Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-29, 07:08:

Delerious wrote on 2025-10-29, 05:49:

Got the right(-ish) drivers to install for my ATI FireGL T2-S64 card. Thank Phil for an old video he happened to have on that particular card.
Now I'm trying to figure out why my mouse stutters when extracting files in Windows 98. That said, if anyone knows why this is, please let me know.

Is it a USB or a PS/2 mouse? And what are the specs of the system?

USB. Running on an AMD Thunderbird 1.0 GHz with 512 MB RAM, using and nForce chipset with the latest drivers for said chipset. OS is Win98. I'd read that USB can cause issues with some older systems, but haven't looked into details on what kind of behaviors to expect in those scenarios.

Did a bit more work on the 5155 - potentiometers and installing expansion cards.

The system is easier to work on than the 5150 that always gives me problems. Once I get the software for my NX Pro, I'll change the volume output and go from there. I just can't believe the untested 5155 works without issues.

6x86L PR166 arrived. Gave it some sea trials.

Will overclock to a stable 188 MHz (3*66) - scores 29FPS in Quake time demo (320x200), similar to a Pentium 100. Just Cyrix FPU things 😁

It will actualy POST at 210 MHz, but stability falls apart quickly.

Restored a SR440BX to its former glory.

I also apologize for underestimating the power of it. Apparently this thing has 3.1 support.

Starting to get frustrated with a Socket 7 M-Tech Rise R529 motherboard...everything online says it supports a 3x multiplier / 200MHz but a Pentium MMX 200 is still only at 2.5x multiplier / 166MHz. I've triple checked the jumpers, set 1.5x (still stayed at 2.5x), not sure what to do. BIOS also updated to the latest available (1997).

Tried everything on a MSI BX Master... only to find out that I likely have a likely bad (as in erased) PAL chip.

That's gonna be fun to fix.

PcBytes wrote on Today, 01:55:

Tried everything on a MSI BX Master... only to find out that I likely have a likely bad (as in erased) PAL chip.

That's gonna be fun to fix.

Doh, that sounds bad.

If you don't mind explaining, how did you narrow the problem down to that? I'm always looking for tips to diagnose weird problems.

EDIT: Is it the GAL mentioned on this page? https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/msi-ms-6163-v3.0-bx13

Yup, that's the chip, although peeling the label mine seems to be marked as PAL. Whichever it is, seems it's blanked out and I need to get my hands on a TL866 to get it alive. I was almost INCHES close to swapping the SC1153 chip blindly, until I remembered this board uses a GAL chip. Already replaced ALL caps as well as reflashed main BIOS to latest.

Will genuinely have to get a TL866 ASAP as one of the boards in the recycler lot I have to go thru is a K7 Pro... which uses that same godforsaken GAL.

PcBytes wrote on Today, 03:08:

Yup, that's the chip, although peeling the label mine seems to be marked as PAL. Whichever it is, seems it's blanked out and I need to get my hands on a TL866 to get it alive. I was almost INCHES close to swapping the SC1153 chip blindly, until I remembered this board uses a GAL chip. Already replaced ALL caps as well as reflashed main BIOS to latest.

Will genuinely have to get a TL866 ASAP as one of the boards in the recycler lot I have to go thru is a K7 Pro... which uses that same godforsaken GAL.

I love my TL866A, I highly recommend them! It has saved several projects of mine. I recently used it to test a big lot of cache chips I purchased too, which I didn't even know it could do when I bought it.

Anyway, it's awesome that the community has supplied the file necessary to re-flash the GAL on that board. Such an obscure thing, and yet it can be done with the right programmer and chip. Hope it goes smoothly for you. 😀

This is kind of a weird activity, but... well, this is the kind of stuff I find myself doing.

I picked up a scrap lot a few months ago and I discovered after receiving it that it had all or most of the PCBs from a Roland XP-10 GM\GS keyboard, including the little screen. I have not heard one of these, but I think it probably sounds different from a Sound Canvas. I guess these were made from 1994 to 2002, and looking at the little chart on the main PCB it looks like this may have been built in November of 1997... though I can't say with certainty.

Anyway, what I'd like to try to do (before I resort to just selling the boards for parts to repair a more complete XP-10) is see if there's enough here to get the thing taking in a MIDI signal and outputting sound. I think there is enough here to do that, though all of the wires connecting the boards together are missing, so that alone could stop the project dead in its tracks. I am mostly concerned about whether the volume control will be "all the way up" or just "broken" without the volume slider connected. Also, if any buttons need pressed to get it to accept input, that will be an issue. I have all the buttons, but they are no longer connected to anything.

It's also very likely this thing was toast already and that's why it was dismantled and scrapped. I guess we'll see. 🤷

EDIT: Well, I've got it hooked up and it should be receiving a MIDI signal but I'm getting no sound. I think I need the volume control at the very least, but it's possible I need to enable the playback of midi input as well. It is warming up though, so I don't think it's 100% dead.

It's too bad. If the cables\wires had all still been connected I might already have it making sound.