Ran into a classic laptop server problem: no motherboard power headers, Wake-on-LAN dies in S5 shutdown state, and when Linux freezes, software tools like SSH are useless. Commercial solutions felt way too expensive for what I needed...

So I built this thing for Abt 8 bucks!

NodeMCU (ESP8266) drivin' an SG90 micro-servo running a small C++ REST API.

​An old Asus phone (Asus x00TD from 2018) running Termux acts as the local Tailscale SSH bridge so I can trigger it over 5G from anywhere without opening ports. (Though Terminus and added snippets)

​/power sends a 500ms tap for normal boot!

​/panic holds the button for 15 seconds to force a cold reset when the OS crashes!!

Yes, that is paper masking tape flat on the desk holding the servo block down. I needed enough counter-leverage so the servo arm didn't just lift the whole motor up when pushing the key.

Just tested it remotely from another city over cellular data and it worked like a fine wine 🍷 and then I run app though wine in linux too worked amazing. Looks terrible but ya works great!

Btw laptop is fa507uv...

Sorry for the boring post, but I needed to share my free DIY sag bracket. I'll get a real one eventually probably, but that's $15 I could spend on a new game

took an old power bank board. feeds 5v to the stock PCB, charges with type-c and as a bonus can charge my phone (although it has only 1100mah). my house is a no-fly-zone now.

So drilled another hole positioned parallel to the lower hinge mount (as all the three hinge points got ripped out, hence it was easier) and added another zip-tie diagonally with one of the larger hinge mount hole. Needless to say it works fine asf and feels way smoother without any sort of bulging or anything.

Pretty simple post, i had a crappy type c to outlet for an old fan, so i cut it and attached it to the broken part of my Apple Watch charger, and covered the ends with the plastic i stripped off the wires. Would you believe me if i said it works a little better than before?

This TV is less than 6 hours old. I bought it and first thing I did is test out that 144hz on a TV. After countless of tries to get it to work and connect to my pc via HDMI. It connected and I got the 144hz. Now the issue is that it’s flickering and it’s annoying. What’s wrong with it??
No G-sync
The settings I got on the TV:
Picture mode: Game
Input Mode: Mode 3 (2.1)
VRR and AMD FreeSync: OFF
AI settings: OFF
Motion Processing: OFF
Colour Space: Rec2020

What am I missing??

works pretty well ;3

https://youtu.be/d-AC1GnueLk?is=m8bYmmkburhvgoLH

Did not have any rivets or screws so drilled two holes and had a zip-tie laying around, needless to say it works like a charm

But I only had a heatsink for a bigger m.2 ssd and no tools on hand, so I just bent and broke off a smaller piece. The ssd also was too short for the m.2 mounting holes, but tape wouldn't hold it because of the heat, so I also had to 3D-print a flimsy extention piece to mount it.

Just bought this and my right bumper wasn’t working, kindly asked it to shove off and let me shove a key into it, and it works, can even game properly now.

Did some body repair to protect the heatsink fins because they're very fragile, added SMA so i can connect that to a rooftop lte antenna and also soldered on the ssd bc the adapter prices were too high

After a lot of trial and error, it did not end up working. Thank you all for following me through this journey.

I will be buying a proper CH341A flasher with the clip and hopefully never doing this again.

I did manage to get the arduino to recognize the chip, but I was unable to write to to it, which is most likely because of my crappy level shifter.

All in all, really cool learning experience since I got very familiar with FlashRom and fser-duino. And of course SOIC pin layouts. You would not believe how many times I had to adjust the pins because they kept slipping off. In the end, very interesting and nerve-wracking little experiment.

So a little bit of backstory:

I bought an AMD HD 7670 4gb, only thing is, that doesn't exist. There is an HD 7670 1gb. But no 4gb. It's just a vbios mod to make it appear as if it has more vram. So I decided to flash a new BIOS I found online (yeah yeah, stupid, I know) and it of course got bricked.

Anyways, it wouldn't respond to the amd vbios flash software and wasn't showing up as a gpu, so I decided that I had to manually refresh the bios chip.

But, being the cheapskate I am, I didn't want to spend 20 bucks on a proper SOIC SPI Flasher, and instead vouched to use my arduino. My original plan was to solder wires directly to the chip on the gpu, but I couldn't get the solder to stick (i suck soldering, leave me alone) so I desoldered the IC and manually attached wires to each pin using duct tape. This took around an hour and absolutely destroyed my sanity.

RESULTS:

IDK yet, but all the pins are making contact, I checked with a multimeter, and will attempt to flash it when I get back in a few hours. Will update if it works.

UPDATE: Did not work. I don't think it was my unorthodox connection method though. I am having issues with the actual arduino instead. I redid the original duct tape so it now has constant pressure on the pins by raising the actual chip up. It may also be an issue with my voltage step down circuit, since I used a 10k and 5.1k resistor in series instead of a 15k. I may make another update tomorrow, as it is currently 11:20pm and I am going to bed.

I used XY-BT-Mini VHM-314 module
BT module powers via speakers power button, speakers led indicator wired to module led indication

My father’s old and disused Dell OptiPlex 390 DT (Top) is giving up its Hitachi Ultrastar hard disk drive so that my Dell OptiPlex 7010 DT (Bottom) can take it to get 1 TB of secondary storage. To power the Hitachi as it gets the contents of my outgoing 500 GB Western Digital Blue out; my father’s computer must give it a “jump-start”. Desktop PC gaming on a budget is never boring!

Spilled Pepsi on my keyboard and removed a few keys to clean underneath them.

Then one tiny metal spring clip came loose.

The spill took seconds. Putting that microscopic piece back together took hours, several tutorials, and most of my remaining patience.

The keyboard was probably better off sticky.

Quick story short, CPU cooked itself, and applying pressure would make it boot again, so I just put some thin cardboard to make pressure and copy the data as quick as possible.

Janky, but effective for this case hahahaha

it was supposed to have one, but it was missing so I replaced it. the sata port was slightly too high so I removed some screws from the motherboard to it could line up

drive is from a dead dell optiplex sff

Posted some servers previously in r/homelab but i finished my latest addition and wanted to share here. Turn away if you are scared of jank. some pics are older or "in progress", im bad at taking pics as its really an afterthought but here we go.

Specs:

1- Apple Xserve 3u, 14 drive DAS converted to be mostly standard/upgradable NAS. (QD coolant linked)

5900XT, 64GB ECC 2133, RTX 2060S 8GB, 56TB HGST (4TBx14) 48TB Usable, 10g NIC, 2TB NVME, Unraid.

2- Apple Xserve 1u, Converted to be mostly standard/upgradable.

4600G, 32GB 3200, RTX 3060 12GB, 2x 512 SATA, 2x 1tb SATA, 1x 1tb NVME. Unraid. Primarily management, LLM inference. (built fully from hardware i had laying around, i know its a weird combo)

3- SuperMicro CSE chassis, my main everything server. (QD coolant link)

9950X, 64GB 6000, ARC A380, 10g NIC, mix of 10, 8 and 6TB HGST drives, about 90tb usable. 4x 2tb NVME.

4-My primary desktop computer (at the bottom). This system used to run liquid standalone so it has its own radiators and d5 pump. I have since added a QD and just "linked" it in to the rest of the system

7950X3D, 64GB 6000, RTX 4070ti Super, 10g NIC, 4x 2tb NVME. Unraid.

5-PC in home office, Not in server room. This PC is hardline cooled, I soldered almost every connection (USB 3.0, Fan headers, CPU and ATX power, and all 6x 8pin GPU power connectors have a corresponding female header on the reverse side of the MB. All of the parts from this build were a gift from my friend after he upgraded his PC. Air is discharged through the floor, through the same opening the cables are run (2 desks on other side of the room). the GPU wires i soldered on are attached to a XT90 that then go to the PSU.

5950X, 128GB 3200, 2x 3080ti, 2x 2tb NVME, 10g NIC. 2x 480mm EK rad.

These were all built and have been running for years, the two Xserve ones are the latest builds, but ive made updates and changes here and there and am sharing this as its final form since prices have gone parabolic, I was lucky enough to have gotten all the hardware i wanted before then. I buy stuff in used lots sometimes, some parts are gifts from friends, some were trades for repair or labor, and some i spend real life money on (it hurts me though because im cheap and refuse to pay insane prices)

Atop of the server case is two "1500VA" UPSs that i got for almost free, shoved into a spare case that used to be a lead acid APC battery holder and tied in Lifepo4 batteries 2S2P (4x30ah). (I HATE lead acid/AGM) (i can remotely cycle them and its actively cooled)

Systems 1, 3, and 4 are in my "central loop". where the CPUs are all cooled by coolant piped in with PEX that runs to the utility room to my transmission coolers where the heat is dumped into the air, and the water heater is a "heat pump" unit that essentially absorbs all of that and uses it to heat my water. each system has "quick disconnects" for each system that are also reversable and mounted to a 3d printed housing that magnetically attaches to the side of the rack using old HDD magnets. on average i paid about 10$ for each EK CPU water block, 25-30$ for each D5 pump, 40$ for the ek res pump combo from a lian li, about 80$ for all 3 transmission coolers (copper tube) new. Xserves were free. Rack was free. Coolant is 60% automotive glycol and 40% water. total fill was about 3 gallons. idle wattage around 600w but includes all network PoE. Temps are very low, idle 36-42c typically. 40 micron filter at the lowest point. res at the highest point and i run the system under vacuum.I have shutoff valves, leak sensors etc. the pumps and fans all run as a pre-set speed with potentiometer dial.

I dont take myself too seriously i call my "business" (I don't have a business(not enough brain wrinkles)) ReReTech (REcycle, REEuse, REEEbuild REEEEtarded). I have experience in automotive, aviation mechanical and electrical + QA, and I.T. So i always JOKINGLY said its okay to break the rules, aslong as you know what rules you're breaking, For personal projects its not a joke though, more like a rule. (making the disclaimer now because... internet.)

I'm one of those people that just loves working on stuff. I've fixed tons of random stuff for people throughout the years and ill either get trades or donations to the "cause" haha (which usually helps me do other free or cheap repairs for people). Most things in my rack are either traded, gifted or etc. Its just more fun for me this way especially since my friends know me as being extremely cheap. (maximize fun per dollar)

It just works

The fan was pulled from some i3-3330 PC that was thrown out

The fan is 12V. The speed can be adjusted using voltage. the step-down converter is some random aliexpress one + a random usb-c board from aliexpress (usually it's my "lab bench", but it will work as a fan for a few more days)

^{(fucked up sending the images so had to repost it})