[X4U] Salvaging Sawtooth G4

[Stroller]

On Nov 4, 2005, at 3:40 am, Jim Robertson wrote:
> .. When I opened the case,
> I discovered the noise came from the fan on the video card (an ATI 
> Nexus 128
> card I'd purchased for him in 2001 so that he could play games better).
>
> I could just disconnect the fan to make the noise go away, but I 
> suspect
> that would hasten the death of the video card.

I'd have thought you'd get away with disconnecting the fan if you're 
only running the machine for a few minutes dignostics, but replacement 
graphics card fans are available. Much better advertised are "quiet" 
versions for £25 or so, but I'd expect to pay only a few quid for a 
standard one - I fitted one for a customer only a few months ago and am 
sure I paid about a fiver. Try you local PC emporium.

> 1. Is the video card in the mirrored doors G4 compatible with the 2X 
> AGP
> slot in the Sawtooth G4; i.e., can I put the new video card in the old 
> box
> so that I can boot the Sawtooth, run diagnostics, and see if there are 
> OTHER
> problems that would make me want not to bother trying to update the 
> video
> card?

If the fitting is the same then I'd expect it to be ok. The graphics 
card on my MDD had an extension to the AGP connectors which made it 
non-standard, however, and that certainly wouldn't fit in any other 
machine.

> 2. Are there adaptors from VGA to the connector for the Studio 
> Display? I'm
> guessing there may not be, since the cable carries both video signal 
> and
> electric power between CPU and monitor.

I'm not sure from you description what kind of connector you're 
referring to - I've ever encountered a graphics cable that carried 110v 
or 240v between the PC & monitor, and my Goggling suggests that the 
Studio Display uses the ADC connector. 
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-8983-x-16-17-x  
http://tinyurl.com/c8s5b  You can indeed get an adaptor for ADC to VGA 
- I have one here, two in fact, one is spare - but they're not cheap. 
Dr Bott call them ADC to VGA "Extractors" and they're about £25 a pop.

Stroller.