Re: Towerizing my GS

[jesse@dino.gi.alaska.edu (Jesse P. Atencio)]

In article
<Pine.A32.3.91.950629184040.11262B-100000@srv1.freenet.calgary.ab.ca>,
Trent Corney <corney@freenet.calgary.ab.ca> wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> Seeing as my GS power supply died on me, I decided to put my GS in an
> IBM-type full tower case. I have managed to get the motherboard
> installed nicely, but I have a few questions directed to anyone who
> has been through this already.
>  
> 1) How did you go about hooking up any HD's internally? Did you build
> an internal SCSI cable somehow?
>  
> 2) How did you get the HD's to warm up before the motherboard boots?
> (I know the ramfast would handle this, I have an Apple HS card.)
>  

I solved the first two questions with the same item.  I got one of the
original RamFAST SCSI cards.  The older RamFAST cards have a 50 pin
location that is unused.  I purchased a 50 pin header and soldered it on. 
This gives me a way to connect internal devices while still maintaining an
external connection for other devices.  Without a Ramfast, you can always
make a 25 to 50 pin cable and connect it to your existing cable that comes
off your SCSI card.  You will need to purchase some connectors for ribbon
cables to get what you want done.

> 3) And finally, with the IBM power supply it has many +5V lines to
> connect to the motherboard, what is the best recommended way to hook
> it up to the GS motherboard? I ask because I rewired the power supply
> lines into the GS power supply connector, but when I put the HD's in
> the tower case and hook up the power cables, the GS acts just like it
> isn't getting enough power.. ie: it crashes on boots, hangs, etc. I
> removed the HD's and it seems more stable, but it is still a little
> flaky.

I never had any problem with the power hookups I made.  It should not
matter which +5 line you use.  You may have a different problem
altogether.  The switching power supplies in the PC cases are very picky
about having a load on them.  You might not be drawing enough current from
the power supply, especially if you have a low power consumption hard
drive.  You may have to put some sort of load on one of the lines to keep
the power supply happy.  Put a meter on the lines and see what is
happening.

I hope this helps.

Jesse