Re: XTIDE problem need help

Posted on 2023-07-22, 12:07

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Then perhaps the issue is with the hardware. What did you buy, exactly? A kit or an assembled and tested device? Who supplied the chips? I see you are using HC688 instead of HCT or ALS which might be a problem. The ROM seems to work but one of these 688 decodes ROM address and the other is for I/O …

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Re: 286 "CHIPS" mainboard with missing parts...

Posted on 2023-07-22, 10:29

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

BAD news is.... I borrowed NOS 360kB 5.25" drive.... it behaves exactly like 1.2MB one... "Diskette read error" :( Tried on 2 different controllers, on other MB this 'combo' worked perfectly. Perhaps this BIOS expects a floppy not with OS but a "booter" (bootable floppy) with this setup progam. …

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Re: HWiNFO support of vintage hardware

Posted on 2023-07-22, 10:12

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by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Please provide the HWiNFO LOG + Debug File for analysis. There you go - HWINFO.7z. The NPU is GREEN MATH 4C87SLC-40 - ~ 830 KB (Non-PCI systems) / 5 MB (PCI systems) free XMS memory (XMS manager recommended) Well, I might have a lead on that memory issue. It was happening on a particular mobo (AP43 …

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Re: HWiNFO support of vintage hardware

Posted on 2023-07-21, 22:13

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

HWiNFO v6.2.2 █████████████████████████████System Information█████████████████████████████ ║ ║ ║ Main Processor: Intel 80386SX, 100.0 MHz ║ ║ Math Co-Processor: Cyrix FasMath 83S87 Old, 100.0 MHz ║ I wish my 386SX was this fast, sadly it's just a 40MHz system. This bug was also present in 6.2.0 …

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Re: 386—>486 build

Posted on 2023-07-21, 19:57

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A few different ones. 286 to Pentium but most issues are on slower machines, even 386DX-40 seem to struggle to maintain a consistent transfer speed. It's like burst of fast packets and then a stall for a few seconds. Rinse and repeat. It's still the fastest way to get files around, especially if …

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Re: Recommend a floppy transfer service.

Posted on 2023-07-21, 19:46

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm sorry, that was tongue-in-cheek - search for Greaseweazle (and KryoFlux - but that is more expensive, GW does the same job with open-source software). Did you try copying these floppies with DOS diskcopy? Or making an image with IMD for example? Could be these old floppies are booters and don't …

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Re: 386—>486 build

Posted on 2023-07-21, 18:43

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

On CF cards? On slower CPUs that usually only slows the system down. It does help on MFM drives but you'll just hit the RAM buffer size in few seconds at best and it'll slow down to MFM write speeds. But I guess I can try running some tests with SCSI drives, the controllers do DMA so won't be …

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Re: XTIDE problem need help

Posted on 2023-07-21, 18:38

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Again, make sure your jumpers are correct. I'm pretty sure you should be using Hi-Speed mode setting, not Compatibility with 1.0.0 FW and rev1 boards, your's is (apparently modified) rev4. And that's just by looking at the photos. Also you seem to be using a pretty old FW from 2013? Why, there has …

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Re: Recommend a floppy transfer service.

Posted on 2023-07-21, 18:24

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"My Greaseweazle Transfer Service" would probably be the cheapest option, I'm sure there's plenty of info out there on how to both read and write these floppies. My understanding is the main issue is the multi-speed drive, I suppose that can be worked around in software for reading but probably not …

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Re: 386—>486 build

Posted on 2023-07-21, 18:16

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hm, I tend to download more than upload, maybe that's why I see more hiccups? I see the bytes counter go up and then stall for a few seconds, and the resulting overall transfer speed is half (or less) what the link is capable of. And it shouldn't be limited by HDD since more often then not it's a CF …

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Re: Cpu write back cache causing issues.

Posted on 2023-07-21, 18:08

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Apart from setting SiS471 register 50h bit 4 by the BIOS for L1 cache WB mode, some chipset pins need to change function for the Intel/AMD WB-protocol to work. This is where the 2 hardware trapping jumpers to DACK1* and DACK0* are for. The SiS471 datasheet indicates this setting on page 22. Thanks …

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Re: XTIDE problem need help

Posted on 2023-07-21, 13:16

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I buy a xtide card from internet, then i try it with ide-cf converter and cf card to my ibm ps2 xt The BIOS of xtide show at boot, but not show the cf card. Most CF adapters require external power, usually via a 4-pin connector from PSU. Some can be powered via pin 20, there an option for that on …

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Re: 386—>486 build

Posted on 2023-07-21, 10:28

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Transfering files the way I usually do has been difficult on these systems the older I build them haha. If you have an FTP server set up then MTCP package will help you out. You'll also need a DOS packet driver for that 3Com card - preferably load it in a separate DOS config since it'll be …

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Re: New to retro x86. 486DLC cache/A20 issues on mysterious mobo variant.

Posted on 2023-07-21, 08:56

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by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have to be on the look out for more of these mobos now. Next step is to try overclocking this thing. Just FYI the DLC chips don't really overclock, not from 40MHz upwards, and since the mobo pretty much runs at CPU bus frequency it will be a limiting factor as well. Usually stable 40MHz is as …

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Re: 286 "CHIPS" mainboard with missing parts...

Posted on 2023-07-21, 08:46

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've already tried 286 BIOS PLUS from Tulip's MB (with similar chipset) with no success . I only have four 27C128 EPROMs , therefore trying alternative ones (erasing/programing) is pretty time consuming 😉 Since you have a way to program chips, can you do a dump of the existing BIOS ROMs and link …

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Re: 286 "CHIPS" mainboard with missing parts...

Posted on 2023-07-20, 22:34

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh man, 360kB dives are extremaly hard to find around :( The mobo is not THAT old, it's already using semi-integrated chipset solution, and BIOS ROM is 2x 27C128, there's plenty of space for some setup code. What keys did you try to enter BIOS? Did you try CTRL+ALT+ESC? If you can't find a 360k …

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Re: Help needed: 486 Motherboard Repair (A-Trend ATC-1762)

Posted on 2023-07-20, 20:39

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by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Now I just need pointers on what to poke at with my new toy before I start desoldering the 7406.. You already drew a nice schematic - probe the 7406 inputs and outputs. To make it easier try to find some software that will drive the keyboard status LEDs, but without any input from the keyboard. On …

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Re: 286 "CHIPS" mainboard with missing parts...

Posted on 2023-07-20, 20:25

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The mainboard completes POST but there is another problem... It has a very old PHOENIX BIOS with 'external' setup program. But in order to run it I need to boot the system... I only have a 1.2MB 5.25" drive. It says seek failure, does it actually seek the floppy on boot? That is, the heads move …

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Re: New to retro x86. 486DLC cache/A20 issues on mysterious mobo variant.

Posted on 2023-07-20, 18:59

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So it LOOKS LIKE I don't actually need to change ANYTHING Yup, this is a HW circuit that generates the FLUSH signal on mobos that always HOLD the CPU on any DMA. Which AFAIK this OPTi chipset does. I hope I didn't send you on a merry chase for problems you don't have, but better to be sure then to …

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Re: Cpu write back cache causing issues.

Posted on 2023-07-20, 16:51

by

by Deunan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

For the SiS 496/7, you find copies of the latest revision of the datasheet which includes EDO RAM support, but no mention that this only applies to the latest hardware revision, and how to tell the revisions apart. Oh, good thing you told me that, I was just about to test some RAM sticks with that …

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