Re: Socket 7 PC Build

Posted on 2016-12-06, 19:32

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So, basically the only "budget" thing in that build is the motherboard :) I bought an old PC a while back that was actually a budget PC and probably from 1997. It also has a SiS 5598 motherboard, but only 16MB of RAM in two 72-pin SIMMs, and a Pentium 120MHz. No expansion cards, it's all built-in …

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-29, 17:27

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Alright, my CT3600 just came back to life :D I replaced the 74HCT4053 with another one from a AWE64 Value broken beyond repair. I had to buy a hot air station though, but I can already tell it's going to be extremely useful. So, that's 2 CT3600 repaired thanks to this thread! Now, the only one left …

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Re: ID this DX2-66 CPU

Posted on 2016-11-29, 17:23

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a SX911 &E5V1X that is very similar to that one. Mine says: 8514246FCB/A4/GR 24. Also marked i66, but the diagonal golden trace/line/whatever that marks pin 1 is a bit shorter. The plate size is the same.

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-29, 12:13

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yeah, after reading the multiplexer's datasheet a little more I think I understand the input/output thing. The pins function as either input or output depending on how you use it. In this case it's used as a multiplexer, so pins 4, 14 and 15 are outputs. If it was being used as a demultiplexer these …

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Re: Period Correct 2D Card

Posted on 2016-11-29, 11:26

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well, the LX chipset is from August 1997, so I would say any card released between early 1997 and a year later would be period correct. I vote for Riva 128 or Ati Rage II or Rage Pro. S3 Virge GX2 was what I had in my 1998 Pentium II 266MHz, together with a Matrox m3D.

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-29, 11:16

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Check the 5V and -5V regulators, they are fed from the 12V and -12V rails. Tested them and they both output the correct voltages. I then followed the audio path from the output back to the multiplexer chip and here's where things get interesting, and by interesting I mean bad. I used wires …

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-25, 15:23

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Damn ! I feel dizzy again trying to grasp terms like scope and TO92 5V regulators :angry: Is this a component with three legs ? I just don't want to hurt my SB32 learning stuff ! "Scope": oscilloscope "TO92 5V regulator": yes, a small three legged component like a transistor, but with markings like …

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-24, 16:04

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No, nothing works correctly in my case, which would seem to indicate a problem after the mixer right? I don't have a scope, but I can use powered speakers to test the audio path by ear.

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-24, 15:41

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

James-F wrote: Very typical when the TO92 5v regulators die, all the op-amps are fed from them. If that's the issue then it's super easy to diagnose and fix 😳 I hope you're right!

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Re: SB32 CT3600 sound only on left channel

Posted on 2016-11-24, 15:21

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a CT3600 where both channels are really really low in terms of sound volume, and the sound is also distorted. I have to turn the volume controls all the way up to be able to faintly hear anything. Have you checked if the silent channel you have isn't having this same problem? If it is, then I …

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Re: 486 DX2 Motherboard w/ VLB Controller cant see CF Card

Posted on 2016-11-20, 20:50

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This probably isn't the problem with your floppy drives, but I also had one of my 5,25" drives exhibit that same behavior of no movement at all. I manually moved the head assembly a bit and that seems to have fixed it. It was stuck or something, but in your case I find it hard to believe that 3 …

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Re: 486 DX2 Motherboard w/ VLB Controller cant see CF Card

Posted on 2016-11-19, 18:22

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What if you replace the CF with an actual HDD? Does it solve your issues? I also had a problem with a CF adapter in a PC and the only solution was to move the adapter + CF to the secondary IDE channel. On the primary there were all sorts of issues. This was with an integrated IDE controller on a SiS …

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Re: Socket 7 PC Build

Posted on 2016-11-15, 18:37

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hey, it's your build, so you can do with it what you want 😀 Just pointing out stuff that caught my eye in your post. I had a DX2-66 in 1996 still, so I also didn't (properly) experience those games until 1998.

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Re: Socket 7 PC Build

Posted on 2016-11-15, 17:10

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

We really skipped over the Pentium and Pentium MMX era computers, which was fine as I don't remember there being a lot, if any, games that really made me think I was missing out OMG!! MDK, POD, GP2, Tomb Raider, Quake, Diablo, Fire Fight... ...represent a new budget computer from 1996. For example, …

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Re: 486 DX2 Motherboard w/ VLB Controller cant see CF Card

Posted on 2016-11-15, 16:55

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had a similar issue a while back. CF card wasn't detected on a particular VLB controller, although HDD was. Exchanging it with another controller card (either VLB or ISA) fixed it. Not sure why that is, because the ISA controller I tried was from 1990 so, if anything, I expected that one to be …

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Re: 486 DX2 Motherboard w/ VLB Controller cant see CF Card

Posted on 2016-11-15, 14:27

by

by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What happens if you use an ISA IDE controller?

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Re: Is it possible to smoke a hard drive?

Posted on 2016-11-09, 22:55

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by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Usually when tantalum caps fail, they blow up very audibly and spectacularly. If this was just a smell of burnt plastic/electronics and a puff of smoke it was most likely a resistor or an IC being pushed way beyond its limits, probably by a fault somewhere else.

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Re: Socket 7 cpu with passive cooling

Posted on 2016-11-07, 16:35

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by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

... I noticed from the patterns of dusty HSFs, that even though the middle of the heat conductive base plate (or whatever these are called) would typically be the hottest part, HSFs that have the fan on top of it, actually cool worse in the middle and better at the edges. That's due to the "dead …

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Re: pentium 233mmx vs k6-3 @ 233

Posted on 2016-11-03, 21:20

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by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

"Which is better, X or Y?" always starts WW3 😁

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Re: pentium 233mmx vs k6-3 @ 233

Posted on 2016-11-03, 20:18

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by devius

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

mrau wrote: devius wrote: - K6-2 233MHz is about 26% faster in Integer and 17% faster in FP with 3dnow only i guess? I don't think so. I believe that test was using generic code, and the K6-2 is faster than a regular K6 so those numbers look correct to me even without 3DNow.

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