Re: ASUS P2B 1.04 BIOS update always fails on verification

Posted on 2020-12-31, 21:00

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wow, it seems I had a fake P2B - I had no idea they can be counterfeit. I no longer have it - sold in favour of P3B (and I suspect one of my P3Bs is counterfeit too) - but got some photos. Amazing - it was so well made - really nice quality - mine was like brand new and worked flawlessly (besides …

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Re: Your favorite retro socket/platform

Posted on 2020-07-13, 22:07

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Slot 1 because: - this was the first platform I build a pc from single parts I've bought - CPU from PII 233MHz up. to P3 1GHz and even Tualatins 1,4GHz are possible - AGP slot - up to 3 ISA slots - jumperless Its the most versatile platform possible - allowing to play old DOS games with compatible …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-06-18, 09:23

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some cards I saved from the crusher today. Pulled from complete PCs... Beside some cards missing the bracket (not a problem I have some spares) they are in very good visual condition... Amazing - well done - really such stuff can be found in Poland? Maybe you need help in saving some more retro …

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Re: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for in windows98 dos prompt

Posted on 2020-05-17, 17:12

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I was playing with it a little bit - reinstalling drivers, using WDM but I gained nothing but bluescreens and yellow triangle next to audigy device :/ First, check if you have a Dell version of the card or a standard one from Creative. If there are three white stickers on the back side of the card, …

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Re: Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for in windows98 dos prompt

Posted on 2020-05-16, 21:28

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have a problem setting up A2 ZS in windows 98 and using for DOS prompt. I've not used any driver installer - just provided VXD drivers when windows asked for and it was installed fine. Sound in windows works normally, but I cannot set this sound card in any DOS games using prompt (card in device …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-04-29, 18:08

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Managed to snag an Elsa Geforce 2 Ultra card for about $50. I had exactly this Elsa model like 20 years ago - with Thermaltake Crystal Orb - overclocked nicely :) But this was the only graphic card I had replaced under warranty ;) I had it with 3d Glasses that worked only with CRT screens and high …

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Fixing Damaged AOpen AX59-pro

Posted on 2020-04-14, 13:00

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I started to check my damaged AX59 - bought it that way for parts, but after some verification I thought that it may be possible to repair it actually (seller wrote that he did not try to run it after damage was done). I found two damages that need fixing - 3 legs ripped off from Southbridge and the …

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Re: Yamaha YMF7x4 Guide

Posted on 2020-04-12, 15:36

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Check the 5-th picture: https://www.ebay.com/itm/254017434013 -> https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/LWEAAOSwzZNcC72E/s-l1600.jpg - one of those cards have pretty much the same markings.

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Re: Yamaha YMF7x4 Guide

Posted on 2020-04-12, 08:51

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Looks real to me. The package size of the chip is correct. A quick search of the model number brings up that it was made / sold by Sound Vision. See here for a youtube video: https://youtu.be/KGIfaVyU6Kc The remarked / fake cards usually / always have some model of CMI chip and the drivers that …

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Re: Yamaha YMF7x4 Guide

Posted on 2020-04-11, 20:53

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

There is some info about fake yamaha cards - I got SV550 YMF724F made in China - just finished cleaning and I had to remove the sticker from the back and then - hello - damaged soldermask. I've noticed some darker spots in other places. It works with original drivers. I wonder if this is a fake.

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Re: How to test midi on sound cards?

Posted on 2020-04-11, 09:58

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I want to test how different samples sound on different sound cards - and determine which one I like the most - basically for fun of using old hardware. MIDI is not going to have a difference between sound cards, unless the sound card in question has bugs in its MIDI implementation, because as …

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Re: ESS AudioDrive (ES1868) - a surprisingly good ISA sound card

Posted on 2020-04-09, 20:33

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've got a question regarding the card I have (picture attached) - it looks different than the ones I saw - branded by Compaq. I have it for like 15 years. Is it any good? Does anyone know this specific model? This is ES1869 not 68 - not sure how different they are.

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-04-09, 17:54

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got YMF724 and AWE64 (my second one) - Creative looks brand new. Yamaha - well shame that on the other side it says "Made in China" 😉

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Re: How to test midi on sound cards?

Posted on 2020-04-09, 13:07

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I'll check players from this site: http://dosprograms.info.tt/sound.htm - GSplay and DOSMid seem nice + some midi files I can find that seem to be well prepared. I was asking for midi players as there are some players that actually simulate midi by software processing - but I see that DOS ones have …

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Re: How to test midi on sound cards?

Posted on 2020-04-08, 16:32

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I want to test how different samples sound on different sound cards - and determine which one I like the most - basically for fun of using old hardware.

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How to test midi on sound cards?

Posted on 2020-04-08, 13:44

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Testing the sound in general is quite obvious - but what about midi? I was trying games at first but its not that straight forward and I don't have many games with good midi - and its hard to get them nowadays - also not very optimal to buy them just to test sound ;) I even found a demo of Secret of …

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Re: Vogons members average motherboard collection size

Posted on 2020-04-01, 18:19

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I started to buy retro stuff like a year ago - before I usually sold what I got - especially missing ASUS TUSL2-C (still got the box) as well as AOpen AX6B and AX6BC (got AX6B+ though). Right now: AOpen AX6B+, Asus Cubx-e, Asus P3B-F (2x), Asus P5A, AOpen Ax59pro (dead), Dell 2H240 (OptiPlex GX150), …

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Re: Non-ISA sound cards for DOS

Posted on 2020-04-01, 10:50

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All right - I think I see it now - will try windows 98 as much as I can and will check Dosbox (last time used dosbox probably 10 years ago or more and my laptop was not able to get good fps on quite many games) for those that won't run on windows. I'm thinking of something supporting SATA natively …

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Re: Non-ISA sound cards for DOS

Posted on 2020-04-01, 07:29

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Why would you torment yourself with pure DOS on a system without ISA ports? At least use Win98 and take advantage of far better drivers, e.g. under Win98 the SBLive! has pretty good DOS emulation, as does the Audigy. I may remember incorrectly as most of my DOS gaming was in the middle of 90's, but …

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Non-ISA sound cards for DOS

Posted on 2020-03-31, 14:41

by

by varrol

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm starting to think of something - lets say - more modern or usefull for retro gaming. Playing with old hardware is a lot of fun, but as its old it is not always working perfectly, may broke and is in many cases expensive. The biggest issue is sound card - for thin clients or laptops there is not …

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