Home Made Computer Case Noise Absorption Solution

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Category: Pc Hardware

Published on Friday, 01 November 2019 12:44

Written by Ben

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Introduction

Noise. Its sucks, unless it comes in the form of music and sometimes it sucks even then. When it comes to computer noise, unless you are one of those people who just like mechanical noise – it also sucks. For me, the quieter, the better, unless i'm gaming either with headphones or along with a good speaker system which in that case mechanical computer noise would not matter so much.

Computers initially were not considered as noisy products due to the simple fact there was no need for active cooling for the most part. Except for the power supply, processors and other chips did not require forms of active cooling, some did not require passive cooling at all. The more powerful computer parts became over time the more need for active cooling solutions began to emerge. Active cooling means, well, active parts, the opposite of passive. Those usually move somewhere in some sort of a direction and move other material as well, like for example – air or water. This movement causes inevitable noise to some degree and sometimes this noise is just annoying.

I have come across this issue more than once dealing with computer cooling solutions. It usually starts with an alert of a over heated part of the computer or the entire computer itself. The next stage usually involves researching about active cooling solutions. Why active? Well, they are active, more efficient for the most part and usually less expensive than the static ones. After the research part is done you find yourself buying the solution, installing it, use the newly cooled computer you've just created, gaming like crazy because now it wouldn't crash anymore due to overheating, getting tired due to the crazy gaming, crashing into your bed while leaving the computer on and then. It comes, the part where you wake up at 2AM I the middle of the night thinking you have a jet airliner waiting for an authorization from its ATC to take off.

Most people would just turn the computer off and go back to sleep. Some people cannot or just don't want to turn it off because of various reasons – it could be still downloading a big file, it's a DVR computer, it's a home server, it's a relay server, it's an HTPC, it's a home storage server or maybe they just want to keep the turning off and on cycle to the minimum in order to prolong the machine's life.

At this stage one realizes that either a balance must be found between noise and performance by compromising for static cooling, either installing sophisticated intelligent automatic and semi\automatic cooling rate adjusting solution which reduces the fans speed for example when performance is low or either or in addition - adding more noise absorption solutions.

Since the latter option is the cheapest and very effective if done correctly and could be done using parts found at home or in your back yard, I went ahead with this option first. Knowing that if it would not be enough, I could always just find quieter cooling solutions which would be even more quiet due to the static noise absorption solution.

Parts

For a noise absorption solution I used an insulation foam. I believe this foam was meant originally to insulate no just noise but heat as well. In addition, these kinds of foams are usually fire resistant which make them ideal for such a usage.
My used dishwasher was his its deathbed and it wasn't affordable to repair it since I have already bought a new one. While dismantling for parts I discovered the insulation foam and realized it could very much be used as a noise absorption solution to my HTPC machine.
Though a big part of the foam was pre-cut in order to fit the inner parts of the dishwasher, there was more than enough raw material for my purpose in this project.

Assembly:

In the previous section I had mentioned that there was more than enough raw material for the project. I came to that conclusion after I had measured all of areas in the computer case I planned to cover with the material. After that I had to robotize due to the fact that some of the material was precut in certain customized shapes, making these parts unsable for the project.

1. General planning:

- In a perfect world I would've had enough noise absorption foam and I would've installed it everywhere possible inside of the computer case and perhaps in certain areas if there where no physical limitations, I would've used more than one layer. Since we don't live in a perfect world, this was not the case. I had to plan and priorotize which physical areas of the computer case would be the most effective ones in absorbing the noise coming from within.

- Noise bounces – I am not a physicist, but I do know that sound waves tend to bounce or let's say, deflect off of materials in varied intensity given these materials shape and composition. It's like being in an empty room and shouting – there would be a bigger echo than in a case where that room would've been filled with furniture and other stuff. My point is that the more of this foam is position in adjacency and in parallel to more of itself the more noise is absorb .

- After careful planning and measuring, I have discovered I have had enough material to cover the following areas:

- Main case door

- Case bottom part

- The front bottom part of the case (Under the hard drives bay

- The back narrow part of the base that is parallel to the expansion slots of the motherboard

- The exposed parts above and in front of the motherboard that come into contact with the other case door

- Overall, it seems I had enough materials for the jobs. Too much of it would just limited internal airflow and would be an overkill.

2. Measuring and Cutting:

- I have tried to make use in as much material as I could given the fact that a lot of it came pre-cut which made it ill fit for the job.

- start with the big parts first – the main case door, the bottom case floor.

- Move on to the smaller parts – the two exposed parts near the back case door, bottom front part of the case and the part near the expansion slots.

- Some of the foam parts had to be customized to fit precisely over some computer parts. For example, the bottom part had to made so it would not interfere with the system speaker.

3. Assimilating the foam into the case:

- most of this part is done using trial and error. In my first attempts to insert the foam. into the various parts of the case some trimming came into action since the cutting wasn't accurate and\or the measurement wasn't accurate. Since the foam material is elastic I didn't have to do a lot of trimming.

- Glue the foam to the case parts itself if physically possible. If not, since it is a very elastic material , squeezing it among the metal parts of the case is possible, it would not move or go anywhere. The glue I used is a general purpose glue one can find in any local hardware store.

Prior Usage:

1. Stability check:
- Make sure the foam parts are stable against sudden movements. You are going to have to move the computer itself from time to time due to maintenance or when installing a new device. When these time do occur, you wouldn't want these foam parts to fall over.

2. Interference with fans
- Make sure the foam parts do not interfere with any existing fans. Turn the computer on , use a strong source of light to inspect the fans. Make sure all of the fans spin without obstacles.

3. Closing the case
- Make sure the main case door closes with ease putting minimal effort into the action.

4. Temperatures
- While the computer is still on, run a software like SpeedFan in order to meter the fans' RPM and the computer's various temperatures. The last thing you would want is causing interference in airflow due to the insulation foam. Make sure the temperatures are at the minimum in the same values they were before installing the foam.

Usage:

Enjoy the silence! :)

Cons:

- Limited amount of foam material

- The foam material itself is not strong enough. With enough force given, this foam could be easily torn apart.

- The foam was not meant for a computer case and purely for noise isolation

- This solution is more of a modification to an existing platform than a professional planned one

- the thickness of the foam makes it difficult to maintain the computer and clean it from within. In addition, it takes volume from the inner part of the case

- The foam's visual pattern is ugly and makes the inner part of the case ugly and cheap. This would very apparent in cases with windows. This could be fixed by spraying the foam in a solid color or maybe gluing a thin layer of a hard cloth over the cut out parts which would make it more pleasant to look at and also phyiscally stronger.

Pros:

- Re purposing material that would've other was thrown into the trash

- A relatively easy and cheap project, very intuitive and straight forward

-instant results

- Foam could be the base for further upgrades – adding better thinner foam over it, painting it or adding a colored cloth over it.

Summary:

Though I did not use a decibel meter, results could be easily heard within the first use of the computer after the addition of the foam, or to be more exact, from the moment I closed the main computer case. The overall noise levels were reduced dramatically, even the mechanical HDDS' annoying shivering spinning noise could not be heard. Night time test was a bliss as well. Of course, the closer you get to the computer's case and if you try hard enough you would hear those noises.
Using static noise isolation solution would not the only solution I would recommend on. For even better results ,this solution needs to be combined with static and water cooling, quieter fans with bigger fans and slow RPMs, rubber seals around screws and getting rid of mechanical HDDs or at the very least, enclosing them inside a special cooling case.
This project was definitely a success and I hope to upgrade it in the future.

5 Port USB PCI Card

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Category: Pc Hardware

Published on Saturday, 01 July 2017 06:21

Written by Ben

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Need more USB ports?

This is a great solution for those who just have and use a lot of devices that connect to the PC with USB ports and still have a good old PCI slot on their motherboard.

Usually motherboard manufacturers supply their motherboards with plenty of USB ports to begin with and they are more than enough for the average end user. Typically, an average user would connect a mouse, a keyboard, an all in one printer (which is also a scanner, a copier and a fax), a smartphone and maybe a gaming controller – that’s it. And if you replace the separated keyboard and mouse USB dongles with a single USB dongle that connects to both – you have saved another USB slot.

But some end users are not average users, they use a high number of hardware that inevitably connects to the pc via USB. For that we either use a USB docking station (which in this case is way more comfortable in terms of installation) or use a more traditional cheaper solution that comes in the form of a PCI USB card.

The pros of this product are obvious – it is cheap, in fact is it much cheaper relatively to the generic USB docking stations that are sold out there and that usually they come with more USB slots. Another advantage is that this device is much more stable and reliable than a USB docking station of a USB splitter – it’s connected INSIDE the computer case itself, screwed firmly to the case and installed well secured by the power of friction to the PCI slot.

The cons of this product are the method of installation and the fact that it is more expensive than just buying a simple USB splitter. In order to install this device, the computer’s power has to be turned off and the case needs to be opened afterwards. Dust cleanup would probably a part of the process and therefore makes it a bit messy. And if the hardware for some reason is not compatible with the Operating system that you are running on your computer or the motherboard and there is no other alternative than not to use this device – the installation process has to be reversed and unless your PC case sits on a table, it means crouching down and powering down again….

Software and driver installation are fairly easy and quick, usually Windows recognizes the software automatically from a certain version and if you lose the driver installation disk – it’s not a big deal to find it online considering the chip is generic.

Solution wise this device is very comfortable and long lasting. Personally, I like when my USB ports are well secured to the case itself rather than being on a desk. It’s a perfect product for those who want to connect their permanent USB devices and peripherals, however, it is not a comfortable solution for those who need a quick plug and play terminal for devices like portable HDDs, USB memory sticks etc.

Replacing an A1375 Battery In a MacBook Air 2010 Model A1370

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Category: Pc Hardware

Published on Tuesday, 02 April 2019 15:09

Written by Ben

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Introduction:

Apple’s products are not guaranteed forever and just like any other mobile on the market, they too use and need batteries in order to stay mobile. No different is the product I will going to fix in this post, The MacBook air A1370.

This product is very impressive. Very thin, very sleek and neat looking while packs a relatively decent computing power that would be adequate for the regular average user, even when writing this post.

The specific MacBook air presented here has been in use for almost 10 years if not more. We’ve bought it already second handed from Ebay and its battery seems to survive well throughout this time. It is fair to mention that an intensive use of this computer only occurred between 4-5 years of this time frame, mainly due to college J.

The fact that there were no issues with this battery for so long is very impressive and shows that when you buy a Mac, you stay for the long haul, at least hardware-wise.

Backstory:

The A1370 is a very thin machine. After using it for a few years as a user you get used to it and any changes in its shape, weight or form are easily noticeable. We woke up one day to discover that our nice little thin machine has gotten knocked up and her belly couldn’t keep up with the fast growing baby inside of her.

As an experienced person with IT and everything it entails, I kind of knew quickly what happened inside our thin machine, I just never came across in such an unusual case before.

It looked like, from an external point of view, that the battery expanded aggressively. Kudos to the firm casing of the MacBook air and the screws holding it.

We wondered would it be worth for fix this MacBook due to its age and the expected high price of any replacement battery.

Disassembly:

After looking online I noticed that there are a few different types of those batteries (obviously). The best way to find out what exact part I needed was to take apart the bottom casing of the MacBook and just see for myself.

Taking apart the bottom cover:

At a first glance it seems that the screws are pentagon screws. I went ahead and took my good old magnetic pentagod screw I used on various cell and smartphone before and tried to unscrew the screws to no avail. The screws were simply too grinded and worn out for some unknown reason.

Trying using a flat head didn’t help much either.

I had to find better tools.

Salvation came in the form of this futuristic medical looking tool. This tool is a special tool for MacBooks and is sold online as one. I found it was very efficient in opening those stubborn screws and it was very comfortable and easy to use. Worth every penny and for sure will be used in the future.

Finally I could take the bottom cover apart after unscrewing all of the 10 screws. It was difficult to unscrew the ones that were adjacent most to the swollen battery due to the pressure the cover in that area was under. I had to push down the screwdriver tool a bit in order to get a firm unscrewing motion and to finally release the screws.

Releasing those tighten screws was sudden due to the swollen battery.

Inspection:

Upon first inspection it very easy to notice the faulty parts of the battery. It seemed there were only two of them, the rest were, at least visually, seemed just fine. Though, after 10 years of usage I wouldn’t be surprised if those battery parts were also approaching a similar ending as well.

It can be clearly seen here that the outer casing of this battery cell was torn off of the cell’s frame.

In this picture the cell’s level of swelling can be seen relatively to the MacBook’s width.

As far as it goes regarding the acid in the faulty cells, I believe either not much was left of it in the to begin with and whatever left just got vaporized, or it just remained in the cells somehow. I would’ve expected to see signs of acid on the motherboard’s parts and perhaps some visual damage to the PCB and plastic parts that would’ve gotten damaged very easily.

It seems here that, at least in the naked eye, there was no acid damage or acid just did not escape from the cells.

Unscrewing the battery from the case:

There are total of 5 screws at each corner of the battery. At first I thought there were only four screws. After getting four screws out and not being able to easily and gently lift the battery, I realized that either the battery’s faulty cell’s acid had found its way out and dried between the bottom part of the battery and the underlining panel, essentially gluing it in, making it hard to separate from the panel, or either I’m just missing an hidden screw…

I found it eventually. The 5middle screw was kind of hidden away, disguised by its black color that blended it very well with the battery’s overall dark looks.

The 5 screws of the battery divide into 3 types:

• 2 short ones that connect to the bottom part of the battery unit
• 2 longer ones that connect to the upper part of the battery unit
• 1 longest screw that connect to the middle part of the battery

After removing the last 5^th screw, I lifted the battery a bit just to check if the battery was completely loose and to double check there is not any leaked acid underneath. To my surprise – there was none.

The last connection that needs to get loosen is the power connector that connects the battery as one unit to the MacBook’s motherboard. There are clear markings on the connector indicating the positive and the negative sides. Given the way the connector was built’ I really don’t think there is a way to connect it in the wrong way, but just to be on the safe side, it is recommended to take a picture of the connector prior to disconnecting it or at the very least, draw and copy the way it looks.

Disconnecting the connector was done by using a flathead screwdriver that used a lever (my fingernails just weren’t long enough that day). I had to use a bit force to pull the connector upwards. I guess being connected for 10 years accumulating debris and dust did its own. After the initial pulling, lifting the connector was easier.

After all of the 5 screws and the power connector were disassembled, the battery unit could be finally lifted. This should be done with care and patience.

It seems the battery unit takes a very significant space of the bottom level of the MacBook case. No acid could be seen in the naked eye.

I screwed the 5 screws, not all the way in, back in their matching holes. I did this cause I knew it would take time for the new battery to arrive. Till then, losing screws wouldn’t be such a hard task. Of course, jars or little boxes could be used as well as a temporary storage, but this way is better since the screws are already there.

I closed the bottom cover and screwed the remaining screws back since the laptop was still needed to be used and in the meantime that could be done by just using the external charger. The down side was that it would be limited when it comes to mobility, that is, till the new battery arrives.

Note: some of the bottom cover screws were not screwed back due to wear and tear.

Packaging:

Besides the cardboard box it came with and the wrapping material, the new battery’s packaging was a sealed and secured standard thick electronics nylon, making it look very professional.

Parts:

The battery unit came as a one single part along with the power connector. The 6 cells were covered by an adhesive thick transparent protective nylons, one for each cell unit.

Quick Overview:

It was obvious to me that this battery wasn’t genuine when ordering it, mainly because of the price. Apple’s stuff is expensive not to mention spare parts and upgrades. This was no genuine Apple spare part, it sure looked like one I must say. They even included the writing the old faulty battery has. The writing at the bottom of the battery was different. 

The general looks of the battery was very sleek, after all, it was new. The cell’s exterior covers were the first thing that looked a bit different. The old Apple battery’s cells had a smooth exterior coating while the new generic battery’s were  dull.

Assembly:

Remove the protective adhesive transparent nylon protector films from the 6 battery’s cells

Disassemble the bottom cover:

Make sure the bottom surface of the MacBook case is clean of any debris, dust, foreign objects and any form of liquid.

Unscrew the 5 screws left in the previous disassembly of the old battery. (not relevant for those who stored the screws in external enclosed storate)

I made sure the power connector would fit the static connector on the motherboard. I was skeptical due to the generic nature of the battery…

Place the battery gently with care over the bottom part of the MacBook. Use the screw holes to guide your overall positioning of the battery. Finally after positioning the battery correctly, press gently with your fingers over the various surfaces of the battery to tighten it against the MacBook case.

Screw the 5 battery screws, 4 at each corner and 1 in the middle. Next, hold your palm over the battery with one hand, flip over the MacBook and hold it a few cm over your working desk. Remove your palm from the battery slowly and make sure the battery doesn’t rattle or falls off of the case:

Connecting the power connector could be done before screwing the 5 battery screws and I believe it would the better way to do it. I just happen to perform in the opposite order with almost the same ease.

When connecting the power connector, first place it above the static connector of the motherboard,  as parallel as you can, and gently push the power connector downwards till you hear a faint clicking noise. After connection, tighten the connector by pressing it gently downwards on each end of the connector and in the middle of it.

Visually check proper alignment with the static connector and proper paralleling to the motherboard.

Battery and power connector check:

After connecting the power connector, flip the MacBook over on its monitor back cover and click the power up button on the MacBook’s keyboard. If the MacBook turns on it means the battery is properly connected through the power connector to the motherboard.

The battery was already 55% charged:

Turn the MacBook off through Mac OS and close the bottom cover of the MacBook. Screw back the remaining screws. Your MacBook is mobile again

Prior Usage:

Power up the MacBook again and check the battery’s status in the Mac OS. Make sure its status is ok. Run a few burnIn tests and heavy software to see if the battery heats up to unreasonable temperatures (unreasonable means taht the battery makes the whole system get so hot either the MacBook starts thermal throttling, slows down, hangs, shuts down or you just can feel with your fingers that the MacBook is not as cooled as it used to be prior to the battery replacement).

Cons:

• Not a genuine Apple part, therefore the warranty is limited to none-existend
• Not a genuine Apple part- quality and long life cannot be promised

Pros:

• Low price – 33 USD
• Fits perfectly to the MacBook
• A very easy replacement job
• Saves buying a new MacBook by prolonging the life of the existing one (that is, if the platform’s performance is enough for your needs and Apple’s new OSX upgrade doesn’t have demanding hardware capabilities)

Summary:

I like preserving stuff and keep it alive not just because of nostalgic reasons. If a product or a tool has been serving its purpose well till a component in it has gotten bad, it would be very much worth to revive it. That is if the time and money put into the revival process would be considered as worth it. In this case it was very much worth it. The cost of the battery wasn’t that high, about 33 USD and the assembly process was easy. The MacBook’s hardware was still kicking could still serve as an adequate average user laptop for a long time. 

Refilling a Laser Printer Toner for Brother HL2240D

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Category: Pc Hardware

Published on Friday, 14 March 2014 11:11

Written by Ben

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In this post I will demonstrate how easy it is to refill your laser toner instead of buying a new one and there for saving a lot of money.

So why should you do it?

There is one technical disadvantage apparent when refilling a laser printer toner and that is handling the powder. Laser printers use colored powder instead of liquid ink which inject printers use. On the one hand it's a major advantage because you just don't have to deal with liquid that accidently spills over when you refill inject printers, but on the other hand, handling powder isn't quite comfortable as it seems. One false move and you find a big part of your desk, your hands and some of your pants covered with black powder – and it sucks.

Beyond this possible inconvenience which can be easily prevented if working properly and patiently, there is the obvious advantage of cost savings. Many opportunists had figured out the imbalance between the cost of the powder and the retail price tag of the toners that are filled with them and started up businesses that specialize in delivering a fresh "new" toner directly to the customer doorstep in a ridicules high prices. They count the immediate necessity of the customer for new toners to pump up their profits.

It took me one time and one time only to figure out that this arrangement is too expensive and a long term use of it would slowly drill a hole in my wallet. So I started looking for alternatives and it seems that you can buy bottles that are filled with laser printer powder for very cheap prices:

This one cost me 8$ so I bought 3 pieces, it contains 100g of black printing powder.

Just to put things in contrast, a "new" toner costs about 50$, and those 3 bottles cost all together about 24$. Another important fact is that one bottle is more than enough to fill a toner, at least in my case with the Brother HL2240D printer. Also, keep in mind that these bottles come in various volumes (I stumbled upon 100g and 120g ones so far).

Procedure:

Stage 1:

1.       Unplug the printer's power cord or just turn it off. Cutting off power from the printer is not really necessary but recommended for safety reasons for you and for the printer itself.

2.       Make sure there are no pending print jobs

3.       Open the front toner door

4.       Push the toner's handlebar upwards and pull the toner out

5.       Release the toner from the drum unit by pressing the green button at the left side of the unit

6.       The toner should be released, pull it out and separate it from the drum.

7.       Look for a white semi-transparent cork

​

8.       Unplug the cork GENTLY. Unplugging it too violently by using too much force would make it release unexpectedly in a sudden way, causing the powder to erupt.

9.       Put the cork aside and place the toner in an upright position so the remainder of the powder inside wouldn't spill out.

10.   Remove the nozzle of the bottle and gently remove the aluminum cover by using a sharp tool (like a knife for example).

11.   Be very AWARE of your hands at all times. Wrong movement and you would find yourself covered with black powder.

12.   Each bottle comes with a single one time use nylon gloves , use it (or any other latex glove you have at your disposal).

13.   Position the nozzle over the opening of the toner and gently shake the bottle to propel the powder out.

14.   It is not recommended to position the bottle at 90 degrees above the toner's opening, unless you prematurely know that the bottle would get empty during the filling process.

15.   Cleanup remnants of the powder from the toner's opening by using a vacuum cleaner along with wet wipes

16.   As you can see below, I wasn't too cautious with my movements…..

17.    Clean the toner's opening and Return the cork back. Make sure it is firmly tightened.

18.   Return the toner to the drum unit and the entire module back into the printer. Make sure it is positioned well.

19.   Close the toner door

20.   After the finished with the refilling process the toner led might still be on indicating the toner is empty or about to be. In that case you should perform a reset procedure as followed below:

1.       Turn the printer off

2.       Make sure that the power cord is plugged in and that the toner door is closed

3.       Hold down the GO button as you turn on the power switch. Keep the Go button pressed down until all the LEDs light up, and then the Ready LED turns off.

4.       Release the GO button. Make sure that all the LEDs turn off

5.       Press the GO button six times. Make sure that all the LEDs light up to indicate the print server has been reset to its factory default settings. The machine will restart

Summary:

This solutions is recommended for those who print quite a lot and don't want a hole drilled in their wallet in the process. Except for some possible messy inconveniencies this procedure is easy and quick to perform and worth the time and money invested.

Pros:

-          Easy to perform

-          Can be done shortly – under 7 minutes

-           Saves a lot of money

Cons:

-          Possible messy occurrences

Price:

1 unit of 100g black powder bottle – about 8$