This is my (currently) non-functional HP Pavilion a1000y computer. As you will see later, the computer is in a poor cosmetic shape and is missing a few components. This will be an exaustive overview of this computer in it's current state.
I'm going to let the photos speak for themselves. I'll add a little commentary as it's required.
IDK WHAT that blue stuff is, and I really don't want to know for all I care.
More scratches on the case cover. You can also see rust forming on the corner of the case, which I have not a clue as to why it's happening.
Top half of the back of the computer. Notice how there's no scratches whatsoever.
Top half of the rear of the computer.
Again, no scratches. Also notice the ports. The original motherboard in this computer was bad, so it was swapped. The eBay seller of this motherboard must have cleaned it before selling it, explaining the clean ports.
Now we're on the other side of the computer. Again, there's scratches, dirt, and grime.
I don't know HOW you get scratches so deep that is exposes the bare metal on the case. This is just insane.
Now we're on the front of the computer. The computer came with an Intel Celeron processor and Windows XP. There are nasty scratches here as well.
Scratched Up Front Panel- Bottom
The upper half of the front panel is no different. What is that multicolored GUNK on the DVD-ROM cover!?
The Even Worse Top Half Of The Front Panel
The top part of the case is also very scratched up.
Scratched Up Top Of Front Panel
HOW do you get stuff INSIDE THE CASE!?!?!?
Scratched Inside Of Case Cover
This is the expansion card lock. This holds any installed expansion cards in. This is dirty, as usual, but what is that RUST doing there!?
Port view. Line in, mic in, and headphone out, all 3.5mm. 1394 Firewire(probably FW800) and 2x USB 2.0 ports. Good selection for a computer built in 2006.
Here, we have the motherboard's model number and a view of the RAM slots. This is an ASUS P4GV-LA motherboard that accepts DDR2-PC2400 memory, max of 4GB, 2GB per stick. It runs the memory at 2400MHz max speed. It can take DDR2-PC2700, but will only run it at a max of 2400MHz. Motherboards that can accept DDR2-PC2700 memory and can run it at full speed will run the memory at 2700MHz if at all possible.
Motherboard Model Number And RAM Slot View
Here, we have a better view of the DDR2 RAM slots. There are markings indicating that these slots operate at 2.5VDC. Also, note the corrosion on the slot closest to the model number. Something must have fallen in there and done that, but the board will POST with the only stick of RAM in this slot.
A Better View Of The RAM Slots
Here, we have the PCI slots. There are 3 of them, and in the bottompost slot, there is a 56k modem installed. Between the bottom and middle slots, there is a plug for froint panel audio I/O. Above the topmost slot, there is a Realtek RTLB110C or RTL8110C audio controller. Below the same slot, you can also see the Intel chipset(model unknown).
Here, we have the Intel 810 or 815 chipset. This chipset supports an apparent max of 4GB of DDR2-PC2400 RAM(2GB of RAM per stick) and a max of 2 IDE channels, excluding the FDD controller. The chipset has no onboard sound, and has integrated graphics. This chipset does NOT require a heatsink, and it also has the southbridge built into it.
Here, we have the 20 pin motherboard connector. I would assume that the ATX revision in use here is ATX revision... 1.8/1.9 I think? This system was built at a time when motherboards were drawing more and more power and we were starting to transistion to the now very common 24 pin motherboard power connector. As usual, the PSU does NOT provide a -5VDC output because the wire for it is not even present on the connector from the PSU.
20 Pin Motherboard Power Connector
Here, we can see the 20 pin motherboard power connector. All 20 pins are here, including the -5VDC one. I STILL don't know why we're still installing these pins on motherboards! Also seen is the 34 pin FDD I/O connector.
20 Pin Motherboard Power Connector And The 34-Pin FDD I/O Connector
Here is the first front panel audio I/O connector. This plugs into the plue plug between the two bottom PCI slots. This connector services the 3.5mm line out and microphone in ports. Note that HP failed to properly do the heatshrink with this connector.
Front Panel Audio I/O Connector 1
Here is the 3 pin fan connector. It's standard, and plugs into a 3 pin socket. The fan and the socket on the motherboard are not PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) compatible, which requires a 4th pin.
Here, we have a MUCH better mook at the Agere Systems 56k modem. It has an Agere Systems SW92PL-T68 controller. There is surge protection by means of Y capacitors/MOVs installed in series with the 5 lines of the phone jack. These are capacitors C88, C89, C70, C71, and what looks to be C49.
Here is the backside of that Agere Systems 56k modem. Notice that HP P/N. This modem was probably OEM'd for HP by Agere Systems shortly before the manufacture date of the system.
Backside Of The Agere Systems 56k Modem
Here, we see the system's internal HDD. Notice how the front panel ports module is blocking the HDD from exiting. That module needs removed to allow the HDD to be removed.
Here is the screw that needs removed to allow the front panel ports module to be removed, thus allowing the HDD to be removed.
Front Panel Ports Module Screw
Here's the power button, power LED, and the HDD activity LED. Nothing special.
Power Button, Power LED, And The HDD Activity LED(slightly blurry)
This is PROBABLY a 48x speed drive. Suits me. :)
Here's a better view of the front panel ports.
Here, we have the motherboard's CPU socket. This motherboard is Socket 478. You can also see the CPU heatsink and heatsink fan mount. Also, all of the CPU VRM caps are in good shape.
Here is the 200W PSU. This still uses ATX 1.3 standards, back when systems drew a LOT of current on the 5VDC and 3.3VDC rails. Let me give you a current rating.
| Voltage | Amperage |
|---|---|
| 3.3VDC | 14A |
| 5VDC | 21A |
| 12VDC | 10A |
| 5VSB | 2A |
| -12VDC | 500mA |
Notice the quite high current ratings on the 3.3VDC and 5VDC rails? Again, this was built at a time when systems were starting to get 12VDC heavy, so the current ratings were starting to go up on the 12VDC rail and the current ratings were starting to go down on the 3.3VDC and 5VDC rails. The 5VSB rail has what was a decent current rating for 2006, before iPhones and smartphones in general came out. Today, a current rating on the 5VSB rail of around 5-10A would be nice.
Here, we have the motherboard's integrated graphics chip. This is nothing special, just enough to get the job done. You may notice the pink stuff. That is part of the thermal pad that sits on top of the die's IHS, or integrated heat spreader. There is a passively cooled heatsink mounted on top of this chip that servers to cool it.
IIRC, this is the front panel FireWire cable the connects the motherborard and the front FireWire(I think it's FW/800?) port together.
The Front Panel FireWire Connector
Here, we have either the 4 pin CDDA connector from the CD/DVD drive or one of the front panel audio connectors. You may or may not notice that the pin header for this connector has been pulled off of the motherboard. No harm was done here, it's just that the pin header needs fitted back onto the board.
4-pin CDDA or One Of The Front Panel Audio Connectors
Here, we have the front panel indicators connector. This connector is responsible for connecting the power button, HDD activity light, and the power light to the motherboard.
Here, we have the front panel USB connector. This connects the front panel USB connector to the motherboard.This connector is for USB 2.0 at best, and connects to a standard USB 1.0/1.1/2.0 header on the motherboard. It is NOT compatible with the 20 pin USB 3.0 header found on most, if not all modern motherboards.
Here is the power supply again, this time, looking at the certification stickers. IDK what these mean, so I really don't pay much attention to these.
Here, we are currently having a look at the "W/NOISE KILLER" sticker on the PSU. This is to indicate that this PSU does have EMI and RFI filtering, which makes sure that A)dirty electricity isn't being returned to the AC powerline,and B)Any kind of analog radio can operate correctly and pick up a signal that it's intended to recieve.
Here, we have the 40GB Seagate(ew.) HDD. As you can see, the model is ST340015A. The drive was made in China, like everything else these days, and is original to the computer. This drive looks to have been made by Seagate for HP. It uses firmware version 3.15 and doesn't draw too much current from the power supply.
Yup, this drive was made for HP.
Another HP ID.
Here, we have the HDD controller board. There doesn't seem to be anything too interesting, until you start looking at the absolutely MASSIVE ST Microelectronics power regulator around the area of the controller board nearest the 8 jumper pins. What would require such a massive power regulator!? I have an old 1998 Western Digial EIDE HDD that doesn't need anything that massive, and it's 7200RPM! Also, notice the Hynix chip that's to the right of the large main controller. I believe that this is a memory chip that serves to operate as the drive's cache and buffer. Feel free to Google the part number on that chip. Last, look in the middle left towards the top of the controller board and you will find what I believe is the motor controller. I don't have any specific information, so now I'll give you a photo of the controller board.
Here, we have the Toshiba/Samsung DVD/CD drive. This drive can write CD/CD-R/CD-RW and read DVD and DVD-R. I'm not sure about it reading DVD-RW as I have not looked at the drive in a while and have not been bothered to test it.
Here, we see some more IDs and part numbers that make this drive appear that it's an OEM part for HP.
Here, we have another look at the CD/DVD drive. On the far left of the drive, there is a connector for what looks to be digital audio out, followed by analog audio out on the connector to the right of that. The "CSM SLA" thing next to that is for the master/slave/cable select pins next to that.The 'CS' indication is for 'Cable Select', which will make the motherobard's onboard IDE controller assign this drive as either a master or slave drive, depending on the port this drive is plugged into on the IDE cable. The 'SL' indication will tell the IDE controller to assign this drive as a slave drive on the IDE channel it's on. The 'MA' indication tells the motherboard's IDE controller to assign this drive as the master drive on the IDE channel it's plugged into. Keep in mind that this varies from drive to drive and you have to set this manually by shorting out 2 pins on the back of the drive. Also, notice the 40-pin IDE connector markings to the right of the 'CSM SLA' markings.
Now we have the rest of the legends. The most apparent one is the 40-pin IDE connector marking. To the right of that is the legends for the power connector. Going from the left to the right of said connector, there is: 5VDC, GND, GND, and 12VDC. The 5VDC is for the main controller board and for the tray loading/laser diode system, both of which are completely unrelated.The 12VDC is mainly used for the spindle motor that spins the CD/DVD which is loaded into the drive.
More Legends On The CD/DVD Drive
Here's a better photo of the power connector's legend.
Better Photo Of The Power Connector's Legend
Here is a port view of the CD/DVD drive. Referring to the legends on the top of the drive, and going from left to right, we have: the digital audio out connector, analog audio out connector, and the 6-pin jumper block. If you go back to the photo where I gave you a photo of this jumper block's legend, you'll notice that this drive is currently set to Cable Select. That means that if this drive is plugged into the top(or 1st) connector of an IDE cable, this will be the master device on the IDE channel this drive is plugged into. If this drive is plugged into the second-lowest(or 2nd) position of an IDE cable, then this drive is the slave device on the IDE channel that the drive is plugged into. Following up with that, we have the 40-pin IDE connector, and lastly, we have the 4-pin Molex power connector.
Here, we have the CDDA and front panel audio in ports on the motherboard. Notice that the 'CD_IN' header is fine while the 'AUX_IN' header is missing the plastic thing. This is NOT damage, and the connector still works fine. Also notice a PCI slot.
Here, we have the other front panel audio connector. This is the main front panel audio connector. Also, notice the Realtek Semiconductor ALC658 audio chip above the leftmost PCI slot.
Main Front Panel Audio Connector
Here is a better view of that kinda-messed-up AUX_IN header. Also, notice the FRONT_1394 header. This is for the front panel FireWire port.
The AUX_IN Header(Better View)
Here is a MUCH better view of that 'FRONT_1394' header. It looks like a standard USB header, just in a different color, but you certainly would NOT want to plug ANY USB device in here, since this gives out up to 30VDC@1500mA. It usually operates at 24VDC to 30VDC, and it gives these voltages out on pins 4, 6, and 9 of the header. This would most certainly fry ANY kind of USB device plugged in here, and it has very sufficient current to do it, too, since a typical USB 2.0 port delivers 5VDC at 500mA. So it's quite safe to say this: don't do it.
The Front Panel FireWire Connector
Here, we have a better look at the Realtek Semiconductor RTL8100C audio processor chip. This is just the 'do what needs done' type of audio chip, and it provides a basic audio solution that just gets the job done.
The Realtek RTL8100C Audio Processor Chip
This, from the very little that I could find online, is or appears to be a chipset monitoring/controlling device. It could also be a chipset supervisor. There's also a small 14MHz cryatal oscillator that appears to be this chip's timing/clock source.
Here, you can see the CPU VRM. This is what regulates the power going to the CPU. Also notice that the MOSFETs(large 3 pin chips) are paired up to 2 3418K switching regulators, which regulates the switching frequency of the MOSFETs. The higher the switching frequency, the more voltage thet CPU gets. Also notice the large inductors(copper-wound things) and the capacitors(located by the CPU heatsink mount). The inductors serve to filter the EMI/RFI noise produced the the switching process, allowing nearby radios or older CRT TVs to operate correctly. The capacitors smooth out the power the CPU is getting, because the electricity leaving the MOSFETs is very choppy. If you don't know what I mean: see this. You can ignore the schematic diagram at the top of the page. Choppy power like that can and will kill a CPU. What's worse, the CPU can backfeed noise into the CPU VRM, potentially damaging it. Those capacitors stop that from happening. If those capacitors dry out and fail, they stop doing their job. At that point, they need to be replaced. If they are not replaced in time, the CPU and/or CPU VRM can get fried. You can replace the CPU, but it is usually waaayyy out of the average end-user's ability to replace CPU VRM components. Some people can, but to most users, the board is junk.
This is the American Megatrends Industries(better known as AMI) BIOS chip. This contains the low-level firmware required for the computer to start up and boot properly. I have no clue what that "K7" marking means. Also, the number 3.07 is the firmware the chip shipped with from the factory.
Here, we see several things. The first is that Texas Instruments 53EF3LK chip. Based on it's position, that is probably a BIOS chip monitor/supervisor. The next(and most obvious) thing is the piezoelectric squeaker can. That is the large black cylinder. That beeps to indicate if there's problems with the computer, and if the computer is fine during the system's POST, or Power On Self Test. This can also be taken under software control and operated by manupliating the system timer. I don't know exactly how it's done, but it can be done. Next, you can see another capacitor. It has a metal top. I believe this filters the power coming from the 3V CR2032 CMOS/clock battery. If it doesn't, then it probably filters the power going to the 5VDC connections on the FRONT_USB header. Next is the partially unseen CR2032 CMOS/clock battery. This serves to keep the system's time and date settings, as well as the other system settings intact if the system loses AC power, such as in a power failure. That's not much of a big deal these days, but back in the 1980s and the early 1990s, this was a VERY big deal. That's because back then, you had to manually set your IRQs for your expansion cards, manually set what type of hard drive(s) you had, AND manually set the floppy drive type. On systems from the 1980s and very early 1990s, you actually had to manually key in the hard drive(s) settings. If you didn't have that written down somehwere, you had to take the computer apart, record the values on the hard drive, and then manually key those in. Next, you can see the front panel indicators/button(s) connector, labeled as HPANEL_1. This connects the power button, power indicator, and HDD activity indicator to the motherboard. Finally, you can see the FRONT_USB header. This connects the front USB ports on the front panel to the motherboard's USB controller, which is USB 2 at best.
The Front Panel Indicators/Button(s) Connector
This is a VIA VT6307 chip. From it's position, it appears to be a PCI controller for the nearby PCI slot.
Here, you can see the 2 connectors for the primary and secondary IDE controllers. The blue connector is the primary IDE channel and the black connector is the secondary IDE channel. For best performance, one would plug their primary boot device into the primary IDE channel, and their other devices into the secondary IDE channel. Also, notice the missing pin on both connectors. I assume that this is to prevent IDE cables from being plugged in backwards, which can cause a LOT of very bizarre issues. Yes, I have managed to plug an IDE connector in backwards. AT least the results were nowhere near as uneventful as if someone were to cross over connectors on an AT power supply.
The Primary and Secondary IDE Connectors
This is the 34 pin FDD or Floppy Disk(ette) Drive connector. This connector does NOT interface with the motherboard's IDE controller. The language spoken by the floppy drive is completely incompatible with the language spoken by the IDE controller, thus, only a floppy drive controller can be used.
Here is the FDD power connector.The pinout from left to right is: +12VDC, GND, GND, +5VDC. Also notice the longer piece of plastic sticking out of the connector. This helps stop the connector from getting inserted upside-down and a floppy drive from getting killed. Floppy drives don't need that much power, so the gauge of wire going to the connector is usually 18-24AWG. Note: the higher the guage, the thinner the wire. Also, the FDD connector is also known as a Berg connector.
This is the system information found on the bottom of the case. My HP Pavilion m7480n computer has similar labels. The labels are a little beat up, but still mostly readable.
This is a complete view of the chassis and motherboard. Note the change in lighting. I had some major Internet issues that day that stopped me from taking pictures until like 9PM at night. I'm using some lamps to keep the workspace illuminated. Note that there's 3 open positions for capacitors between the PCI slots. I have no clue why they weren't filled in.
Full Chassis And Motherboard View
This is a better label shot of the PSU. If you don't recognize the name 'FSP GROUP INC.', they are an OEM manufacturer of computer power supplies. They provide some WAY overbuilt power supplies that really get the job done.
This photo is of the secondary-side filtering. This smoothes out the waveform of the power exiting the power supply, preventing damage to components.
This is a photo of the power supply's main IC, partially obfuscated by the fan's wiring. This main IC handles all protection that this PSU has to offer, and it also monitors the switching controllers. Also note that there's tan glue holding some components in place. This glue needs removed ASAP before it becomes conductive. The glue was originally white when it was new, and as it was heated and cooled, turned tan/brown, and will eventually turn conductive if not removed.
I took a photo of either the wiring going to the AC to DC bridge rectifier or one of the EMI/RFI filtering components.
These are the main filter capacitors. They are directly after the bridge rectifier and can store up to 200VDC per cap. There are 2 of them in series, so that makes a DC bus voltage of 400VDC filtered. Directly behind them are the out-of-focus main switching regulators. These regulate the high DC bus voltage down to a more sane level, around 275VDC or so.
This blurry photo shows the main transformers. The main transformers step the high 275VDC switched DC bus down to the main 12VDC, 5VDC, and 3.3VDC rails. The largest transformer is responsible for stepping the high 275VDC down to 12VDC. The other transformer that says 'DASH 2 B-5' steps that 12VDC down to 5VDC, and the last transformer steps that 5VDC down to 3.3VDC. All of the other rails are derived from these main voltages on the secondary side of the PSU.
This photo is of some of the EMI/RFI filtering. Here, you can see 2 X capacitors(the blue things), 1 Y capacitor(the yellow thing), and a large torodial coil for filtering out EMI noise.
This is the secondary side of the power supply. This is where the minor rails are generated, and all the rails are filtered. This, believe it or not, is where the voltage selector and main AC power inlet are. There's also a fan wire grazing across the bottom of the screen.
AC Power Inlet and Voltage Selector Switch
This is the very dusty PSU fan.
This is the fan controller. It adjusts the fan speed based on the temperature of the power supply. The hotter the power supply, the faster the fan runs. This prevents the PSU from overheating.
