Is that Antec Three Hundred I spy in this build? Loved that case, it used to house Assassin before I moved it into Define R6... and long before it was called that. Brings back memories... Come to think of it, it was the first case I used that wasn't an El Cheapo, and wouldn't house El Cheapo components.

There was one other expensive system before it, actually similar to your build: a 440GX-based Dell PowerEdge 2300. I used to love that thing, it had dual Slot 1, 1Gb of Registered RAM, SCSI with hot plug and all that nice server goodness. But it was "backwards". The board was at the opposite. Good old Dell, compatibility is our Nr. 1 priority. Ruining it, that is. And it didn't have AGP. Who needs that on a server, right? Still, with 1 GHz P3 and a PCI version of GeForce 6200, it would run Lineage II... to an extent. Now I'm sad it went the same way many of my older systems did... and, given how enormous and heavy it was, I doubt anyone picked it up either.

digicube wrote on 2021-01-13, 19:03:

I installed the chipset utility from ASUS website. https://www.asus.com/supportonly/P2B-B/HelpDesk_download
3.20.1008.zip freezes the computer, screen goes black, no signal. Uninstalling XUSBSUPP and then reinstalling gives same result.

I'm not sure what version Asus has but it'll just be a repacked one from Intel. maybe try a version between that and 3.20.1008?
but I'm not really sure. 98SE is the earliest OS I've installed and that looks install the drivers fine (I don't actually use USB so never tested)

Tali wrote on 2021-01-13, 20:15:

Is that Antec Three Hundred I spy in this build? Loved that case, it used to house Assassin before I moved it into Define R6... and long before it was called that. Brings back memories... Come to think of it, it was the first case I used that wasn't an El Cheapo, and wouldn't house El Cheapo components.

There was one other expensive system before it, actually similar to your build: a 440GX-based Dell PowerEdge 2300. I used to love that thing, it had dual Slot 1, 1Gb of Registered RAM, SCSI with hot plug and all that nice server goodness. But it was "backwards". The board was at the opposite. Good old Dell, compatibility is our Nr. 1 priority. Ruining it, that is. And it didn't have AGP. Who needs that on a server, right? Still, with 1 GHz P3 and a PCI version of GeForce 6200, it would run Lineage II... to an extent. Now I'm sad it went the same way many of my older systems did... and, given how enormous and heavy it was, I doubt anyone picked it up either.

Indeed it is, mentioned it in an earlier post but its actually a hand me down case from a work machine and to thing for about 3 years I'd been using it as a stool or seat in a "server room" of sorts. Wasn't till I used it in this build did I appreciate what a good case it really is, so much so I brought another a few years ago for my PPro build which is stacked under this one

I've actually reused the case also, it now houses a HTPC (I use that term loosely, it is powerful enough to run Steam to stream Cyberpunk from Sorceress across 100km from another town via a VPN 😀, and the blue lighting is just icing on the cake. Works well that the mobo has blue accents, and the OCZ RevoDrive for an SSD (another legacy item, and, probably, a collector's item nowadays) also has blue-violet activity indicators inside. I was anal enough about the build back in the day that I even picked a BD-ROM/DVDRW combo with specifically blue led at the front. Still works, still looks awesome.

As for sitting on it, never tried, but it is a solid case, for sure. But yes, sadly, its age shows - working on it is nowhere near as convenient in comparison with Fractal Design, as it was compared to nameless white sharp-edged U-shaped boxes we so love here back when those were the norm.

I just installed NT4, went smoothly, no surprise since it's dual CPU mobo. Hard part is not having device manager to see what's working or not.

Tali wrote on 2021-01-14, 20:17:

But yes, sadly, its age shows - working on it is nowhere near as convenient in comparison with Fractal Design, as it was compared to nameless white sharp-edged U-shaped boxes we so love here back when those were the norm.

Yeh my newer (yet also no longer in production case of choice is the Corsair Obsidian 750d) which does make the Antec look rather budget, but then even new they were in different price ranges.

digicube wrote on 2021-01-15, 01:56:

I just installed NT4, went smoothly, no surprise since it's dual CPU mobo. Hard part is not having device manager to see what's working or not.

True, we know that USB wont be though as NT4 doesn't support that. but it's a good match for the system and NT4 has a certain charm. Shame its just so crap at games.

Nt4 is fine with onboard usb controllers + standard input devices such as keyboards and mice.

How about thumb drives? Has anyone got it to work?

Usb devices require drivers, like everything else.
The more recent operating systems cover that pretty well for thumb drives and other common stuff, but nt4 is before that time.
If you don't have an nt4 driver, then the usb device in question won't work.
Eaarly mobos take care of usb keyboards, some of them handle mouse as well, but that's pretty much it.

https://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm

You can access external usb drives etc on NT4 but it's a quite clunky. Have fun!

Thanks. ION 4.06 driver works with 32GB USB2 thumb drives.

My P2B-DS ran dual 800MHz Coppermines with no VRM mod needed or anything out of spec. Only a BIOS update. I don't remember which one. Did it with a diskette. Asus docs said that a BIOS upgrade prior to Coppermine from factory default was needed. I followed instruction, and the system ran out of the box. Generic unbranded Socket 370 adapters with pins according to CPU spec. No overvoltaging or anything. Follow docs, get a running computer. No compatibility issues. Paper manual was outdated, but web PDF had all the updated jumper settings.

Just to share my recent P2B-DS build 😀

2 x Pentium II 333MHz
768MB Ram PC133 C2
ASUS V7700
Isa Sound Card
Sata adapter
120GB SSD
Thermaltake Passive PSU

I've run NT 3.51, NT 4, and Solaris 8 on my dual coppermine Epox machine. Much the same as yours, except it's fully populated with 1gb of DIMMs.

The level of performance is almost pornographic. Enjoy.

Just replace cpus with 2 x Pentium II 400 MHz and better heatsinks and 1GB Ram 4x256GB CL2

very nice, I do like these old high end systems in modern cases. I still haven't upgraded mine to the full 1GB yet 🙁