Re: IBM PC 330 433sx + SB AWE 64 and MPU

Posted on 2020-10-11, 15:06

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the update. I've just been having the same issue. Win95 reports that the floppy drive controller is using DMA 1, not 2 as it should (and the setting cannot be changed). Device manager reports DMA 2 as being "in use by unknown device". I wondered if it might be a Win95 issue, but CTCU …

---

Re: Can someone please help me find the jumper settings and info about this 386 motherboard?

Posted on 2020-08-25, 11:25

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Probably able to but why? I'd be keeping that Cx486DLC and copro myself 😊 Is it working? Looks like it's missing the RTC chip.

---

Re: Turn on AT PSU without Motherboard

Posted on 2020-08-25, 11:22

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Careful with AT PSUs as that cord to the front carries mains voltage. I'll second this too. Off at the wall, power cable unplugged both ends. Turn PSU switch on. Move it somewhere safe. Plug power cable into PSU, then wall. Turn on at wall. At least, that's what I'm trying to always do, even for …

---

Re: Hassle-free network card for DOS/WfW311?

Posted on 2020-08-25, 10:48

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'll second that. 3Com Etherlink III has been my "go-to" card since I first started using them 25 years ago. For non PnP cards, some of the SMC cards can be good, but some can be a pain (can't remember which right now!) But to add to what others have said re the 3Com -- they are also the easiest …

---

Re: Controller card for four floppy drives

Posted on 2020-08-24, 01:55

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Your card does not have a BIOS chip so if the motherboard BIOS does not support 4 floppies then it will only work with 2 floppies (unless you load a device driver). Thanks. I wasn't sure if the card has a BIOS or not so I guess that answers that question :-) I've got another four floppy controller …

---

Controller card for four floppy drives

Posted on 2020-08-23, 09:00

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi all, I've got this card which appears to support four floppy drives... I'm trying to find info on the switch & jumper settings but can't identify it. I've been through all the 16 bit ISA controllers on stason and haven't found a match. Anyone able to help? Filename Controller card.jpg File size …

---

Re: Help fixing rare CL-GD610/620 VGA card

Posted on 2020-07-23, 02:11

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Hi, thanks so much for dumping your BIOS and posting it here... it's taken me a step further but won't fix my card unfortunately - it did at least let me verify that my BIOS is ok. I did a FC /B on the two files and they're identical! Next step... some desoldering perhaps...

---

Re: Intel RC440BX P14 BIOS issue

Posted on 2020-07-13, 13:18

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

though I notice P03 was probably the first production release for your board version, so when you updated to P12 or P14 was there any indication that you should update the bios boot block as well (which happened at P09)? There are a few other versions available online (P10, P11 & P13) at www. …

---

Intel RC440BX P14 BIOS issue

Posted on 2020-07-13, 07:45

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I recently got an Intel RC440BX motherboard, version 724299-205... according to CPU-upgrade.com this will take up to a Pentium III 600 with BIOS version P10 or later. Mine had P03 so I updated it to P14 (and have also tried P12 - these are the only two versions I've been able to find online). I …

---

Re: Help fixing rare CL-GD610/620 VGA card

Posted on 2020-07-12, 11:11

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Vogons is amazing, I've got the very same card as you InbetweenDays (down to the 2.2 BIOS version) but albeit in the working state in a 486 lunchbox machine ! I'll dump the BIOS as soon as I can find my TL866 :) That's fantastic - thanks! It will be interesting to compare and see if my BIOS is ok …

---

Re: Help fixing rare CL-GD610/620 VGA card

Posted on 2020-05-18, 10:58

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Yep, old thread 😀 But thanks for the suggestion! I checked those caps for shorts and they seem fine. Not sure whether to say "unfortunately" or not... when I read your post I got hopeful, because that would be an easy fix, but alas...

---

PSU Replacement for AcerPower 4100 (V66LA motherboard) with ATX-AT adapter

Posted on 2020-05-13, 02:45

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is a post for posterity - I wasn't able to find an answer online for this so I'm posting it here in case it helps someone else in the future. I have an AcerPower 4100 (V66LA motherboard) with a dead PSU. It's an AT style power supply with additional 3-pin connector. Without this extra …

---

Re: MT32 (old) firmware and game incompatibilities?

Posted on 2019-06-13, 04:12

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Well, it's academic really, because there's probably no point in using an old firmware. What you're suggesting may be possible, but there is the added complication of there being two EEPROMs (odd/even). I'm mainly curious about others' experiences. That, and it could be useful and save someone time …

---

MT32 (old) firmware and game incompatibilities?

Posted on 2019-06-13, 01:27

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've just been testing an MT32 which had problems with Prince of Persia (1 and 2). I tried the usual tricks of a slowdown utility and also /delaysysex on softmpu, but no luck. "Hmm, that's right, I had issues with POP2 on the MT32 and CM32 before," I remembered incorrectly... so I checked my other …

---

Re: 386 XCMOS checksum error but no extended setup option

Posted on 2018-07-06, 14:07

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Answering my own question... after some creative googling, I found this page which has the "C&T NEAT New Enhanced Chipset Extended CMOS Setup Utility 286, 386SX CS8281 - DOS" (Quickset utility for the NeatSX chipset). Using that, I could configure the extended setup options such as RAM configuration …

---

Re: 386 XCMOS checksum error but no extended setup option

Posted on 2018-07-06, 11:26

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, settings are retained just fine... there was no damage because it had an external battery fitted already (the motherboard is pristine and it doesn't look like there has ever been a battery soldered to it). No jumper for internal/external. Anyway, an update... I found this page which describes …

---

386 XCMOS checksum error but no extended setup option

Posted on 2018-07-06, 09:25

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've got a 386SX-20 with the old school AMI BIOS. After replacing the dead external battery, it is giving an invalid XCMOS checksum error. Normally that's no problem - go into extended setup, write registers and exit... However this BIOS has no extended setup option. The only menu options are exit …

---

Re: 486 DX4-100 CPU benchmark the same as DX2-66

Posted on 2018-06-11, 11:30

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No, I've not experienced this before. Changing to a different speed CPU has always resulted in a change in all benchmarks. If there was no change with all of them (ie Landmark, SpeedSys as well) then there'd obviously be a problem... but it's just SI8 which is weird, so I'm assuming it's something …

---

486 DX4-100 CPU benchmark the same as DX2-66

Posted on 2018-06-11, 09:13

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just got a different 486 motherboard and, in the process of deciding whether to use it to upgrade my regular rig, thought I'd run some CPU benchmarks to see how it compares. I know that Symantec Sysinfo (SI8) isn't exactly a proper benchmarking tool, but interestingly enough it gives exactly the …

---

Re: Dead 486 motherboard - lost cause?

Posted on 2018-05-25, 02:10

by

by InbetweenDays

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I tried one of those diagnostic cards (same as your link) - the reset LED lights continuously indicating a fault with the reset circuit... as if the reset button is pressed in all the time I guess, which is consistent with no beeps. I'm assuming that wouldn't be an easy fix, if even possible. But …

---