Re: Missing conventional memory

Posted on 2020-12-11, 20:07

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Thank you for providing those screenshots. Run the Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD.EXE) and take a look at the memory map. Does it say anything is using the first 8K or the last 8K in the conventional memory area? Another tool that may be helpful if you can get it is the Quarterdeck Manifest diagnostics …

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Re: Missing conventional memory

Posted on 2020-12-11, 17:32

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Is that 631K total? Or 631k available? DOS itself needs memory to run, which includes IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS, as well as the command interpreter. A plain install will not be loading DOS into the HMA, so it must be loaded low into the 640K area. Use MEM /C /P to see a breakdown of what is consuming …

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Re: Missing conventional memory

Posted on 2020-12-11, 16:56

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Is that 631K total? Or 631k available? DOS itself needs memory to run, which includes IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS, as well as the command interpreter. A plain install will not be loading DOS into the HMA, so it must be loaded low into the 640K area. Use MEM /C /P to see a breakdown of what is consuming …

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Re: Yet another 486 DX4-100 build

Posted on 2020-12-11, 13:27

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The IDE port on the Sound Blaster card is usually set to tertiary port so as to not conflict with the primary and secondary ports that may exist on the motherboard. Assuming you don't need to initialize the IDE port on the sound card through a separate utility, you can specify that the CD-ROM device …

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Re: NIC issues on a Micronics M5Pi-10R motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-11, 01:28

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Huzzah! Success! Upon re-installing NT 3.51 (which, by the way, didn't like an unpartitioned hdd and unformatted partitions! I had to create a partition and format it before the NT boot disk would load properly even though this is a full version of NT), I decided to install the NIC drivers during NT …

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Re: DOS UDMA

Posted on 2020-12-11, 01:18

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You're already reaching speeds well above PIO. Programmed Input/Output (PIO) has 5 modes: Mode 0: 3.3MB/s Mode 1: 5.2 MB/s Mode 2: 8.3 MB/s Mode 3: 11.1 MB/s Mode 4: 16.7 MB/s UltraDMA picks up where PIO leaves off: Mode 0: 16.7 MB/s Mode 1: 25 MB/s Mode 2: 33.3 MB/s Mode 3: 66.7 MB/s Mode 4: 100 MB …

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Re: Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-10, 18:13

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I double-checked the traces on the motherboard. The motherboard is clean with no damage as best I can tell. It almost looks mint. The cache chips I bought off eBay are labeled W24M512AK-15. Not sure why this cache chip has an M in the model but the ones pshipkov suggested do not have an M. Are these …

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Re: NIC issues on a Micronics M5Pi-10R motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-10, 18:08

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by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I decided to test my hypothesis and I went ahead and installed Windows 95C on this system. Sure enough, after installing the 3COM drivers from the driver disk, the network card works. Interestingly though, Windows 95 only sees 16MB out of the 128MB installed. I know DOS/Win9x OSes query the BIOS for …

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Re: Yet another 486 DX4-100 build

Posted on 2020-12-10, 17:58

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by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Very nice looking build! I don't see people choosing the Intel 486 chip over the AMD 5x86 much anymore.

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Re: SpeedSys and "Divide overflow"

Posted on 2020-12-09, 16:32

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by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I believe SpeedSys prefers to run in real mode. Did you start DOS with a memory manager such as EMM386? If so, try booting without it and try again. You can press F5 when you see Starting MS-DOS... (or Starting PC DOS...) if you have DOS 6 or later.

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Re: What music are you listening to?

Posted on 2020-12-09, 16:20

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by OzzFan

in Milliways

in Milliways

The last thing I listened to was Blizzard of Ozzy Yule Log, put out on Ozzy's official YouTube channel.

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Re: NIC issues on a Micronics M5Pi-10R motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-08, 20:58

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi dionb, thanks for posting! Glad I'm not the only one that's had these weird issues. I've seen the settings you're talking about in other motherboards, but this BIOS seems incredibly limited; I don't see the PCI INT assignments on the two whole pages of configuration item the BIOS provides. In …

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Re: NIC issues on a Micronics M5Pi-10R motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-08, 17:58

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

After more digging and research, I noticed there's an option in the BIOS to either allocate no IRQ to PCI, or allocate IRQ 9, 11, or 15 to the first PCI card, and subsequent PCI cards will receive the next available IRQ. I've tried all three IRQ options and none worked. I then booted off a Win98SE …

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Re: My little PC collection, Xmas Special 2020 ;-)

Posted on 2020-12-08, 04:40

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by OzzFan

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nice machine! I also started with a 486, but back in 1991. SX 25MHz. 2MB RAM. No L2 cache. No CD-ROM. No sound card. It came with PC DOS 6.0. No Windows. 130MB Conner HDD. Can't wait to see the rest of your collection! I've been thinking of doing something similar and showing off my collection.

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Re: Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-08, 04:21

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks! I do like the features of the board and I'd like to realize it's full potential. I double-checked the BIOS and the L2 cache is enabled. The startup information screen even shows 256KB of L2 cache. I don't overclock so the base clock is at 33MHz for the DX4/100 I have installed. I checked the …

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Help finding the correct SRAM chips for Asus VL/I-486SV2GX4 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-08, 00:11

by

by OzzFan

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The SRAM chips I bought off fleabay don't seem to work with my board. The BIOS shows the SRAM installed but every software utility I use (speedsys, cachechk) indicate the SRAM isn't working. I think I received fake chips. So... once bitten, twice shy. Not sure if I want to buy off eBay again. I …

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Re: Retro confessions. What are yours?

Posted on 2020-12-06, 00:55

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by OzzFan

in Milliways

in Milliways

Security levels and account controls where present in the NT line way before Vista. The UAC is something different, and not really unrelated. Although Vista introduces the "Vista Security Model" in which an Administrator doesn't run programs with admin rights by default, but only if they said 'yes' …

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Re: Retro confessions. What are yours?

Posted on 2020-12-05, 21:49

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by OzzFan

in Milliways

in Milliways

That's not a security feature, not really. It still relies on the user to be one (or not). Only if you're looking at it from the perspective of someone who has local administrator rights to your own machine, I agree. And for most home users, it was a bad implementation that only served to bother …

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Re: Retro confessions. What are yours?

Posted on 2020-12-05, 21:44

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by OzzFan

in Milliways

in Milliways

I also think Win Vista wasn't that horrible -- it's just consumer's computers of that time which were mostly designed with XP or even older OS in mind. I like the added security features Yeah everyone loved being asked for permission every time you wanted to run a program or move the mouse. 😁 …

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Re: Retro confessions. What are yours?

Posted on 2020-12-05, 20:01

by

by OzzFan

in Milliways

in Milliways

Contrary to popular belief, it's very stable, provided you don't install weird crap and/or bad drivers. I also think Win Vista wasn't that horrible -- it's just consumer's computers of that time which were mostly designed with XP or even older OS in mind. I actually prefer Vista over XP. The …

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