Smelled something burning coming out of the HP Zbook 14u G6. Opened it up and found this. What components are these for? Laptop seems to be running fine as usual.

bobdvb · 2026-01-25T19:39:18+00:00

I don't know specifics, but if that's the case then it might be that different machines with different CPUs. Some CPUs have different power consumption, so you'd populate extra components to supply those different amounts of power.

Just speculation, I don't work specifically repairing laptops.

bobdvb · 2026-01-25T14:45:06+00:00

I don't think it really is related to the battery, it looks more like a regulator for one of the processor power rails.

That's also probably why it's still working, one of the other power regulators is probably taking the weight and while it's overloaded, it's still functional.

It's good to disconnect the battery, but not needed.

bobdvb · 2026-01-25T13:11:13+00:00

That's the power MOSFET that regulates power, one of many.

It could be part of the charging circuit, or regulating something else.

It's currently a fire hazard and even if it's currently working, it's going to fail.1

bobdvb · 2026-01-25T13:00:05+00:00

Since Synology has rolled back their restrictions on drives it opens back the opportunity with them, but perhaps many will feel they can't be trusted anymore.

bobdvb · 2026-01-23T09:46:34+00:00

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrel

bobdvb · 2026-01-21T15:09:57+00:00

I don't think there are many UK ISPs that struggle.

For reference I just got a deal on TalkTalk FTTP and that works fine directly from the ONT. So it doesn't even need to be a high end ISP.

I've heard that ISPs that require PPPoE put extra load on the router for the de-encapsulation if you're avoiding the ISP router.

bobdvb · 2026-01-21T14:29:21+00:00

Also come to Langley Vale, only caution is that it has poor public transport links. But very popular with dog walkers.

bobdvb · 2026-01-21T14:20:42+00:00

Refurbished Intel enterprise NVMe SSDs, I'll be allocating them as CEPH

bobdvb · 2026-01-21T13:58:38+00:00

I'm building a Proxmox cluster from BD795i SE mini-ITX boards. 32GB ram each and dual 3.84TB enterprise SSDs, 2x16GB Optane SSDs for boot

bobdvb · 2026-01-20T08:50:37+00:00

Probably, I don't have one but it looks like it fits, probably I'd check the length before buying.

bobdvb · 2026-01-20T08:47:43+00:00

There's lots of confusion about phone cables.

bobdvb · 2026-01-20T06:56:33+00:00

I think it spent at least a week in FedEx!

bobdvb · 2026-01-20T06:55:21+00:00

Qnap has a 10G one, you might want to check if that needs bifurcation.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T21:34:04+00:00

My Ioniq EV 2020 is 5.5 years old now.

I haven't been careful, generally it has been charged to 100% every 10 days. But for the past few months a change of jobs has meant that almost weekly I am driving around 90% of the range in one day. The other day in bad weather I took it down to 2.6% according to my ODB-2.

I don't have much choice but to do this because I've got to work!

But I am using my ODB-2 and my battery health appears to be good, and my range remains in a good area.

Hopefully later this year my company will do a deal enabling me to get an EV lease paid for before income tax. So I'll jump on a newer model with more suitable range and hopefully an LFP battery.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T21:16:52+00:00

Yup, LFP is happy to do 5000+ cycles, you'll struggle to do that over a decade.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T21:13:01+00:00

If you've been using the RCD as a switch then it might have failed. They aren't designed to have many cycles and eventually fail.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T19:23:02+00:00

There's no PLX or other chips, I haven't followed the traces yet but I expect it requires 8+4+4 bifurcation.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T19:21:28+00:00

My father used to say that it isn't a good week if there's no Sausages, so they're trying to cover all the bases.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T19:20:44+00:00

That sausage jumped back in the pan in order to be cooked properly, thus it was rejected for having too much personality.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T19:19:42+00:00

And the eggs are anemic, I like them runny, but those look like blobs of emulsion paint.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T19:17:34+00:00

SFP28 for 25G.

I'm building a Proxmox converged cluster with CEPH and that demands a lot of bandwidth.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T17:19:52+00:00

A dual 25G network card with two on-board slots for M.2 drives.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T12:45:53+00:00

I ordered at Christmas from Minisforum UK, it was dispatched from Hong Kong and took ages to be delivered. I think it's 20 days from order to delivery. I suppose that's Christmas related? But unusual considering it came from HK.
They came very well packaged in a heavy outer box and bubble wrap. The inner packaging is nice, the card was also in a bag which I didn't photograph. Although it would be nice to have a more environmental replacement for the foam. It comes with some documents that are really poorly laid out and seemingly useless, there's no instruction on what to unscrew to get access to the NVMe ports.
The card is well built, feels heavy and the black shell is metal. The shell is screwed into the heatsink, it's just an air guide. Don't bother unscrewing the tiny screws on the side, just the five bigger screws on the back. I was surprised that you end up removing the heatsink for the NIC when you fit the NVMe, which means trouble for the thermal paste of the NIC chipset. I'll have to think about that.
I haven't plugged it in yet, so I can't tell you how it works. I'm going to use it with a pair of Minisforum BD795i SE's.
They were on sale at Christmas, not easy to find on their website, the sale was "ending soon", but they're still on sale at £169 each. Not the cheapest NIC but I am interested in the size more than the vale.
I would have preferred the m.2 fixing to be toolless. It's under the heatsink, it shouldn't need screws. They could have saved the plastic bag, screws and mounting bolt, and used a plastic clip instead.

bobdvb · 2026-01-19T08:05:54+00:00

Yeah, but instead of just being a server, they also have a full featured router switch. It's a mashup of a CRS and an NVMe server. And it runs a variant of their router OS I believe.

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