There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter. It has a little black box
and needs USB power to work. What seems to be happening is the HP BIOS
pours data out (bit like meeting a Vegan for the first time) but I miss
a lot of of it because the USB hasn't powered up so the converter has no power at that stage (I am using a USB 2 port, USB3 on these machines
relies on the OS to work).
I will probably get a gfx card but anybody aware of a VGA TO HDMI
converter or cable that works without power (searching throws up mainly
HDMI to VGA).
At another tangent. This old kit is great fun ...
Has anybody come across a modern PC in a similar sized case withe same layout, i.e. open a door and put disk in/out?
On 04/04/2026 13:10, Jeff Gaines wrote:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter. It has a little black box and needs USB power to work. What seems to be happening is the HP BIOS pours data out (bit like meeting a Vegan for the first time) but I miss
a lot of of it because the USB hasn't powered up so the converter has no power at that stage (I am using a USB 2 port, USB3 on these machines relies on the OS to work).
I will probably get a gfx card but anybody aware of a VGA TO HDMI converter or cable that works without power (searching throws up mainly HDMI to VGA).
Have you thought of powering the converter using a wall-wart PSU rather
than expecting the Microserver to get its USB up and running before the messages start?
... or just use a proper monitor with VGA input?
At another tangent. This old kit is great fun ...
Old? It's a Gen8! Mine are N36L and N40L ...
Has anybody come across a modern PC in a similar sized case withe same layout, i.e. open a door and put disk in/out?
A lot of multi-bay servers use disk caddies, which is not quite as simple.
Most devices of this sort of size, these days, seem to be NAS appliances (Synology, QNAP, etc) which want to run proprietary software (typically based on Linux) rather than a vanilla OS. They usually support apps that enable most of the things one might do on a micro-sized server PC.
Whether that's easier or better than just having a box that runs $OS is
a matter of taste.
Jeff Gaines wrote:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter.
How significant? I wouldn't expect more than 1-2 frames delay.
anybody aware of a VGA TO HDMI converter or cable that works without power
From a VGA source to an HDMI sink requires active conversion and there may >be as little as 50mA of 5V available on pin9 of the VGA, so you'll be >unlikely to find such a device ...
On 04/04/2026 13:10, Jeff Gaines wrote:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter. It has a little black box >>and needs USB power to work. What seems to be happening is the HP BIOS >>pours data out (bit like meeting a Vegan for the first time) but I miss a >>lot of of it because the USB hasn't powered up so the converter has no >>power at that stage (I am using a USB 2 port, USB3 on these machines >>relies on the OS to work).
I will probably get a gfx card but anybody aware of a VGA TO HDMI >>converter or cable that works without power (searching throws up mainly >>HDMI to VGA).
Have you thought of powering the converter using a wall-wart PSU rather
than expecting the Microserver to get its USB up and running before the >messages start?
... or just use a proper monitor with VGA input?
At another tangent. This old kit is great fun ...
Old? It's a Gen8! Mine are N36L and N40L ..
I have just "won" a couple of these and am setting one up as a backup
and the other an archive, during the process a few questions arose:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter.
Jeff Gaines wrote:
I have just "won" a couple of these and am setting one up as a backup and >>the other an archive, during the process a few questions arose:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter.
[snip]
I have a couple of spare monitors with VGA input, would either of those >help?
See:
<https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/samsung-syncmaster-2443-monitor/1511782901>
<https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/computer-monitor/1511783093>
On 04/04/2026 in message <10qreho$qvu9$1@dont-email.me> Graham J wrote:
Jeff Gaines wrote:
I have just "won" a couple of these and am setting one up as a backup and >>> the other an archive, during the process a few questions arose:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter.
[snip]
I have a couple of spare monitors with VGA input, would either of those
help?
See:
<https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/samsung-syncmaster-2443-monitor/1511782901>
<https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/computer-monitor/1511783093>
Thank you but in theory I am trying to reduce the amount of kit!
I just bought a 10 way KVM because the previous 4 way wasn't sufficient...
On 04/04/2026 in message <C4l*FEeDA@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk> Theo wrote:
[snipped]
I just did a search again for NAS style cases, I think it must have been
the prices that put me off!
On 04/04/2026 in message <10qr61j$nn1v$1@dont-email.me> Daniel James wrote:
On 04/04/2026 13:10, Jeff Gaines wrote:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter. It has a little black box >>and needs USB power to work. What seems to be happening is the HP BIOS >>pours data out (bit like meeting a Vegan for the first time) but I miss a >>lot of of it because the USB hasn't powered up so the converter has no >>power at that stage (I am using a USB 2 port, USB3 on these machines >>relies on the OS to work).
I will probably get a gfx card but anybody aware of a VGA TO HDMI >>converter or cable that works without power (searching throws up mainly >>HDMI to VGA).
Have you thought of powering the converter using a wall-wart PSU rather >than expecting the Microserver to get its USB up and running before the >messages start?
No, I would be very cagey about introducing a second power source in case
it feeds into the wrong place, is it safe?
I have 2 x N54L and 1 x N36L, I was hoping the Gen8 with Xeon would be noticeably quicker but it isn't.
On 04/04/2026 in message <n3cihjF4e34U1@mid.individual.net> Andy Burns wrote:
Jeff Gaines wrote:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter.
How significant? I wouldn't expect more than 1-2 frames delay.
It misses the whole of the intro screen, couple of minute perhaps. It's
not a sync type delay, the screen just doesn't come on for a couple of minutes. Even weirder on the first one where I see entirely different
start up screens depending on whether I use the built in VGA output of the add in card!
Jeff Gaines <jgnewsid@outlook.com> wrote:
On 04/04/2026 in message <n3cihjF4e34U1@mid.individual.net> Andy Burns >>wrote:
Jeff Gaines wrote:
There is a delay on my VGA to HDMI converter.
How significant? I wouldn't expect more than 1-2 frames delay.
It misses the whole of the intro screen, couple of minute perhaps. It's
not a sync type delay, the screen just doesn't come on for a couple of >>minutes. Even weirder on the first one where I see entirely different
start up screens depending on whether I use the built in VGA output of the >>add in card!
Are you sure that's a power up delay? On the Gen7 my monitor can't 'see'
the
BIOS output because it doesn't support the resolution, but it does once the >machine is booted and has changed mode. Of course, if it's broken it never >gets that far...
I now use a PiKVM (+VGA-HDMI dongle where necessary) for things which I
need
to see early boot from - it's much more tolerant of odd timings. Saves >having to keep an old monitor around.
Pi Zero 2W + HDMI capture HAT makes a fairly cheap DIY PiKVM.
| Sysop: | Jacob Catayoc |
|---|---|
| Location: | Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines |
| Users: | 6 |
| Nodes: | 4 (0 / 4) |
| Uptime: | 493396:22:55 |
| Calls: | 141 |
| Files: | 538 |
| Messages: | 76,256 |