I-Appliance BBS The Official Source for Internet Appliance Upgrades and Mods Click Here! BBS Main List | Sign In | Sign Up | Search | Help | Linux-Hacker.net Reply to Thread | Printer |

Home / Other I-Appliances / Intel dot.station Motherboard Upgrade Motherboard Upgrade

Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) wvgeo Profile I have a dot.bob and am going to try a motherboard upgrade. The motherboard I'm getting is a Gateway Flex ATX WH11 Motherboard with integrated sound, video and 56K modem. Specifications can be found at http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/INTEL/2511081/251108118.shtml . The MB is Socket 370 and suppose to support a 333Mhz - 933Mhz Celeron or PIII. The chipset is Intel 82810E, has 2 DIMM slots supporting 512MB max, 2 PCI slots and fits the dot's chassis. The main reason I picked this board, besides being cheap at $29 shipped, is that the video connector is separate; hopefully I can reposition the connector so I can keep the video cable inside the unit. I figure I can use a PCI NIC in place of the modem. Wish me luck. Dan 04-15-2003 10:00:13

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) TheBigDog Profile I am 99% sure that you will get a unit w/ the VGA adapter at the back end of the mobo. I don't believe it is "reconfigurable". It should be hard soldered to the board w/ embeded traces. good luck. 04-15-2003 11:24:16

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) wvgeo Profile My plan is to unsolder the connector and try to replace it with a connector similar to the one in the dot or use wires to rotate the one removed. This seems easier than removing the embedded BIOS. 04-15-2003 12:00:20

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile heck, i'd just like to know how you found that Gateway page, and do you really think they still have any in stock? 04-15-2003 12:00:47

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) Kludgemeister Profile There's a guy selling a ton of them on eBay. Just search for Gateway WH11 and you'll find him (PC Power Computers Ebay Store) OTOH while I was searching I ran across http://www.miim.com/pc/audio/ , so it might be prudent to be cautious (or it might be cautious to be prudent). (Good luck, Dan! ) OTOOH, I've been thinking about buying a cheap 810-based MB just to hotflash Manuel's BIOS, and this might be appropriate for that use... Kludgemeister 04-15-2003 14:18:35

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) Kludgemeister Profile Couldn't ya just cry... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3411599277&category=4614 Kludgemeister 04-15-2003 18:11:53

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile Keith721 is bidding on the same intel board, difft. seller. The company selling it: Northwest Techinical ISP, sells them and offers them for referal credits. http://www.nwtec.com/online_store/ I was in negotiations to get them cheaper, should have posted that here so no-one would reveal the possible demand. Oh well. You can call them and "buy it now" from them for ~$50. I was trying to get them to drop it to $20-$30 (541) 412-7700 04-15-2003 18:25:32

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile well - - jsmmd says they've got bunches of them (they probably do, but aren't foolish enough to dump them all in a single auction. please just don't bid up the one i've already made an offer on, they'll probably start another 1-piece auction as soon as this one's gone. so, what's this 'referral credits' plan? keith721 04-15-2003 19:04:30

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) Kludgemeister Profile As jsmmd said, Northwest Technical Products is selling them direct. I just phone-ordered one (the modem funny business pushed me over the edge) new in box. Chris was nice to speak to, and they only charge actual postage. When the new board comes I will also hotflash the bios in Manuel's original M/B and (try to...) sell it. keith721, Northwest Technical also runs a local ISP, and if you are a current customer of theirs and refer new customers to them you get referral credits. Two referral credits gets you a D810EMO! Kludgemeister 04-16-2003 12:30:12

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile yeah, i wasn't really wanting the motherboard itself, as much as the cables and CD-ROM (containing the BIOS, I believe) does anyone know where to purchase a 50-pin IDE cable like the secondary IDE on this mobo, that has the micro/slimline connector on the other end? it looks more and more like i'll have to spring for a $15 adapter, but that breaks the slimline connector out to a 40-pin IDE, with separate power and sound lines. what's a poor hacker to do, actually build something himself? if i have to pick up a soldering iron, someone's likely to get hurt keith721 04-16-2003 13:33:05

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) TheBigDog Profile Kludgemeister, When u said HOTFLASH, does that mean you are gonna desolder the bios on the dot.bob and solder it onto the new board (unsolder the one on the new board of course) and then move it back to dot.bob? Sorry if I am a bit slow... 04-16-2003 16:26:42

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) Kludgemeister Profile TheBigDog, I've already unsoldered the BIOS from the dot.bob (it's sitting on my keyboard at work right now) and installed a socket (and confirmed that I didn't damage anything in the process--it still boots.) I'll do the same with the D810EMO board, boot up with the D810EMO BIOS installed (lightly), pull it from the socket and insert the old BIOS, then run the iflash program. To tell the truth, I've never done it myself, but a bunch of the iopener guys have done so, along with folks with regular motherboards. For a one-off, that should work fine, but I've also been toying with the idea of trying to make an adapter cable that would plug into the PLCC socket on the "good" motherboard and clip over the BIOS on a dot.bob motherboard, so it wouldn't need to be unsoldered to reflash it. But that's one extra project I probably don't need (I've got a lot going already!) Kludgemeister 04-16-2003 16:49:26

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) TheBigDog Profile Can you briefly explain what you used to take the chip off? I havea soldering iron and for some reason I don't think I have the skill to do it w/ a soldering iron. Did you use a hot air gun or something? 04-16-2003 18:04:54

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile Dianna at Northwest Technical mentioned that they have a large number of these motherboards still in stock. So, if for whatever reason you'd like to obtain one (or even several): detailed information is on this web page: http://www.northwesttechnical.com/motherboards/desktop/p3_p2_celeron/d810emo/d810emo.htm you can order it from NWTEC at their online store: http://www.nwtec.com/online_store/ or via telephone at (541) 412-7700 no, i don't work for them; just letting you know they're a good source and nice people, too! 04-17-2003 12:27:36

RE:Motherboard Upgrade (modified 0 times) Kludgemeister Profile TheBigDog, I used a hot-air remover at work. I did try solder wick, but with the pins turned under like they are, it was not successful. Kludgemeister 04-17-2003 17:45:07

Motherboard differences (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile Kludgemeister: Well, my Intel D810EMO motherboard arrived from NWTEC, today. I'd like to replace the stock motherboard because it's got the original Intel 82810 Whitney chipset (66/100 MHz FSB) and the NWTEC motherboard arrived with the later 82810E chipset which also supports the 133 MHz FSB speed. The original board has no display cache, and the NWTEC board has these chips installed (U3D1 and U4D1) near the battery. On the NWTEC board, there are two additional power capacitors installed (C3J2 and C3J3). There are a few more and a few less audio connectors than the original motherboard: - The NWTEC board has pink MIC IN (J1D1) and green LINE OUT (J1D2) jacks installed. The original has a 14-pin AUD header (J1D3) installed for connecting the microphone and speakers. The original has two small SMD connector packs installed (CP1D1 and CP1D2) to connect the signal lines to the 14-pin AUD header (J1D3). The only signal lines used from the J1D3 14-pin header are 11, 12, 13, and 14. Presumably these are for the two built-in speakers. - The NWTEC has a black audio connector (J2D1) behind the 14-pin AUD header (J1D3). The original board does not have this audio connector. - The NWTEC board has no white MIC (J2A24) or green AUDIO (J2A1) connectors on the edge near the PCI slot, nor a 16-pin header (J3A1). The original has all of these installed with another SMD connector pack (CP3A2) for the built-in microphone and modem. Hope this helps others who might be considering the swap. It appears it would take a fair amount of surface-mount micro-soldering work to use the new motherboard exactly like the original. keith721 04-25-2003 18:29:42

Reply to Thread | Printer | All times are PST Powered by UltraBoard v1.62

I-Appliance BBS General - NEWS, Breaking NEWS - linux-hacker.net BBS on CD Questions - User Groups in Your Town - E-Bay, Yahoo Auction LINKS ONLY (MODERATED) - Jokes & Humor - usdtv box I-Opener Areas - I-Opener General Posts - I-Opener Technical Stuff - I-Opener Technical Info Reference (MODERATED) WebSurfer Areas - WebSurfer General Posts - WebSurfer Technical Stuff - WebSurfer Technical Info Reference (MODERATED) Other I-Appliances - Virgin Webplayer - WebPal - MailStation - 3Com Audrey - ThinkNIC / Oracle NIC - Gateway/AOL Connected Touch Pad - Philips/AOL-TV - ACER NT-150 STB - MSN Companion - Compaq IA - Emachines IA - IBM NetVista IA - Intel dot.station - MSNTV2 Network Computers - Fujitsu-Siemens Scovery Linux Net Computers - GallantWeb Server Consoles - Dreamcast - xbox hacking Web Pads - Epods One General Post - Panasonic CF-01 - Fujitsu Stylistic 1200 - Cybiko Thin Clients - Thin Clients DigitalVideoRecorders - DTV Recorders, Replay, TiVo, Etc... - Tivo Hacks Linux - Midori Linux General Board - ITX MotherBoards Single Board Computers - Earth Computers mARMalade Elite Member Area MISC Areas - The Swap Meet WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY TRANSACTION HERE AND NO COMMERCIAL POST PERIOD !!! - Wireless Net - Cameras - Robotics - Routers/Gateways - Mattel JuiceBox