It was brought to our attention that there was support for our customers on this site but nothing to show prospective customers. This "Portfolio" section of our site is a direct result of that advice. Unfortunately, we were not farsighted enough to take pictures of our custom built computers as we finished them. I suppose this could be excused by the fact that when we started, the major portion of our business was and continues to be repairs. Fortunately, we still have access to enough of the computers we've built to collect photos for a fair sampling of our work.
The first system we built was probably the one we use. This PSI model 917 case started as
a Windows 98 machine and was upgraded to Windows ME. After the release of Windows XP,
it was fitted with a new Main Board and power supply for the newer processors and
operating system. The old hard drive was retained and the system was configured for
a dual boot. Aside from the purple power and reset buttons it is pretty much a typical
"beige box" computer.
We built several computers using the model 917 case and as far as we know they are
all still in use. This particular one, which I have come to refer to as "The Tank",
has had some rugged use in its life time. With the approaching release of Windows Vista, we have
been thinking of retiring this machine, which is running one of the first Athlon XP processors
with 512 Mb of ram and an old ATA hard drive.
Much of the splattering you see occurred while sitting on the floor beneath the desk.
It is now sitting as far back as possible on top of the desk with the hope that this
will keep it out of harms way. We have cleaned out all kinds of things in customers
computers sucked in by the front intake case fan. As a result we have been advising
customers to place the computer box above the floor to avoid drawing in unwanted
material from the floor surface.
UPDATE 04/21/2008
On returning from a visit with my sister-in-law and her family during the period from 04/04/2008 to 04/13/2008, I powered up this computer only to receive one long POST beep. This was not an entirely unexpected event because over a long period the Tank had been dying a piece at a time. The first thing to go was the 50X CD drive mounted under the HP CD burner. Noting CD drive failures on computers with similar configurations caused us to mount CD drives and CD burners with space between them as seen on the Portfolio 2 computer. The floppy drive was the next to go and the CD burner was on its last legs.
A long POST (PowerOnSelfTest) beep indicates a problem with one of three things the memory module, the main board or the power supply. When upgrading memory capacity this beep is a no brainer, the wrong type of memory module was installed. In this case, no upgrading had been done and since we still need a reliable Windows XP computer the "shotgun approach" was used. All three were replaced.
The old main board, shown here, doesn't show any obvious signs of catastrophic failure. It did have the coat of fine dust, which one finds on electronic components after extended use. Although the Shuttle Spacewalker board was not a top name brand, this board was used in several projects, some of which are still in use and providing reliable service. With that in mind, this board was stored intact for later use should a customer opt for used parts. The sound card and modem were installed on the new board. The AGP video card, of course could not be used on the new board and went in storage also.
The replacement mobo is the Gigabyte model GA-MA69GM-S2H. This micro-ATX board was used for
the computer found on Portfolio Page 11, which provides
close up pictures of this main board. It is shown here mounted on the removable system board
tray, which is a feature found lacking in the recently used cases including the higher priced
enclosures shown on this site. An Athlon 64 X2 5000 processor and an OCZ 1 Gb. memory module
have been installed. The "on board" video is being used due to not having a PCI Express compatible
card on hand.
Two main problems were encountered during this rebuild project. The first problem was two
IDE hard drives and only one IDE channel leaving no connections for an ATAPI IDE optical
drive. The second was Windows XP had been installed on a 32 bit system with all IDE(PATA)
drives, while the new system is 64 bits with, as mentioned, one IDE(PATA) channel and 4 SATA
channels. Since Windows XP required third party drivers for SATA drives, major work arounds
were necessary because no floppy drive was being included in the new setup.
As expected, Windows XP would not boot when all the new parts were installed and the computer powered up. Fortunately, using the connection for the second hard drive to connect the old HP CD burner enabled the use of Windows setup to "repair" the Windows XP installation. This process wiped out all the accumulated updates including Service Pack 2 but left program installations pretty much intact and data files totally unaffected. The Windows key code, of course, had to be re-entered and the installation reactivated and the same was done for Microsoft Office Accounting. So far, these were the only installations that needed attention but with time we may find others.
When the Operating System repair process was complete, the new system drivers were installed. These included the SATA drivers required by Windows XP, which made the new SATA optical drive accessible. The SATA optical drive was chosen as a fix for the lack of IDE(PATA) connections. This, in turn, allowed the removal of the old CD burner and the connection of the second hard drive.
With the hardware and software problems solved, Service Pack 2 was put in place and the 90 some odd Windows XP updates were started. This gave us plenty of time to turn attention to the enclosure. The plates removed from the bezel to install the optical drives and floppy drive had long since been discarded. Preferring to have a computer without gaping holes in the front, a couple of plates were found that came from a black case. Still not satisfied with the appearance a touch of gold paint was added. The black tape used for masking while painting the gold stripes looked pretty good and was left on place for the time being. I suppose most modders would have added a side window and a top blow hole. Since the front is the only visible part, some front mounted USB ports and paint to replace the tape is all that is being planned.
Update 06/04/2008
After a prolonged search, an expansion slot USB plate was used to place USB ports in the plate covering the hole left by the removal of the dead floppy drive. More gold paint was used to make the hand carved USB symbol stand out against the black plate. The flash makes the minor defects stand out like a sore thumb. The floppy bay cover had to be dropped a notch in order for the USB connection leads to reach the main board. Defects and all this addition was well worth the effort.
This close up shows the edge from which the tape used to mask for the gold stripe has been removed. Krylon Fusion in black was used to replace the tape and make the new look more permanent. While cutting out the USB symbols on the floppy bay cover, it was decided to do a bit experimenting along these lines. A rope braid design was used with the idea of highlighting it with gold paint. Halfway through I decided that this would be a little too much gold coloring and re-shot the edge to which gold paint had been added.
Here is the overall view after the changes were made. Honestly, the DVD drive isn't white. It is a shade or two lighter than the case bezel. It is much easier to match a black case than a lighter colored case and is probably the reason for the popularity of black cases.
Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Windows, Windows XP and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other names have been included in the above text that are trademarks of the respective companies.
