[rescue] Sun E220R to E420R

[Earl D. Baugh Jr.]

Just wanted to send a note of thanks for all that helped me in my "upgrade" 
of a Sun 220R to 420R.
(parts came from as far away as Oslo!! )  It's truly composed of rescued 
Sun parts!  (BTW, I've got
some spare 220R parts if anybody is interested...note at the bottom...)

I now know that it's a fairly easy task, if you have the right parts 
8-)      Just FYI, here's what's required.

1) A 420R motherboard (the standard Ultra 80 Motherboard)
2) The memory riser (according to the FEH, you need this installed)
3) A different back plate (the plate at the back of the chassis, it removes 
with 2 screws...pretty easy)
4) A different plate for underneath the motherboard (the 220R and 420R 
mount to different mounting plates...they change out with 4 screws on the 
sides)
5) 256MB DIMMS instead of 128's or 64's that the E220R uses.  (Good thing 
the U2's use the 128's 8-) )
6) The power wires are slightly different.  However, both boards I have 
came with the power  cables attached, so it wasn't much of an issue.
7) (optional -- I went with a 450MHz CPU instead of the 400's I had in the 
220R.  It looks like the 400's would have worked...though some
have told me that that's iffy...so I wanted to go to the 450's anyway, so I 
just got one to get started...)
8) The triangle piece of plastic with the 420R logo.  I've got both 220R 
and 420R spares now...

I paid for #1, #5, #7 and #8.   But all told the machine didn't cost me 
$250 and I've got a pile of 220R parts for another box.
(and my U2 went to 2 400 Mhz CPU's and 2GB of RAM.   It's old RAM and CPU's 
went to a friend with an empty U2,
and will end up paying for the 2nd CPU I want to get...)  I ended up with a 
420R with a single CPU, and 2 GB of RAM.
Everything else (DVD, HD, Raptor card, and Dual Power Supplies) swapped.

So, if you've got access to a 220R or 420R chassis, they are 
interchangeable.  A broken 420R can be re-used as a 220R, with
some components that are a bit easier to come by (memory wise, and 
processor wise) if you've also got U2's.  The 220R and
the U2 share processors quite easily.

Also, as a result, I've got a 220R motherboard, 220R back plate, and 
underneath mounting plate.  My wife always
likes me to try to recover my costs when I can, so if anybody is 
interested, drop me a line and we can make a deal...
(also have the metal air director...that the CPU's sit in, I'll include 
that with the motherboard).  Board works great,
I just wanted to get to a 4 CPU system.


Earl