HP EX475 Home Server Upgrade Part 1

I initially fell in love with the whole "Home Server" idea way back, when my company Cybercircuits was invited to beta test Microsoft's Windows Home Server OEM (I think it was sometime in 2005). Being an OEM operating system meant this wasn't going to be released to the public, and only computer retailers and manufacturers would have access. Seeing as I was a beta tester afforded me access, and to this day, I've been running some version of WHS.

HP was one of the first companies to bring the WHS operating system to the public back in 2008, with their release of the HP EX470. I remember the first time I saw one of these units on display at a local Future Shop, I was so excited, that is until I saw the $1,000 (CDN) price tag, which wasn't in my foreseeable budget. I've always been meaning to acquire an HP Home Server ever since it's debut, however given their steep price and that HP halted production of its Home Server Line in 2010, I never imagined I'd get the opportunity to own one of these.

In January of this year I picked up an HP EX475 off craigslist for $60(CDN), and while physically it seemed to be in great shape, it's hard drives were missing and obviously wasn't running. My goal at this point was to upgrade and restore this unit and eventually assimilate it into my current home network.

The EX475 shipped with an AMD 1.8 GHZ Sempron CPU, and 512MB of RAM, which at the time was relatively state of the art, but almost useless by today's standards. If I wanted to make the EX475 useful I would need to replace both these parts. After doing a quick www search, I came across a fantastic article on Tom's Hardware, with complete documentation on how to modify and upgrade the EX470/EX475. Unfortunately some information was obsolete, and the parts suggested were no longer available, so back I went to do more research. I came across a forum on MediaSmartServer with extremely useful information on upgrading the EX475 CPU, and after cross referencing CPU information on CPU-World, I had made a decision.

My decisions had been made and I took to Ebay to make them final. While many had opted to go with 1 or 2 GB of RAM, I purchased a Samsung 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800MHZ 240pin DIMM RAM, a $19(CDN) gamble which ended up paying off.

For the CPU I knew I wanted the option of being able to run a more modern operating system like WHS 2011 or Windows 8, this meant I needed something that was Dual Core. I took another gamble, this time for $35(CDN), and selected the AMD Athlon X2 3250e 1.5 GHz Dual-Core AM2+ (ADJ3250IAA5DO) CPU. ** I sacrificed overall speed for low heat and power consumption as this CPU ran at 22watts, the lowest power consumption of any dual core CPU.

This build wouldn't be going anywhere without the purchase of a $45(CDN) VGA-Adapter (also from Ebay), as the EX475 has no video out or any available PCI slots.

The final purchase was a set of (2) 80mm Arctic Cooling PWM fans from  local retailer  NCIX, for a cost of $15(CDN). ** When replacing a CPU you should always consider replacing the CPU fan, in this case the EX475 does not have a CPU fan, but two PWM case fans that cool not only the CPU but also the internal drives. 

For an investment of about $130-$175 (CDN, including taxes and shipping costs) I would have myself a new addition to my home network. ** Technically while I did purchase the VGA-Adapter strictly for this build, it could also be considered as a tool, as it can be removed and used for other builds as well. Also I know I didn't mention anything about hard drives yet, and that's because I recently upgraded my main home server and had a stack of unused hard drives collecting dust. I will be re-purposing these drives for use in the EX475.

Stay Tuned for my next installment where I begin the EX475 rebuild process.

New Dirt Jumper Bike

Here's my new bike, that I've been building over the winter months. Truth be told, I finished it back in April, but I've been having a few odd issues, which I'll be discussing in a future post. Anyways for those of you interested in this bike build then keep reading...

Bike Build

I got the frame, wheels, cranks, pedals, chain-ring, headset, and single speed derailer used, from a guy off Pinkbike.com. It cost me $160 (CDN), which was a pretty good deal, and a great place to start.

The Frame

The frame is a cro-moly rigid, made by Canadian company .243Racing. The FSA pig headset was already attached to the frame, and seemed in reasonable shape, so I decided to leave it on and just lube the bearings.

The Cranks, Sproket, Pedals, Bottom Bracket

The cranks are made by Diety, and feel super strong. I'm not sure what botton bracket bearings are installed but I'm assuming they're the ones that came with the cranks. Once again I left them in, and simply re-greased them. I did pull off the cranks and 32tooth sprocket, just to give them a cleaning. Not sure who makes the sprocket, but it was showing very little wear, so I stuck with it. The pedals are VSixty platform pedals, that look good, but seem a bit stiff. I've never ridden this brand of pedal before, so I'm not sure if they're damaged or just naturally stiff. When turning the pedals in my hand, they feel as if they're a bent, not noticeable enough to warrant changing just yet, but it might be a future decision.

The Single Speed Derailer

Before I start describing this next phase of the bike build, I want to explain to everyone, what a piece of crap this next part is. It came with the bike, and I really wanted to go single speed, so I decided to use it. The guy who I bought all these parts from, said he was getting rid of this bike because he couldn't ever get the single speed to work correctly, and I can see why. The problem seems to be, that most people running single speed, are using small sprockets and small cogs (at the rear wheel). Doing so, gives the chain only a few teeth to grip on to, so usually the chain falls off. To prevent this a single sped derailer is used, however most single speed derailers are made to push the chain down, what we modern small sprocket/cog riders need is a single speed that pushes up. The Axiom derailer that came with my frame, had a spring in it that could be only used to push the chain down. I dismantled and reassembled this thing about 50 times, and finally ended up removing the spring completely and using some cable ties to secure the derailer in the pushing up fashion.

Wheels

Both the front and real wheel came with Sun Rims X25 rims, Shimano M475 hubs, unknown spokes, unknown inner tubes, disc brake rotors and Kenda downhill tires. Now these wheels were pretty beat up, and the front hub was missing all its bearings, axle and skewer. So before I could use these for riding I needed to fix the front hub. Originally when I started out on this project, to keep costs down, I was going to cannibalize my Kona Dawg Deluxe cross country mountain bike for parts. Seeing how this bike build was coming together, I made a decision not to cannibalize my Kona, but instead try to keep this bike build to a reasonable budget.

Forks

Since this was going to be used for street/skate-park  riding, I wanted to go full rigid. Having spent so many years riding BMX/Flatland, I was never very comfortable on suspension bikes, and I'm getting much too old to ride BMX's anymore. I wasn't able to find any used rigid forks, so I ended up buying some Kona Project 2 rigid chro-moly forks, which cost me $110 (CDN, w/Tax) at a local bike shop.

Handle Bars and Stem

I was able to find some pretty cool looking .243Racing bars and stem from a local rider, once again using Pinkbike.com. I paid $20 (CDN) for the bars and $25 (CDN) for the stem, and they match my frame perfectly. 

Brakes

For braking I was originally going to scavenge the hydraulic brakes from my Kona, but was fortunate to have a good friend of mine donate a set of mechanical disc brakes to my cause. My buddy Kelvin, had these Shimano mech discs, with avid levers sitting around his garage collecting dust. I'm so lucky to have such great friends.

Seat and Post

A local BMX store (3ride.com) was clearing out their line of railed seats, since BMX's today all seem to use the new pivotal system. Now I was seriously debating going to the new pivotal system for this bike build, but I already had an Odyssey Intact railed seat post sitting around, and for the $21.00 (CDN w/Tax)  I decided to go with this Shadow Conspiracy seat. (As a side note, this seat is super comfortable)

The Build So Far...

You can see in the next picture that I have a seat post clamp installed. I neglected to mention that it came already installed on the frame, and that I had temporarily removed it while taking pictures. I never seemed to actually get a picture of it on it's own, however you might be able to make out that it's a Shadow Conspiracy clamp.

Ebay Stuff

By this time I think the bike's about 80% built, and I'm waiting for the mail-person to arrive with the rest of the parts I ordered from various Ebay sources. Now I would like nothing more than to support the local economy, but some of the parts I'm finding online are 1/3 of the price found locally. 

Finally parts arrive...

Almost Finished

Here are some pictures of the assembly so far.

Mini Update

The Odyssey Intact post I had seemed to work fine, but it was actually too small. .243Racing uses a non-standard seat post size of 26.8, so I ended up purchasing an Axiom seat post from a local bike shop $18 (CDN).

Completed

Ok, so I was so excited about finishing this bike, that I forgot to take pictures of the Jag Wire brake cables that the mail-person brought the next day (my bad). Finally got the brake cables routed, and the bike is ready for fine tuning. The bike cost me about $350 (CDN), which I thought was quite reasonable.

Let me know what you think...

By: Mass