[weblacky]

The only thing that worries me about this theory is your description of when things started to go bad. You mentioned the L1 became "flakey". normally shorts tend to be different type of caps aging (ceramics tend to fail shorted) or an IC burns out due to a couple known factors, but it's a very binary thing (pardon the pun).

Normally people find that one day they turn things off and the next, nothing starts. This flakiness is really hard to explain. Sure, the L1 likely doesn't like the low voltage it's being feed right now, but I've not heard of a shorted cap "getting worse" where the short is somehow becomes more powerful.

So unless we actually have both types of problems, this doesn't totally explain observed issues. It's possible you have caps going, causing power generation to become poor, which caused the L1 to run funny, then the caps age/cook to an extent where one (or more) of them actually shorts!

Possible, yes. Likely...unknown. I guess what I'm saying is, even if you find you have a real-life short, you still may have cap issues causing dirty power and the like.

Hopefully, you'll have more observations for us. One the note on the thermal imager, if you do get one, play with it around the home a little to get familiar with it. Note that shinny/reflective objects will came back as "very hot" unless you change some values in the imager. So just be aware that false heat is a real thing. Understand what surfaces you are looking at. The good thing is PCB and plastics have about the same emissivity as dry wall, which is also pretty close to human skin's emissivity (0.95).

If you end up using one, let everything cool overnight, then start the imager and plug in you SGI. Then start taking pictures all around and move quickly. My guess is in the less then 2 minutes you'll start seeing one or more hot spots grow. Eventually the heat will spread and it may become harder to spot.

[kaigan]

No thermal imager yet as they're fairly expensive and I want to be sure I get a good, useful model.

I did replace all of the aluminum electrolytic capacitors and the main five-pin voltage regulator. No issues with the replacement process, but no noticeable changes to the system, either. Sadly, if it is one of the smaller components having an issue, it may be a bit before I can diagnose it.

[hamei]

The only thing that worries me about this theory is your description of when things started to go bad.  You mentioned the L1 became "flakey".  normally shorts tend to be different type of caps aging (ceramics tend to fail shorted) or an IC burns out due to a couple known factors, but it's a very binary thing (pardon the pun).

I have one right here that's the same way. Ages ago it worked well enough to boot, but got tempermental on the L1 so I set it aside.

Pulled it out of the closet a week or two ago, the L1 display hung at "booting."

Got a serial cable to connect to the console the other day, plugged it in to watch, lo and behold it came right up to running. Yay. Played around a little, entered some L1 commands, stuff worked, happy munchkin here, entered > serial all verbose and it quit totally. Rats. Unplugged and replugged, now the display only shows a blank yellow screen, not even the previous "booting" message and nothing over the console cable.

I have another interface board to drop in, probably will try once again just for the heck of it but here's another anecdote for the building-data pile .. they can get flaky then die totally. I'm not confident that a simple caps replacement will bring this hummer back to life.

[kaigan]

I have another interface board to drop in, probably will try once again just for the heck of it but here's another anecdote for the building-data pile .. they can get flaky then die totally. I'm not confident that a simple caps replacement will bring this hummer back to life.

Given the sheer number of tiny SMD capacitors and resistors on the board as well as assorted ICs, the fault could be in a number of places. While I know how to do the kind of SMD work needed to replace those components, I haven't done a lot of it and I need better tools to do it well. Should the fault turn out to be something with one of those components, I'll probably have to find someone more experienced to do the actual repair.

This will probably be on hold until I can get a thermal imager. I'm also looking into options to source a replacement board. I have one on the way in the form of a mostly-complete Onyx4 graphics brick. I really don't want to take it apart for this, though. I'd rather make good use of it along with an O350.

[hamei]

 I'm also looking into options to source a replacement board. I have one on the way in the form of a mostly-complete Onyx4 graphics brick. I really don't want to take it apart for this, though. I'd rather make good use of it along with an O350.

Not so sure about the onyx4 .... the scuttlebut was they never really got the ATi cards working right. Chris in Sunnyvale was selling those complete for like $100 each at one time, sigh :-(   If you didn't use the peecee graphics, coulda stuck a V12 in there with a different riser card and had a nice rack tez. And the doors are a nice color. Coulda, woulda, shoulda :-(

To tell you the truth, the hot ticket is a good Octane.

Oh, you meant numalink them ? I don't think you can mix graphics. It's one or the other, can't do both in one system. Or did you mean just have graphics on the Onyx4 brick ? Then the whole thing would be an Onyx4, I'd say ? The only difference is the graphics.

[kaigan]

Oh, you meant numalink them ? I don't think you can mix graphics. It's one or the other, can't do both in one system. Or did you mean just have graphics on the Onyx4 brick ? Then the whole thing would be an Onyx4, I'd say ?  The only difference is the graphics.

Yeah, I'd NUMALink them. You can't mix graphics, no. But the base compute module for the Onyx4 system is just an Origin 350 for all intents and purposes. Instead of making a single-node Onyx350 system, I'd have an Onyx4 up and running. That said, even without a second board, I could turn it back into an Onyx350/RM Tezro with the parts I have. I just think it would be fun to have a working Onyx4.

[weblacky]

Yo Kaigan,
Not to keep knocking on this. I own an older (2014) FLIR E4 (modded to E4+ just before the window closed in the firmware, so has the specs of an E8!). It's half VGA and meant for home inspections, so it's min focal distance is around 11". Still does the job for occasional electronics work just fine, but that still costs just over $1k.

If you're looking for something that will about just do for all these kinds of things, and be better than most smartphone thermal imaging add-ons, consider this (I don't own this one, but reviews look good):

Seek FastFrame Reveal Thermal Imager (206x156), Handheld, 15Hz:
https://www.tequipment.net/Seek-Thermal/...l-Imagers/

For the resolution, I don't think you'll find a cheaper retail price. It's self contained, so no smartphone dependence. You don't have to spend $700+ for something that works. I mean, you're not going to use it on iPhone repairs because it can't get that close. But PCB boards like this one, you should be fine. Specs claim it's min focal distance is 1ft. so same as mine. It's very usable, not just for electronics. I've used it for home circuit ID (via load), car repairs (brake issues, power drains, bad alternator diodes, misfire detection, leaky window strips), home water leaks, insulation missing detection, finding "new" pet stains on the rug, etc... Once you get used to it, you'll likely get your money back in value in less than 2 years.

Let us know,

[hamei]

I just think it would be fun to have a working Onyx4.

Agree totally, and that's the only way to find out if the rumours were true or not ... I just wish I'd known the Onyx4 was just an O350 with ATi graphics when they were cheap :-(

While we're on the subject of wishful thinking, anyone got a snowball running in an O350 / racktez ? Or a cheap n-brick lying around the basement looking for a new home ?

[kaigan]

If you're looking for something that will about just do for all these kinds of things, and be better than most smartphone thermal imaging add-ons, consider this (I don't own this one, but reviews look good):

Seek FastFrame Reveal Thermal Imager (206x156), Handheld, 15Hz:
https://www.tequipment.net/Seek-Thermal/...l-Imagers/

That does look nice! I'll see about picking one up when I can.

I managed to accidentally pay our friendly neighborhood SGISeller for an item twice, so I might put some of that extra toward a replacement board/O350 expansion unit, depending on his stock. Anything extra will likely go toward the thermal imager.

[hamei]

I managed to accidentally pay our friendly neighborhood SGISeller for an item twice, so I might put some of that extra toward a replacement board/O350 expansion unit, depending on his stock.

If you are a cheapskate like me, the Altix 350 case is almost the same as the O350. Some of the insides (fans and so on) swap straight across. As far as using for MIPS guts goes, a little bit of dremel work on the back wall makes everything fit ... iirc it was mostly the 9-pn d-subs and the usb port that had to be moved a bit. All the hold-down screws are in the same place. I have no idea why there's any difference at all, makes no sense but ....

Overe here there were a lot of altixes for nothing but no O350's at all and shipping can be prohibitive for big heavy steel boxes, so .....

Is mopar still out there, btw ?  Super deals, super guy.