Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-04-18, 08:43

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Won an ABIT BE6-II for aprox. $50 (225RON, to be exact) which ships tomorrow. Just the mobo, nothing else. Now to decide what path should I go with it. Either 400MHz Deschutes, either a 500 or a 550 Katmai. And a recap is in order, of course.

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Re: ESD and you

Posted on 2022-04-17, 09:51

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I know it's not okay, but for slight stability tests and to check if everything works fine before installing into a case, a little carpet hasn't harmed any of my stuff, apparently. Though for most of the times, I was using either some old geography book from my grandma, or a mobo box to raise the …

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Re: ESD and you

Posted on 2022-04-17, 09:26

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have no idea how, but almost 99% of my hardware has sat , directly or indirectly, on a very very old soviet-style romanian carpet. It's still a miracle how they still work to this day. I've had countless boards set up on those kinds of carpets and yet none died, and keep in mind, some of these …

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Re: Desoldering help

Posted on 2022-04-17, 09:24

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh, and Biostar really is shite, of course. :P You can say that again. I've absolutely despised Biostar and try to avoid them as much as possible. ABIT isn't the greatest either (some of their newer boards were hot trash, but at this point I'm specifically talking about 775 era stuff.) but doesn't …

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Re: Windows 98 - USB 2.0 problem

Posted on 2022-04-17, 09:11

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Have you tried a NEC card? I've got one of those NEC 2.0 USB cards and it ran on absolutely any machine I'd throw at it, from 430VX all the way to i845 and i865.

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2022-04-17, 07:46

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by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Am hopefully on the right track to snatch what could possibly be my ONLY chance to get an 440BX ABIT mobo, a BE6-II. Here's high hopes I win it.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-04-13, 08:55

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

VIA K8T890 chipset, one of the last to support Windows 98. Board has PCI-E and SATA, AM2 socket which means it'll be a good Windows XP build with the 7900 GTX I'm planning to get for it. It'll also be good for native Aero on Longhorn betas, and torturing old hardware with Windows 11. This board was …

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Re: Your Retrogaming laptop/portable machine megathread (recommendations, tips, minutae)

Posted on 2022-04-08, 21:11

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I might have two: Gericom 1st Supersonic M6-T 1200MHz Intel Pentium III SL5GN 1200MHz Tualatin desktop chip 60GB WD Scorpio I recycled from some defunct Acer ATi Mobility Radeon M6P 32MB AGP - basically a sort of a Radeon 7000 (R100) but mobile. 512MB PC133 SDR - factory, 98SE didn't even complain …

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Re: P6BAT-A+ bios recovery. Help requested.

Posted on 2022-04-08, 09:23

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Try uniflash instead of AWDFLASH.

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Re: Pc hangs up as soon gpu is accessed

Posted on 2022-04-04, 15:01

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd replace them all even if optically good. I've had enough caps look good but be absolutely dead inside to warn anybody who does a recap to go ahead and do it on the whole board, and not just a certain section.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-04-03, 14:27

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You got me wondering - where are those pictures from? Those sights seem quite familiar to some bazaars I've been attending here in Romania. (mainly the one in my city, Bacau, and another one that's in Arad, that one being the city where I attend university)

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-04-03, 07:47

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Trash the Zumax. I've seen countless of them and that Topower logo is a gigantic lie. The Codegen... highly depends on what design it uses. The others are alright, although the Mitac might be an hybrid PSU - it uses AT plugs but it's actually an ATX PSU - the 5vSB line further proves that. It's …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-04-02, 17:42

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What's the lightbulb trick? Simple. A 60W traditional glass lightbulb with two wires soldered, installed in place of the main fuse that is present in the PSU. I forgot the in depth explanation for it but it basically limits the input current enough to not go up in flames (aka pop fireballs when …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-04-01, 15:41

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Again, anything that I use in my builds is usually tested outside any machine first, without anything connected besides a wire between GREEN and BLACK. Here's my methodology: - open up unit first, check for anything awry inside the PSU. Measure mains bridge rectifier to check if the 220v side is …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-04-01, 07:57

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

None. Whatever PSUs I've had pop, they were usually never connected to PCs. I first test them w/ the standard paperclip trick before ever installing them into my retro machines. That was before I discovered the lightbulb trick, where I now just replace the main AC fuse inside the PSU with a 60W …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-03-31, 08:02

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's gonna take some time, but I plan on diving into rebuilding AT PSUs as well, hopefully. Also hoping to restore them to a good unit that can provide a full 250W of power. I will also plan on doing the most ghetto ATX-AT conversion on a PSU in the future, going as far as rewiring the PS_ON green …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-03-30, 19:08

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks like a rebadged Seasonic. Wonder if it's from the HT series, as the casing and heatsinks kinda look like that.

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-03-30, 15:13

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Don't really need much of a thread to post one of my rebuilt units. 20220330_175848.jpg 20220330_175903.jpg 20220330_175906.jpg 20220330_175926.jpg 20220330_175918.jpg What was done to this unit: -transformers replaced. Those "LT" marked transformers weren't original to this unit. They came from a …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-03-30, 08:50

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by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I put it on the scale. I also took a photo of the innards. Do you have one that weighs even less? Oyyy YES believe me i have seen a PSU SO BAD it was light AF, and the casing was even more thin then most units out there and it was even smaller too total garbage... I dont own that "thing" anymore so …

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Re: crappy old power supplies

Posted on 2022-03-29, 18:58

by

by PcBytes

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You'll laugh, but Codegens are actually the less crappier section of the cheap PSUs. I've seen horribly gutless stuff that made Codegens look absolutely high-end tier in comparision. Pick your poison... (dont mind the bended PC case, it was alot more bended, the guy said that wardrobe fell on the …

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