wrote:The actual motherboard model will be printed somewhere on the mobo, probably in between two of the expansion slots.
The motherboard is a standard micro atx part so any ATX case should do.
What size tower - mini, mid tower, or full?
Any of those should fit your board.
Found this case - check it out, please?
Especiaially check out the 3.5 inch floppy drive face plate - won't this go nicely with the existing gray floppy drive from this computer - I think it would.
EDIT - Oops - didn't see the Out of Stock notice. Oh well, Either they'll get it back in when I'm ready to buy it or I might be able to get it elsewhere?
Better yet, maybe I'll look for a gray case matching this case.
BTW I just received a set of MS- DOS 6.22 floppy diskettes (4 floppies) that I bought on ebay a week or 2 ago. I guess I'll play around with this after reassembling this computer (after I get an appropriate case).
apeva's are TRASH. I owned a mATX one before and it was "okay" but I kid you not, i've seen soda cans that had thicker stronger sides.
man up and buy one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811112222
I have an older version holding a dual cpu socket f mobo.
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
wrote:apeva's are TRASH. I owned a mATX one before and it was "okay" but I kid you not, i've seen soda cans that had thicker stronger […]
apeva's are TRASH. I owned a mATX one before and it was "okay" but I kid you not, i've seen soda cans that had thicker stronger sides.
man up and buy one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811112222I have an older version holding a dual cpu socket f mobo.
Gee, that price is a bit out of my price range - is there anything significantly lower but quite sturdy?
Thanks for the warning, tho - I wouldn't want the person that I'm going to donate this computer as a retro gaming PC to to complain about a flimsy case - that would look bad on my future professional reputation.
btw, the PSU that was originally in that PC is a model ATX 100-5 -
Also, I found a possible place to donate the retro computers that I'm taking in to fix (am currently in school to be a computer tech) or maybe I could possibly have someone start a program like this one in the Pittsburgh area Retro Tech
The thing about lian li cases is, they are the best cases made. PERIOD. After you own one, you wont spend your money on anything else. I paid $400 for a V2100B ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811112076 ) and I had a 2.8ghx p4 in it. Which was like 2004, and I still have the case and it looks just as new as day one. How often can you say you get TWELVE YEARS out of anything in the computer industry?
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
wrote:The thing about lian li cases is, they are the best cases made. PERIOD. After you own one, you wont spend your money on anything else. I paid $400 for a V2100B ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?It … N82E16811112076 ) and I had a 2.8ghx p4 in it. Which was like 2004, and I still have the case and it looks just as new as day one. How often can you say you get TWELVE YEARS out of anything in the computer industry?
I really don't know. But I got my Dell Dimension 8200 desktop PC back in Nov. 2001, and it's still going strong (for the older XP-era games, that is). I forgot to ask you about that PSU from this PC # 2 that I mentioned in my post above yours - will it fit into that case you linked me to?
And what do you think of that Retro Tech's getting a computer for low-income, and kids with diseases like cancer with a few games/application software programs thrown in - won't these people be happy to receive a computer such as the one being discussed in this thread?
Well I put this computer back together, using the original case/faceplate/insert. Here's how I did it:
anchoring faceplate with screws
original faceplate back on w/insert 001
original faceplate back on 002
PC all back together after it was taken all apart by me
connected everything on mobo correctly - now boots up
Regarding how I got the PC to boot up again after taking it apart a year ago, the RAM was taken out, etc, but I looked back at one of my school books for how the RAM is placed in DIMM 1 and DIMM 2, and recalled that the HDD should be connected to primary channel (second slot from top slot on mobo, CD drive connected to secondary channel (top slot on mobo), the floppy drive connected to bottommost slot (its a bit smaller) and this time I noticed on the mobo where the power pin is on the front panel connector and I turned the front panel cable connector upside down (so that 4 pins on L side of notch, 3 pins on R side of notch, previously I kept plugging it onto these pins with the 3 pins on L side of notch, 4 pins on R side of notch just because there were more pins on the R side and I never saw that PWR pin on the L. Also I put the CMOS battery back into the socket).
Isn't this kind of tech experience such as this what you'd call "real world" training, instead of "sheltered, teacher-guided training"?
Check this mobo diagram (this PC's mobo) ***here***
Ok, I set up Windows 98SE on this computer today, now I'm trying to install the s3 video drivers as this PC which has onboard video, but when I selected "640 x 480, 256 colors" in the driver setup, rebooted, I got crazy graphics (video output looked like venetian blinds). So I tried running the driver setup from Device Manager (this is after I copied the s3 video driver folder from my backup disc into the computer's My Documents folder) again and this time I selected something like "1 Meg 1,6 Mil colors" rebooted and this time got a black video output with a white flashing cursor on the upper L corner of the screen.
I think I'll have to reinstall W98 all over again, and try a different approach to installing the s3 drivers, but what (the color settings in the setup program, as I scroll down, go to 800 x 600, and above, starting with 256 colors) did I do wrong?
Thanks in advance.
You didn't do anything wrong. W98 is just a very fiddly and picky beast 😁
wrote:You didn't do anything wrong. W98 is just a very fiddly and picky beast 😁
Ok, how do I install the s3 device driver so that W98 accepts it without question - any trick(s)?
wrote:wrote:You didn't do anything wrong. W98 is just a very fiddly and picky beast 😁
Ok, how do I install the s3 device driver so that W98 accepts it without question - any trick(s)?
I'm currently doing something similar. Firstly get some disc imaging software to take an image, before you install anything. Just in case something goes wrong you can quickly go back rather than having to reinstall Windows.
And then you can try different driver versions. I also suggest installing service packs (they are un-official), but might fix underlying issues.
I was just reading http://www.flaterco.com/kb/W98.html , which advocates putting HIMEMX.EXE in your config.sys to improve Windows 98 memory management and system stability in regards to certain video drivers. Seems a bit weird, but why not give it a try?
You might also want to try changing "PnP OS Installed" in your BIOS to "Yes" if you have that option, to let Windows 98 manage the allocation of system resources.
wrote:now I'm trying to install the s3 video drivers as this PC which has onboard video.
Why you are installing S3 video drivers if the onboard video is SiS 530?, you should install this one
http://w3.sis.com/download/
Select windows 98 se, then click IGP graphics drivers, then SiS 530 and click on GO button
Download the 530_108.zip then unzip and install
Good luck!
Never needed a backup with windows 9x, just use Scanreg to return to previous days. I actually admire old windows driver model, they handle tens of different drivers installed without big issues.
Well, it looks like I got the video fixed, I d/l the video driver from the sis website from the like here in this thread.
Back in January after I ordered these 16 bit sound blaster sound cards I put one into this computer's pci slot.
Now after i repeatedly tried to install the audio drivers (tried both audio drivers for onboard audio from the sis mobo website as well as creative sound blaster 16/awe drivers) all evening yesterday i was trying in vain to get the sound working, I even hooked up the speakers from my dell dimension 8200 desktop PC to test the sound, but no sound was coming out of the speakers, I have them turned on/volume up.
These sound cards that I ordered from eBay back in January were dell creative labs sound blaster 5803 16-bit desktop cards, and on the outer edge of the cards (the side opposite of the part that goes into the mobo pci slot) these cards have 2 or 3 plastic connectors of some kind, apparently something is supposed to plug into these - could this be why the sound is not coming from the speakers, or what?
Mods - I mistakenly created duplicate posts, am typing this on my iPad and my finger is bigger than my mouse pointer so this is why I kept missing the edit icon in upper right corner of my post and I kept hitting the reply icon, could you please delete my duplicate posts? Thanks.
Do the drivers load properly, or give any indication that something is wrong with the hardware?
Are you sure you're plugging the speakers into the right jack? Have you tried each of the jacks? Are you sure the speakers are plugged in if they need to be? (These are important things to check before one goes nuts.)
Can you boot something like Puppy Linux or maybe an old version of Geexbox off a CD?
I think at least one of those plastic connectors you are referring to is intended to be connected to your CD-ROM drive for analog CD audio.
wrote:Do the drivers load properly, or give any indication that something is wrong with the hardware?
It seems to have installed correctly, IIRC.
wrote:Are you sure you're plugging the speakers into the right jack? Have you tried each of the jacks? Are you sure the speakers are plugged in if they need to be? (These are important things to check before one goes nuts.)
You've got a point there. Will have to try each one.
wrote:Can you boot something like Puppy Linux or maybe an old version of Geexbox off a CD?
No, I don't even have a Puppy Linux/Geexbox on a CD. Why are you asking about these OS's in particular?
I don't even want that PC anymore. I'm just trying to fix it so I can donate it to the local Salvation Army in order to make room in my office for new stuff (laptops, etc), since it (and another, white Compaq tower which runs superb which I installed Windows ME on) have been sitting in my office now since the winter of 2012 when I was working on them and I'd like to get them out of my office and donated ASAP.
wrote:I think at least one of those plastic connectors you are referring to is intended to be connected to your CD-ROM drive for analog CD audio.
Ok, since, I was thinking of putting old free bee games on this PC prior to donation, and it already has a good, working CD-ROM drive, do I really have to worry about these connectors or not?
