Re: Best inexpensive Windows 98 CD-RW drive

Posted on Yesterday, 21:44

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you intend to play games that loads data from the CD during play, you might actually want to consider a slower drive. Faster drives take longer time to spin up before the data can be accessed. If you just want a good cheap commercially available DVD burner, the Lite-On iHAS124 is great. It's of …

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Re: Soldering RAM chips question

Posted on Yesterday, 07:28

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd use a regular soldering iron with a narrow beveled tip and plenty of no-wash tacky flux, despite the crampedness. Make sure you have a copper braid available too. Since you have a hot air station, using it and tin paste might be an easier option if you have some previous experience with that …

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Re: smallest computer that can run windows XP with supported hardware (especially video card?)

Posted on 2024-05-23, 11:41

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Take a look at mini ITX boards. Depending on your requirements they can be stuck into some very small cases. A board with say an AMD E-350 can do basic 3D acceleration and fits into an enclosure not much larger than the board+ATX I/O plate (tip: picoPSU). If you want more power, go for a board with …

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Re: smallest computer that can run windows XP with supported hardware (especially video card?)

Posted on 2024-05-22, 07:39

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The Shuttle XPC barebone units suggested above are quite nice, got a G41/C2D E8300 based one (SG41J4). Sure, it's far bulkier than a NUC or similar, but still fractions of the size of an ATX or mATX rig. There's room for a reasonably powerful GPU, but take measurements and make sure it fits before …

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Re: Compaq FDD on parallel port - How to make it work?

Posted on 2024-05-20, 07:29

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by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You could also give fixing the internal drive a shot. It seems to be detected properly, the electronics should be ok. In my experience, it's almost always simple mechanical problems when floppy drives go bad, like dried up lubricant, dust collected over the years clogging the mechanics, broken/ …

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Re: Which BIOS EPROM for Pentium II board?

Posted on 2024-05-15, 16:21

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by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If no one know of a specific model verified to be working in that mobo, slot1 boards usually use a 29 series cmos parallel eeprom. The size is specified in bits, 256kB = 2 Mbit. Technically any 5V - be aware there are low voltage versions aswell - 29 series 2Mbit cmos eeprom should work. Sometimes …

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Re: How to remove superglue (cyanoacrylate) from electronics?

Posted on 2024-05-12, 11:19

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Maybe too late, but might be interesting to future readers. Found a readily available source of dichloromethane, which dissolves CA glue very effectively: CRC Gasket Remover Pro, P/N 32747. Tried it on hardened CA, it dissolved within seconds. Be aware that it's very aggressive to other plastics …

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Re: Absolute best, Most reliable fans

Posted on 2024-05-12, 07:45

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by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting thread. I'm in the maritime transport business. In addition to ambient temperatures in the engine room at least locally reaching 50-60°C during the summer, we have to deal with vibrations. Also had a hard time finding small axial fans made for use in extreme environments, everything …

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Re: My experience returning to Win98 after 25 years

Posted on 2024-05-10, 09:30

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by kaputnik

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Personally, my recent experience with Windows 98SE on a Compaq Armada laptop was like this: I was surprised how clean, logical and useful the interface was. - Visually, it felt superior to the Windows 10/11 screenshots that are all over the internet these days. Windows Explorer showed me the …

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Re: Strange issue with slave CF cards in dual CD adapter and Win98SE

Posted on 2024-05-05, 08:01

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Remember having all kinds of strange HDD and audio related problems with my KT133 rig back in the day, until VIA 4-in-1 4.42 was released. IIRC 4.43 is the version usually recommended today. Can't hurt to try updating the driver if it supports your chipset I guess 😀

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Re: Ultimate Windows XP Build: 2700k or 3770k?

Posted on 2024-05-05, 06:57

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just one question: wouldn't the Ivy bridge requiere delidding of some sorts eventually? Delidded my i7-3770k back in the day. It of course gave a substantial temp decrease when benching and pushing the CPU to the limit, but in real world scenarios, it only ran like 5°C cooler. Might be worth it if …

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Re: Ultimate Windows XP Build: 2700k or 3770k?

Posted on 2024-05-04, 09:58

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks a lot for the answers! Just one question: wouldn't the Ivy bridge requiere delidding of some sorts eventually? Regarding the i5, the thing is that it is less common (and more expensive) in my zone. Delidded my i7-3770k back in the day. It of course gave a substantial temp decrease when …

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Re: Plastic gotten sticky around laptop keyboard.

Posted on 2024-04-24, 04:57

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Agree with the acetone. Really helps. I'd be really careful with acetone on computers and peripherals. It literally dissolves ABS and similar plastics. At least find out what kind of plastic the shell is made from, and check its chemical resistance chart before trying acetone. I've successfully …

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Re: Multimeter recommendation

Posted on 2024-04-24, 04:46

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Fluke is my recommendation. Fluke's are nice, indeed. However, I don't know if their price tag can be justified if one is going to use it only occasionally for a hobby. If anyone finds a used one for a decent/low price though, definitely grab it. Nowadays you can get as good multimeters as Fluke …

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Re: Multimeter recommendation

Posted on 2024-04-14, 05:31

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

whilst Fluke and other high end brands are ideal for high power stuff and where precision and responsiveness are important, i have used one of those cheap but ok vici ones for a few years and its ok perhaps we shouldn't be surprised but collecting and using vintage meters is also a hobby :) Yeah, …

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Re: Things I learned about fans

Posted on 2024-03-26, 09:15

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sleeve bearings made from sintered bronze can often be regenerated. Just clean the bearing thoroughly with some product not leaving residues (brake cleaner, electronics cleaner, etc), then pop it in a bath of suitable oil, and heat it all up to whatever max temperature the oil can handle before its …

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Re: HELP: Mystery Socket 7 Motherboard Post Fail

Posted on 2024-03-25, 14:11

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Update - It's Working!! Thank you everyone for helping me troubleshoot this board! Before I found the problem I replaced the CMOS battery with a fresh 2032. This didn't change anything but still worth ruling out. Moving the POST card to the ISA slots produced the same codes (good to know the ISA …

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Re: HELP: Mystery Socket 7 Motherboard Post Fail

Posted on 2024-03-24, 18:28

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sorry if stating the obvious, but have you tried resetting CMOS, in case onboard video can disabled from BIOS, and it's simply a question of the board expecting a graphics card in an expansion slot if so? Or checked if there's some jumper for disabling it? Also, those post cards can be pretty flaky …

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Re: startech vga2hdmiPro burned out?

Posted on 2024-03-23, 10:07

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Even though 2A is a lot for that kind of equipment, and the manufacturers generally tends to overspec the PSUs, I'd also definitely try with another PSU before assuming you killed the upscaler by giving it 9VDC. Startech's website - click Technical Specifications - says 2.6A, and the symptoms you …

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Re: Reviving Linksys WRT54GL - about pin header connections and related matters

Posted on 2024-03-20, 23:53

by

by kaputnik

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm usually just using bent pieces of jumper wire for temporary through-hole connections. Simple and works reasonably well. Filename DSC_0778.JPG File size 174.86 KiB Views 226 views Filename DSC_0782.JPG File size 277.13 KiB Views 226 views Sorry about potato quality 😜

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