Keyboard doesnt work/Case cooling

[omegaRED]

A good opportunity presented itself recently, namely exchaning my el cheapo midi tower case for a full tower case from a buddy of mine. There are several reasons why i wanted to do this:
1. My case was just a regular midi tower case, 300W PSU, 1 intake & 1 exhaust 80 mm fan mount
2. It was rather small and cramped, cables all over the place restricting airflow
3. Didnt fit in with my black/silver monitor, kb, mouse etc. (especially since i couldnt get a CDRW and a DVD with a black bezel)
The full tower case is very similar to the InWin Q500, roomy, 6 5.25" bays, 4 3.5" drive bays, Sparkle 300W PSU, 2 92 mm fan mounts etc.

Now, enough babbling, onto the problems:
1. My buddy`s Keyboard doesnt work. The PC that used to reside in the full tower case was a dual Pentium 2 233 MHz, 2 SCSI HDDs and what not. I tried it with my KB, it didnt work, but i assumed it`s something marginal, like it not being plugged in at boot or something like that. It turned out that his KB doesnt work either. He apparently checked that there are no shorts near the kb jack on the mobo, and from the looks of it, nothing seems to be wrong with the contacts on it. The KB lights lit up at boot, the BIOS shows no error msg (KB defect or not present), windows 98se recognizes it correctly, it just doesnt work. The Num Lock light lights up, but thats about it. No Caps Lock light, no scroll lock. Any ideas?

2. Airflow in the case seems to be terrible. The main reason i can think of is the lack of fan mount(s) on the back plate behind the CPU. I have connected 4 fans (1 92mm @ 7V and 80 mm CM intake in the front, 1 80mm blowing upwards on the bar in the middle of the case, 1 92 mm @ 7V exhaust, above the PSU) but the problem seems to be that the air around the CPU/NB/Vid card just stays there, it isnt sucked out of the case. Should
i drill another hole and mount an exhaust fan behind the CPU, it seems that would be the best thing, or maybe make that intake and make a duct to the CPU, or make a duct from the intake 92mm?

Here are some pics (this is the InWin Q500, my case lacks the MB tray and 80 mm fan mount at the back) Green marks the current fan positions and direction. I removed the 3.5" cage, to tidy up the cables and reduce obstruction, since i only have 1 HDD.

Basically, what can i do to improve airflow/cooling? Orientation/positioning of the fans, ducting etc. Give me your suggestions.

TIA

[Greebe]

First cut out the perforated holes where the fans mount. Doing this will greatly increase airflow and at the same time reduce noise. The center fan isn't neccessary. More exhaust would be preferable. I have an old InWin Q500 (bit different than shown in this pic) it allows for the placement above the PSU for either one 120mm fan or one 92mm fan or two 80mm fans. I'd suggest breaking out a die grinder or Dremel and cut to your hearts desire.

Adding an intake (as marked in red) in your pic would help, but remember there isn't anymore room than a 80mm to fit and even at that is a tight squeeze. Ducting directly to the CPU-HS would provide best results.

Also remove the front plastic bezel and enlarge the slot on the bottom edge all the way to the front and the corners leaving only the tabs. Also drill out larger holes than provided on the front bottom. Remember you are trying to move alot of air through a very small opening up front... this only gets worse when you mount a second fan.

[omegaRED]

Thanks for all of the suggestions Greebe. I intended to cut out the perforated holes both in the front and the rear, maybe even make a 120 mm hole in the front (assuming there`s enough width for that, there should be tho). I`ll see what i can do, havent seen any 120 mm fans in stores here, but will perform a thorough check.
I had another idea, and that is to move the PSU to the top of the case, right where the fan mount on the back is (ofcourse it`d require some serious Dremel work, possibly cutting out the whole back plate above the bar) and then mounting 2 80 mm or one 92 mm where the PSU is/was, thus having an exhaust right above the CPU. But i`m looking for confirmation on the effectiveness of such a solution, seeing how it is a rather radical modification, plus i`d have to find a way to extend the power cables for the mobo, they wont reach if the PSU is right at the top.
The place marked in red could accomodate a 80 mm fan (again, after some serious cutting and then mounting a separate metal piece that would actually hold the fan), pretty tight tho, and mounting 2 80 mm would be quite hard, but not impossible. I`ll mount 1 fan for sure, the question is should i make that intake and duct it to the HSF, or exhaust and duct the HSF to the 92 mm intake in the bottom front.

[VJ]

Traditionally, it is said to have intakes in the front, and exhausts at the back, so bearing this in mind I'd say the red section would have to accomodate an exhaust.
(my Lian Li PC70 has two 80mm intakes in the front (both next to each other at the bottom drivebay, and two 80mm fans at that position you indicated in red). There is room for another 2 80mm above the PSU, but even without those, my system runs cool enough...

About the keyboard: Does the mainboard have a keyboard lock (like on older PCs) ? If so, it could well be that the keyboard is locked out (in such a case, the leds light up properly)...

Jörg

[omegaRED]

Ok, i`ll definitely mount at least 1 80 mm exhaust fan there, then maybe i`ll experiment with ducting from the front 92 mm...
Umm... how do i check if the mobo has keyboard lock? What should i look for? This is an old PC, was probably used as a server of some sorts (SCSI disks)...

[VJ]

Euhm... the manual ?
Seriously, most keyboard locks are pins on the mainboard, close to the power led, powerbutton, resetbutton, ... Check to see if there are unused pins (normally, they should be labeled somewhere).

Jörg

[omegaRED]

Nice!
I`m gonna have a look at the puter after work, there were some unused pins, will check them out thoroughly Thanks!

[Greebe]

Originally posted by VJ
Traditionally, it is said to have intakes in the front, and exhausts at the back, so bearing this in mind I'd say the red section would have to accomodate an exhaust.
(my Lian Li PC70 has two 80mm intakes in the front (both next to each other at the bottom drivebay, and two 80mm fans at that position you indicated in red). There is room for another 2 80mm above the PSU, but even without those, my system runs cool enough...

About the keyboard: Does the mainboard have a keyboard lock (like on older PCs) ? If so, it could well be that the keyboard is locked out (in such a case, the leds light up properly)...

Jörg

You are correct, but seeing that cool air is much better dumped in on a CPU HS it's better to have it as an intake.

In my case the bottom is modified to handle 2/80 or 2/92mm fans (for water cooling) and the back top has been modified so 2 400w PS fit vertically next to each other like so... [] [] above that there is still room to mount two more 80mm fans if needed. The front/ bottom is modified as mentioned in my previous post.
The one advantage of the older Q500 is how they made the space above the PS in the back and the top cover isn't thin... it's roughly 44mm high with additional vent holes around the periphery.