Great Deals hot tip

[Fritz]

Don't overlook the "For Parts / For Repair" listings.

I recently stumbled upon a listing for a Supermicro X10SRH-CLN4F Motherbord for $69. Listing stated that everything worked except for the SAS controller. I figured that even if the SAS contoller is bad, that's nothing a add in card won't fix. I ordered it and it arrived yesterday. i immediately ran SAS3Flash to see if it could see the controller, Joy, it did. But it also said it had no firmware installed and asked for a firmware file. Next step was to follow the full, proper procedure for flashing the firmware. Joy, the controller came back to life and is now functioning properly. So, for $69, this is a helluva deal.

i also sometime back bought a 6TB sas HD with a broken connector. The plastic was broken off the power pins but all the pins were straight and in place. so I bought it thinking a dual SAS plug should fit nicely and I was right. It's a low mileage drive and has functioned perfectly since i got it. I'm not using it for anything critical so all is good.

Bottom line is, read the listing, lots of people out there who can't be bothered with problems or aren't willing to dig for details. One man's trash is another man's treasure

 

[Sean Ho]

Great finds! I think it's especially true with motherboards; often just a broken USB or VGA, or a few bent CPU pins.

I recently saw a $100 H12SSL with visibly busted U4-U6 VRMs; that one was a bit beyond my comfort level....

 

[nexox]

Just out of curiosity, how would one go about repairing bent LGA pins on something like this? Magnification and a pair of tweezers?

Supermicro X11SPI-TF Motherboard ATX Intel Xeon w/ CPU And heatsink | eBay

 

[MBastian]

Just out of curiosity, how would one go about repairing bent LGA pins on something like this? Magnification and a pair of tweezers?

In theory yes. I tried it once on just three moderately bent pins and gave up after the fourth attempt.
The motherboard and CPU in the linked auction look like a toddler had its way with it.

 

[Fritz]

Just out of curiosity, how would one go about repairing bent LGA pins on something like this? Magnification and a pair of tweezers?

Supermicro X11SPI-TF Motherboard ATX Intel Xeon w/ CPU And heatsink | eBay

Nope, bent cpu pins is a problem i learned to stay away from long ago.

 

[Stephan]

Bent LGA CPU socket pins is imho a death sentence for the board. Unless the pin is not important like redundant ground pin. But hard to qualify a board afterwards that everything is still working and durable.

When MOSFETs blow up they are no longer switching but a straight short, until the PSU steps in or the heat destroys the silicon path and takes parts of the casing with it. Sometimes you could just replace the MOSFETs if you are crafty and are lucky that no other parts of the board were damaged by the high current. But then there is the reason the MOSFETs blew in the first place. Death of the VRM controller chip or some driver IC in between is another death sentence imho. Probably took a CPU or RAM or a power trace with it.

If this isn't some 45 year old Apple 1 or your name isn't Louis Rossmann, make sure to really low-ball the price of an item. When really gambling I write off the money as lost even before I have the item in hand.

 

[Sean Ho]

I've fixed 2011 sockets that had a few (5-6) bent pins; the important thing is not to fatigue the pins too much by bending them back and forth. Once they break, it's not really feasible to hand-solder them back together. Also make sure they lay in the correct orientation so as not to short with neighbours. Good lighting and magnification are really helpful.

The 3647 you linked looks pretty bad. It might be fixable, but it's a lot of pins, and some may already be broken.

 

[klui]

dosdude1 has done it as shown in

The hassle with scalable processors is the socket is in two pieces. The extensive damage in the listing will almost definitely affect non-ground pins, meaning the socket must be replaced.

 

[Fritz]

dosdude1 has done it as shown in

The hassle with scalable processors is the socket is in two pieces. The extensive damage in the listing will almost definitely affect non-ground pins, meaning the socket must be replaced.

Got a couple of questions about this.

1. Was the board being heated from beneath? If so, what's the gizmo called that does this?
2. I never saw him put fresh solder on the board after soaking up the old, how does this work?

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

Got a couple of questions about this.

1. Was the board being heated from beneath? If so, what's the gizmo called that does this?
2. I never saw him put fresh solder on the board after soaking up the old, how does this work?

Board preheater, and the socket was likely pre-balled.

 

[mach3.2]

Board preheater, and the socket was likely pre-balled.

The sockets comes pre-balled; I bought an LGA775 socket for the lulz and there were solder balls already "soldered" to the socket pins. Same deal for the AM4 socket.

 

[klui]

@Wasmachineman_NL and @mach3.2 are correct.

In the video I linked he stated used a preheater

. He did the same for removal.

Raw components typically come pre-balled. Some may not have the right amount like the NANDs he purchased documented at

. When I purchased some C0-stepping Atom C2000s on eBay they came preballed.

In addition to soldering techniques, replacing BGA components involves using a temperature profile based on component size and solder type. These profiles ramp the temperature above and on fancy rework stations, beneath the board, for rework.

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

I personally love buying broken shit and then fixing it, like a good chunk of my Precisions are/were.

 

[bwahaha]

I picked up an Aruba s2500 "for parts" thinking it was likely a power supply or something, for about $25. Turned on and worked great for about 3 months. Then it started clicking and not powering on. Pretty sure the power board is actually borked, but a new to me icx6610 was cheaper picked up locally. I might could go deeper, but component level diag is beyond the effort I wanna put in it.

I picked up my R520 for $50, 3 years ago. Idrac flash was toast, but I managed to get it working with some guides online.

Win some, lose some. Paraphrasing Stephen, you don't go to the casino expecting to take more home than you brought. But when you win, it's awesome.

 

[Jorge Perez]

The problem for me is knowing what hardware to look for.

Stuff like OEM servers such as Dell and HPE are pretty straightforward.
But switches or whitebox servers are harder to search for, if you don't know the terms.

It would be great if there was a wiki to get a quick reference of what's available, but all the information seems to be spread out over many forums and threads

 

[Magnet]

Thats cool if you find a diamond in the rough. For me, I just want stuff to work and function. I get enough break/fix time to last a lifetime at work.

 

[sparx]

Working in manufacturing industry for several years I can just say that anyone attempting to replace a CPU socket on their own will fail. Even with proper BGA repair equipment costing several 100s of thousands of dollars, preprogrammed temperature curves to follow proper temperature without melting plastic and heating right place the outcome was 50/50% at best when replacing big CPU sockets. 2011 and bigger. the newer for skylake was split in two parts. If the pins isnt possible to bend back or has broken off the board is scrap.

 

[chinesestunna]

I personally love buying broken shit and then fixing it, like a good chunk of my Precisions are/were.

I'm exact same way, first and foremost I enjoy fixing things and especially giving new life to otherwise "junk".
Often even if I don't need the part I do it and donate as a small attempt to reduce e-waste and help a person/organization in need.
2 birds with 1 soldering iron

 

[bwahaha]

So.... I just picked up a 75" lcd locally off the ebays, because shipping was almost $800. I paid under $20 with taxes and fuel

TLDR? Find local ebay stores. They often allow local pickup, and save beaucoup monies. You might find something you need for lunch money.

 

[Markess]

So.... I just picked up a 75" lcd locally off the ebays, because shipping was almost $800. I paid under $20 with taxes and fuel

TLDR? Find local ebay stores. They often allow local pickup, and save beaucoup monies. You might find something you need for lunch money.

There's two sellers in my area that don't offer Local Pickup, but are happy to take low(er) best offers on their "Free Shipping" items because shipping across town costs less than shipping across the country.