This is intended to be a short set of notes on successful hardware upgrades to a C700 series (C771US specifically) Compaq Presario laptop.
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Archive for the ‘PC Hardware/Consumer Electronics’ Category
Upgrading a Compaq Presario C700 Notebook Computer
Friday, November 16th, 2012Reflections on Sans Digital TR5UT External USB/eSATA RAID Enclosure
Thursday, November 8th, 2012
After having used this enclosure for about two years, I feel qualified to comment on my experiences with it, and best practices that I would recommend.
Why does my CSI906 Hot Air Rework Station become noisy and stop pumping air?
Monday, October 3rd, 2011The Circuit Specialists CSI-906 is a popular hot air rework station for hobbyists due to its extremely low price ($99).
One problem that can be encountered is that the air pump begins working intermittently. The symptoms are a loud noise and decreased hot air flow.
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Gateway 900G 19 inch LCD monitor flickering, power cycling
Monday, February 15th, 2010Guess what? Yep, it’s more bad capacitors.
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Antec SL350 power supply re-cap
Monday, February 15th, 2010A fairly common problem with Antec power supplies from 2002-2005 is the “Bad Caps” issue. Very frequently, when an Antec power supply manufactured during that period begins to make strange noises or become unstable, the capacitors have gone bad.
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Why were Athlon/VIA systems so notoriously flaky back in the day?
Friday, July 31st, 2009I remember fondly the NASDAQ bubble days, when it seemed like everyone was upgrading their PC every six months to be able to do useful and fun things, like play the newest 3D games (or to take advantage of the emerging high-speed internet without being slowed down by the piles of cable/DSL ISP crapware that came on the modem install CD).
Back then, custom PC shops competed with the big-box system builders by offering cheaper AMD Athlon based systems that frequently outperformed the much more expensive Intel Pentium III based systems, especially when unlocked and overclocked. But a common thread in the day was debating whether a motherboard with an Athlon CPU and a VIA chipset would be stable enough for the customer’s needs, or if his system should be specified with an Intel CPU and a 440BX based motherboard instead.
Hardware choices for my retro-utility/gaming rig
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009What hardware goes into a machine that exists for the purpose of interfacing with old hardware and software?