<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Byrd @ Jul 3 2006, 10:15 PM) [snapback]191445[/snapback]</div>Well, thats a very kind offer, and one i think i'll take up. The visable damage to my cube was obviously on the VRM, and the video card which has bulging chips on it. I managed to test out the CPU in a G4 tower, and it was fine, also the CD drive was fine. I've been unable to test any other parts, so the logic board (looks ok) is unknown and same with the modem, ethernet board, and hard drive.

Any ideas on what to do from here? If i could test the logic board and other parts (to confirm its only going to need a video card and VRM) then i'd go for it and get an upgraded VRM from america, but its a bit of a risk if the whole things bung...

My pleasure macman - happy to help another Cube owner PM me and we'll sort something out. It's the ADC ATI Rage card, haven't tested it for a while but will do so soon.

With VRMs going for ~ $100 AUD from time to time on eBay US, it's a risk I'd be prepared to take. If your optical drive and CPU are OK, chances are everything else is working too.

JB

Thats awesome, i'll be one step closer to having a working cube at last!

I've done some research, and there's a company that sells upgraded (and more reliable) VRM's for cube's and they sell for $99 US, so i think i'd be after one of those.

Just got to hope like crazy that everything else is still alive, mainly the logic board/ethernet card and modem.

I'll PM u tonight.

Thnx again.

Update time

Snaffled a relatively cheap 512mb stick of sdram on ebay, now my cube has 1gb of RAM. Had a few hours free last week so I downclocked the bus from 120mhz to 100mhz again, it runs noticably cooler and doesn't hang anymore after a long VNC session.

Good luck with your cube, macman

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(macman142 @ Jul 4 2006, 06:05 PM) [snapback]191760[/snapback]</div>Would you care the share that company's details that you found for VRM's?

giga designs is the company.

here's a link:
http://www.gigadesigns.com/index.asp?PageA...WPROD&ProdID=13

Has anyone got a Cube for sale at the moment?

I want one!

If they did. It'd be posted in the trading forums.

Come twelve months ago, stock Cubes could be purchased on eBay for ~ $400. Now they seem very hard to obtain, and it's the same internationally. Best bet would be to keep an eye out here and wait it out (as you're doing!).

More updates ...

I've since been lucky to inherit an Apple 17" ADC LCD Studio Display with Geforce 2 MX. I've flashed a few GF2MX cards now, all have worked, but they get hot inside the Cube's cramped enclosure. A small HSF and ramsinks have helped. Unfortunately I killed my ADC GF2MX card removing the heatsink, so have purchased a Radeon 7500 from eBay - with ADC - to tide me by. This card is faster and cooler than the GF2MX.

JB

The 7500 does get hot, too...

Oh, and the other thing was, GigaDesigns don't manufacture the replacement VRM anymore, so if you can get you hands on one, probably worth doing. The VRMs in the Cube don't have an indefinite lifespan, they're usually the first things to blow (taking othe parts down with it.)

The Giga VRM has higher rated FETs (in other words, it could cope with a higher loading) and offered a more robust option than the original Apple one. But either VRM will suffer from extended periods of saturated heat from a hot video card and lack of ventilation in the graphics card bay.

I'm looking to upgrade my Cube's internal DVD drive to a Superdrive - any recommendations on good drives or ways to do it?

You can buy a laptop slot-load DVD burner, there's a whole range that will work. You then need an apapter which converts the IDE cable to the laptop HD IDE plug. I got one of these for about $15 here in Aus.

You'll then need to take a small molex power plug (which I just cut off an old PC floppy drive) and splice it into the power cable that leads from the VRM.

Once you've got the parts, you make a bracket. I cheated one with an old beige hard-drive sled and some double sided-tape, but alot of handy types fabricate one from aluminium and brawn.

CubeOwner has instructions in the FAQ. At one point people were selling pre-fabbed brackets in the US. Not sure now.

Thanks Edge - it's finding the right (type) of 2.5 inch drive and a local place to purchase it from that has me stumped...

The DVR-RW I put in mine is a Pioneer DVR-K05. It is identified by OSX and works will all built in burning functions. Panasonics also work (need to check the model numbers).

Only issue I had/have is that the Pioneer IDE ID is preset and I had to change the ID on the hard drive for it to work. Not a major issue, but does prevent you from starting up from CD/DVD and or Firewire (as the IDs are not as expected).

I did a quick search on-line and made a few phone calls to source the gear - ended up getting it on-line from a Sydney outlet. The IDE adapter and cables were also available on-line (and at most swap meets).

Good luck with the upgrade.

Regards,

JMD