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TINY troubles...

PNnewbie
Rising Star
Posts: 318
Thanks: 7
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎04-07-2008

TINY troubles...

Hi,
Not too sure if this is allowed - if not someone will no doubt move/delete as appropriate  Wink
I've 'acquired' a TINY computer which has a problem.  Now I can see some people throwing their hands up in horror and muttering - 'throw it away'...  I know TINY didn't have a particularly good name in the business but this machine is nice and clean and is a fairly reasonable spec so I'd like to get it going if possible.
The machine would initially refuse to boot and I eventually thought the OS might be corrupted so I tried a reinstall but to no avail.  After much swopping bits around etc I'm pretty sure the motherboard is at fault and I believe the FIC board fitted in this model was notoriously unreliable.
Now I wonder if there's a possibility that someone on here might have an old TINY S31 lying about which might have a working P4M-800M/T22  socket 478 motherboard.  The same motherboard might have been fitted in other models as well.  I have seen a replacement board that should work but that's ~£50 and with some DDR2 it's going to bump up the price to the point where I might consider junking the TINY.
Thanks,
John
6 REPLIES 6
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: TINY troubles...

Why not just get another socket 478 board and use that (rather than the specific TINY model)? I thought they just used standard (albeit cheap) parts and that should make things a bit cheaper. Apologies if some of it is proprietary kit.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: TINY troubles...

Well one reason for not getting another socket 478 board is because they are obsolete so the few that are available are expensive.  Nor will the newer ones necessarily use the same type of memory.
PNnewbie
Rising Star
Posts: 318
Thanks: 7
Fixes: 2
Registered: ‎04-07-2008

Re: TINY troubles...

Thanks for your input.
There's always the danger that if I got one of the original boards that would give problems as well, I gather they were notoriously unreliable.
I have considered another Socket 478 board.  One that is available is the Asrock P4i945GC which I've seen advertised at just a shade under £40.  That unfortunately takes DDR2 whilst the TINY's present motherboard has DDR so I'd need some memory as well, probably bumping the price up to ~£60-70.
The TINY does have a 200 Gb hard disc, a card reader, a floppy and 1Gb of RAM so as I said in my original posting I'm loth to junk it.
John
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: TINY troubles...

Ebay has quite a few of them: linky
Sounds well worth resurrecting and I can't imagine a second hand board would be much of an issue in a box like that, though the card reader and hard drive could easily be moved to a different machine if it doesn't work. I reckon you could pick a board up from ebay for less than £30.
Just a thought - I know some aren't too keen on ebay. I like it though, if you're careful it's fine.
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: TINY troubles...

If you own or can borrow a Windows installation disk (presumably XP Home) then you might be better off investing in a new motherboard, memory and processor.  You would need a full (OEM) Windows disk, not a Tiny recovery disk to be able to do this.  You might also find that a modem motherboard only has one PATA output so could only support two PATA peripherals.  But it's worth considering if you can because it would give such a boost to the system performance.   
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: TINY troubles...

That probably won't work as the license key may well be locked to a Tiny installed image.
Even if it isn't it will be locked to the motherboard and probably the processor and the key won't be accepted.
I know that this is often the case and then even a repair install won't work