WS-MOD Technical Frequently Asked Questions
Click here for mod kit pics !!!
Can anyone install a kit?
The WS-MOD-1 kit is the easiest to install. No drilling or cutting at all! You
should have prior experience at installing hard drives and computer upgrades
in general.
The Technical WS-MOD-2 kit is very technical. It requires the installation of
surface mount resistors on the motherboard because it takes all the space where
the ISA/PCI slot was. Still no drilling or cutting at all!
This is a "technical" project, and there is always a chance you can "fry" your
WebSurfer. We can not be held responsible if you fry your WebSurfer!
What are the kits and how big of a drive fits?
1. The "WS-MOD-1" mounting bracket kit is for mounting
a 2.5" HD and has room for a adaptor to 40 pin IDE, and up to 1.25" (32mm) thick
drive. Works with both types of 2.5" drive mounts (screw spacing). Use with
a standard ISA slot IDE card.
2. The "WS-MOD-2" mounting bracket kit is for 3.5"
HD mounts where you isa/pci riser card is so you lose you pci/isa slot
Both kits: No drilling or cutting at all!
With a 2.5" Drive, do I lose the ISA or PCI slot?
No. You lose nothing when you use the 2.5" mount. We have tried many generic
ISA slot IDE cards with our drives we had around and they all work with a little
BIOS setup work.
Can I still add larger RAM?
YES! With both kits the RAM slots are open, there's nothing in the way of expanded
RAM or larger RAM boards.
Do all 2.5" drives mount the same?
There are two different screw hole spacings on 2.5" drives. The WS-MOD-1 kit
handles both. It wouldn't be hard to drill some new holes in the mount if you
needed to for some strange reason.
How do I get power to my HD?
Here's a idea: go to rat-shack or a auto parts store and get some of those 3M
"blue" splicers (RS #64-3053 for 22 guage wire) and rip a power cable off a
old 286 PC power supply. These splice connectors are very simple to use, you
need a pair of pliers to make a splice connection.
RS sells a 10" power extension cable for $3 (#278-767), they sell a Y cable
too. Splice into the power supply cables that run to the motherboard (with the
110V power cord UNPLUGGED please, HIGH VOLTAGE is everywhere!). The colors are
correct for a normal power cable, red is +5V, Yellow is +12V and both blacks
are ground.
These small drives don't draw much for power so you only need to connect one
black if you want, cut the other. Remember those BIG 5 1/4" drives? Those were
why they had two black wires.
If you are using a 2 1/2" drive with a adaptor, you only need 5V. You could
mess around, but just make the power connector right. You might want to hang
a CD ROM or other drive off it one day to load software.
If you have some soldering skills, the header pins for the +5V connector on
the motherboard are supplied in both kits, you could grab power from there.
It only requires soldering two pins.
With a 2.5" drive you will need a 40 pin IDE to 44 pin adaptor. You can find
this at most computer stores.
What about other stuff I may need?
Radio Shack has in stock some of the other stuff you might want:
10" power extension cable for (#278-767)
3M "blue" splicers (RS #64-3053 for 22 guage wire)
40 pin IDE cable (#278-780)
"Y" Power cable for two drives (#278-766)
USB cables, monitor extension cable, etc...
CompUSA carries most of the computer cables you need at lower than RS prices
and a 40 pin to 44 pin power adaptor for 2.5" drives. Check with your local
used computer store for deals on all these items!
Got pictures of the surface mount resistors?
Yes! Click Here The serial port is enabled
also.
How do I enable the on board COM1 port?
The chip is surface mount and is included in the kit. It is labeled "U10" near
the IDE connector, "U17" is the same type of chip right next to it.
You need to install a 10 pin header at "CN18". This is a standard serial connector
like on other PC motherboards.
Many IDE cards come with built in serial ports, for the WS-MOD-1 kit this may
be the best way to get serial ports.
What do I get?
Here's what you get:
Note: You do not need to install the resistors,
headers or IC to use the (2.5") WS-MOD-1 Kit! You can use a ISA slot IDE
controller. The parts are included so you have the option at a later date.
Cables, cable adaptors and power cables are NOT
included. Radio Shack has some good parts for this.
How do I get Linux/Windows/BeOS to boot?
That's your problem! : )
Remember, the WebSurfer
is basically a standard PC with a standard BIOS and a 16MB flash memory.
Please read some of the messages in the "WebSurfer
Technical" area on the
I-Appliance
Discussion Forum BBS, you will find many posts there talking about
different OS's and how other installations went.
How do I order a kit?
See the
WS-MOD Kit Ordering FAQ.
Other Misc. Notes:
Generic IDE controller set up:
Use the jumpers to disable
*everything*, FDD, SERIAL, GAME, LPT - but *not* IDE.
IDE was set to
primary. Settings are normally printed right on the card.
Off the top
of my head, I turned off all IDE things in the "chipset" settings of BIOS,
including the ultra DMA. Saved CMOS settings and powered on / off.
At
this new boot, the onboard IDE is off so I did a IDE auto detect for C, it
showed the drive and it's settings, hit return and ESC. When you go to the
first thing on the top left of the main menu (was it standard CMOS settings?)
it shows the drive as "user" and it's settings, so all is well. I used AUTO for
a CDROM one time as "D", but never for the HD, you may get different
results.
You have a problem if it doesn't auto detect. Cable plugged
in correct?
The drive is set to "device 0" meaning (I assume) master.
Make sure your boot partition is set to active.
The cards I used are
generic, ISA pulled out of who knows what. One says "LGS Prime 2c" the other
says "SIIG Inc, Fremont CA, Winbond W83758F", they both work, got them at a
local used PC shop for $9. Other people have reported using the compUSA card,
but I am cheap. The type doesn't matter, they should all be the same. IDE is
not that tough to do hardware wise.
Check everything, try what you
can on another PC that is known working.
Onboard IDE connector,
adding resistors:
Refer to this pic
Click Here R99 and R100 are pull-ups to
+5V, so anything between 1K and 20K would be OK for what we are doing. That
would translate to "102" up to "203" in little tiny part numbers.
The
packs can be from about 22 ohm to maybe 100? 33 was a good choice someone
suggested, the IO uses 22 on their IDE. The resistors add RFI "protection" and
maybe if you plug in the HD backwards with power on it will save you. That
translates to "220" up to "101" in little tiny part numbers.
You can
find these on old dead $1 swapmeet hard drives and boards if you look. That is
why I am saying that the values can vary, it's not all that important since the
cable run is very short. This is all 5V logic signals. The ones you see in the
pic are 33 and 1K, but engineers have this stuff laying around.
Adding the COM1 port (if you want to):
"U17" is either a LGS GD75232D
or HT6571. A 75232 is a common chip. You simply put one in "U10" and add the
connector header. The connector CN18 is pinned exactly like any serial card,
just plug it in and go!
Caps are not needed for it to function,
unless you are worried about FCC or long cable runs. This would be great for
uploading MP3's. USB ZIP drive would be better, but this is nice.
You didn't answer my question
here!
This FAQ is a work in progress, please post your
question in the "Technical" area of the
I-Appliance
Discussion Forum BBS and we will try to answer it and update this FAQ.
Please don't E-Mail us questions before checking the
BBS,
it has a search feature.
