After a couple weeks, finally managed to get dual Windows 98 SE setups configured as part of a triple sound card build.

One install is dedicated to A3D support (via Diamond MX300) and the other to EAX support (via Audigy 2 ZS).

Next will be to install a handful of games and benchmarks and see how stable everything is.

While trying to repair some boards I encountered this issue.
I hate this micro soldering, no room for mistake and quite complicated but absolutely feasible.

2 from the right are Vcc, the third one is some clock, PCLKIN. IDK if without this it shouldn't POST.

Answering my own question, yes.

NAND tree. Didn't know it even existed.

About to upgrade my CT1350B's with CMS

Does printing and painting an Atari Adventure Dragon to go on top of my printed Pentium N3700 NUC case count as a "retro activity". 😜

It does make an excellent retro emulation device!

Tried to make POST a board.
Has one issue: lifted corner of the BGA chipset. No wonder it wouldn't post... 🤣

I'll try holding it down as I prefer to have dinner. I already died an hour on it, for nothing it seems.

Also wondering how to proceed to repair this. The bend is small but pronounced.

Installed Windows 2000 on my multi-OS Pentium 4.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:24:

Installed Windows 2000 on my multi-OS Pentium 4.

What's the boot manager? Was it easy to set up 5 OS boots?

debs3759 wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:32:

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:24:

Installed Windows 2000 on my multi-OS Pentium 4.

What's the boot manager? Was it easy to set up 5 OS boots?

The boot manager is BootIt Bare Metal. It's both a boot and partition manager.

It took a bit of coordination to install each OS. Part of this involved setting each boot menu item to hide all the other partitions so that each OS would install cleanly without seeing the other operating systems already installed.

DOS

DOS I set up on a Compact Flash drive. I installed it with no other drives in the system using a standard DOS 6.22 setup disks. This was no different than any other DOS install.

Windows 95 / Windows 98

For the Win9X installs, I put them on an 128 GB SSD. This drive also has the main BootIt installation which is on its own 5MB partition. Each Win9X install has its own FAT32 partition. I set up the partitions with BootIt, then connected the SSD to my main Windows 10 computer and copied over the Win95 and Win98 setup files to each partition.

Then I set up a Boot Menu item for each OS, hiding the other partitions. I set up a one-time floppy boot for each item and used Win 95 / Win 98 startup disks to boot each partition and install each OS from the setup files on each partition. Each install would overwrite the master boot record, so then I would have to use the BootIt CD to restore the boot menu.

Windows XP / 2000

Windows 2000 and XP are installed on a 250 GB SSD. I created an NTFS partition for each OS and their own boot menu items. Then I removed the other fixed disk drives and installed the 250 GB as the primary master drive. Then I booted up with the Windows XP setup CD and installed Windows XP.

Then I had to re-install the 128 GB SSD, boot back into BootIt and run the menu item for Windows 2000 to now hide the Win XP install. Then I did the same process again of removing the other drives, using the 250 GB drive as a primary master drive, boot from the Windows 2000 CD and install Windows 2000 on the remaining partition.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-03-08, 19:55:

Tried to make POST a board. Has one issue: lifted corner of the BGA chipset. No wonder it wouldn't post... lol […]
Show full quote

Tried to make POST a board.
Has one issue: lifted corner of the BGA chipset. No wonder it wouldn't post... 🤣

I'll try holding it down as I prefer to have dinner. I already died an hour on it, for nothing it seems.

Also wondering how to proceed to repair this. The bend is small but pronounced.

Squeeze some flux under there, turned your hot air station up to the max, and hope for the best. You're not going to get a tip under there, and are likely to cause a bridge if you were to try.

Of the 5 boards I purchased, 2 are repaired.
One that needed some soldering isn't Posting with its BIOS, but a random 430VX did the trick.
Edit: to clarify, someone flashed a bad bios or was corrupt, on top of the physical damage.

Soldered copper wires, non enameled but so are the other leads.
I'll cover it with some solder mask, not epoxy in case it has to be redone.

BIOS version on TRW latest has issues, as it displays "unknown flash type"; prior versions update ESCD ok.
My borad is REV 3 while TRW has REV 4 in pics, but could be nothing.
Edit: MR Bios version is feature rich, yay!

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-03-08, 23:01:

Nexxen wrote on 2024-03-08, 19:55:

Tried to make POST a board. Has one issue: lifted corner of the BGA chipset. No wonder it wouldn't post... lol […]
Show full quote

Tried to make POST a board.
Has one issue: lifted corner of the BGA chipset. No wonder it wouldn't post... 🤣

I'll try holding it down as I prefer to have dinner. I already died an hour on it, for nothing it seems.

Also wondering how to proceed to repair this. The bend is small but pronounced.

Squeeze some flux under there, turned your hot air station up to the max, and hope for the best. You're not going to get a tip under there, and are likely to cause a bridge if you were to try.

I fear that the bend has more mechanical force (Luke!) to rip it again or rip the m/b pads.
I'm skeptical of my abilities also.

In order to avoid burning my finger I need to put some weight on it.
Why does it have to be like this??? 🤣

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:57:

The boot manager is BootIt Bare Metal. It's both a boot and partition manager. […]
Show full quote

debs3759 wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:32:

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:24:

Installed Windows 2000 on my multi-OS Pentium 4.

What's the boot manager? Was it easy to set up 5 OS boots?

The boot manager is BootIt Bare Metal. It's both a boot and partition manager.

It took a bit of coordination to install each OS. Part of this involved setting each boot menu item to hide all the other partitions so that each OS would install cleanly without seeing the other operating systems already installed.

DOS

DOS I set up on a Compact Flash drive. I installed it with no other drives in the system using a standard DOS 6.22 setup disks. This was no different than any other DOS install.

Windows 95 / Windows 98

For the Win9X installs, I put them on an 128 GB SSD. This drive also has the main BootIt installation which is on its own 5MB partition. Each Win9X install has its own FAT32 partition. I set up the partitions with BootIt, then connected the SSD to my main Windows 10 computer and copied over the Win95 and Win98 setup files to each partition.

Then I set up a Boot Menu item for each OS, hiding the other partitions. I set up a one-time floppy boot for each item and used Win 95 / Win 98 startup disks to boot each partition and install each OS from the setup files on each partition. Each install would overwrite the master boot record, so then I would have to use the BootIt CD to restore the boot menu.

Windows XP / 2000

Windows 2000 and XP are installed on a 250 GB SSD. I created an NTFS partition for each OS and their own boot menu items. Then I removed the other fixed disk drives and installed the 250 GB as the primary master drive. Then I booted up with the Windows XP setup CD and installed Windows XP.

Then I had to re-install the 128 GB SSD, boot back into BootIt and run the menu item for Windows 2000 to now hide the Win XP install. Then I did the same process again of removing the other drives, using the 250 GB drive as a primary master drive, boot from the Windows 2000 CD and install Windows 2000 on the remaining partition.

Thanks for the detailed description. I might buy the full BootIt package, it looks like the sort of boot manager and partitioning software I could use. Not overly expensive for its capabilities.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:57:

The boot manager is BootIt Bare Metal. It's both a boot and partition manager. […]
Show full quote

debs3759 wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:32:

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-08, 22:24:

Installed Windows 2000 on my multi-OS Pentium 4.

What's the boot manager? Was it easy to set up 5 OS boots?

The boot manager is BootIt Bare Metal. It's both a boot and partition manager.

It took a bit of coordination to install each OS. Part of this involved setting each boot menu item to hide all the other partitions so that each OS would install cleanly without seeing the other operating systems already installed.

DOS

DOS I set up on a Compact Flash drive. I installed it with no other drives in the system using a standard DOS 6.22 setup disks. This was no different than any other DOS install.

Windows 95 / Windows 98

For the Win9X installs, I put them on an 128 GB SSD. This drive also has the main BootIt installation which is on its own 5MB partition. Each Win9X install has its own FAT32 partition. I set up the partitions with BootIt, then connected the SSD to my main Windows 10 computer and copied over the Win95 and Win98 setup files to each partition.

Then I set up a Boot Menu item for each OS, hiding the other partitions. I set up a one-time floppy boot for each item and used Win 95 / Win 98 startup disks to boot each partition and install each OS from the setup files on each partition. Each install would overwrite the master boot record, so then I would have to use the BootIt CD to restore the boot menu.

Windows XP / 2000

Windows 2000 and XP are installed on a 250 GB SSD. I created an NTFS partition for each OS and their own boot menu items. Then I removed the other fixed disk drives and installed the 250 GB as the primary master drive. Then I booted up with the Windows XP setup CD and installed Windows XP.

Then I had to re-install the 128 GB SSD, boot back into BootIt and run the menu item for Windows 2000 to now hide the Win XP install. Then I did the same process again of removing the other drives, using the 250 GB drive as a primary master drive, boot from the Windows 2000 CD and install Windows 2000 on the remaining partition.

Pretty slick! Never considered having system partitions on different drives in a multi-boot system. I think I'll check out BootIt for my P2B-DS system. I'm currently using Boot-US, which has worked for me so far, but can be a little rough around the edges. It doesn't use a partition for itself, but crams itself into the MBR.

Thanks for mentioning that Win9X will still trash the MBR - can be a bit of a bummer if you're well into getting a multi-boot setup going and not expecting that.

Well. I finally tested today a motherboard I was restoring/repairing.
Yesterday I corrected the big mistake of having soldered the power connection the other way around, which, thank goodness, I realized. Everything was OK, everything measured correctly, all fixed lines ok, and no shorts.
But it seems that Lady Luck is not on my side.
the motherboard is this one I contributed to theretroweb: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/18207 . there are several similar ones, with just small variations.
Since I went to a friend's house to use his scope, I was a little lost. As a stand on a glass table, I used the cover of a magazine as support.
The PSU I used is from an Olivetti. These Italians used yellow for the -12V cable and blue for the +12, somewhat confusing as it was the opposite of the standard.
well, connect to the motherbar, without CPU or memory, just to start testing signals, and...
...the PSU would not boot. or it starts and stops.
...???
I thought it would be a low load problem and added an HDD. But then I saw more clearly that the PSU started and stopped cyclically.
I disconnected everything and I decided to check the voltages with just the disk, and the power supply started!
When I measured the connector pins on the motherboard, now I got a short GND to -12V!!
I fully check all the pins and contacts, in case any had been bent or a particle of tin had been stuck, or anything else. straighten those that had been bent and in danger or possible contact and try again.
nothing...
but when I look at the cover of the magazine in the table I saw that it still had one of the metal clips, and raised!!! an enormous probability of having made contact with the circuit.

I don't know how -12 volts are used on a motherboard (how are they?), beyond being in the slots to be used by expansion cards that need it. so I did an experiment. I disconnected the -12 volts, and the power supply started.
I measured the clock signals on the ISA bus and on the CPU socket.
In the ISA pin 20 (CLK) there was between 13 and 14 MHz, and in the socket 80MHz, I forgot to measure on pin 30 (OSC) in the ISA slot. The crystal on the motherboard is 30MHz. The worst thing is that after some tests, on and off, the signal in the socket disappeared, leaving a small 15 KHz signal, or something like that, at 2V and 1V peak to peak. I include images.

CPU socket clock signal

ISA pin 20 signal

several things may have happened
-I am only seeing an original problem with the motherboard, when I picked it up I don't know if it worked before the big damage caused by the battery. but before today I never measure any short.
-The clip touched the circuit and damaged it. Although it was far from where -12V is, at least where I know -12V exists, in the ISA slot...
-The short could be a component that failed when it received power after many years, perhaps a capacitor, although in this case it would have exploded, right?

Any idea what should I try? you can tell me here: Re: some help to repair/restore a leaking battery ravaged motherboard

It is a shame, after so much time I devote to this motherboard. This is the only 386 motherboard of any quality that I have. the other is a small Foxcon M396F with a 386sx soldered and socket for the coprocessor. I'll have to dig a little deeper into the recycling center to see if I can find another one.
Maybe I'll leave it for a while and go on to restore an Olivetti M24 motherboard that I have in the queue, including making it an 8-bit ISA bus adaptation (I couldn't find its video card or the backplane). or perhaps an XT clone with some historical relevance in my country.

Last board (petium S7) needs a linear voltage regulator to be replaced, a LM1085 5V fixed.
Jumpers set it to either 3.45 or 3.55 (standard and VRE); issues 0.23 to resistors and 0.11/12 to cpu.

Vin is +5V, Vout is 0.27V, Adj/Gnd is 0.12V.
Res between +5 and Vout is 150K; Vout and Gnd is M ohms.

Too sketchy, will be replaced.

Edit: tester gives it as diode.

debs3759 wrote on 2024-03-08, 23:59:

Thanks for the detailed description. I might buy the full BootIt package, it looks like the sort of boot manager and partitioning software I could use. Not overly expensive for its capabilities.

You're welcome! It is a comprehensive package. What really impressed me was the available documentation and how straight forward it was to get set up.

ubiq wrote on 2024-03-09, 00:33:

Pretty slick! Never considered having system partitions on different drives in a multi-boot system. I think I'll check out BootIt for my P2B-DS system. I'm currently using Boot-US, which has worked for me so far, but can be a little rough around the edges. It doesn't use a partition for itself, but crams itself into the MBR.

Thanks for mentioning that Win9X will still trash the MBR - can be a bit of a bummer if you're well into getting a multi-boot setup going and not expecting that.

Thanks!

I did a look at Boot-US along with a lot of other boot managers. BootIt seemed one of the most feature packed and easy to use, so I opted for it. No regrets so far!

And yes, I did expect Windows 9X installs to muck up the MBR, but fortunately it's an easy fix with a BootIt CD.

I'm getting ready to reinstall Windows on one of my computers. I'm going to try a dual-boot of Windows 98 and XP with no removable storage besides a boot floppy. My IDE optical drives are all dead, and I haven't been able to get Plop to work reliably (it starts to boot from USB and then locks up on every system I've tried it on). The end result will probably be ugly, but it worked in a VM. If it fails, I can restore an image of the old XP install (slightly broken because the original hard drive failed, and apparently switching motherboards makes Windows stop detecting SSE support, even though the replacement motherboard is identical).

Hooked up a newly acquired Elpina ATX Form Card to my PC Chips 571 motherboard. Seems to be working great.

Mouse PS2 port functions correctly as do the USB ports. Heck, I even installed Lone Crusader's XUSBSUPP on Win95 OSR 2.1 and was able to use USB sticks just fine. It did require that the amdk6upd.exe was installed beforehand, but that was the only caveat.

Not a super big task but I dusted off this AWE64 Gold with an anti-static brush today. This one has blue colored capacitors which I don't see often. I also rubbed the connector with an eraser to shine it up a bit, though the card already worked fine.

This is the slightly larger and older CT4390, the newer revision CT4540 (not pictured) is a little smaller.

Before:

After: