Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

[ratdude747]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Glad you're enjoying...

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

I had to move this off my bench to work on other things....but poking around the 36gb array, I did find a folder with 11gb worth of TIF's in it. NT doesn't know what to do with them, so I didn't get to see what they are....I'll dump them off when I get some work done and find out.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

107 VAC? That looks very low, if that's not a custom voltage by Delta.

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

107 VAC? That looks very low, if that's not a custom voltage by Delta.

No, I said DC. Goes through a bridge rectifier on that main board then DC feeds regulators on the second. Its input read 107VDC.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

No, I said DC. Goes through a bridge rectifier on that main board then DC feeds regulators on the second. Its input read 107VDC.

I don't know, but at least it there's something going to the bridge rectifier.

I guess I was thinking AC, because of the input before the bridge rectifier, out of a habit, whoops!

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

I've got a plan floating around in my head for this.... RD probably has an idea of the core hardware....but that's only part of this build.... Envision very 90's looking on the outside, but internally a bit more modern in more ways than just the core hardware. This will require a full disassembly of the case, every pop rivet drilled out and some serious resto work done.... This case is definitely deserving of something a bit more unusual...

[ratdude747]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

I've got a plan floating around in my head for this.... RD probably has an idea of the core hardware....but that's only part of this build.... Envision very 90's looking on the outside, but internally a bit more modern in more ways than just the core hardware. This will require a full disassembly of the case, every pop rivet drilled out and some serious resto work done.... This case is definitely deserving of something a bit more unusual...

Sure do. As long as GPU prices stay obscene, I'm still winning!

As soon as they're not, I'm dead meat...

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Sure do. As long as GPU prices stay obscene, I'm still winning!

As soon as they're not, I'm dead meat...

You'll keep your title for quite a while it seems....prices are still batshit crazy and going strong!

FWIW, lumber has been coming down a bit lately!

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Poked through all the found TIF's.... Apparently this machine was owned by a printing/advertising company....nothing but a lot of templates for perhaps business cards, flyers, and stuff like that...nothing exciting and no naked ladies.

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

...and let the fun begin!!

Case internals stripped out.





The drive rails appear to be some primitive Enlight. I have 3 sets that came with it. I have some Antec solo rails that will fit if I need more.



Rusty bottom & case floor....looks like it probably was sitting in a leaky basement or maybe a dirt floor barn....no telling over the last 22 years.





Very little yellowing on the front, that is with the flash on. It won't need the bromine offgassing soup, just a good cleaning.



Now time to remove the top/side panel.







Butt shot...



Feet, fans, and other random hardware....



Now for the first mod.... The IO plate area was ~1/16th" narrow along the top edge, and the corners were rounded. No way the IO shield would fit. The original was a screw-in that fit internally....so the rear opening size didn't matter if using that....but this is me...

This was too thin of a margin for the big tools....I had to carve it down with a rough file and squared out the corners....and shazam! Fits now and everything lines up internally and externally.



The next step is drilling out rivets; further disassembling the case.

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

I didn't count....but I'm guessing about ~30 rivets just got drilled out....







Widened out the power button hole.....pic is blurry, I guess the camera was focusing on the background...



The reason, I didn't like the original power button, it was a flimsy microswitch....and I had plenty of clearance, it won't interfere with the door....I already checked...so enter in an aviation-grade momentary. These are engine starter switches from a larger twin piston engine aircraft (cessna 414/421).



The system never had a reset....it does now.



Next will be corrosion removal & paint prep.







Until later...

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Now the fun really starts!!

All remaining stickers & residue cleaned off. Front & rear panels wire wheeled where the rust was.....then washed.





This 3-sided frame was tricky to work on. I couldn't get the wire wheel in a lot of the crevices, so most had to be done by hand with scotchbrite pads.





This piece will be deleted from the equation, as for my config, it is not needed and pretty much just obstructs air flow.



For the case bottom and floor, I used a Rustoleum rust-inhibiting primer treatment first and let it set up.





Now to primer the front, rear, and IO panels.







Now here's where it's going to get fun!! I'm sure some of you will want to gag....but I can care less. This machine is worth zilch for its 'vintage' value or originality....we're going to get a little creative, but still keep it sleeper. Bear in mind, none of this is visible with the door closed unless you look at it from the back (the IO area). This is a rich burgundy in satin sheen....my wife decided our front door needed to be this color last year and I had a can leftover.

Insides painted & allowed to set up.





Now the rear panel painted black.





Now back to this bastard, which was coated in primer.... Coating it in primer was easy.







Coating it in gloss black and it not looking like shit; not so easy.....

The bottom shot first.





The rest was shot....but I didn't take pics along the way. It has a few flaws in it....hopefully most flow out.





Going to let this get good & cured out....the best way to FUBAR a painted case is to assemble it too early. I left some fingerprints on the bottom carrying it in here....

[TechGeek]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Lookin good!

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Did some light assembly today, as the paint isn't completely cured out yet....

Rear panel and IO & card slot pieces riveted back together.





A couple standoffs removed to fit the new board.





5.25 drive cage re-riveted.







IO shield installed.



Rear panel pinned into place. The main frame of this thing is very flimsy & tricky to work with when disassembled. Always best to pin everything together before fastening....otherwise you'll find yourself drilling out rivets again if something is off...





All is well, and fastened!





Now for the front panel reinstall...





Buttons & LED panel reinstalled. These are located between the 5.25 cage and the non-removable side of the interior case frame. with the cage and/or the front panel installed, they are impossible to get to....







Pinned together & test fitted.





Fastened....



....and done for today. Very different look....but so far so good!





The little devil on my shoulder wants to paint the beige portions of the case as well....but I'll see how this turns out first... If I don't like the beige parts mixed with this, I can always paint them later....but if I paint them and don't like it, there's no going back....so I'll wait and see.

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Today I completed reassembly of the case. When I saw it reassembled with the beige pieces, the little devil on my shoulder that wanted to paint the beige parts quickly disappeared! Sheer beauty!

...but here's where it got difficult...apparently during this system's time in production, it was in an office with a VCT floor (vinyl composite tile), and the janitor would slop fresh wax on it....and got floor wax all over the lower portion of the front & right side of the case. It was a real nightmare trying to clean that off without damaging the plastic or the beige paint....but I got it.....

Feast your eyes!!







The only exterior clue that things may not be as they appear!



This turned out pretty good. Different, but good!



I do like my new buttons.....and actually having a reset...but honestly, how often do we use reset buttons these days?!



Snazzy!



...and the bottom...



The next step is actually assembling the new system in it.

[TechGeek]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

I still use a reset button every once in a blue moon when some piece of software manages to make the system go totally loopy, but the occurrence rate of that is exceptionally low on the various *nix systems I use. Every now and again, something manages to snag the KB/mouse and maintain an iron grip on it, but I can generally REISUB out of that. Windows systems, however, have always tended to be a bit more shaky about how they handle massive software crashes, generally resulting in the entire system going shaky until I reboot it (or hard reset it, depending on my mood).

Overclocking is another thing that makes a reset button handy, for (hopefully) obvious reasons.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Dang. I was really annoyed my HTPC microatx case had no reset button while working on trying to get a new processor and RAM in it (C2D -> C2Q and 4x1GB=4GB -> 4x2GB=8GB).

Had bad 2GB sticks and CPU settings tweaking - and the reset button would have had save me from pulling the plug or the more annoying long press of the power button... Grr.

Was that close to attaching one hanging off the side temporarily, alas it's all done now.

[ratdude747]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

Dang. I was really annoyed my HTPC microatx case had no reset button while working on trying to get a new processor and RAM in it (C2D -> C2Q and 4x1GB=4GB -> 4x2GB=8GB).

Had bad 2GB sticks and CPU settings tweaking - and the reset button would have had save me from pulling the plug or the more annoying long press of the power button... Grr.

Was that close to attaching one hanging off the side temporarily, alas it's all done now.

One of my supermicro EATX cases doesn't have a reset... my massive tower cases with midplanes do though.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

(C2D -> C2Q and 4x1GB=4GB -> 4x2GB=8GB).

4x2GB for 8GB, likely requires the VDIMM being set to 1.90V, if DDR2.
Or else, it apparently is much more likely the BIOS crashes. (freezes)
(hard freezes before it even gets to loading an OS of any kind)

Ironically, my Radeon RX 5600 XT, usually just freezes solid, when the GPU core isn't stable. It usually don't show much video corruption, if at all! (or I get a driver-timeout error message from Adrenalin) (or I get a failed-to-init-DirectX error message from the game, especially GTA V, and that message pops up when it was already loaded, that's how I know the GPU core is unstable)

Not the raster-mess (usually squares all over the place) that I remembered getting with an unstable GPU core.

[Topcat]

Re: Topcat's Acer Dual Slot 1 Server? - The Acer Altos 1100

^
I've never had that issue and I've put 4x 2gb DDR2 configurations in many many 5400-series Xeon modded C2D/C2Q systems.