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?"

Comments

Re:Just buy some used Sun kit

[menscher]

Agreed. A few years back, we had a whole bunch of SGI Indy power supply failures. AFter we ran out of spares, I had to shop around for a replacement power supply. Turns out a power supply was $250. Or a computer for $300. We paid the $300, got some extra parts, and I think even had a slightly faster machine as a result. All that was from a company called XS Net. They do Sun stuff too.

Oh, and if anyone is throwing away a working SGI Indy, pull the power supply and NVRAM. Those parts are probably still worth something on eBay, since 100% of the failures I've seen involve one of them.

Your power supply

[Sai Babu]

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.

Re:Scaredy Cat!

[merlin_jim]

Sure, there are big capacitors in there, but after a couple of days, even these have trickled to a full discharge.

On some industrial designs the voltage regulator caps can hold quite a large charge with very little leakage current. I've seen people play around with 5 year old power supplies in our equipment graveyard and get shocked badly (when you can smell burnt hair, it's bad)

Flip side, the discharge procedure is simple. Buy a rubber gripped insulated screwdriver (make SURE it says that on the package) and use it to discharge all the caps before you start work. If you want to get super fancy I made a tool with a low ohm high wattage resistor built in and rubberized the handle with layers of liquid latex and epoxy (the epoxy provides a discharge barrier as well as a firm grip... liquid latex can be porous...)