Slashdot Mirror
Getting Replacement Parts For Sun Clones?
Autoversicherung writes "Two of our production servers started to act up last week and after a few hours of testing and swapping in and out hardware we nailed it down to the power supply. Great, we thought -- probably the easiest part to get a replacement for. Was I wrong. The power supply was specifically made for Sun clones, and contains one standard ATX 20-pin and one EPS 24-pin connector to the motherboard. The original power supply is no longer in production, so far I haven't been able to dig up any suitable replacement for it. Am I able to modify a new PSU? I know how to use the tools required, I'm not sure what the implication are for things like 'separate voltage lines for each CPU complex' etc.
The servers in question are EVU450 from Tritec, AFAIK clones of the E420R Sun server. The original Sun parts don't fit, though. Am I out of luck?"
This is one of the downsides of skimping on cheap hardware. The parts and support are just not there 3-4 years down the track. Thus us the advantage of the expensive Intel/Sun/IBM.
I'm sure you can still get parts for IBM machines 10-20 years old.
I'm not so sure that the "Sex Packets" CD (first Froogle listing) is exactly what the guy needs!
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
You already have one that fits, why not just fix it? The chokes and transformer are unlikely to have gone bad. That leaves a few switching transistors, resistors, and caps. My bet would be on some of the caps going bad, there was a scandal a while back about them.
There are literally thousands of real E450's lying about for a song... here's a link to a base system for $450:
http://www.eli.com/index.cfm?c=31&a=category
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Go back to who you bought it from and ask them. When one of my sun clones died that's who I went to for service.
"...today consumers have been conditioned to think of beer when they see a bullfrog..."
I tried that, I found 3 different PSU that would work, none of them are still in production.
You'll have to shop a bit (go look weekly for about a month) clones do go through there and you can probably get a second system (parts computer?). No warrenty, but if you're handy you'll be fine. As an alternate you could just pick up the genuine SUN version system more quickly and probably cheaply.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
Apparently all the moderators forgot to actually check the links you posted, since they totally suck. Obviously you saw the results, and noted how crappy they are, were you just trying to get first post and sound knowledgeable at the same time, or were you simply trying to make fun of a guy with a legitimate problem?
It seems pretty clear the guy has already exhausted alternative measures, and ask slashdot was one of his last options. What he wants is some first hand experience on this matter, which the slashdot crowd may very well have!
Next time you try to get first post, at least be a man and say something to the effect of "fr0st p1s+". Making a person feel silly for having such a valid question, and doing it by posting such a silly response... well that's just wrong.
SolarSystems.com carries a pretty nice sized inventory of refurbished Sun gear. 24-hour stress testing, etc...
"Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
Next time you'll bypass that Hyundai Enterprise2 clone, and go for the real thing.
Signed,
Every IT Manager on Earth
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
A PS that isn't plugged in is no danger! Sure, there are big capacitors in there, but after a couple of days, even these have trickled to a full discharge.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Exactly. Thank you very much :)
[I spent about 10-15 hours searching google et al for a replacement]
- the submittor of ask slashdot
Nothing magic about the unit described at the link you included. How dead is it? It may be worth a peek inside to see if you've a simple problem. Fuses. Open or shorted rectifier. Cold solder joint on flyback, bad switching device(s). If you're lucky the controller chip(s) will be labeled and you can download some reference designs from that (or 2nd source) manufacturers web site. Otherwise, anything that provides the power you need and can be accomodated in whatever space you have (duct tape it to the outside of the case if you like) will work. You can probably dispense with the -12V if you don't use any RS232. The SB 850ma is for your onboard on-off switch and maybe for NVRAM. Easiest solution is to find an off the shelf meeeting specs, and if it doesn't fit inside, duct tape or poprivet it to the outside of the cabinet. If all your other parts are standard (CPU module, memory) t might be more cost effective to buy a stripped down Sun which will accomodate the parts. Plenty of used ones about. Solar Systems, Optimus Solutions (ex solar systems guys, talk to James, tell him Bob sent you), Data Instruments(probably your cheapest source for something with a guarantee, talk to Fred, tell him Bob sent you). A google search of used Sun vendors will get you a big list. Heck, you may get lucky and find one with your same machine in the warehouse. If so, the power supply should be CHEAP ($150-$300 plus ship) as these guys pay next to nothing for Sun Clones. I used to be in the business but margins went to hell. Once ebay was in the mix all I seemed to get was support calls for stuff folks had purchased on ebay. "Can you tell me how to hook this up, what do you mean Sun memory costs $X, I can buy PC memory for $Y" and so on.
Now I'm the grandest Tiger in the Jungle!
The power supply was specifically made for Sun clones, and contains one standard ATX 20-pin and one EPS 24-pin connector to the motherboard. The original power supply is no longer in production, so far I haven't been able to dig up any suitable replacement for it. Am I able to modify a new PSU? I know how to use the tools required, I'm not sure what the implication are for things like 'separate voltage lines for each CPU complex' etc. The servers in question are EVU450 from Tritec, AFAIK clones of the E420R Sun server. The original Sun parts don't fit, though. Am I out of luck?
Alright, so it's a clone of an E420R, but the standard Sun E420R power supply doesn't fit. If you're thinking about modding to get yourself a power supply, you only need to be asking yourself one question: "Are the power supplies mechanically/electrically the same?"
If so, you're set.
Don Head
UNIX/Linux Administrator
I expect you're going to have a tough time finding a suitable supply to modify. Looking at the datasheet you posted, I see that your origional supply had a strange distrobution between 3.3V, 5V, and 12V. Nearly every off the shelf supply will have enough 12V but nowhere near enough 3.3V or 5V.
My suggestion to you is to try to fit two 1U supplies in the chassis, one an ATX and the other an ESP12V. Look at supplies by Sparkle, they're fairly robust and relatively tiny. However, if you go the two supply route make sure that you solder the sense lines for the two supplies together or else you're going to have some reliability problems.
Just a few thoughts from someone who has worked on a lot of this stuff.
First off, I've worked on literally hundreds(thousands maybe) of power supplies for all kinds of electronics, the +-12 volts max in a computer system isn't going to harm you, aspecially if you work ONE handed so that you don't potentially get zapped across your chest, be especially cognizant that you don't want to get zapped with a path ACROSS your chest, and yes I have been popped more then a few times working on stuff live.
Also, all large caps in a computer power supply are electrolytic, and are very leaky, you can just meter them with a volt meter after a few minutes and tell if there is any voltage present, almost any good design has bleeders (as a poster pointed out) and if in doubt, solder a couple of leads to a hundred watt light bulb and use it to drain them.
I agree with a poster that said look at the solder joints on the wave soldered board, the heaver components like the large caps, transformers and such sink a lot of heat, frequently leading to a cold solder joint which deteroriates (sp) with time and heat, I can't even guess at the hundreds of power supply sections(and others) in various consumer equipment that I've repaired simply by resoldering those spots, generally there easy to spot by the discolored ring between the lead and the board
Once doing warranty work for a mfr, I commented to a field rep that over 50% of the work was caused by poor wave soldering around the large components that didn't get enough heat.
voltage feedback lnes are used where there is a long run between the PS and the load, on a pc with short leads, you'r not going to get much difference between the PS and the load on 12" of correctly gauged wire, I've seen many PSs with provisions for senseing simply shorted at the PS when the length to the load was small.
if you have a o-scope available, you can easially make a component tester, here http://octopus.freeyellow.com/octopus.html is a link, a little googleing should get you up to speed, you'd be supprised at what you can do with this simple device to check components in circuit, I've made one out of a ac wall wort and a few resistors
Anyway, it's worth a shot, you'd be supprised at what you can do with a VOM in diode mode, check across the diods and semi's, you should see a voltage drop across them, zero volts is bad, you can frequently wick the solder off of one lead and check them semi out of circuit,perhaps htey are across a xfmr, causing it to show zero volts, just remember to solder them back down after testing.
Also look at the tops of the caps, bulging is bad, most of the time indicating a cap that is going bad, frequently the mfr's use caps that are marginally able to handle the voltage on them, not accounting for the peaks, when replacing them double the voltage, technology frequently allows you to replace a cap with the same MF but double the voltage in a smaller size package with a newer cap.
Last try googling the part numbers on the PS , often there is info available about the parts that frequently cause problems :)
Also be aware that isolation transformers only prevent you from getting shocked from source to ground, always try to be SAFE!, one of the best ways to do this is to only work with one hand, keep the other one behind your back or somewhere NOT grounded and wear shoes with plastic or rubber soles, use clip leads instead of working with both hands and remember it is the amperage more then the voltage that can KILL although the voltage will break down your skin resistance, a car battery can kill you if you are zapped by it wrong, ie, leaning on a car frame, and get the plus side where your skin resistance is low from a cut or something. That's why tasers don't kill (often anyway) even at 50,000 volts,
Should of bought a Sun - suffer