Compaq Deskpro EN Teardown

Written By: Christian Schaab
Published: 15/02/16
  • Comments: 6

Compaq Deskpro EN Teardown

Published: 15/02/16

Teardown

Introduction

This fine computing device was recently discovered in an undisclosed warehouse where it was being studied by Top... Men.

What could be lurking inside this heavy metal box? A Golden Idol... The Ark of the Covenant... Giant Ants?

These are all possibilities, but there's only one way to find out for sure.

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    • Behold, the power of beige!

    • Tech Specs:

    • 933 MHz Pentium III Processor

    • 10 GB PATA Hard Disk

    • 512 MB of PC133 RAM

    • 16x DVD-ROM and 3.5" Floppy Drive

    • Life Experience

    • Compaq was bought by Hewlett-Packard in the early 2000s. Let's just say that the transition could have gone smoother.

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    • Some of these ports belong in a museum:

    • RS-232 Serial

    • DB-25 Parallel

    • PS/2

    • DE-15 VGA (oh, wait...)

    • The antenna is a pretty big clue that this computer has been upgraded at some point.

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    • We're going to remove the heavy steel casing by pressing in on the tabs located on the sides of the cover and then pulling the cover forward.

    • There are a few hooks holding the cover in place, so some rocking is necessary to free it.

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    • With the cover removed, we are greeted by some ancient hieroglyphics. Green tabs and arrows identify how the rest of the major components can be removed.

    • A diagram of the motherboard and common diagnostic codes can be found on the interior of the chassis cover.

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    • The various drives are mounted on a single hinge that flips forward. Just pull up and it will click into place.

    • The PCI riser is one of the few things missing a green label. The release button is the silver tab towards the front of the computer.

    • The card slot is fragile, so use an even amount of force and pull straight up to remove the riser board.

    • We'll set the riser board aside for now and get back to it at the end of this teardown.

    • The power supply swivels up and away from the motherboard.

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    • Time to remove those pesky cables. We'll want to be careful since PATA ribbon cables have many pins that can be bent.

    • Tape. Why'd it have to be tape?

    • We'll just leave that one cable taped to the drive hinge where it can't hurt anything.

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    • Each drive has its own metal tab located in the center of the hinged bracket.

    • Removing the various drives is just a matter of pressing the metal tab and sliding the drive out.

    • Keep a good grip on the hard drive as you press the release tab. Even a slight bump could destroy an older mechanical drive like the one shown.

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    • The next step is to remove the power supply.

    • Disconnect the 14 pin ATX connector from the motherboard. (Look for the festively colored cable.)

    • A single T5 Torx screw holds the power supply to the chassis.

    • A standard flathead screwdriver can also be used to remove this screw.

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    • A few more cables need to be disconnected before the motherboard can be removed.

    • The speaker cable has a red and black wire.

    • The solenoid cable has three white wires.

    • The solenoid is used to physically lock the chassis cover. It can be disabled in the BIOS settings.

    • The serial cable is a small gray ribbon. The connector is marked as "Flying Serial" on the motherboard.

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    • It's finally time to remove the motherboard!

    • We'll start by releasing the I/O port bracket on the back of the computer.

    • This bracket is under pressure and will fly across the room if it isn't held down. (That may be why it's called a "Flying Serial".)

    • Six support pegs are now the only thing holding the motherboard in place.

    • Slide the board towards the back of the computer and lift up once the pegs are free.

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    • Four 8 mm hex nuts are the only thing keeping this beast of a sound system attached to the chassis.

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    • Take a moment to admire the motherboard in all its glory!

    • In lieu of a dedicated video card, the Intel 815 chipset utilizes an integrated graphics solution. Needless to say, gaming on this machine would be painful at best.

    • The bicycle is a complete mystery. Some people have suggested that a tiny mouse would pedal it to drive the cooling fan. Others have said that it was placed there by Freemasons to locate buried treasure.

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    • The RAM can be removed by unlocking the white tabs on each end of the modules and pulling up.

    • Here we find yet another sign of past upgrades. This Infineon 256 MB PC133 module does not match the other two sticks which are 128 MB modules manufactured by Micron.

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    • The first step in removing the CPU cooler is to unplug the small three pin power cable.

    • The CPU cooler is attached to the socket with metal hooks. Removing it without damaging the CPU requires two distinct motions:

    • Gently push down on the red tab.

    • Squeeze the red tab towards the fan and then lift the cooler.

    • Using too much pressure can crack the processor and ruin your day.

    • We can now see the CPU die since this version of the Pentium III does not have an integrated heat spreader. This design is called a flip-chip pin grid array (FC-PGA).

    Umm… On the orange point; You say to push the red tab towards the fan, but the orange arrow in the image points away from it…

    Which is it? - I’m trying to remove it, but I’ve tried both ways and I don’t dare to push or bend much more.

    Also, the tab seems to suggest that you should indeed "squeeze” it inwards, with it having the ribbed concave texture there.

    I can’t seem to figure out how it goes visually…

    Michael Hendriks -

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    • Removing the CPU requires a steady hand and can be slightly intimidating.

    • A beige lever keeps the CPU locked in place. Pull it away from the processor and then up. The processor will move towards the group of capacitors when it is unlocked.

    • Now would be a good time to ground yourself if you haven't been wearing your nifty anti-static wrist strap.

    • The processor can be removed from the socket by gripping the edges and pulling straight up.

    • DO NOT force or twist the processor from the socket. Consider using a spudger to lift the edges if you can't get a good grip.

    • This is a socket 370 Pentium III "Coppermine" processor clocked at 933 MHz. The other markings indicate 256 KB of L2 cache and a bus speed of 133 MHz.

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    • It's time to return to the PCI riser now that we've run out of things to take apart on the motherboard.

    • The riser has space for three additional PCI cards that are each secured with a single T5 Torx screw.

    • A quick pull is all that is needed to remove each card.

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    • That's it. Now we just need to reassemble it before someone realizes it's not in the warehouse.

    • Completely Unofficial Compaq Deskpro EN Repairability Score: 10 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)

    • It practically tells you how to disassemble it.

    • Most common repairs can be done with one tool.

    • Faces remain unmelted after removing the cover. (Always a good thing.)

    • Finding replacement parts may require entering a Temple of Doom/RadioShack.

Author

Christian Schaab

Member since: 13/02/16

235 Reputation

5 comments

Personally I’d include ease of finding suitable replacement parts in a reparability score, I’ve worked on these things and would rate them at 8.5-9.5 for non-standard motherboard, motherboard mountings, and power supply.

If purchasing rather than leasing, I think the point was retire the first few that break out of warranty, and start parting them out. Compaq was very good about keeping the same line going for a long time so the parts would be compatible.

Tim downing -

Awesome! I love these machines. I’m pretty sure these ones will run a Tualatin PIII if you upgrade the BIOS too.

Mike Roach -

do you know, how to oil noisy power supply fan in this computer? I tried but I can’t open it?

Marcin Walas -

Thanks for the quality

oscarlobaton -

this writing style is funny

Rifqi Khairur Rahman -