Nice find on the new board!
It seems it already has the right voltage regulater for regular pentium processors, so swapping should be trouble-free.
Although it is a little time-consuming to replace the board you'll see it isn't more difficult than swapping an ATX board in a normal case.

Limpem wrote on 2022-01-17, 11:58:

Nice find on the new board!
It seems it already has the right voltage regulater for regular pentium processors, so swapping should be trouble-free.
Although it is a little time-consuming to replace the board you'll see it isn't more difficult than swapping an ATX board in a normal case.

Also bought from same seller a power supply to keep it as spare as it seems to be proprietary with some weird aditional plugs. If it fails one day I dont think I can replace with a standard AT or ATX power supply.
I tested the board today and it boots fine, so I think I will go with the upgrade.

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-20, 14:09:

Also tried this USB2.0 PCI card with two ports, to use with a Zip100 USB drive, but windows 98 becomes very unstable and frequently freezes, so decided to remove it.

I will try later a different branded USB card that I should have in my spare retro junk.

I know this is dated but I am working on an Aptiva 2176-C6B with the SIS chipset Rev A motherboard. Which USB card did you end up having the best of luck with? I am using a Via VT6212L based card by startech and I have issues with not booting if a USB drive is plugged in and a couple other oddities. Just curious what you had the best success with. Thanks!

9646gt wrote on 2023-03-08, 21:16:

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-20, 14:09:

Also tried this USB2.0 PCI card with two ports, to use with a Zip100 USB drive, but windows 98 becomes very unstable and frequently freezes, so decided to remove it.

I will try later a different branded USB card that I should have in my spare retro junk.

I know this is dated but I am working on an Aptiva 2176-C6B with the SIS chipset Rev A motherboard. Which USB card did you end up having the best of luck with? I am using a Via VT6212L based card by startech and I have issues with not booting if a USB drive is plugged in and a couple other oddities. Just curious what you had the best success with. Thanks!

Hi, none. Not using usb.

soupapes wrote on 2023-03-08, 21:32:

9646gt wrote on 2023-03-08, 21:16:

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-20, 14:09:

Also tried this USB2.0 PCI card with two ports, to use with a Zip100 USB drive, but windows 98 becomes very unstable and frequently freezes, so decided to remove it.

I will try later a different branded USB card that I should have in my spare retro junk.

I know this is dated but I am working on an Aptiva 2176-C6B with the SIS chipset Rev A motherboard. Which USB card did you end up having the best of luck with? I am using a Via VT6212L based card by startech and I have issues with not booting if a USB drive is plugged in and a couple other oddities. Just curious what you had the best success with. Thanks!

Hi, none. Not using usb.

Oh, ok. I'm going to try one with an NEC chipset as they seem to be more compatible. How did the board swap go? I'd like to do the same as I am using a 200mhz CPU as well but I'm using the MMX so I may see if I can't run across something with the correct voltage regulator already installed since you can't seem to find them anymore.

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-19, 17:08:

I did flash mine with a more recent firmware. I have successfully installed windows 98 using an 8gb SD card set as Primary.

For the SiS display I had to use a windows 95 driver.

Hey, sorry for reviving this older thread again, but it seems to be the only one discussing an Aptiva with the same early SiS chipset Motherboard as mine...
I can't find any chipset drivers, or much info on this motherboard at all... What exact drivers or firmware updates did you use for it?

Sky92 wrote on 2023-11-01, 17:10:

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-19, 17:08:

I did flash mine with a more recent firmware. I have successfully installed windows 98 using an 8gb SD card set as Primary.

For the SiS display I had to use a windows 95 driver.

Hey, sorry for reviving this older thread again, but it seems to be the only one discussing an Aptiva with the same early SiS chipset Motherboard as mine...
I can't find any chipset drivers, or much info on this motherboard at all... What exact drivers or firmware updates did you use for it?

Mainly windows 98 drivers, but I removed the original modem/sound card and replaced it with a sound blaster, and also a Matrox for GPU.

soupapes wrote on 2023-11-01, 17:14:

Mainly windows 98 drivers, but I removed the original modem/sound card and replaced it with a sound blaster, and also a Matrox for GPU.

Wow thanks for the quick reply!

Ok. So the SiS chipset works well as standard with W98?
It seems the same for W95... Everything appears to work fine with generic W95 drivers apart from the IDE controller, which is the only part instantly identified as SiS hardware after the installation...

So apparently then this SiS chipset does not require additional drivers to get it to work optimally?

For the rest I have similar plans. I'd like to see the MWave card working once (Allthough I've read this might be a nightmare) but will probably swap it for an AWE64 anyway... and go with a V1 for gaming as well...

I have had this very PC for a good 15 years - bought it for next to nothing and pretty much let it collect dust because it didn't support MMX (I went with a IBM PC 330 instead which DID support 233MMX). However, I picked up an IBM 2.1 set of speakers that was meant for this PC and now I feel compelled to use it after all - I also have a matching monitor AND mouse AND keyboard so let's make it a period correct setup!

Now however, since I already have a proper Windows 98SE machine, I'd like to use this for pure late-DOS gaming where MMX is not needed. My only annoyance with this PC (and many IBM PCs) is the heavily limited hard drive space. 8GB is nothing really - so my plan is to use a backplate with 2 Compact Flash cards, one that hosts Windows itself, the other to swap out containing games. 8GB per Compact Flash and bob's your uncle. Not perfect (my other Windows 98 PC supports 128GB SSDs, much easier!) but it will do. Also, I could run DOS 6.22 just by swapping CF cards this way which seems ideal.

For sound cards I have the Orpheus which will be perfect for this I figure. I just wonder how good the on-board 2D card will be. I have a spare Voodoo 2 8MB (and maybe even a 12MB) for certain games such as Tomb Raider so we'll see ...

You can always use Drive Dynamic Drive Overlay software. I use it on my 486 and was surprised how well it worked
https://youtu.be/8LzCB6kDVC8?si=wMxochBDeI0fFZDR

chinny22 wrote on 2023-12-03, 01:53:

You can always use Drive Dynamic Drive Overlay software. I use it on my 486 and was surprised how well it worked
https://youtu.be/8LzCB6kDVC8?si=wMxochBDeI0fFZDR

The last time I tried that, I burned like a dozen CDs and in the end nothing was compatible with the IBM BIOS. I'm willing to try again but if it works with CF cards ...

Update: I have fully cleaned the PC and decided to stick to MS DOS completely.

The on-board SIS graphics chip is pretty horrible so I replaced it with the most logical & era-correct S3 Trio 64V+. Only 1MB for now but a card with 2MB is on its way so I can have 800x600 at 16 million colours in Windows 3.1.

The original mWave card has been replaced by the Sound Blaster 32 CT3670 which is an amazing card even though it lacks OPL3 (I can barely tell the difference anyway). I use Unisound by default since it uses so much less conventional memory.

The hard drive has been replaced by a compact flash adapter mounted to a PCI slot at the back which makes it easy to remove & add files manually this way.

I also replaced the floppy drive with a Gotek with LCD screen - it may be a temporary thing but it was handy to install DOS & Windows with.

The BIOS is limited but I'm surprised by its compatibility. I've tested a handful of "difficult" games so far including Innocent until Caught (always tricky to get sound working) and they all work great so far.

The only point of "worry" is the DVD drive - I need to find a Mitsumi quad speed to replace it with. It's too loud and no slow down utility seems to work. Well, that and the Pentium 120 CPU has its heatsink glued to it which is annoying if I wanted to replace it with a Pentium 166.

All in all, I'm surprised by the PC. For being 27 years old, everything still worked perfectly.

IBMs were built with quality to last. They are very robust

soupapes wrote on 2023-12-08, 12:46:

IBMs were built with quality to last. They are very robust

They were - and they're my favorite PC brand for a reason. I just upgraded the CPU to a Pentium 166 & added a bar of cache and once I get the 2MB S3 card it will be "done".

I managed to get the CD slow down program to work in DOS and now it's a great quiet PC that will be absolutely perfect for late DOS games & early Windows 95 games. I'll just set up a second 8GB compact flash card and I can swap them at the back with ease.

retardware wrote on 2021-11-16, 16:38:

Hi and welcome to the forum! […]
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Hi and welcome to the forum!

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-16, 14:40:

The BIOS of my machine comes in spanish, but I haven't found a menu option to change de language. Anyone knows how to do it in this machine?

Maybe clear CMOS (remove battery for a few secs or set jumper, don't know how its done on your machine), as the first question then probably will be which language you want.

soupapes wrote on 2021-11-16, 14:40:

Also tried a 10Gb hard drive, but the BIOS only supports up to 8.4Gb. Is there a recent BIOS update capable of solving this?

Why not use SCSI?
A 29160 or 39320 is (still) cheap, has its own BIOS, and 73GB 15k SCA drives are ideal for Win98, and still cheap, although the market already is drying out, so the prices have already begun to increase.

I have a IBM PC330, very close to the one you talk about (Aptiva) i like your idea to put a very fast hard drive, is better to choose the A29160 or 39320? All models have Bios and support large drives? About the drive, i have found on ebay that there are some Fujitsu MAX3073RC, are they compatible and quiet? i had one time a 10k IBM and is like a noise of turbine jet at teke off. tnks

Our familys first PC! Nice to see there are still some running! I currently have one as well but sadly it doesnt work 🙁

The psu looks to have failed, but i havent been able to find a replacement yet. They seem rather scarce, due to the additional connectors needed.

axi0m wrote on 2024-01-06, 16:47:

Our familys first PC! Nice to see there are still some running! I currently have one as well but sadly it doesnt work 🙁

The psu looks to have failed, but i havent been able to find a replacement yet. They seem rather scarce, due to the additional connectors needed.

They need an additional connector indeed but it looks like a standard AT connector - if the pin-out is identical (I'm sure you can find this info), you could just find a dead AT PSU and split off the one going to the motherboard it self.

Limpem wrote on 2021-11-20, 12:39:

I also did an additional test with a 200 Mhz pentium Overdrive. The bios didn't give any error messages, but also didn't report […]
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I also did an additional test with a 200 Mhz pentium Overdrive.
The bios didn't give any error messages, but also didn't report the clockspeed.
Instead it just said Pentium ODP.
So if you want a 200Mhz error free boot process (and also extra cpu power + MMX instructions) you might consider this cpu if you can find it cheap.

Finally, today I was able to buy that CPU brand new from an ebay seller in US (had to sell a kidney to pay for it including import taxes and shipping to Portugal). It will be a great upgrade.

Now with the final upgrades.

ODP CPU and Sound Blaster AWE