Kahenraz wrote on 2022-04-04, 04:46:

That's great! Can you be tempted to add VMware integration as well?

Done https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/123 … 21b3cca99ea.mp4,
may open a new thread for it later this weekend. Compatibility is rather to be abysmal but at least it works with a couple popular games (like WarcraftII and SC2k).

Spend the last days testing mainboards and CPUs to sell them on Ebay. I need to reclaim space (and money).

CPUs:
3x 754
3x 939
5x AM2
3x AM3
3x 1155

Boards:
1x 754
1x 939
2x AM2
3x AM3

Sadly one CPU turned out to be dead. An Athlon 64 X2 6000+. But I have two more of those.
One AM3 board is partially dead. But I was already aware of that when I received it. Onboard LAN is dead. After further testing I noticed that the two PCIe x1 slots are also dead. Maybe this can be fixed somehow?
Three boards (1x AM2, 2x AM3) which did post many many months ago are no longer posting. One starts and immediately turns off. The other two stay on but don't post. Maybe they had some charge left in the caps when I did clean them? 😒 From now on I'll wait at least a week, like I do with PSUs.

Next step will be to test all the LGA775 CPUs and boards. I have more of them than the other sockets combined. 😮

I've always known about Diablo. At some point in the past, i got Diablo 2 and played that.

Well, yesterday, first time in my life, i started up original Diablo on my Pentium MMX retro machine. So far quite a nice game. Only thing i wish it would have is to scroll the dialog texts faster. It seems i can either skip it, or have to wait for the slow scrolling to get to the end - no way to speed up the scrolling speed...

And at right this moment, i have this running at the background: https://youtu.be/_JzfROUDsK0

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulation sub-board is missing a part. Can anybody tell what this is and take a guess at a suitable replacement? I marked the missing part with <<<<<

EDIT: did some testing. The smaller chip above it feeds into the left solder pad, and the right solder pad feeds out to those 3 larger components. Step down regulator? How bad of an idea would just bridging the pads be?.....

EDIT 2: Found some better pictures. Its a smaller, 150 rated version of whatever the larger square components are with 2 solder points instead of 4

EDIT 3: Its a 150UH SMD Power Choke Coil. Can I just replace it with any 150UH resistor or does it have to be a coil type?

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2022-04-06, 06:55:

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulati […]
Show full quote

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulation sub-board is missing a part. Can anybody tell what this is and take a guess at a suitable replacement? I marked the missing part with <<<<<

EDIT: did some testing. The smaller chip above it feeds into the left solder pad, and the right solder pad feeds out to those 3 larger components. Step down regulator? How bad of an idea would just bridging the pads be?.....

EDIT 2: Found some better pictures. Its a smaller, 150 rated version of whatever the larger square components are with 2 solder points instead of 4

EDIT 3: Its a 150UH SMD Power Choke Coil. Can I just replace it with any 150UH resistor or does it have to be a coil type?

If a choke coil is just a fancy resistor and you can find a normal resistor of the same resistance then I see no reason the normal resistor shouldn't work just as well, I guess its possible the choke is doing something extra but I doubt it.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2022-04-06, 06:55:

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulati […]
Show full quote

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulation sub-board is missing a part. Can anybody tell what this is and take a guess at a suitable replacement? I marked the missing part with <<<<<

EDIT: did some testing. The smaller chip above it feeds into the left solder pad, and the right solder pad feeds out to those 3 larger components. Step down regulator? How bad of an idea would just bridging the pads be?.....

EDIT 2: Found some better pictures. Its a smaller, 150 rated version of whatever the larger square components are with 2 solder points instead of 4

EDIT 3: Its a 150UH SMD Power Choke Coil. Can I just replace it with any 150UH resistor or does it have to be a coil type?

I wouldn't replace a choke (uH means it's a coil) with a resistor, as no idea what effect putting a different type of component would be. I would consider a different 150uH choke (or coil, it's the same thing) as the value is more important than the shape or size. A choke/coil will act differently for different frequencies and adjacent capacitance, a resistor isn't guaranteed to act the same. (that's pretty much the extent of what I remember from making crystal radios as a kid)

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-04-06, 04:17:

One AM3 board is partially dead. But I was already aware of that when I received it. Onboard LAN is dead. After further testing I noticed that the two PCIe x1 slots are also dead. Maybe this can be fixed somehow?

Is it an nForce board? Bumpgate-affected nForces are kind-of-known for dying a bit at a time. For what I've seen the network and the PCI bus are the first to go, assuming the board doesn't die outright.

debs3759 wrote on 2022-04-06, 17:23:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2022-04-06, 06:55:

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulati […]
Show full quote

I think I found out why the Dell Lattitude PPX won't turn on and just flashes its lights before shutting off. Its power regulation sub-board is missing a part. Can anybody tell what this is and take a guess at a suitable replacement? I marked the missing part with <<<<<

EDIT: did some testing. The smaller chip above it feeds into the left solder pad, and the right solder pad feeds out to those 3 larger components. Step down regulator? How bad of an idea would just bridging the pads be?.....

EDIT 2: Found some better pictures. Its a smaller, 150 rated version of whatever the larger square components are with 2 solder points instead of 4

EDIT 3: Its a 150UH SMD Power Choke Coil. Can I just replace it with any 150UH resistor or does it have to be a coil type?

I wouldn't replace a choke (uH means it's a coil) with a resistor, as no idea what effect putting a different type of component would be. I would consider a different 150uH choke (or coil, it's the same thing) as the value is more important than the shape or size. A choke/coil will act differently for different frequencies and adjacent capacitance, a resistor isn't guaranteed to act the same. (that's pretty much the extent of what I remember from making crystal radios as a kid)

My research says that basically a potted coil choke is just a really fancy really smooth resistor. Apparently the fluctuations of the output are ridiculously higher on a resistor. This being said I'm looking for a similar coil right now.

Much like how cylinders in an internal combustion engine are really just a fancy bean tin. If you slap four together maybe... oh wait, you don't play Orks in Warhammer do you? https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Orks#Ork_Technology

Today I checked all my 3.5" floppy disks, I found some new ones in the past 2 years I haven't checked, also the old ones I had but didn't use in the past 20-ish years. Found 30 completely unreadable, 105 readable disks and I have an unopened box of 10. Also found some old data, both (my own) personal and random company stuff.

Also added a CT1600 to my 386 machine.

Worked some more on a 90ies oriented C tutorial and Doom maps.
Other than that I sold some 486/586 stuff. Before it's collecting dust I rather had it make somebody else happy. I kept the P60/66 stuff and one 486 board.
I would not have sold the gear if I had the room to properly have system after system sitting in its own place(+chassis) and being connected to a "vintage super" LAN. My "dream" would be Doom and Quake Lans, each consisting of four 486s and four 586s with big CRTs. This is of course a pipe dream as it would take a huge basement to "dwell" in. On top of that... who would join in on the fun...?

amadeus777999 wrote on 2022-04-07, 10:27:

Worked some more on a 90ies oriented C tutorial and Doom maps.
Other than that I sold some 486/586 stuff. Before it's collecting dust I rather had it make somebody else happy. I kept the P60/66 stuff and one 486 board.
I would not have sold the gear if I had the room to properly have system after system sitting in its own place(+chassis) and being connected to a "vintage super" LAN. My "dream" would be Doom and Quake Lans, each consisting of four 486s and four 586s with big CRTs. This is of course a pipe dream as it would take a huge basement to "dwell" in. On top of that... who would join in on the fun...?

Getting enough people would actually be my main motivation to not go for a huge LAN, alongside it simply costing too much space.
I'd probably make use of tables and other furnitures that can be stored away in a way that they don't use up as much space (so I'd look for something foldable, if something like that even exists). I'd set up the LAN only when the LAN-party was actually planned for real if it was using 8 computers, but for the 3 I ended up using I just let the other 2 PCs as is since I don't really use that table for something else anyway (so I use a table with 3 monitors, but will typically use only one at a time).
In the end my LAN consisted of 3 PCs, with an optional spot for a 4th PC (like, for a laptop or something) as my router at the time had just 4 slots, this was sufficient for my needs.

andrea wrote on 2022-04-06, 17:30:

Is it an nForce board? Bumpgate-affected nForces are kind-of-known for dying a bit at a time. For what I've seen the network and the PCI bus are the first to go, assuming the board doesn't die outright.

Nope, AMD 870.
I'm pretty sure the moronic ex husband of my aunt shorted something. He used some kind of aluminium tape to seal off every port on the back that wasn't in use. I found tiny bits of it inside the case. Argh!

Today I continued my long journey and tested three 775 boards. If I continue at this speed, I'll be done with the boards somewhere next week. 😁

One board is giving me headaches. It's a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4. It forgets the BIOS settings as soon as I flip the switch on the PSU. BIOS update didn't help. I assume it's a lose soldering point.
But it has another issue. The bottom one of the two bright orange SATA ports doesn't work properly. The upper one works fine. The four dark orange ones and the two purple ones as well. I did use this board to check two douzen HDDs. After I did some extensive testing on a 8TB HDD (which did take forever), the port stopped working properly. Needs forever to detect a drive. Anyone got an idea what might cause this?

Tetrium wrote on 2022-04-07, 12:21:

Getting enough people would actually be my main motivation to not go for a huge LAN, alongside it simply costing too much space. […]
Show full quote

amadeus777999 wrote on 2022-04-07, 10:27:

Worked some more on a 90ies oriented C tutorial and Doom maps.
Other than that I sold some 486/586 stuff. Before it's collecting dust I rather had it make somebody else happy. I kept the P60/66 stuff and one 486 board.
I would not have sold the gear if I had the room to properly have system after system sitting in its own place(+chassis) and being connected to a "vintage super" LAN. My "dream" would be Doom and Quake Lans, each consisting of four 486s and four 586s with big CRTs. This is of course a pipe dream as it would take a huge basement to "dwell" in. On top of that... who would join in on the fun...?

Getting enough people would actually be my main motivation to not go for a huge LAN, alongside it simply costing too much space.
I'd probably make use of tables and other furnitures that can be stored away in a way that they don't use up as much space (so I'd look for something foldable, if something like that even exists). I'd set up the LAN only when the LAN-party was actually planned for real if it was using 8 computers, but for the 3 I ended up using I just let the other 2 PCs as is since I don't really use that table for something else anyway (so I use a table with 3 monitors, but will typically use only one at a time).
In the end my LAN consisted of 3 PCs, with an optional spot for a 4th PC (like, for a laptop or something) as my router at the time had just 4 slots, this was sufficient for my needs.

Sweet - I miss those LAN sessions.
Even folks who weren't into computers really dug some of the matches that were had... it reminded me of having a band and playing in your garage with some spectators - loads of fun.

I don't think the Beige Powermac G3 is going to make it. I haven't figured out what went wrong, it started by not having video but chiming and apparently *not* booting, to just spinning the PSU fan with no light or chime. I tried various options involving the PRAM, PRAM battery, PSU, devices, RAM, reseating everything including the CPU... same.

Have to put it aside now and work on other stuff. Sad.

Decided I'm probably going to put a new drive controller in the R450, but not right now. Working on more modernish PCs in aid of selling them for gas and video card money.

Someone else went through their old floppies above, I did multiple boxes of 3.5's starting a few days ago. Rather amusingly the Bonus brand 1996 box of 25 was 100% good on surface tests, and the "Corporate Express" disks I found scattered on a thrift store shelf with no box had only one with bad sectors.

Sorting unsorted CDs including Forgotten Realms and LucasArts CDs I had on spindles or just randomly in CD binders. Normally feels good to get organized but I'm pretty tired today.

Still haven't decided what to work on next as the G3 ist kaput. After the 201x PCs to sell to internet randos.

It might be the capacitors reforming or some stressed solder joints settling due to thermal expansion. Or maybe it's just ghosts. I get this kind of behavior frequently with parts that I have received.

Has anyone else tested hardware that seems defective but comes back to life on it's own?

I did it! I finally did it!
Achievement unlocked:
Successfully brick a mainboard

Homepage was no longer online, so I had to rely on a 3rd party site. Seems like I got trolled.
But it's not the end of the world. Hirsch has a programmer and will unbrick it, next time he's around.
At least all my other boards have the latest BIOS now. Except a 440BX which I got recently. Have to undig my (only) Pentium II first.

Found one more damaged board. Floppy controller doesn't seem to work. Drive gets detected, but can't read or write anything.
Getting close to the end of the pile.

Several months ago when I built an Arduino-based Daemonbite controller adapter, I neglected to enable the optional Debounce function. That had not caused a problem. Until recently, when it interfered with the proper operation of turbo fire.

So I had to delve into the innards of my arcade machine, to rectify that.

In doing so, my movements caused the Arduino's ultra-fragile microUSB port to snap clean off the board, to my delight. I knew at that point I was facing several hours of major F'ing around, vs the quick half-hour job I had hoped. A quick plug + re-program, turned instead into a dig-out of the entire control jig for that side, fix/replace/repair, then painstakingly re-instate.

And so began today's tedious epic of being hunched over into pretzel shape, reaching into my extremely-inconvenient-to-work-on arcade machine, getting everything going again. Several hours later, and finally - at late afternoon - I've reached the point where I had initially hoped to start the day - relaxing into a game of Metal Slug X, on my MiSTer, with my Sanwa controls .... and Turbo fire working.

It didn't help matters that, like all multi-emulator systems, MiSTer has somewhat arbitrary control configuration limitations and vagaries of it's own. But hey - task complete.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-04-09, 03:07:

At least all my other boards have the latest BIOS now.

I try to flash the latest version on all of my motherboards as well. But recently, I have learned that this is not always the best course of action, at least for socket 754 retro builds. Basically, using anything but the oldest BIOS halves GPU performance under Win98 on the system that I was putting together.

Due to that experience, I now always back up my existing BIOS, try to read the release notes of the new version (if available) and do a quick benchmark before and after flashing to see if there's any performance loss. Better safe than sorry.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2022-04-09, 03:07:

I did it! I finally did it! Achievement unlocked: Successfully brick a mainboard […]
Show full quote

I did it! I finally did it!
Achievement unlocked:
Successfully brick a mainboard

Homepage was no longer online, so I had to rely on a 3rd party site. Seems like I got trolled.
But it's not the end of the world. Hirsch has a programmer and will unbrick it, next time he's around.
At least all my other boards have the latest BIOS now. Except a 440BX which I got recently. Have to undig my (only) Pentium II first.

Found one more damaged board. Floppy controller doesn't seem to work. Drive gets detected, but can't read or write anything.
Getting close to the end of the pile.

Which board did you brick?