EZ Computer Help.Org

Just a short update on the new parts added to my Home Server Rack and Home Theater system.

Added 2 Very Cheap gigabit Ethernet switches

Trendnet TEG-S80G- Data Rate:Ethernet: 10Mbps/20Mbps (half/full-duplex),Fast Ethernet: 100Mbps/200Mbps (half/full-duplex), Gigabit Ethernet: 2000Mbps (full-duplex), Switch Fabric: 16Gbps forwarding capacity, Ports 8 x RJ45

1 Tenda G1008D – 8 Port 10/100/1000Mbps Auto-Negotiation RJ45 ports, Consumption 6W, Output Voltage Range 9V 1200mA (This is connected on the inside of the house next to the Samsung TV)

    I stopped using the Cisco 3700 series router and now use a IBM x300 server with pfsense installed. pfSense is a free, open source customized distribution of FreeBSD tailored for use as a firewall and router. The network seems to work fine and very good speed improvements with the switch from 10/100 to Gigabit Ethernet. So far the only thing installed with pfsense is the country and ip blocker packages blocking China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Level 1 blocking.

IBM X300 specs:

Processor – Pentium III 1 GHz
Processors Qty. – 1
Installed Memory – 768MB (SDRAM)

This is a Pic of my KVM setup. I have 4 computer monitors one plugged into a 8 port Tripp Lite KVM, one plugged into just the wifi box, one into the sound recording server and one plugged into the home media server as a duel monitor.

kvm in home server

7 – IBM x300 servers

1 Running a Quake 3 server

1 Running a Spare PFsense router

1 Running Ubuntu 11

1 Running sound recording software with a soundcard hooked up to a behringer usb mixing desk

1 Running Windows Xp (just a spare pc)

1 Used as a wifi tester running backtrack 5

Here are some picks of the back of the server rack.

The Media Center PC  or Server is a AMD 3500+ (2 gig ram, 2 – 1.5 tb drives and 1 – 70 gig os drive). Software installed (Tivo server software, Samsung AllShare server and iTunes for downloading HD video podcasts and print server).

The home server rack is hooked up via a cat5e 150 feet run to the gigabit 8 port ethernet switch inside the house. From the switch to 1 hp computer, 1 IBM netvista running as a boxee box for my kids movies in a different room and cat5 into the Samsung un46d6300 led tv.

Over a year ago I was given a lot of IBM x300  8672-8AX servers, 13 in all. They all had the same problem, bad capacitors on the motherboards. I went online and bought all the MS-6388 motherboards I could find and fixed 6 of the servers replacing the motherboards and now have them all running in my home server rack. Now a year later and there are no MS-6388 motherboards to be found online for sale so I bought new 4700uf capacitors to see if I could get the board to fire up. The MS-6388 motherboard has 6 – 4700uF 6.3v capacitors next to the CPU, as you can see in the pic the capacitors are bubbling, bulging  or popping up.

Pictures of the 4700uF 6.3v capacitors after I took them out of the MS-6388 motherboard.

The new 4700uF capacitors are 10v.

The solder points on the MS-6388 under the motherboard and the new 4700uF 10v capacitors in place.

After all the new 4700uF 10v capacitors were installed I put the motherboard in put everything back and it all worked fine.

Here is where i bought some of my caps at Buy New Capacitors here

I also bought my capacitors at Badcaps.net they are great and fast shipping.

I have a few IBM x300 servers with bad motherboards so here is a short post.

As you can see the capacitors are bad.

New IBM x300 motherboard ms-6388

New IBM x300 motherboard with everything plugged in and ram installed.

Now installing the OS from a Backup

15% CPU usage and 1% Network Usage on the IBM X300
IBM eServer xSeries 300 8672 rack server

MPN 8672
Key Features
Form Factor -Rack-Mountable

Processor – Pentium III 1 GHz
Processors Qty. – 1
Installed Memory – 512 MB (SDRAM)
Platform – PC
Processor Manufacturer Intel
Processor Type -Pentium III
Processor Speed – 1 GHz
Installed Qty – 1
Max Supported Qty 1
Processor Upgradability – Upgradable

Memory
Installed RAM – 512 MB
RAM Technology – SDRAM
Maximum RAM – 1.5 GB
Hard Drive – 40 GB SCSI 10,000 RPM
2nd Storage Controller IDE / EIDE
Networking – Yes
Networking Type – 2 10/100 ports
Network Adapter
Data Link Protocol – Ethernet • Fast Ethernet
Motherboard – MS-6388
Installed L2 Cache Memory – 256 KB
Video Output Interface – PCI
CD / DVD
CD / DVD Type CD-ROM
Read Speed – 24x (CD)
Floppy Type 3.5″ 1.44 MB floppy
Audio – on-board
Max. Video Resolution 1600 x 1200
Installed Video Memory 8 MB
Dimensions
Width 17.34 in.
Depth 25.73 in.
Height 1.73 in.
Weight 28 lb.

Sun Micro 42RU Server Rack

Cisco 3745 Router

Form Factor 19” and 23” Rack
Mount (2 and 4 RU)
DRAM (default) 256 MB
DRAM (maximum) Up to 512 MB (3745)
Flash (default) 32 MB
Flash (maximum) 128 MB
Onboard DSP Slot 0 Up to 4
Onboard AIM Slot 2 2
Support for High Speed WICs (HWICs)
or Enhanced Network Modules No
LAN Ports 2 10/100
Integrated Hardware-based Encryption Optional
Integrated Inline Power/PoE Support Yes (No PoE)
USB Ports (v1.1) No
Console Port (Up to 115.2 Kbps) 1
Auxiliary Port (Up to 115.2 Kbps) 1

HP  LCD L1706

HP dc5100 PC

Opti-UPS Enhanced Series 1500c

1 Linksys WRT54GS for wifi

IBM Netvista pc

SMC EtherEZ Hub 16 port model 3616TC (not used)

Cisco Systems Catalyst 2950 series 24 port switch.

Cisco Systems IAD2400  (not used)

6 – IBM eServer xSeries 300 8672 rack servers.