VOGONS


First post, by mcbeav

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I've had this build in mind for a long time, but finally started building it in March of this year. I didn't have too many issues finding all of the parts I wanted, and managed to complete the build earlier this week. Everything is complete except I am working on getting the PCI SB Live 5.1 SB0100 sound card working for DOS games.

I gave everything a good cleaning, checked all of the caps, replaced the power and HDD activity LED's, & added brand new case badges. I didn't have enough room for all of the drives I wanted, so I made a slight modification to the case for the Gotek Floppy Emulator. I cut out a couple of spots into the front panel of the case for the Gotek LCD and buttons, & a slot on the side for the USB port. I think the LCD on the front gives it sort of a turbo LCD look. I'm really happy with the final result. The only thing I'd like to change is eventually replace the monitor with a nice Sony Trinitron monitor, but I'm happy with the Viewsonic with the USB hub for now.

System Specifications

Gateway E-3400 Desktop

Motherboard: GVC MX842 (https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/gvc-mx842)
Chipset: Intel 815
CPU: Pentium III 1Ghz 100Mhz FSB
GPU: Elsa Victory II A16 Banshee Voodoo 16MB AGP
RAM: 512MB PC133 133MHz SDRAM

PCI Cards:

  • Asus PCI-S940 SCSI Card
  • Generic 56K Modem
  • Creative SB Live 5.1 SB0100

Drives:

  • 32GB PATA SSD
  • 32GB CF Card As Secondary Drive
  • Nakamichi 5 Disc CD-ROM MJ-5.16si
  • Panasonic LS120 Superdisk Drive
  • 250MB Zip Disk Drive
  • Gotek Floppy Emulator

Extras:

  • Serdashop HDD Clicker
  • Altec Lansing ADA885 THX Surround Sound Speakers
  • Gravis Sidewinder Controller
  • Gravis Gamepad
  • Viewsonic Graphics Series G773
  • USB Hub Built Into The Viewsonic Monitor
  • Microsoft LED Intellimouse
  • Matching Gateway Keyboard

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Last edited by mcbeav on 2023-08-13, 15:12. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 7, by H3nrik V!

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Agreed, that's a nice Gotek mount!

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 3 of 7, by TuesdaysGone

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Now that's a sweet looking Gotek display! Congrats!

ASUS P2B-F 440BX BIOS Rev. 1014 Beta 003
Intel "Katmai" Pentium III 450Mhz
256MB, 80GB, Epson SD-800 Combo FD, Voodoo Banshee 16MB, SB Live, CT7160 MPEG-2 PCI Decoder, 3Com 3C905B-TX PCI NIC, Iomega Zip 100, Creative PC-DVD, Sony CDRW, Win 98SE

Reply 4 of 7, by mcbeav

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CC-Adam wrote on 2023-08-12, 19:10:

Nice build, I love what you have done with the Gotek display!

H3nrik V! wrote on 2023-08-12, 21:43:

Agreed, that's a nice Gotek mount!

TuesdaysGone wrote on 2023-08-12, 21:57:

Now that's a sweet looking Gotek display! Congrats!

Thanks! I appreciate it! Everything turned out better than I hoped for.

Reply 5 of 7, by bZbZbZ

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Looking good!

I have those exact speakers but sadly the subwoofer doesn't make any sound. I haven't been able to figure out why, unfortunately. I'm glad to see that you have a working set to enjoy!

Reply 6 of 7, by mcbeav

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bZbZbZ wrote on 2023-08-18, 04:52:

Looking good!

I have those exact speakers but sadly the subwoofer doesn't make any sound. I haven't been able to figure out why, unfortunately. I'm glad to see that you have a working set to enjoy!

Thanks! My friend had then when I was a kid, and I always wanted a set. They sound great. Apparently the subwoofer is a common issue. If you're looking to possibly fix it, doing a google search you should be able to find some info. I know that's not very helpful and isn't meant to sound demeaning, but in case you werent aware, i've seen a bunch of posts online and a few articles on various fixes for the subwoofer.

Reply 7 of 7, by bZbZbZ

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mcbeav wrote on 2023-08-18, 16:28:
bZbZbZ wrote on 2023-08-18, 04:52:

Looking good!

I have those exact speakers but sadly the subwoofer doesn't make any sound. I haven't been able to figure out why, unfortunately. I'm glad to see that you have a working set to enjoy!

Thanks! My friend had then when I was a kid, and I always wanted a set. They sound great. Apparently the subwoofer is a common issue. If you're looking to possibly fix it, doing a google search you should be able to find some info. I know that's not very helpful and isn't meant to sound demeaning, but in case you werent aware, i've seen a bunch of posts online and a few articles on various fixes for the subwoofer.

yeah I had Googled quite a bit (obviously) at the time, a few years ago, but then life got in the way and I put the speakers in a box in the basement. Thanks for the nudge to try again. It seems like the most likely cause is a broken solder joint on one of the legs of the G6B-2214P relay. Maybe I'll try re-soldering it sometime. It's just such a royal PITA to disassemble...