Re: Wanna build a Windows 98 gaming PC, but could use some pointers

Posted on 2021-10-17, 11:13

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Those are pretty big questions. :smile_cat: Where do you live (general area)? That would affect your options of available brick'n'mortar stores and access to e-waste recycling centers. What are the oldest and newest games you plan to play? How much time and money do you plan to spend searching for …

---

Re: Windows 98se Install Hell

Posted on 2021-10-17, 07:32

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz processor 17-inch glossy widescreen (1440 x 900) nVidia 7300 Go graphics card 120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive 1GB RAM 802.11 a/b/g Wireless via Intel 3945abg card DVD dual layer burner Those specs were not designed for Win98SE but WinXP: Win98SE does not utilize multi- …

---

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

Posted on 2021-10-17, 06:32

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

(didn't even need to inject SATA drivers which I wasn't expecting) Same happened to my XP build when installing WinXP Pro 32-bit SP2 on a Gigabyte GA-P31-ES3G + C2D E7400; the very same WinXP disc asked SATA drivers on an MSI K9A2 Platinum + Athlon 64 X2 5000+. I wonder why the Gigabyte MB waived …

---

Re: old Laptop CMOS batteries still holding charge just fine, should be replaced/removed anyway?

Posted on 2021-10-17, 06:24

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

What about the 1997 laptops?, i do have a three of them, 1 standard Pentium, the others are MMX: Toshiba Tecra 500CDT Compaq Presario 1620 Dell Latitude LM M166ST I'm not too familiar with those models but I managed to find some video and manuals: How To Remove the BIOS Battery From a Vintage …

---

Re: old Laptop CMOS batteries still holding charge just fine, should be replaced/removed anyway?

Posted on 2021-10-17, 05:24

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Toshiba Satellite 2800 series use rechargeable NiMH batteries for RTC: 2021-10-17_131001.gif In terms of leakage they are safer than NiCd or alkaline batteries, but there's still a small degree of risk, particularly if they have been depleted over long periods. I'd suggest replacing it with modern …

---

Re: Right to repair discussion (split from What retro activity did you get up to today?)

Posted on 2021-10-17, 04:50

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Jed118 wrote on 2021-10-17, 03:38: Ah yes, in Poland, we called this "kombinacje" (that word has several implications though). Is that word similar to "jugaad" in South Asian languages?

---

Re: Help! Pentium II PC doesn't like HDDs

Posted on 2021-10-17, 03:25

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The BIOS "Detect IDE hard drives" screen finds the HDD with the correct size ... ... but when booting I get "Master Hard Drive failure" (or something along those lines) during POST I don't hear the drive spin up (though it could just be drowned out by all the other noise) The master/slave jumper …

---

Re: Right to repair discussion (split from What retro activity did you get up to today?)

Posted on 2021-10-17, 01:41

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, I wonder how long ATX will be around. We've never had standardization in the laptop space. The big computer makers would like to do the same for desktops. Own a Dell and want to upgrade the video card? Sorry, only Dell-made cards will fit your computer.... My 1995 vintage Dell Dimension XPS …

---

Re: Right to repair discussion (split from What retro activity did you get up to today?)

Posted on 2021-10-16, 14:46

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a pair of googles for my motorcycle helmet. It's elastic band degrades over time, so instead of buying a new pair of googles I asked my Mom to replace the elastic band with her sewing machine. By some people's standard, this action makes my Mom a criminal. 🙄

---

Re: Right to repair discussion (split from What retro activity did you get up to today?)

Posted on 2021-10-16, 08:11

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

vetz wrote on 2021-10-16, 06:55: Posts have been split and this new thread have gone through some cleaning. Many posts have been restored (albeit in edited form) to give context. Thanks vetz. I've noticed a small technical bug though: moved posts, as well as this very thread, don't appear in "Your …

---

Re: 386 board that takes 64mb ram?

Posted on 2021-10-16, 04:39

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

cyberluke wrote on 2021-10-14, 08:46: PC Chips not good? I was thinking it is sought after. It's a Taiwanese shame (or lack thereof). Problems with the L2 cache on my new PC Chips M919 M919 Fake Cache and a Reproduction L2 Cache Module Replacing fake cache in the 486 build bad mainboards

---

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

Posted on 2021-10-15, 14:05

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

3rd party repair shops never fixed a thing properly for me, or my parents and my friends. Never. They even broke completely a computer that was perfectly fine in general (stealing parts as well) whose problem was only essentially power (not turning on). We had to bin this computer because of stolen …

---

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

Posted on 2021-10-15, 13:32

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd just buy a new one. I respect the laws. I hope your monitor won't explode on your face for doing an illegal and unauthorized repair and that you fully knew the risks in doing so. The repair specialist showed me he chose high quality MIJ capacitors and allowed me to watch him for the entire …

---

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

Posted on 2021-10-15, 13:10

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Unauthorized repair shops not doing authorized repairs should be prosecuted by the law, because it is illegal. 3rd party repair shops are not trustworthy. Right to Repair is illegal. End of story. Wow. Just. Wow. My Asus PA249Q monitor failed to turn on this February. I brought it to Asus' own …

---

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

Posted on 2021-10-15, 04:54

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Learnt the hard way with my SIMM-30 RAM on my 3/486WB board that had faults (either didn't POST or would boot, but everything crashed). Similar situation here: the two PC133 256 MB sticks could boot into "Safe mode command prompt only" of Win98SE, but entering GUI would crash. OTOH the PC100 64 MB …

---

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

Posted on 2021-10-15, 03:16

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just tested my all eight SDR SDRAM with MemTest86 for the first time yesterday and found three of them were quite faulty. 😿 Will test EDO RAM x5 and DDR SDRAM x13 later today.

---

Re: Spectrum Holobyte DOS Tetris - DOSBox sound config?

Posted on 2021-10-14, 02:16

by

by dormcat

in DOSBox Games/Apps

in DOSBox Games/Apps

Are we talking about the 1988 game? I'm asking because the plane makes a pass but never lands :) Unless I'm terribly mistaken it only has pc speaker sound. The original 1988 Tetris had PC speaker only. The 1992 Tetris Classic has up to 11 sound options: Tetris_Classic_sound_option.jpg I've never …

---

Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2021-10-13, 06:11

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Brawndo wrote on 2021-10-13, 04:38: Everything appears to work, and all for five bucks! Unbelievable...... I'd never expect a for-profit or even a philanthropist thrift store would have such a low price; only moving sales, selling deceased relative's belongings, or hand-me-down from close friends …

---

Re: Searching for good Network card 99-2k1

Posted on 2021-10-13, 06:03

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Many Socket A MB in 2003 had built-in Ethernet socket(s); my (ex-)Asus A7N8X Deluxe had two, driven by BroadCom AC101L and Realtek 8201BL, respectively. Argh! I should have written that article which is in the pipe for many years...about PHYs. What is a PHY (Physical Layer Transeiver)? -> https:// …

---

Re: Searching for good Network card 99-2k1

Posted on 2021-10-12, 20:16

by

by dormcat

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Which motherboard (relevant because of PCI version and voltage)? 2003 Socket-A Any specific MB make / model? Or if you are still looking for candidates? Many Socket A MB in 2003 had built-in Ethernet socket(s); my (ex-)Asus A7N8X Deluxe had two, driven by BroadCom AC101L and Realtek 8201BL, …

---