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.

Cleaned and resurrected an Athlon 64 System I got on Facebook Marketplace, Looks like its been through a bit and seen some things in its time, upgrades and hackjob repairs the Northbridge Cooler was really a nightmare
Video Below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHSGr_t3H_I

Printed some RAM holders for my SDR/DDRx and So-DIMM memories.
Used this one:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4847265/files

For top piece, i just used slicer to set an area that has no walls and no infill. Result is cut off poles for the top piece.

Now i need to desing similar thing on my own for 72pin and 30pin ram sticks...

RetroBus wrote on Today, 09:22:

Cleaned and resurrected an Athlon 64 System I got on Facebook Marketplace, Looks like its been through a bit and seen some things in its time, upgrades and hackjob repairs the Northbridge Cooler was really a nightmare
Video Below:
https://studio.youtube.com/video/mHSGr_t3H_I/edit

Need a proper link 😝

sunkindly wrote on Today, 01:43:

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).

Hello, if I understand correctly you have an S.7, but the CPU goes to a maximum of 166 MHz, so first of all 😨 I would check what is written on the CPU, for example Pentium XXX MMX SXXXX (the X's indicate what you will find written, they are important), already from there it would be possible to better understand the problem.
Then if maybe 🤔 you can take some photos, and attach them here, possibly motherboard and CPU, or if you can jumper zone (multiX), it would be possible to compare your settings with those of the manual (if you have one), but in any case even in the absence of the manual, it is possible to do some tests, to see to set the jumpers on 3X, currently it should be on 2.5X, if instead it is on 3X and does not go to 200, speaking of Intel CPU, you could have a 166 MHz CPU with multiplier blocked to go up.
If so, the only way to increase the frequency is to raise the FSB, if that board allows it, you can switch to 75 MHz, you get 188 MHz that the BIOS could interpret as 180 or 200 MHz, maybe that's how they showed you the 200 MHz.

zuldan wrote on Today, 09:46:

RetroBus wrote on Today, 09:22:

Cleaned and resurrected an Athlon 64 System I got on Facebook Marketplace, Looks like its been through a bit and seen some things in its time, upgrades and hackjob repairs the Northbridge Cooler was really a nightmare
Video Below:
https://studio.youtube.com/video/mHSGr_t3H_I/edit

Need a proper link 😝

Ah yes, thanks for bringing that to my attention 😀, updated the link, but here it is again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHSGr_t3H_I

RetroBus wrote on Today, 11:52:

zuldan wrote on Today, 09:46:

RetroBus wrote on Today, 09:22:

Cleaned and resurrected an Athlon 64 System I got on Facebook Marketplace, Looks like its been through a bit and seen some things in its time, upgrades and hackjob repairs the Northbridge Cooler was really a nightmare
Video Below:
https://studio.youtube.com/video/mHSGr_t3H_I/edit

Need a proper link 😝

Ah yes, thanks for bringing that to my attention 😀, updated the link, but here it is again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHSGr_t3H_I

Another great video by the way. Appreciate you making this content.

Ozzuneoj wrote on Today, 03:35:

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. 😀

Yeah, I think there's also the file for K7Pro - which I'll probably need as well.

PC@LIVE wrote on Today, 09:51:

Hello, if I understand correctly you have an S.7, but the CPU goes to a maximum of 166 MHz, so first of all 😨 I would check what […]
Show full quote

sunkindly wrote on Today, 01:43:

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).

Hello, if I understand correctly you have an S.7, but the CPU goes to a maximum of 166 MHz, so first of all 😨 I would check what is written on the CPU, for example Pentium XXX MMX SXXXX (the X's indicate what you will find written, they are important), already from there it would be possible to better understand the problem.
Then if maybe 🤔 you can take some photos, and attach them here, possibly motherboard and CPU, or if you can jumper zone (multiX), it would be possible to compare your settings with those of the manual (if you have one), but in any case even in the absence of the manual, it is possible to do some tests, to see to set the jumpers on 3X, currently it should be on 2.5X, if instead it is on 3X and does not go to 200, speaking of Intel CPU, you could have a 166 MHz CPU with multiplier blocked to go up.
If so, the only way to increase the frequency is to raise the FSB, if that board allows it, you can switch to 75 MHz, you get 188 MHz that the BIOS could interpret as 180 or 200 MHz, maybe that's how they showed you the 200 MHz.

Photos below, but in doing some more testing...it seems like the jumpers don't do anything at all to change it from 2.5x.

So JP16 and JP17 seem to set the fsb, but for JP19, JP20, and JP22 no matter what I set them to...it didn't change from 2.5x at 166MHz. Even setting it to something "normal" like 133MHz at 2x, nothing changed. The only thing that seemed to affect change was changing the FSB through JP16-17. But unfortunately, it doesn't support more than 66MHz.

The silkscreen doesn't mention anything about P55C or a 3x multiplier, but it has the jumpers to set dual voltage (which I did) and since it's POSTing I'm assuming that's actually working. So I'm not sure...

It's probably fate though cause I really don't like the design of this board anyways (who thought it was a good idea to put ports between the PCI and ISA slots...)

sunkindly wrote on Today, 17:51:

Photos below, but in doing some more testing...it seems like the jumpers don't do anything at all to change it from 2.5x. […]
Show full quote

PC@LIVE wrote on Today, 09:51:

Hello, if I understand correctly you have an S.7, but the CPU goes to a maximum of 166 MHz, so first of all 😨 I would check what […]
Show full quote

sunkindly wrote on Today, 01:43:

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).

Hello, if I understand correctly you have an S.7, but the CPU goes to a maximum of 166 MHz, so first of all 😨 I would check what is written on the CPU, for example Pentium XXX MMX SXXXX (the X's indicate what you will find written, they are important), already from there it would be possible to better understand the problem.
Then if maybe 🤔 you can take some photos, and attach them here, possibly motherboard and CPU, or if you can jumper zone (multiX), it would be possible to compare your settings with those of the manual (if you have one), but in any case even in the absence of the manual, it is possible to do some tests, to see to set the jumpers on 3X, currently it should be on 2.5X, if instead it is on 3X and does not go to 200, speaking of Intel CPU, you could have a 166 MHz CPU with multiplier blocked to go up.
If so, the only way to increase the frequency is to raise the FSB, if that board allows it, you can switch to 75 MHz, you get 188 MHz that the BIOS could interpret as 180 or 200 MHz, maybe that's how they showed you the 200 MHz.

Photos below, but in doing some more testing...it seems like the jumpers don't do anything at all to change it from 2.5x.

The attachment r529multjp.png is no longer available

So JP16 and JP17 seem to set the fsb, but for JP19, JP20, and JP22 no matter what I set them to...it didn't change from 2.5x at 166MHz. Even setting it to something "normal" like 133MHz at 2x, nothing changed. The only thing that seemed to affect change was changing the FSB through JP16-17. But unfortunately, it doesn't support more than 66MHz.

The attachment IMG_7685.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_7682.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_7683.jpg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_7684.JPG is no longer available

The silkscreen doesn't mention anything about P55C or a 3x multiplier, but it has the jumpers to set dual voltage (which I did) and since it's POSTing I'm assuming that's actually working. So I'm not sure...

Looking at the images, I can tell you that the CPU is blocked, you can only use two multi, 2.5X and 3X, the 2.5X one definitely works, while the 3X one doesn't seem to.
But it could be something else, first, you can use a software to see the actual frequency, it could for example be a dated BIOS that makes you see only 166 MHz, when in reality it is 200.
One that you can easily find is CHKCPU, it works with DOS, or if you have Windows 95-98 you can try CPU-Z, both can show the actual frequency.
For the rest it's a motherboard that's fine, if you don't need to update it, that is, you want to use it as it is, and according to what it says, the jumpers are set up in the right way.
Perhaps the BIOS version is the factory version, and it is not accurate in reading the frequency (?).