Re: How often do you purchase retro hardware?

Posted on 2022-04-08, 08:04

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by KCompRoom2000

in Milliways

in Milliways

Not very often anymore. I usually only buy hardware when I find that I need it for something, the last thing I bought was a graphics card for my Tualatin rig since its old card was constantly overheating, that was over a month ago. Prior to that, it was some stuff I bought at RE-PC last July. I …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2022-03-20, 00:23

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I bought another nVidia Geforce4 Ti4200 128MB AGP 8x graphics card on eBay to replace my last one which died from overheating. The seller stated that it was fully tested and confirmed working, so hopefully this will outlast my previous one. Filename IMG_3037.JPG File size 482.81 KiB Views 1489 …

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Re: What Stupid Thing Have You Done Recently with Your Retro Gaming Machine?

Posted on 2022-03-17, 04:14

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I bought a couple Original XBOX controller breakout cables with the intention of making a USB adapter cable out of one of them by following the wiring diagram in this link . I already had the XBCD drivers installed on the machine I was testing it with (my Athlon 64 rig) and I wired the USB plug …

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Re: Windows 7 question

Posted on 2022-03-04, 22:16

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Good technique and helpful information. I always wondered if Windows Vista/7 could be livable without activation. I may try this out in the future. The activation cut-off for Windows Vista/7 is 30 days, after that point you will be prompted to activate Windows. You can choose to activate later and …

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Re: Best version of directx for Windows ME

Posted on 2022-03-04, 22:10

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

For what it's worth, I use DirectX 9.0a on my higher tier Windows 9x rig because it's the version that my sound card driver (Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS) requires. I haven't had any issues related to it so far. I've used both Windows 98SE and ME on this computer. I was experiencing issues with the …

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Re: Having Issues running Windows 98SE on my Dell GX150

Posted on 2022-03-02, 09:09

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

when things crash with games only and nothing else, usually it points to the graphics card. Either the driver version you are using is crashing that specific game, or the card is going bad. If no other games crash and its just that one, it points to driver incompatibility. So you can try using a …

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Re: Dell Optiplex GX150 problems --Help Me Please

Posted on 2022-03-02, 05:09

by

by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm having similar issues too. Now that I think about it and the fact that you've had basically the same issues that I have, I wonder if there's something about Windows 9x that the Dell Optiplex GX150 computers don't like. 🤔

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Re: Having Issues running Windows 98SE on my Dell GX150

Posted on 2022-03-02, 04:48

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

I've just installed Windows ME and I'm still having issues running Monster Truck Madness 2. I've also tried the Microsoft Windows Security CD February 2004 when it was running Windows 98SE and it still didn't help. So, what could be the problem? Bad capacitors (even though I've already stated that …

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Having Issues running Windows 98SE on my Dell GX150

Posted on 2022-03-02, 01:52

by

by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ Software

in Marvin \ Software

Hello. Lately I've been having some strange issues regarding Windows 98SE on my Dell Optiplex GX150. Whenever I try to run certain games (Monster Truck Madness 2, for example), the computer restarts or it freezes. Oddly enough, I don't have this issue on Windows ME, but I'd really like to get …

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Re: What Stupid Thing Have You Done Recently with Your Retro Gaming Machine?

Posted on 2022-02-21, 10:41

by

by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Last year, I had to put new glue on the front panel of one of my computers because the glue that held the crack on it dried up. To make things safer, I removed the front panel from the computer before applying glue to it. I made note of how the front panel connected to the motherboard before …

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Re: Is there Anyone "Overpaying" for Hardware and Proud of it? Well, maybe not Proud, but...

Posted on 2022-02-21, 10:31

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I try not to overspend on older computer hardware, especially if it's something that has been mass-produced to the point where it's commonplace. The ONLY time I would overspend is if I felt that I desperately needed something and I had the money for it, even then I would have a bad feeling like I …

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Re: Windows 11 has been released

Posted on 2022-02-19, 08:44

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by KCompRoom2000

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

We've been through this before. Mine doesn't do that, and never did, and I run Win10 Pro on several different systems. I believe there were other testimonies from users who could not replicate the behavior you described. Hence it must have been a problem with your setup (which may affect a certain …

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Re: Windows 11 has been released

Posted on 2022-02-19, 08:25

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by KCompRoom2000

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

Windows 11 Pro will soon require an account and online access. My wife is a former Solaris/Linux admin. I think I know my destiny in the near future. https://gizmodo.com/windows-11-pro-will-soon-require-a-microsoft-account-1848562900 Considering Windows 10 (ever since build 1909) would give you a …

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Re: Windows 98 DirectX Framerate Limiter

Posted on 2022-02-19, 08:16

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by KCompRoom2000

in Windows

in Windows

By any chance would the dxfpscap utility work with the PC version of Spiderman (2000) on Windows 9x? I remember that game had a bug where you couldn't get past the Scale the Girders level without using FRAPS or a similar utility to limit the frame rate to 30 fps, so I figured it'd be worth using …

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Things you regret passing up on?

Posted on 2022-02-16, 07:15

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by KCompRoom2000

in Milliways

in Milliways

Since we have a topic on things we regret getting rid of, I thought it would be appropriate to have a topic where we can discuss things you regret passing up on during store visits. At one point, I remember finding a Toshiba Pentium 1 laptop at a Value Village store. I used to regret passing up on …

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Re: Anyone know about old laptop floppy drives?

Posted on 2022-02-15, 03:55

by

by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Would it be worth the effort to attempt to make an adapter cable to use a more modern slim floppy drive (0.50 mm pitch connector) in place of the older style floppy drive (1.27 mm pitch connector) that these Toshiba laptops use? I've been doing research as well as experimentation on adapting the …

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Re: any Vectra fans slinking about?

Posted on 2022-02-15, 03:37

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have an HP e-Vectra/e-PC C10 Ultra Small Form Factor desktop from my childhood, I'm sure that counts since it's technically a "Vectra" (it's in its name). On December of 2005, my dad's workplace was downsizing their computer inventory, so he brought home two HP/Compaq USFF desktops (the other one …

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

Posted on 2022-02-13, 20:42

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Look for broken traces or missing SMD capacitors. This is the most common failure of vintage computer parts if it's not a busted capacitor. There are no SMD capacitors on that motherboard. Though it's possible that I messed up the traces when I was soldering some of the capacitors, I was having a …

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

Posted on 2022-02-13, 20:27

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I spent last night replacing the capacitors on an ASUS M2N61-AX motherboard that I got from a friend who was downsizing. This was the first time I've recapped a motherboard (and it won't be my last). Unfortunately, the board still wouldn't post afterwards, what happened was the CPU fan sped itself …

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

Posted on 2022-02-13, 05:14

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by KCompRoom2000

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

A screenless Dell Latitude CPi D266XT has arrived in the mail today, so I took the time to fully disassemble it and my Dell Latitude CP M166ST for a restoration project. The palmrest on my M166ST had its lower screw posts broken and the clips that held it onto the bottom were broken, so I ended up …

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