[bjames]

The shipping company destroyed the case.  Literally nothing from the case is salvageable, not even the bottom plastic skin.  The package appeared to be packaged well and the oversized box didn’t show any obvious damage.  I’m not sure about the functionality as I have not tried to run it yet to determine if it was a complete write off.  I’m hoping Ian has a set of teal skins in stock.  After collecting SGIs for 25 years, this is the first system that has been damaged through shipping.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[vishnu]

Wow that's a painful experience. Unfortunately SGI was determined to use colorful plastic (as opposed to metal) cases for their uber-overpriced workstations, and the tiny handful of us who still regard these workstations (and servers) highly are now paying the price. ☹️

[Irinikus]

That’s pretty much how my teal Indigo2 arrived! I ended up ordering a new set of skins from Ian Mapleson.

Brocken plastics seem to be a standard in SGI collecting. For every SGI machine that I’ve collected, I’ve usually had to order at least two! :(

[weblacky]

Peanut brittle, a material not often used in computers..but SGI did.

[Nichosen]

The best way would be to pack and ship the skin separately.

[soviet]

Have the same issue when I got my purple and teal indigos, but your case is even worse that thing is truly unfixable.

[bjames]

Yes, I was surprised when I started undoing the bubble wrap and first saw a diagonal crack on the top left corner and thought that I can glue it and live with it, but as I was continuing to cut the tape and expose the teal case, more peices started falling out, then a large chunk came off, the computer was literally disintegrating in my hands, that’s when I knew that this is hopeless. I have started the return process as I decided to put this project on hold. I feel I overpaid for the indigo2, but from the photos, it was in very good condition, and it was as the teal top have almost no scratches. I was thinking of ordering new skins from Ian, but that would put my total investmet over $2k for this computer which is more than I wanted to invest into this project. I would rather spend the money on my Octane2 upgrades i.e. dual R14 processors, DCD video board, increase my ram from 5 gig to 8 gig to max out the machine.

[stormy]

I guess the weight of the machine itself did it, must have been shipped with it 'standing on it's face' for most of the journey. What country are you in?

[bjames]

Computer came from the US and shipped to Canada. By the looks of it I got handed over to three different courier companies. I think your right. The bubble wrap ing was quite tight and I believe it may have compressed Amy impacts further due to the weight of the internals. Ifs funny that the SGI is built like a tank using steel gauge heavier that what we see in modern systems. The problem is the tank is covered in a brittle coloured skin.

[vishnu]

Other than the broken skins, is there any damage that you think will make the system inoperable? Needless to say without being fully skinned heating would be a problem if you decided to go ahead and run it bare...