kingcake wrote on 2024-05-15, 21:03:

Not hardware, but I found this sealed copy of QEMM8. Sticker on the shrink wrap says 7/30/96.

I have boxed version of v6 - the documentation is superb.

appiah4 wrote on 2024-05-15, 08:14:

Anyone know what PC this motherboard has come out of? I can't seem to find it on Theretroweb. It does not look like standard AT or ATX, so I doubt it can be put in anything except maybe a custom made case? So I guess it's from some kind of OEM? Compaq or HP maybe? Doesn't look like IBM to me..

Have a sneaking suspicion the board is by ASI / BCOM, though I can't find any specific reference to the board model or the system it might have come from.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-05-15, 23:14:

eesz34 wrote on 2024-05-15, 19:31:

Don't need it, but I'm a sucker for hardware still in the box with everything originally included from this time period. And it's cool because it has VGA and digital output.

Cool to get boxed. That chipset I have had on other cards, seemed very "middle" speedwise of everything on ISA that will put out VGA in DOS, and maybe a bit lower in windows. So likely fine in 1x bus 486 and below, though might be middle of 386s where you don't see any difference at all between that and a GL5434 or something.

Was wondering about that video chip. It doesn't seem very common.

oh2ftu wrote on 2024-05-15, 09:02:

The BX6r2 had broken PS2-ports. I did know this at purchase. Had a real hard time getting it to post, but it's was all about a d […]
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oh2ftu wrote on 2024-05-12, 10:08:

Two eBay-purchases of late; Abit BX6r2 and a computer with Asus P2B. The latter has not shipped yet - so still waiting for both.

The BX6r2 had broken PS2-ports. I did know this at purchase.
Had a real hard time getting it to post, but it's was all about a dirty slotket, dirty and loose Slot-1 (missing supports).
Fixing the PS2-ports was easy. A 0-ohm resistor (marked as fuse) just next to a screw-hole was missing (sheared off). Replacing it fixed PS2.

Finding a BE6-II is quite hard, so this will have to do for my path down memory lane.

Now that you said that, I'm tempted to look on my BP6. That one has broken PS/2 as well (as in, no reaction from either ports.)

Found a 3Dfx voodoo 3 3000 pci. @ 100€ it was expensive but still in "reasonable" range. The pci variant is a must have, because there are no AGP mediators to Amiga 1200..... so ... Puled the trigger on it.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-05-16, 06:49:

Never seen Intel SIMMs before. 😁

I believe i have a couple of them somewhere, they are odd, they had more odd names in that days..

I received my Necroware voltage regulator PCBs today, so now I need to look up the parts list and get the components on order.

Last summer I bought a Pentium 3 system for cheap, and I didn't pay attention to the video card that was in it. I pulled it and installed a Quadro 2 for testing and forgot about it. I had a closer look at it yesterday, and it's a 32 megabyte Creative CT6870 TNT2 Ultra. I was assuming it was a GeForce 4 MX or something.

With such a small heatsink, you'll sure burn your fingers if you touch it. Nice surprise anyhow. 😀

You also have that socket 5 Asus board from the Necroware video? That video was an interesting view.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-05-16, 20:57:

With such a small heatsink, you'll sure burn your fingers if you touch it. Nice surprise anyhow. 😀

You also have that socket 5 Asus board from the Necroware video? That video was an interesting view.

I noticed that some of the Creative TNT2 Ultras have a heatsink with a fan, I wonder if they decided that it really needed a fan and added one? I can see the spot on the PCB where the fan would be powered, but it's unpopulated on this one.

I have two motherboards that could use one of the Necroware regulators; both are Socket 7, one is a PCChips M507, the other is a PCChips M520.

I picked up one of the PCChips "BookPC" systems very cheaply "untested" on eBay. It was absolutely filthy, but turns out that while the PSU is dead, the motherboard only needed a new coin cell and contact cleaner on the DIMM slot. With a normal PSU lashed up to the proprietary pin-out it boots nicely! It's got a Celeron 400Mhz with just 32Mb SDRAM. I'm hoping to make a nice dedicated tiny DOS / Win3.11 system with it.

But the micro sized PSU seems totally unique to these systems, so perhaps worth trying to fix?

There is no life at all when powered on with green pin shorted, and the purple standby wire tests as short to ground. The brown goop has gone crusty, but it definitely isn't conductive.

I've cleaned it up and inspected carefully. There seem to be three components visibly failed: 1000uf 10v and 1000uf 16v capacitors towards the output side of the board (the latter totally popped and had actually desoldered itself!). And towards the input side a resistor that looks like a high wattage 120R. There was a clear burn mark on the casing under a PCB cutout near this, and I initially suspected the big white mains capacitor or the transistor, but close up neither have any sign of damage. The resistor is crumbly at one end and has extremely high resistance.

Is it worth just replacing these components? Or are they likely to have failed because of some other issues?

Bought this Toshiba Satellite 5205 S705 yesterday, its going to need a little cleaning and I need to find a way to remove some light scratches from the shiny outer lid. Its got decent specs for a retro XP laptop and also good specs to use it as a DvD media machine.

You can see from the lid photo that its got the normal usage scratches, anyone have a good way to remove them without causing more damage ?

This board, complete with P4 3ghz… is a good board??

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-05-16, 22:11:

Bought this Toshiba Satellite 5205 S705 yesterday… … it’s got the normal usage scratches, anyone have a good way to remove them without causing more damage

Car “scratch remover” polishing compounds like Mothers or Meguiars work great with a foam or wool pad on a polisher/angle polisher. Like glass when you’re done.

AndrettiGTO wrote on 2024-05-17, 12:31:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-05-16, 22:11:

Bought this Toshiba Satellite 5205 S705 yesterday… … it’s got the normal usage scratches, anyone have a good way to remove them without causing more damage

Car “scratch remover” polishing compounds like Mothers or Meguiars work great with a foam or wool pad on a polisher/angle polisher. Like glass when you’re done.

Ill have to look them up not sure they are stocked in Australia but I do have some Turtle wax car polishing and cutting compound that is designed to not damage the protective coating on paintwork . .perhaps that will work the same.

Will refrain from using the car polisher though .. its a tad bit too powerful for plastics 🤣 .. I did consider it with an intrusive though.

Its a lovely laptop with a truly beautiful LCD panel in it so worth the extra effort in restoring it.

AlessandroB wrote on 2024-05-17, 10:42:

This board, complete with P4 3ghz… is a good board??

Asus were at the top of the game back then.
I'm sure without checking that it's a fine board.

Today I got for free a D-Link DU-520 4 external + 1 internal USB 2.0 PCI card with NEC chipset. Sadly I wanted to test it and it will not work, possibily dead, tried it on a testbox based on ECS K7VZA 3.0 motherboard. I don't know what is the cause. Maybe the contacts or the capacitors, I don't know.

RetroPC_King wrote on 2024-05-17, 14:43:

Today I got for free a D-Link DU-520 4 external + 1 internal USB 2.0 PCI card with NEC chipset. Sadly I wanted to test it and it will not work, possibily dead, tried it on a testbox based on ECS K7VZA 3.0 motherboard. I don't know what is the cause. Maybe the contacts or the capacitors, I don't know.

Did you notice all the corrosion on the PCI contacts? If you use a pencil eraser to clean that up it may work fine. If there are any stubborn "chunks" you may need to scrape gently with a tool, just be careful not to damage the contact any more than it already is.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-05-17, 14:49:

RetroPC_King wrote on 2024-05-17, 14:43:

Today I got for free a D-Link DU-520 4 external + 1 internal USB 2.0 PCI card with NEC chipset. Sadly I wanted to test it and it will not work, possibily dead, tried it on a testbox based on ECS K7VZA 3.0 motherboard. I don't know what is the cause. Maybe the contacts or the capacitors, I don't know.

Did you notice all the corrosion on the PCI contacts? If you use a pencil eraser to clean that up it may work fine. If there are any stubborn "chunks" you may need to scrape gently with a tool, just be careful not to damage the contact any more than it already is.

seen the corrosion, I will try to use the pencil eraser.

RetroPC_King wrote on 2024-05-17, 14:57:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-05-17, 14:49:

RetroPC_King wrote on 2024-05-17, 14:43:

Today I got for free a D-Link DU-520 4 external + 1 internal USB 2.0 PCI card with NEC chipset. Sadly I wanted to test it and it will not work, possibily dead, tried it on a testbox based on ECS K7VZA 3.0 motherboard. I don't know what is the cause. Maybe the contacts or the capacitors, I don't know.

Did you notice all the corrosion on the PCI contacts? If you use a pencil eraser to clean that up it may work fine. If there are any stubborn "chunks" you may need to scrape gently with a tool, just be careful not to damage the contact any more than it already is.

seen the corrosion, I will try to use the pencil eraser.

Also, I would use a brush to clean all that crud off the card, just in case any of it is conductive enough to be causing problems. I have revived cards just by brushing them off many times.