Reworking My Large System

steve149 said:

Got to fit in a power conditioner and the IEM transmitter (used for remote wireless speakers). Would like at least a 2U drawer if possible ...

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If you're putting in a drawer, don't make the same mistake I made. Buy the aluminum NOT STEEL. An aluminum drawer will cost perhaps twice as much, but will weigh about 1/3rd as much. That's pretty significant. It's all the steel panels and such installed in my rack that made it SO heavy.



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I was going to post about the design of my upper (slant-top) rack today, but stuff (life) intervened.[emoji1] But as it happened, I had an epiphany today on the monitor stand design. Funny thing is, the design came from the laptop stand Steve149 included with the racks he sold me. The laptop stand was in pretty rough looking shape, but was not something I needed, since I don't use a laptop. However, I can use pieces of the brackets to fabricate something I think will work. I picked up a few things from the hardware store, and combined with some other bits and pieces I already had, I'm pretty close to having a working prototype. May not get it done tomorrow though. My wife's folks got a new computer, and need me to install all their favorite applications on it and get it setup for them. That will kinda eat into my day, but there will be other days... Good Lord willing.[emoji1]

Replacement motherboard came in for the old Video/Light Control PC I was having problems with. Not really part of this project... Just puts me where I should have been to start; a fully functional Large System. This PC will become a home server, once I get the new Nano PC to replace it.

steve149 said:

What was rough with the laptop stand? That's how it came from the factory .. I only used it 3 times.

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The carpet was peeling off. Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little contact cement... If I was inclined to fix it.[emoji4]Never know???... Someday it might come in handy. I'm not altering any of the parts, just removing some and adding some different ones.[emoji1]

Ya just NEVER know?[emoji848]... The Denon MC6000MK2 that I would have been most likely to bid on (had I not bought a demo unit from ProAudio Gear) sold for $500.99. The description said it was in MINT condition, and it included an Odyssey flight case and free shipping. Someone got a GREAT deal. There were 38 bids, and no last minute bidders. If I had been bidding, it's possible I would have won that bid, but you never know how much higher that final $500.99 bidder would have gone. I would have set my limit at $549. With an auction, there are no assurances.


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Not into working on my Large System Rework Project today. I think I need to take a step back and assess my situation. Typical me... I go into these projects with guns blazing, and then fizzle out for a while, then get my second wind and finish them up. Still have quite a few items I'm waiting on anyway, and have a few more I need to buy.

Put the new motherboard in the old rack-mount video/light control PC last night. Took longer than it should have for such a simple job. The new board solved the problem with the computer not booting from the system drive on power up, but now it doesn't restart. Boots up fine on initial power up, but not on a restart. Put different memory in; no difference. Acts like it has a bad Reset switch, because it behaves the same when the reset switch is disconnected. Switched out everything except the SSD system drive. I'm beginning to wonder if it might be a problem with this PNY SSD drive?... I had problems with a previous one, so it could be? Guess I'll run out today and pick up another SSD drive and see if that resolves the problem. Right now I'm just a little tired of messing with it.[emoji37]


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Progress today?... NOT MUCH.[emoji1]... Spent three hours at the in-law's (wife's parents) house, setting up their new computer. My brother-in-law bought them a new PC because my Sister-in-law thought their's was old. Only it wasn't. I built them a new computer in their OLD case, so it had a 3.6GHz Quad Core CPU and 16GB of RAM. The new one he bought them was a Dell desktop with a 2.3GHz Dual Core and 8GB of RAM.[emoji1]... Oh well... It looks new, so they're happy for now, and I'll take the guts out of that computer and reuse them to upgrade the server that hosts my backups. Their new Dell came with Windows 10 Pro... not a good choice for the elderly.[emoji1] I set it up to make it work as easily as their Windows 7 computer (as much as I could), but some of the games they like to play don't work right... graphics driver issues. Gotta do a little research to see what I need to do to get their games working. It's like I say; nothing's ever easy.[emoji1]

More stuff came today... a few rack parts and the second Nano PC. I wasn't really finished setting up the first one.[emoji4]... I got a lot of work to do, plus the office is a disaster area. Maybe if I tidy up a little and organize some, I'll feel more like getting back to work on the project.[emoji848] My OCD self doesn't the mess, but my other self has no trouble making them.[emoji1]


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steve149 said:

I've postponed any system rebuilding until the February Doldrums ...

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I think my rebuild is going to last into February... maybe even far into February. I have some items arriving next week, but there's gonna be more to order (and wait for) for sure. Then there's rack mods and such. I want this version to be as perfect as possible, so I'm gonna take my time.[emoji4]


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So today I'm... looking. That's it. Just looking.[emoji1] I keep holding various components up to the rack, taking measurements, and looking. I know I need to jump in and do something at some point, but for now I just need to get the whole picture right in my head, and maybe draw up some diagrams before doing anything permanent. If I make a mistake on this rack, it could be a little costly... unless Steve149 has another SKB R104.[emoji1]

Ran into another little issue. If I mount the Nano PC's inside the rack, I have to have a way to turn them off and on. This was not an issue with rack mounted PC's that I'm replacing, but they took up 2U of rack space, and they were four times as heavy. I bought a couple of switches with cables that connect to the motherboard of a computer to turn a computer off and on. However, it looks like it's not going to be possible to use the switches on the Nano PC's, so I need another solution. I planned to mount the Nano PC's on a 6" rack shelf in the rear (front spaces are all used by the mixer and mic system). The best solution is to simply mount an access panel on the rear, and in front of the shelf, and mount the Nano PC's facing toward the rear, then just open the door when I need to access the on/off switches. I think it's gonna work, but I need to keep measuring and looking.[emoji4]


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Looking at the tracking info, it appears all the stuff I ordered should be here by Friday, or sooner.

I was working on setting up the second Nano PC (for video and DMX software), and was a little surprised at what I found. This PC was sold on eBay as "NEW, OTHER", meaning it may have been opened. It was not only opened, it had already gone through the setup. Not a big deal, just surprising. Everything was setup very generically. The account name was "User". They messed with the start menu, so that needed to be reset. But the bigger (and better) surprise was it did not have only 2GB of RAM as it was advertised. It has 4GB... just like the first one I bought from Newegg. So I got an identical computer for $30 less. And though it's not really new, it doesn't appear it was ever used. All the parts are there, and everything looks brand new. I had ordered another 4 gig stick of RAM expecting this new PC would have only 2, since that's what the description said. I think I'll just add the 4 gig to the Music PC, giving it a total of 8GB, then order another 4 gig for the Video PC.

Still got a lot of setting up to do, so I guess that's what I'll do today.[emoji4]


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DJ Bobcat said:

... Spent three hours at the in-law's (wife's parents) house, setting up their new computer. My brother-in-law bought them a new PC because my Sister-in-law thought their's was old. Only it wasn't. I built them a new computer in their OLD case, so it had a 3.6GHz Quad Core CPU and 16GB of RAM. The new one he bought them was a Dell desktop with a 2.3GHz Dual Core and 8GB of RAM.[emoji1]... Oh well... It looks new, so they're happy for now, and I'll take the guts out of that computer and reuse them to upgrade the server that hosts my backups. Their new Dell came with Windows 10 Pro... not a good choice for the elderly.[emoji1] I set it up to make it work as easily as their Windows 7 computer (as much as I could), but some of the games they like to play don't work right... graphics driver issues. Gotta do a little research to see what I need to do to get their games working. It's like I say; nothing's ever easy.[emoji1]

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The solution to my In-Law's graphics driver issue was not complex, but of course it wasn't easy, because nothing ever is. The reason their games would not run on their new Dell (which wasn't really new) was because the onboard graphics did not support OpenGL 2.0 or higher. It was already running the most recent (best) driver, so updating the driver wasn't a possibility. What it needed was a graphics card. Fortunately, their old PC (which wasn't really old) had a nice PCI x-16 graphics card in it, so all I needed to do was install the graphics card and driver. That was the "not complex" part. The "NOT EASY" part occurred when It came to installing the card. I took the card out of a full height case, but the Dell Optiplex 745 case has low-profile expansion slots. Had I realized that was the case, I would have switched the bracket(s) before leaving my house. Not much I could do at THEIR house except install the graphics card without brackets, leaving the VGA cable flopping out the hole in the back. I'll go back later and put the low-profile brackets on. But it only got worse from there.[emoji1] After installing the graphics card, I installed the driver. Nvidia drivers are kinda slow installations, but no big problem.

After installing the driver, I tested one of the games that wasn't working, and it ran perfectly. Job done; right? WRONG![emoji1] Just as I was preparing to run a different game, a message popped up saying Windows (10) need to install important updates. "OK"; I said, so I clicked OK and the computer restarted and began the LONG countdown... 1% Completed...........2% Completed..............3%.... You get the picture.[emoji1] After finally reaching 100%, it rebooted again, then came back and said it was installing new updates, and began a second LONG countdown.[emoji1] About 30 minutes later, it reaches 100% and reboots again. This time, it comes back up and says; "Hi".[emoji1] "I have some important updates for your computer. This might take several minutes. Please do not turn off your computer."[emoji1]... TURN IT OFF???[emoji1].... I'm ready to toss it into the ocean at this point.[emoji1] Good thing there's no ocean close by.[emoji1]

So after another 15 minutes or so, it finally completes, and boots up into Windows. Should be the end of the saga; right? WRONG. I almost left after the update started and appeared as if it was going to take a while, but decided to stick around to make sure everthing was OK after the update. Good thing I did, because the first thing I noticed when the computer booted up was the screen resolution had changed to a very low resolution, and with an incorrect aspect ratio. Checked to see what display adapter was being used, and the Windows Update had apparently blown my Nvidia driver away and installed a generic Microsoft driver in its place. The game I tested successfully before the update, no longer worked, and the computer did not recognize the GeForce GT610 graphics card. So I reinstalled the driver, which took another 5 minutes or so, and FINALLY... everything worked. I'm glad I didn't leave it with my Father In-law to deal with. He would have been SO confused and frustrated.

So yep... Nothing is ever easy.[emoji4]

Not too much happening today... The Cyberpower Rackmount PDU's (one for the top rack and one for the bottom) came today. Basically just power strips, but I opted for surge protection as well. Not as many features as the Furman unit in my old rack, but not as big, heavy, and expensive either.

Only problem with these new PDU's... 15 FEET of power cord... HEAVY power cord. Went ahead and did a little surgery on them. I amputated their power cords, and re-attached 2 feet of cord back. Took only a few minutes of work, but to do it right and to make sure it looks like it came that way, I had to open up the PDU and attach the cord back inside the case, to make it look untouched. Maybe a little more effort than cutting off the cord and attaching a replacement plug end like this...

... but it looks better... when you're OCD. The worst part is, nobody will ever know because the PDU will plug into a Port Plug (Inlet) inside the rack, like this...

... and the only visible part will be the round cover, like this...


Not sure exactly where I'm gonna place the inlet yet. I'll have to drill a pretty large hole, so I need to make sure I do it very thoughtfully.

tunes4046 said:

Why not use a powercon input instead of that marine plug

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Uh... because I hadn't thought about that.[emoji23] I have long extension cords I use, and plug the female end into an inlet. I have one like the picture in my last post in my small system, but in my large system I have two like this (only black)...

... but on my old system there's a cover over the entire back, so the panels on which the outlets and inlets are mounted are never exposed during transport. The Port Plug has a sturdy hard rubber cover.

tunes4046 said:

I’ve switch 90% of my power connections to powercon everything that comes into or exits my console is powercon Edison plugs are oldschool

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Those ARE a very good idea... Might be a little late in the game to change it, but a good idea nevertheless. Of course, that's the reason for doing these DIY posts... You get ideas for doing things differently and/or better than you might have thought of. Someone reading this now has choices. I appreciate YOUR input. I hope others will add their ideas too.