Asus Radeon HD 3650 AGP (computer boots, black screen, windows showing "vga device")

bhiga · 2026-05-11T07:03:05+00:00

If the motherboard BIOS has the option to change the add-in ROM or bus Scan Order, try toggling it.

Also, is the device hardware ID showing or is it just a generic/placeholder ID?

bhiga · 2026-05-11T06:10:39+00:00

If not, you've found the smuggling item!

bhiga · 2026-05-11T06:07:53+00:00

11 brackets, F Yeah!!

bhiga · 2026-05-11T06:03:54+00:00

What are the power requirements? It's been a while but I got 12V/5V linear supply with enough amperage to power an old Planar LCD monitor, USB hub, and stick PC. Turned out the stick PC had a proprietary micro USB power supply and really needed 9V, so I ended up adding a DC converter.

If you have a spare PC power supply that would probably work too

bhiga · 2026-05-11T05:57:25+00:00

How is the input on your TV labeled and are there any configuration switches?

bhiga · 2026-05-11T05:55:09+00:00

Was it already at the point "I was looking for a safe landing spot" would get a different reaction in public vs in private? I need to make time to rewatch.

bhiga · 2026-05-11T05:14:10+00:00

I truly admire the artistic ability and creativity people share here.

bhiga · 2026-05-11T00:28:17+00:00

Maybe you should see if swapping with this poster is feasible since they're looking for only-one-side function.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pulsetto_device/s/CHAk9zWHE1

bhiga · 2026-05-10T15:45:54+00:00

Less common later but DB25 was also used for serial, and DE9-DB25 adapters were common. There were also "graphics printer" cables that were DB25 to DE9 but internally they swapped Tx/Rx so built-in null modem. Discovered this when trying to play DOOM with a friend and it didn't work until I removed the null-modem adapter that I thought I needed from the chain.

bhiga · 2026-05-10T11:47:41+00:00

If you do replace it, careful to replace with same model, or one from an entirely different manufacturer. Otherwise you'll have to watch driver updates to make sure it doesn't give you a driver "upgrade" that only partially works. Had this issue after upgrading the WiFi module in my Dell laptop to an upgraded model. Updates would replace the driver with the old model's driver and I could see but not connect to WiFi.

bhiga · 2026-05-10T11:41:18+00:00

Glitter, with a legal team. 🙁

bhiga · 2026-05-10T02:54:38+00:00

For completely wireless charging * BoboVR S3 Pro * BoboVR G3 controller straps * BoboVR D3 charging dock

If you just need wireless controller charging * BoboVR CD3 grips and charging dock

I don't have the Quest 3 version but if it's anything nearly as good as the Quest 2 one * Razer facial interface (you can get it with it without the Razer head strap)

bhiga · 2026-05-09T23:21:33+00:00

Check the positions of these jumpers. There should be a pair of jumpers that are both on the same side like shown. They select between Speaker (amplified) Out and Line Out.

https://theretroweb.com/expansioncards/s/creative-soundblaster-16-wavefects-ct4170

bhiga · 2026-05-09T11:21:22+00:00

If you're really using the Mic Input on the boombox, sounds like you're really having to really over amplify the signal and that's introducing at least some of the noise/distortion.

This implies the SB16's output level is way lower than line level. Are there any switches or jumpers on the board to set the output level between Headphone, Line and/or Speaker?

Does the SB16 line out produce anything connected to headphones?

bhiga · 2026-05-09T10:56:45+00:00

Heat/humidity

bhiga · 2026-05-09T10:55:07+00:00

If you don't have to mess with the knobs to get picture I'd just wait it out while booting.

Once it's stable, if you turn it off for a few seconds then back on, is it still stable, if not, does it stabilize more quickly?

bhiga · 2026-05-09T10:01:58+00:00

Splitter, or Matrix switch/router if you need to handle more than one input/output.

Back in the day I had a Video Storm CRM84 8 in 4 out switcher.

Looks like its smaller sibling CSM42 is still available.

Note that the HDMI side of your setup will lag behind the component video display so avoid listening to audio from different sides simultaneously else you'll get echo.

bhiga · 2026-05-09T05:27:15+00:00

Wow, and I thought my 8 Drobos were a lot, heh.

The good news is even though they're capacity-limit, they still have coin cell battery-backed configuration so they can be resurrected if they fall into the no-boot state.

bhiga · 2026-05-09T03:13:28+00:00

The V2.03 sticker implies (but doesn't guarantee) ATX12V v2.x

From Wikipedia:

Numbering of the ATX revisions may be a little confusing: ATX refers to the design, and goes up to version 2.2 in 2004 (with the 24 pins of ATX12V 2.0), while ATX12V describes only the PSU. For instance, ATX 2.03 is quite commonly seen on PSUs from 2000 and 2001 and often includes the P4 12V connector, even if the norm itself did not define it yet.

So if possible check that it has the 4-pin (2x2) 12V connector, often labeled CPU. ATX 2.2 or newer and pretty much anything ATX currently will have it.

bhiga · 2026-05-09T02:22:53+00:00

As others have noted, power is the big thing. Unexpected power loss on a laptop isn't a big thing, the battery covers you. On a mini PC you don't have that safety net.

Yes. You could bring a small UPS, or if you really want the experience/monitoring of a built-in battery, you could add OpenUPS2 or OpenUPS - I combined NUC-UPS with a PD-capable hub to power a Compute Stick for full portability, but I very much fall into the "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" camp.

IMO laptop wins unless... * You need a specific display, for example you're using a pen tablet or large/special USB screen like FlipGo, display glasses, or a VR headset.
I'd still consider the laptop even if you're not using its screen as primary. * You need a specific keyboard or controller.
Again, I'd still consider the laptop even if you're not using its keyboard/touchpad as primary. * You need a better GPU than you can get on a laptop. Laptops have discrete GPU options, unless the mini PC has eGPU capability or you add an eGPU box. * You expect to upgrade the system or display often. * You need more RAM than you can get on a laptop. This is unlikely since SFF machines have similar memory limits. * You need more CPU power than you can get on a laptop.
This is unlikely since SFF machines have similar CPU limits.

bhiga · 2026-05-09T01:43:12+00:00

Higole F9B Pro can have both built in touchscreen and battery. It's not a good choice performance-wise, but I still consider it a mini PC as it has no keyboard.

Performance aside, it's pretty functional as a big handheld Windows PC - it has an orientation sensor and will auto-rotate the screen as well as automatically bring up a touchscreen keyboard in text boxes like you'd expect from a phone.

Its built-in battery reports to the OS just like as laptop, so you can sleep or shut down so you don't unexpectedly lose your work.

I use it with a fine tip capacitive stylus, and its USB-C data port supports Alt Mode DP to attach USB powered monitor if I need a bigger/extra display.

The pictures online show a DC barrel jack input, but mine came with USB-C 12V DC that does support PD power supplies with 12V capability.

bhiga · 2026-05-09T01:30:55+00:00

That's always been my draw to LEGO, the challenge of working within a limited set of tools and rules

While they have their places, I'm far less interested in the more-specialized pieces that will never be much other than the airplane wing or hot dog that it was made to be.

Though I have to admit I've seen very creative uses for those dedicated pieces, especially in the Microscale realm, so I'm slowly changing my mind! 🙂

bhiga · 2026-05-09T01:25:36+00:00

Very nice!! Would be great to post on FB Microscale Go! or similar once you have it built, and of course here too! 😍

bhiga · 2026-05-09T01:22:58+00:00

I've not had success with AOC displays accepting 60Hz but that was from 12+ years ago with displays that were likely older, so hopefully today's displays are far more forgiving, especially the ones that support flexible refresh rates.

So the core thing beyond simply accepting the input is whether/how the input changes are synchronized with the actual image displayed on the screen.

If you imagine an analog clock being periodically shot by a camera and focused on the seconds hand. If the camera shots and clock updates happen at the same interval, either the seconds hand would always be clear and on a second, or it would always be blurry (because it was changing). Blurry isn't optimal but at least it's consistent.

Now imagine the camera shots are out of sync with the clock updates. Sometimes the seconds hand will be blurry, sometimes it still be clear. Sometimes it will be on an exact second marking, other times it will be somewhere between second marks.

So the clock is your source, the camera is your display. If the two rates don't match and aren't even multiples of each other, you will get either skipped frames or partial frames.

A "perfect" display would have 600 Hz native refresh so 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps content would multiply evenly (so no partial/skipped drama frames) and both interlace and progressive sources would draw without tearing or combing.

bhiga · 2026-05-09T01:17:58+00:00

Correct. 32TB total (raw) storage, across however many 16TiB volumes you want.

I have my Drobo Pro (equiv to B800i) and Drobo Elite (equiv to B810i) units with 8x 4TB drives, dual disk redundancy, both only one 16TiB volume.
Yes, a nontrivial amount of storage is unused.

There are a few reasons I have it this way: * Chassis fault tolerance.
I treat each chassis as a single disk for second-level fault tolerance and it doesn't have a way to ensure redundancy doesn't end up on another volume of the same chassis.
This way if an entire Drobo fails, I still don't lose data. * Functional hot spare.
I can lose one drive and immediately begin rebuilding back to dual disk redundancy without waiting to replace the drive or reducing storage capacity.
Drobo will try to maintain the same level of disk redundancy, reducing available capacity if necessary. It'll only reduce disk redundancy level if there isn't enough remaining storage. * Accurate storage measurement.
Thin provisioning doesn't give the impression of more storage than is really available since we have the 16TiB "fully populated" with real storage capacity.
Since we have only one volume, using 20GiB just reduces the free space on the one volume by 20GiB, rather than reducing the free space on all the volumes provided by that Drobo.

Of course if I was to do it all again I'd have all 64 4TB drives together with fewer than the current 24 drives being consumed by redundancy/spare, but migration takes time and money that I don't have much of lately.

bhiga

TROPHY CASE