 12-05-2004 08:30:45

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) shadowmorph Profile | Email I'msorry, Yes, I Drilled holes in an antec athlon cooler. I tapped the holes to thread #20 bolts into them. I then placed wire gromets between the board and cooler so I could comfortably snug the cooler down against the processor. 12-05-2004 19:26:07

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email OK, good news - I am almost positive I have the pinout for the cdrom interface. Ity seems to be exactly the same as a JAE50 slim cdrom interface, EXCEPT pin1=2 and pin 2=1 and pin 50=49 and pin 49=50 (or, row even and odd are switched) anyway - I expect to be able to create adapters that will plug into the motherboard and then you plug a standard 40-pin IDE cable into the other side. You will still need to tap power from the motherboard's HDD power connector - there will be a spot to add a 5v with 2 grounds on the adapter too, but I am not providing those headers. So, what I am making is a solder-your-own kit of a board and the 2 headers. I should be able provide these, delivered via US 1st class mail for $20 or less each (depending on how many people are buying in) anyone who is interrested, please email me so we can arrange things - I expect the drawing to be done this week, and I believe there's a 10-day lead time on the board fabrication. Also - I got some zalmans - they look even bigger in person :) Being obsessed, I have taken it upon myself to modify my zalman so it does not overhang the back of the case by the printer port - requires bending many fins and actually cutting off about 10 of them, but my case )not made yet - yet ANOTHER project :)) will be able to close. 12-07-2004 19:03:53

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) ctorkildson Profile | Email strae, I'm certainly in, I'll email you. I'm getting random hang-ups and lockups. I put some memory in that I had working in a much slower Athlon and now I wonder if it's too slow. What speed memory does this board need? Surgery on the Zalman, that's almost sacreligious it's so pretty Chris 12-07-2004 19:12:11

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >I'm getting random hang-ups and lockups. I put some memory in that I had working in a much slower Athlon and now I wonder >if it's too slow. What speed memory does this board need? I am using kingston DDR400 memory - I was up and running for quite a while with no problems. You got the northbridge cooled? >Surgery on the Zalman, that's almost sacreligious it's so pretty No almost about it, but it's gonna make the box quiet. Speaking of quiet - does anyone know where I can get sheets of that thermal rubber they use on heatsinks? I am thinking: If we cover a hard drive with heatsink rubber, then clamp it between blocks of aluminum, then suspend the whole thing on more rubber, we should have an almost silent drive that still has great cooling - point a silent fan at it and we have a silent PC. So... Where do I get some nice sheets of that stuff? 12-07-2004 21:14:53

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile that's a cool idea. I tore apart an older emachines computer that was given to me. It has a seagate harddrive with exactly what you're talking about. It was kind of like a rubber mat that wrapped around the hard drive to dampen the noise and vibration. I thought it'd be perfect for an HTPC, and was considering doing that to me other computers. 12-08-2004 09:41:53

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile That "thermal rubber" I believe is made of silicone. Try Dow corning. I've seen it in white and grey. I've used sheets of that silicone for "Hot bond" composite/carbon fiber repairs of holes and punctures on heavy aircraft. It is used between the heating blanket and composite patch inclosed in a vacuum bag. It's extremely thermally conductive yet remains very flexable. The material I used came in approx .125" to .20 thick in large rolls. Unfortunately, I'm (temporarily?) retired. No access to that stuff. 12-08-2004 19:58:02

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >that's a cool idea. I tore apart an older emachines computer that was given to me. It has a seagate harddrive with exactly >what you're talking about. It was kind of like a rubber mat that wrapped around the hard drive to dampen the noise and >vibration. I thought it'd be perfect for an HTPC, and was considering doing that to me other computers. That was the Seagate C-Shell - fairly common for a while. >That "thermal rubber" I believe is made of silicone. Try Dow corning. I've seen it in white and grey. Thanks for the lead - unfortunately, the dow site is about the worst I have ever seen and all I can locate is compounds and adhesives. I found some stuff on www.jabar.com and am checking into samples and pricing. At .16", the stuff is a little thin for vibration prevention, but a double thickness at 1/3" should do the trick. I hope to bolt the drive between 2 big heatsinks, coupled with the rubber and packed with foam around the sides - should kill the noise and provide better cooling than the drive originally had. 12-09-2004 13:28:33

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I just realized that piperpacer started this thread and posted only 3 messages in it. I simply wanted to say "Thanks" to him! 12-10-2004 23:33:57

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Morely Profile ctorkildson ws looking for the "cooling solution from heaven." If you have access to a drill press and a tap-and-die set, I have the next best thing. see http://www.spamblocked.com/Chaintech/HSF-milled.JPG and http://www.spamblocked.com/Chaintech/First_run_small.JPG (much larger copy of the second pic: http://www.spamblocked.com/Chaintech/First_run.JPG ). Also, for anyone who didn't get (or doesn't want to spend $$$ for) one of the "official" power supplies for this board, I have a buttload of HP wart-on-a-string PSUs, 19V @ 3.5 A (75W). This should be adequate if you aren't using the LCD and inverter. You'll have to cut the PC-end plug off and solder direct, since the plug is just a coaxial barrel. Direct email is fine if you want to get one. morelydotes AT spamblocked DOT com gets my attention if your ISP is not spammish. Otherwise, ask here and I'll give you an alternate. I figure shipping should be around $5, and I can part with the PSU for $10 without heartburn. USA only, sorry, I will not deal with Customs ever again. 12-12-2004 13:06:04

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) tritron Profile how about makeing some and seling it to us 12-14-2004 22:50:17

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) Incognito Profile | Email tritron, Making some? Cutting the end off and soldering to your board doesn't work that way. I've purchased two of these boards too. Currently, I have had this one running 13 days and 5 hours. I was disappointed when I plugged in my socket 370 cooling fan and heard how loud it was.. but when I installed it onto the cpu, it spins at a minimum rpm and is extremely quiet. In fact, at first, for many days... I let it sit there by gravity only . With thermal paste of course. I figured that if the cpu got hot, the motherboard would increase the rpm's but it has always been cool. 13 days of playing music, movies, ftp, bittorrent, cd burning, chat ect... not even a hiccup. Like shadowmorph I too drilled hole in accordance with the mounting holes on the m/b, but instead of tapping them, I drilled them to pass the screws THROUGH the cooler and used four thumb screws with springs above the cpu cooler. The screws are mounted on the board with nuts and I just slide the cooler down over the 4 bolts and tighten the springs till I hear the epoxy cracking (j/k). I figure the springs will allow constant pressure with heat expanding and contracting the materials, and it's clean. Gotta like 'clean looking' ya know? It is only a 1.8 Celeron, with 512 megs of ram. I have a 52 speed cd writer and 160 gig harddrive on the ide header, a 48 speed tdk cd writer on the usb, an old Mag dx500t monitor is working fine on it. BTW.. thanks for posting the blind entry into the bios for the crt. I am using a 70 watt power supply from an old dell, I had to cut the end off and solder to the board. It has worked fine. Not once have I noticed a power related problem. Ha, I haven't had ANY problems so far, again, thanks to you guys. I have ordered two supplies and recieved them, but haven't tried them yet because I hate to ruin a 13 day uptime just to change a power supply. One was AC, but the other I ordered is for my Automobile!! I had an old asus bp6 m/b that donated the chipset cooler.. a little dremel touch-up and it mounted fine, clips springs and all. It is much warmer than the cpu, but not uncomfortable to the touch. I will be making a case for it in the next several days of Christmas break and will post a picture or two. Also, just to add my voice.. Computer Surplus Outlet has taken my money on the 9th.. they have not shipped nor replied to my email until today. Very dissappointed in them and won't be buying from them ever again. I just checked.. "No Tracking information is stored in the database at this time." It still hasn't shipped. I'd like to see what that NLX case is.... Thanks Guys... and girls? Merry Christmas y'all. 12-17-2004 12:42:31

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) mattress Profile Glad to hear the good news! I wrapped up all my stuff for xmas presents to myself ;) I'll be running 512mb ram, can't remember what speed P4 ... and i'll have to dig up an extra HDD, etc.. As for as Computer Surplus Outlet, I too ordered from them, and it was a complete sham. I used a coupon code "save20" which deducted $20 from my orders (I placed 2), and it worked at the time. I authorized the correct amount, I got confirmation emails for the correct amount and everything. They charged me the full amount on both orders (over charging me $40 total). I tried emailing them over 20 times, to every email address they provided. No response. I did the same thing again, from a different email address (maybe my ISP blocked their emails with a filter or something?) still no response. I did a WHOIS lookup on their domain, and tried calling the provided phone number, but it's disconnected. I contacted my bank, and they refunded me the full amount, and they're going to investigate the situation further. I've ordered from CSO in the past, and have always had problems with them. I hope you get your stuff ... I don't know what's going on in my situation. hey strae, any word on those connectors/headers/etc you were gonna order? 12-17-2004 13:52:30

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I am working on a hard-wired prototype - doesnt seem like a good idea to order 9 custom boards if we arent positive the wiring is right. Now, if you think it might be a bit tedious to solder 37 wires onto one of those microscopic 50-pin headers, you are VERY correct! I managed to complete the first 10 before I had to take a break for a few days. I will get back on it. Does anyone here know the meanings of the IDE and JAE50 pin codes?There are a couple that don't match up and I have taken a wild guess, but anyone that can give me a known working JAE50-IDE40 pinout would be a lifesaver! 12-17-2004 16:59:59

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile i did a google search and found this post on a mp3car.com thread: "I tested with a multimeter to get the JAE50->IDE50 I will post this on monday(It's on my office I'm now at home...) But it's easy just connect IDE50 pin 50-> IDE pin 40 you can leave the first 1-10 pin free on the IDC 50 For the +5V and GND just solder on the pcb adaptor your wire (There is some big SMD capacitor) I'll post some pic & additional info on monday (I've also to test this on monday) I'll keep you in touch... On the first 10 pin of the IDC 50 there is +5V, AudioR, AudioL AudioGND, GND *Edit Ok tested! It work!! BIOS=> Found cdrom Matshiat dvd-rom SR8185 Ok here's the Pic www.just-married.ch/pt/dvd/Serial.jpg www.just-married.ch/pt/dvd/Power.jpg www.just-married.ch/pt/dvd/idc50to40.jpg IDE Pin40 => Pin50 IDC 50 pin easy...." I hope this helps you out some. I haven't found any graphical schematics or pinouts yet.. 12-18-2004 07:29:45

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) mattress Profile Here is the full pinout of a JAE 50 connector and a IDE 40 Table A-14 CD-ROM JAE Connector Pin Signal Pin Signal 1 Audio L-Ch 2 Audio R-Ch 3 Audio GND 4 GND 5 RESET- 6 DD8 7 DD7 8 DD9 9 DD6 10 DD10 11 DD5 12 DD11 13 DD4 14 DD12 15 DD3 16 DD13 17 DD2 18 DD14 19 DD1 20 DD15 21 DD0 22 DMARQ 23 GND 24 /DIOR 25 DIOW- 26 GND 27 IORDY 28 /DMACK 29 INTRQ 30 /IOCS16 31 DA1 32 /PDIAG 33 DA0 34 DA2 35 /CS1FX 36 /CS3FX 37 /DASP 38 +5 V 39 +5 V 40 +5 V 41 +5 V 42 +5 V 43 GND 44 GND 45 GND 46 GND 47 CSEL 48 GND 49 RESERV 50 RESERV Table A-11 CD-ROM 40 IDE Connector Pin Signal Pin Signal 1 RSTDRV 2 GROUND 3 DD7 4 DD8 5 DD6 6 DD9 7 DD5 8 DD10 9 DD4 10 DD1 11 DD3 12 DD12 13 DD2 14 DD13 15 DD1 16 DD14 17 DD0 18 DD15 19 GROUND 20 KEY PIN 21 DRQ 22 GROUND 23 DIOW 24 GROUND 25 DIOR 26 GROUND 27 IORDY 28 CSEL 29 DACK 30 GROUND 31 IRQ 32 No connection 33 DA1 34 No connection 35 DA0 36 DA2 37 CS1P_L 38 DS3P_L 39 DHACT_L 40 GROUND I am sorry if I do not understand this but, you are saying that the 40pins include audio and we do not need to connect the remaining 6 pins to anything? Well you don't need to connect anymore the analog output signal to your sound card… You can play Audio CD in Windows with just the IDE cable 40 pin It’s even better to do it this way… (No redundant analogue to digital) this is where I got all this from: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=12362&page=1&pp=15 12-18-2004 07:38:41

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email Sometimes digital (through ide cable) playback does not work properly - with older sound cards it can cause unstabl;e playback. It's nioce to have the analog pins available if needed. But no, that's not my problem. What is JAE equivalent of the IDE 40 pins: 21 DRQ 29 DACK 31 IRQ 37 CS1P_L 38 DS3P_L 39 DHACT_L ? 12-18-2004 11:01:36

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email I checked back, that MP3 forum was the same place I located my original pinouts - I have an idea on maybe 3 of those pins that are probably correct, the other 3 are based upon "what else can it be" IDE 40 JAE50 21 DRQ 22 DMARQ 29 DACK 28 /DMACK 31 IRQ 29 INTRQ 37 CS1P_L 35 /CS1FX 38 DS3P_L 36 /CS3FX 39 DHACT_L cant even guess of these, I am a little concerned about those with the / in front - I almost suspect they are inverted signals. Does anyone know what these 6 lines are and if we even need them? The prototype is a pain to wire and I would love it to work on the first try. Thx 12-18-2004 20:18:19

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) twod Profile Just wanted to start by saying thanks to everyone that has contributed to the thread. It has been really helpful. I am not affiliated with this company but is this the kind of adapter you are trying to prototype? http://www.ultradrives.com/product_info.php/cPath/47/products_id/586 12-18-2004 22:09:21

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) strae Profile | Email >twod >Just wanted to start by saying thanks to everyone that has contributed to the thread. It has been really helpful. >I am not affiliated with this company but is this the kind of adapter you are trying to prototype? Thanks, Twod. No, it's not - we have a connector on the motherboard that seems to be pin-compatible with JAE50, but the connector itself is completely different - its a tiny header with 50 pins that's excatly like a compact flash connector (in appearance) I believe that this motherboard had a cable that was a direct pin translation of the motherboard connector to a JAE50 connector. This makes perfect sense, as the system would have had a slim optical drive connected there. It seems all of the pin translation in integral in the motherboard and it would only take a straight-through cable to connect a JAE50 drive. What I have determined is that, I can have PC boards manufactured at a cost of under $20 in lots of 9 that will give us a regular ide connector - all i have to do is test the pinout translation then draw the boards. Anyway - I will go forward with the prototype and hopefully those questionable pins work out. 12-19-2004 00:49:33

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) chillywilly Profile Hello all, I recently got an AC adapter with the correct plug and I don't know if it will work with this motherboard. On the adapter itself it has a picture of the 4 pin plug and it looks like the following: ______ ˇ GND x x V+ GND x x V+ 5A Maxs for each pin the specs of adapter are the following: Gateway Model No.: FSP150-1ADE11 AC Input: 100-240V~ 2A,50-60Hz DC Output: 19.0V === 7.9A MAX(150W MAX) P/N: 9NA1500202 S/N: 00431 D/C: 03 28 1 1 I did a search on ebay for the model number today and it came up with a hit http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42169&item=6731272295&rd=1#ebayphotohosting but on looking at the picture it seems to have a barrel connector. I was trying to see if I can find out what device it connects to, so this might be an alternative solution for an AC adapter. I'm still trying to find a cheap CPU so I can start playing with this board. If anyone knows where I can find one I would appreciate the info. thanks and Happy Holidays, ChillyWilly 12-22-2004 09:15:17

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 1 times) Incognito Profile | Email http://www.pricewatch.com/m/mn.aspx?i=3&f=1 12-24-2004 21:00:07

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) inx3us Profile I got a couple of these and am starting to INVESTigate them now. I just had the thought to de-solder the power connector and attach on for which a matching power supply can easily be found. Since I dont have one of the boards in front of me I cannot check the feasibility of doing this. It sounds like a good idea, has anyone else considered this? 01-05-2005 11:25:40

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) blackice22 Profile does anyone have an extra board they could sell to me? I went to check it out at computer geeks and they are out of stock... Thanks 01-27-2005 21:41:21

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) plloyd Profile I have an extra. Contact me at ICQ 118-341-821. 01-28-2005 08:42:52

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile sorry to bring back an old dead thread, but I have a question about this motherboard is there ANY way to add a PCMCIA card slot to it?? Thanks!! 02-02-2005 19:14:18

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) plloyd Profile Well, not a regular PCI. That connector, which is kitty corner to the CPU socket, is a mini-PCI. I don't know if anyone makes an adapter, but there are mini-PCI cards for almost any purpose that standard PCI cards do. 02-03-2005 08:58:03

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) inx3us Profile I bought two of these and have had no time to do more than look at them. Does anyone want to take them for the same cost as Comp Geeks had them plus exact shipping cost? 02-04-2005 12:38:25

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) dzigmo Profile inx3us - I am interested - drop me an email (in profile). 02-11-2005 10:55:42

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile How did everyone cool their CPU's with this board? I tried the "socket adapter" ... but the mounting holes/bolts/washers get in the way of where the clip would clip on.. The zalman is just way too big.. Is there anyway we could get our hands on the original CPU coolers that came in this laptop? Any other ideas? 02-11-2005 19:15:39

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile ANY OF YOU GUYS EXPERIENCE S-VIDEO OUT WITH NO COLOR? I can't figure this out for the life of me! I have CRT + TV enabled in the bios with the output set to NTSC... and it's black and white.. i have a feeling it has something to do with the drivers... the Uvga3 drivers crash, along with anything earlier than the uvga2 drivers listed currently on the download.sis.com website thanks for any help 02-27-2005 17:15:43

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) plloyd Profile Are you using one of those S-video to RCA adpters? If not, check the color wire on your cable. You alway got to look out for those cheap cables. /http://www.technick.net/public/code/cp_dpage.php?aiocp_dp=pinconhav_s_video 02-28-2005 08:31:54

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) mattress Profile if anyone wants to buy my board, it's up for bids :P my main interest in this board was to use it as a carPC. but the video output can't do what I need (C-sync, interlaced, etc) for the 5" LCD i'm using. I have the board, the A/C powerbrick, and an asus miniPCI wifi-B card with an external antenna jack. I used this with my 7dbi magnetic mount antenna for a little wardriving and it was awesome :D so now I have to switch boards ::sigh:: email: thelenm@comcast.net heatware: alchs_box ebay: 122333221 AIM: i kicked yer dog we can work something out! 03-01-2005 10:20:00

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile hey there's another laptop motherboard by gateway at 29bucks it has 1.3ghz celeron and intergated devices see url \ http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SX05&cat=MBB 03-09-2005 23:57:19

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) dzigmo Profile Info on the new 1.3 Celeron M motherboard at geeks (vwbug19 post): This appears to be from a Gateway 200ARC - there is a user manual, specifications on Gateway site. The processor is a "centrino" type celeron m (I believe a 320), it uses cheap PC2100 DDR-SODIMMs. BUT - Geeks description does't list power required - wonder why not? Because a DC/DC converter board is missing that takes in 19V DC and then feeds into the motherboard through a >20 pin connector. If you search ebay for 200ARC DC you'll find a listing for the missing board. 03-15-2005 11:46:35

RE:Interesting Laptop Motherboard for cheap (modified 0 times) vwbug19 Profile i know , it's up to them to find em or shoehorn one :) i just letting them know of the deal 03-15-2005 12:48:11

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