Today I ended up doing some Super Bypass testing - the setting that allows Slot A Irongate chipsets to use AGP x2 as without it they run at 1x.

800MHz Pluto core Athlon
128MB CAS 3 RAM
GeForce MX440 128bit / 64MB

No Super Bypass (1x AGP):

3DMark 99: 5692 GPU / 12211 CPU
3DMark 2000: 4783
3DMark 2001: 3344

With Super Bypass (2x AGP):

3DMark 99: 5921 GPU / 12904 CPU
3DMark 2000: 5015
3DMark 2001: 3454

3DMark 2001 with 384MB 2CAS RAM and 2x AGP: 3471

So not insignificant for jut a BIOS setting. It was completely stable through all the testing too.

Currently installing Windows 95C on a 4GB CF Card on my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus and also added the Sound Blaster CD-ROM driver (MS-DOS) to my boot disk and made the boot disk as follows for the different CD drives:

1config.sys
2[menu]
3menuitem=IDE, Boot to MS-DOS with the CD-ROM IDE Controller
4menuitem=SB, Boot to MS-DOS with the CD-ROM Sound Blaster Card
5[common]
6device=himem.sys /testmem:off
7[ide]
8device=cd1.sys /D:CDROM
9[sb]
10device=sbcd.sys /D:CR-563-B /P:220

1autoexec.bat
2PROMPT=$P$G
3goto %CONFIG%
4
5:IDE
6mscdex.exe /D:CDROM
7goto END
8
9:SB
10mscdex.exe /D:CR-563-B
11goto END
12
13:END

Edit: copied everything from the 2GB CF card to my laptop and after Windows 95C was installed, I copied everything from the backups I made (including the autoexec.bat, config.sys, and msdos.sys files) to the 4GB CF card. Best of all, the performance is at 32-bit and I now have enough free space for more games. Huzzah!

Soon: a video about modifying a Packard Bell PB450 motherboard with a 3.3V voltage regulator, some cache, and battery holder for a CR1220 battery (getting the parts on Monday).

I also set the clocks back on my alarm clock, thermostat, oven/stove combo, and my mom's minivan (the RDS doesn't work), and I also installed the time zone patch on both my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus and my Windows 98SE machine.

Got a Roland SC-55ST cheap on eBay because it had suffered some damage and no sound was coming out of it. This is the cut-down one with no LCD display, but otherwise the same synth. Turned out it had been dropped, landed on the volume control, pressing it back into the case causing the PCB to crack. Repairing the PCB helped (using wires to bridge the cracked traces), but the potentiometer itself also turned out to be damaged. The symptom was that the unit would only play sound out of one channel and only if the volume knob was pressed downwards firmly towards the floor. So if anyone ever gets an SC-55 or similar that turns on but has no sound coming out from either the headphones or the rear RCA sockets, there's a chance it could've been dropped and landed on the volume knob and the repair is fairly simple.

I found a replacement pot that was a close enough match to the original (part number RK09712200MC, RS part number 729-3492), and finally got a chance to solder it in and now it works perfectly again! Sure it's not a fancy SC-55 with the flashy display but it's my first Roland synth so I'm happy 😀

First pic is the new pot installed with the old one having fallen apart, second pic is the slightly bodgy wires used to bridge the cracked PCB tracks (you can just barely make out the cracks in the board cutting the tracks in half), and the last pic is the board back in the case, working again.

@Murugan: You have a really great collection! 😎

Today I tried to get this XT Mainboard running:

It was looking much worser as I got it and was without RAM, all sockets empty. I fully populated with 5164 and get this:

Somebody has an idea what could be wrong? It says "No memory errors". Seems memory is detected, but with parity errors? I dont think there is a parity switch on a XT? Alread tried all jumpers and DIPs.

Thx 😀
What is that U31 ROM fail?

Murugan wrote:

Thx 😀
What is that U31 ROM fail?

I think that can be ignored, that ROM is not required for operation. Problem is only the RAM.

Cooking some keys.. Now I just have to figure the best way to do the keyboard case. I might have to buy some bigger pots. haha (I still want to do the submersion/heat method for retr0brite)
Keyboard is the Siig Minitouch w/ SMK Blue's which I posted earlier.

The 8-bit guy has a good method for cases,keyboards etc... It's on his channel.

Murugan wrote:

The 8-bit guy has a good method for cases,keyboards etc... It's on his channel.

That's what I'm following. 😎 I might need to pick up a sous de vide.

Predator99 wrote:

@Murugan: You have a really great collection! :cool: […]
Show full quote

@Murugan: You have a really great collection! 😎

Today I tried to get this XT Mainboard running:

It was looking much worser as I got it and was without RAM, all sockets empty. I fully populated with 5164 and get this:

Somebody has an idea what could be wrong? It says "No memory errors". Seems memory is detected, but with parity errors? I dont think there is a parity switch on a XT? Alread tried all jumpers and DIPs.

Don't know what it means and it's for a 5150 board but hey 😜...

http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/supersoft_lan … %20-%20Bugs.htm

Murugan wrote:

Predator99 wrote:

@Murugan: You have a really great collection! :cool: […]
Show full quote

@Murugan: You have a really great collection! 😎

Today I tried to get this XT Mainboard running:

It was looking much worser as I got it and was without RAM, all sockets empty. I fully populated with 5164 and get this:

Somebody has an idea what could be wrong? It says "No memory errors". Seems memory is detected, but with parity errors? I dont think there is a parity switch on a XT? Alread tried all jumpers and DIPs.

Don't know what it means and it's for a 5150 board but hey 😜...

http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/supersoft_lan … %20-%20Bugs.htm

Indeed, good idea! Unfortunately it doesnt do anything with the "normal" ROM. Therfore something must be wrong. And I have seen many other similar XT system where this 16k memory test passed without problems.

I also think the installed ROM is OK as the Post-card displays "FF". I also have seen this in many other XTs when the ROM is initialized.

A failing DIP then?

Gave my 486dx33 a different case. And used the case badge, that I have used since 1995.
Not your average case badge, that is for shure. 😁

Dude, that case badge is amazing. My case badge is an Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 emblem that my dad put on in the early 1990's.

bjwil1991 wrote:

Dude, that case badge is amazing. My case badge is an Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 emblem that my dad put on in the early 1990's.

Thanks.... It is a real Amd 286 CPU. It has been dead since way before I got it in 1995. 😁
Intel inside, Amd outside 😉 Like taking the phrase litterally. And not just go and say it.

Ah, very interesting.

I've been testing and diagnosing some parts of my parts bin. I found out that my ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 and AMD FX8350 are magically working again, so I'm very happy about that They were dead entirely when they went in the parts bin a couple of months ago. 🤣

I have also been diagnosing the issues with my ATI Radeon X300 SE, I found out that there is in fact something wrong with it. (More information about this in my upcoming post) I replaced the thermal pad with new thermal paste, which was needed quiet badly and I replaced the missing heat sink mounting thingy in a very creative way. 😊

Got the keys on my Siig Minitouch retr0brite treated. You can see the original color above on the casing for how orange/yellow they were. The treatment did bleach them out more than I wanted, but it does look better than before, and there's not much else that I can do about it. They still have a slight bit of discoloration, but I'm going to stop and not touch the keys further. The 'tab' key warped at some point during the treatment, so I'm going to use a heat gun to warm it up and bend it back into shape. Otherwise, I'm 95% happy with how it turned out. I'm going to do the keyboard case next. No more Cheetos keyboard!

Did the modifications on my Packard Bell PB450 motherboard (Packard Bell Pack-Mate 28 Plus), however, I didn't solder the battery holder very well and accidentally trimmed the legs off. Good news is, I bought two of them, same thing with the capacitors, fixed voltage regulators, and the VRM mounting kit. As also seen in this forum: Packard bell PB450 repair / mods / upgrade

Voltage regulator mod (cleaned the rest of the flux off, mostly after the picture was taken):

Battery holder (will fix):

Gallery: https://imgur.com/gallery/LBoMgt2

Updating BIOS on my IBM ThinkPad 390X. I thought that it would be painless procedure, but it wasn't quite that easy. The thing is, my battery is dead, and for whatever reason, BIOS updater require charged battery even with laptop plugged in.

Fortunately small trick with bootable floppy and "FLASH2.EXE /U" command did the trick 😀