Project: Blue on Black

[Bolas]

I went out looking for repair shops, ate some lunch, and totally forgot the reason I went out in the first place -- to buy some more tools. DOH! Scatterbrained today. Now I need to either go out again or make due with the tools I already have, bleah.

Wife took the camera, and we still haven't found the battery charger, so no pics yet today either. I'm actually embarrassed how sloppy my sleeving is so far... I guess everyone had to practice some time. I re-read the tips and I think I can do a better job of it, just need more precise instruments.

[orangeslices430]

Looks like you got a nice setup goin on. I just finished my build with the UD7 and the EK main board blocks and ran into a problem with the 8pin power connector not fitting without some modification on the cable connector it self. Im interested to see if you run into the same problem or if I got an earlier make and they fixed it.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=248425

Not sure if you were able to get it up and running, but check the socket for bent pins aswell. On my UD7 I was getting the same problem and it was a couple bent pins.

[Bolas]

Looks like you got a nice setup goin on. I just finished my build with the UD7 and the EK main board blocks and ran into a problem with the 8pin power connector not fitting without some modification on the cable connector it self. Im interested to see if you run into the same problem or if I got an earlier make and they fixed it.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=248425

Not sure if you were able to get it up and running, but check the socket for bent pins aswell. On my UD7 I was getting the same problem and it was a couple bent pins.

I haven't gotten it up and running yet. Might be bent pins. Might be the severed power cable. Might be the BIOS. Got a lot of stuff to check and to try still. I'll check the cpu and socket for bent pins tomorrow when I remove the cpu to replace it with a 920 and flash the BIOS. I'll most likely be using whatever power supply they have in the computer repair shop, so that will check if the power supply is the cause of the problem or not. Well, that and I'll be repairing the severed cable, hopefully.

I am not sure if I'll have to use the extension cable for the 8-pin motherboard power connector or not. It was a tight fit if I didn't use it and it's probably smarter to go ahead and sleeve another cable to make sure it is long enough and fits. Thanks for the tip about perhaps needing to modify the plug to fit the blocks on the board, I'll keep an eye out for that.

Well I managed to learn a few other things today.

1. If the wire is stuck in the connector and you pull hard enough, you can bend the pin.

2. If you bend the pin and try to bend it back into position, it breaks off.

3. You can get by with just one pin, if you have to do so.

4. Candles are good for heating things. Fingers don't like to be heated.

5. Candles are made of wax. Wax melts. If you bump melted wax with cable sleeve, the wax gets into the sleeve and doesn't like to come out of the sleeve.

6. The more practice I get at sleeving, the better the sleeving looks. You can clearly see the learning curve if you put the cables I've sleeved in chronological order. The first ones I did are horrendous. The last ones I did are borderline acceptable. It's quite a contrast.

7. I like sleeving. A lot. My wife doesn't quite get it, but that's OK, I think she'll like the finished result.

8. I actually can sleeve a SATA power cable. I use a flat screwdriver like tool to pry the wires out, sleeve them, then push them back in with another flat tool.

9. If the sleeve is not held securely at both ends, it will shorten itself. So allow for that if you aren't heat shrinking over the connector on both ends.

10. Do the longer wires first. That way, if you mess up the cut, you can use that piece to do shorter wires later.

11. Do the black wires first. That way, you can learn on the most common stuff and not screw up the colors with much more limited supply.

12. People that put two wires into the same crimp are not your friend.

Sorry no pics for a while. We found the camera battery charger. A little late to do the detailed work log that I had planned, but I can still take a few more pics and show how things are progressing. Battery is charging over night, I should have a halfway decent camera to use again soon.