Artex wrote:

Bought these (retro) hardware (magazines?) today BOOT magazine, the precursor to Maximum PC - various issues from 1996-1998 i […]
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Bought these (retro) hardware (magazines?) today
BOOT magazine, the precursor to Maximum PC - various issues from 1996-1998 include the very first issue in mint condition! Been after these for a while for some nostalgic reading. I love looking at all the old adverts in these too!

I want these in PDF in the worst way. I assume Archive.org has their own collection already awaiting scanning, but I dunno for sure.

kanecvr wrote:

Seller advertised it as defective, but upon inspection it turns out the AT PSU sleads were installed in revers order (black on the outside). Luckily the AT case's button was defective (it would not click in place) so after replacing the power switch and correctly installing the PSU conntector leads (black in the middle) it fired right up.

I don't know if you're lucky or this is some religious miracle. The first and last time I ever connected power leads incorrectly there was a loud POP and a bright flash with magic smoke. Needless to say I inadvertently blew up a 286, and possibly the power supply. 😵

kanecvr wrote:

Got this little guy in the mail yesterday: […]
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Got this little guy in the mail yesterday:

Siemens Nixdorf Scenic C5 PRO 166 - 166MHz pentium non-mxx, 32mb of ram, voodoo 1 and ymf-719 isa sound card. It came with a 1.2GB WD HDD witch I wapped for a 4GB quantum. The CD-ROM and floppy drive were dead so I replaced them with whatever I had on hand. The pics were taken after cleaning and testing.

Besides the Siemens PC, I bought (same seller) a "defective" 486. Here's the case it came in (cleaned and sorted of course).

This little guy is a 100MHz intel DX4. It came with an obvious shuttle HOT-433 mainboard, 16mb of EDO dram, a Trident 9000i ISA video card (a weird slim version with EDO vram) and a dead 500mb connor HDD.
Seller advertised it as defective, but upon inspection it turns out the AT PSU sleads were installed in revers order (black on the outside). Luckily the AT case's button was defective (it would not click in place) so after replacing the power switch and correctly installing the PSU conntector leads (black in the middle) it fired right up.

Nice catch.... 😀

Yeah, I got lucky with those two 😀

I picked up an Intel SE440BX-2 (replaced cell battery) since I've never used a slot 1 system and I picked up some PC100 RAM. I don't have a processor yet but I was thinking I would buy a 800MHz Pentium III since the board is a late enough revision to support it.

I also had my NEC FE2111SB die so I found a Dell P1130 to replace it. I found the service manual for the NEC and I disassembled it as much as I felt comfortable but couldn't find a simple fix (blown caps, blown fuse). From the diagnostic code, the problem is likely to be an IC chip on the main board.

anachronism1887 wrote:

I picked up an Intel SE440BX-2 (replaced cell battery) since I've never used a slot 1 system and I picked up some PC100 RAM. I don't have a processor yet but I was thinking I would buy a 800MHz Pentium III since the board is a late enough revision to support it.

It is a really stable and good board. Personally I have not had any issues with it at all.
It is though, a bit on the slow side of things. Guess it is the price to pay for stability.
Mine is running with a Pentium-III 500mhz and 256mb PC-133.

Stability was one of my desires and my main thinking is that I have my 200MHz MMX socket 7 system for DOS and I could put something together to run more powerful vintage games that won't run well on my modern desktop.

Brickpad wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

Seller advertised it as defective, but upon inspection it turns out the AT PSU sleads were installed in revers order (black on the outside). Luckily the AT case's button was defective (it would not click in place) so after replacing the power switch and correctly installing the PSU conntector leads (black in the middle) it fired right up.

I don't know if you're lucky or this is some religious miracle. The first and last time I ever connected power leads incorrectly there was a loud POP and a bright flash with magic smoke. Needless to say I inadvertently blew up a 286, and possibly the power supply. 😵

I heard such stories as well. When I did this on a 386, The PSU fan didn't start and I heard humming noise from the inside. I turned it off instantly and everything survived. I think it's really all about luck 😀

Brickpad wrote:

I don't know if you're lucky or this is some religious miracle. The first and last time I ever connected power leads incorrectly there was a loud POP and a bright flash with magic smoke. Needless to say I inadvertently blew up a 286, and possibly the power supply. 😵

A little bit of both I guess - that's why I always thoroughly check for stuff like this before attempting to power a computer on - especially old computers that have been messed with.

I know the previous owner attempted to turn it on, but since the psu switch would not stick in the on position, it couldn't have been on for more then a second...

I got this in the mail today. 😀 Untested, but bought it for 10 euros.

I just picked up a pile of old hardware on eBay. I only knew some of what was included, and it was worth the money ($20+$12 shipping)... here is what ended up being in the lot:

Three motherboard boxes:

One: A nearly-new Asus A7V motherboard (Socket A, Via KT133, PC-133, ATX), that looks like it was barely used, in an ASUS motherboard box with all its original accessories and an Asus V7100 Pro (Geforce 2 MX400 64MB) in still sealed in an antistatic bag.

In box number two was a mixed lot of CDs, manuals and floppies that would have come with other hardware. The box is a really nifty Abit KA7 box, which has a lot of logos of old hardware sites on it (for awards and such), which REALLY takes me back about 15 years. Notable things in the box would be a Creative CT7220 DVD decoder card, Decent 3 discs 1 and 2, with a manual, Need for Speed: High Stakes (one of my favorites!), Thief the Dark Project, a driver disc and manual for a Hercules 3D Prophet (Geforce 256 or Geforce 2 of some kind), a Sound Blaster Live! CD and a Windows 95 Manual\COA!

The best box though was the Asus K7V motherboard box containing... *drum roll*... a brand new, never been opened Asus K7V-T motherboard (Slot A, KX133, Thunderbird support, AGP Pro slot), all of its original accessories (other than the IO plate for some reason)... and nicely sealed in a tightly wrapped antistatic bag, never been used, an Athlon a0850mpr24b 850Mhz Thunderbird CPU! I almost bought an Athlon 700 in anticipation of getting this board, but there were a couple things I couldn't identify in the pictures, and figured I'd wait to be sure it didn't come with a CPU. Well... it did, and its one that would have been rather expensive to obtain on its own.

Another thing I found that was rather unusual was stuck in the manual for the K7V. It was a certificate of authenticity from Yamaha with a huge XG logo on it that says it is to verify that I've obtained legally licensed Yamaha software. It says "S-YXG50" and a serial number on it. It is very official looking. I just wish whatever it came with had been in here too... 😀

I believe the SYXG50 was a software XG midi synthesizer. It was included with Final Fantasy 7 for PC and was actually pretty sweet...

I have the A7V-266-E board, and I am thinking that it is somehow a big brother to the A7V board.
It is nice and runs good. Not had it running that much, to say wether it is 100% stable or has issues.
Yet for what I have tried, the A7V lineup is pretty decent hardware.

except for the A7V600 - those like to catch on fire - well, at least a certain revision of it.

Ozzuneoj wrote:

I just picked up a pile of old hardware on eBay. I only knew some of what was included, and it was worth the money ($20+$12 ship […]
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I just picked up a pile of old hardware on eBay. I only knew some of what was included, and it was worth the money ($20+$12 shipping)... here is what ended up being in the lot:

Three motherboard boxes:

One: A nearly-new Asus A7V motherboard (Socket A, Via KT133, PC-133, ATX), that looks like it was barely used, in an ASUS motherboard box with all its original accessories and an Asus V7100 Pro (Geforce 2 MX400 64MB) in still sealed in an antistatic bag.

In box number two was a mixed lot of CDs, manuals and floppies that would have come with other hardware. The box is a really nifty Abit KA7 box, which has a lot of logos of old hardware sites on it (for awards and such), which REALLY takes me back about 15 years. Notable things in the box would be a Creative CT7220 DVD decoder card, Decent 3 discs 1 and 2, with a manual, Need for Speed: High Stakes (one of my favorites!), Thief the Dark Project, a driver disc and manual for a Hercules 3D Prophet (Geforce 256 or Geforce 2 of some kind), a Sound Blaster Live! CD and a Windows 95 Manual\COA!

The best box though was the Asus K7V motherboard box containing... *drum roll*... a brand new, never been opened Asus K7V-T motherboard (Slot A, KX133, Thunderbird support, AGP Pro slot), all of its original accessories (other than the IO plate for some reason)... and nicely sealed in a tightly wrapped antistatic bag, never been used, an Athlon a0850mpr24b 850Mhz Thunderbird CPU! I almost bought an Athlon 700 in anticipation of getting this board, but there were a couple things I couldn't identify in the pictures, and figured I'd wait to be sure it didn't come with a CPU. Well... it did, and its one that would have been rather expensive to obtain on its own.

Another thing I found that was rather unusual was stuck in the manual for the K7V. It was a certificate of authenticity from Yamaha with a huge XG logo on it that says it is to verify that I've obtained legally licensed Yamaha software. It says "S-YXG50" and a serial number on it. It is very official looking. I just wish whatever it came with had been in here too... 😀

Those three games (Descent 3, NFS:HS and Thief) came bundled with the Sound Blaster Live! around that time. I still have those CDs even though I sold the card a while back. X-Gamer package if I remember correctly.

TheMobRules wrote:

Ozzuneoj wrote:

I just picked up a pile of old hardware on eBay. I only knew some of what was included, and it was worth the money ($20+$12 ship […]
Show full quote

I just picked up a pile of old hardware on eBay. I only knew some of what was included, and it was worth the money ($20+$12 shipping)... here is what ended up being in the lot:

Three motherboard boxes:

One: A nearly-new Asus A7V motherboard (Socket A, Via KT133, PC-133, ATX), that looks like it was barely used, in an ASUS motherboard box with all its original accessories and an Asus V7100 Pro (Geforce 2 MX400 64MB) in still sealed in an antistatic bag.

In box number two was a mixed lot of CDs, manuals and floppies that would have come with other hardware. The box is a really nifty Abit KA7 box, which has a lot of logos of old hardware sites on it (for awards and such), which REALLY takes me back about 15 years. Notable things in the box would be a Creative CT7220 DVD decoder card, Decent 3 discs 1 and 2, with a manual, Need for Speed: High Stakes (one of my favorites!), Thief the Dark Project, a driver disc and manual for a Hercules 3D Prophet (Geforce 256 or Geforce 2 of some kind), a Sound Blaster Live! CD and a Windows 95 Manual\COA!

The best box though was the Asus K7V motherboard box containing... *drum roll*... a brand new, never been opened Asus K7V-T motherboard (Slot A, KX133, Thunderbird support, AGP Pro slot), all of its original accessories (other than the IO plate for some reason)... and nicely sealed in a tightly wrapped antistatic bag, never been used, an Athlon a0850mpr24b 850Mhz Thunderbird CPU! I almost bought an Athlon 700 in anticipation of getting this board, but there were a couple things I couldn't identify in the pictures, and figured I'd wait to be sure it didn't come with a CPU. Well... it did, and its one that would have been rather expensive to obtain on its own.

Another thing I found that was rather unusual was stuck in the manual for the K7V. It was a certificate of authenticity from Yamaha with a huge XG logo on it that says it is to verify that I've obtained legally licensed Yamaha software. It says "S-YXG50" and a serial number on it. It is very official looking. I just wish whatever it came with had been in here too... 😀

Those three games (Descent 3, NFS:HS and Thief) came bundled with the Sound Blaster Live! around that time. I still have those CDs even though I sold the card a while back. X-Gamer package if I remember correctly.

I figured it was something like that. Thanks for letting me know. 😀

Hmmmm.... Must avoid them A7V600's then. 😁

brostenen wrote:

Hmmmm.... Must avoid them A7V600's then. 😁

I dunno, they sound quite exciting!

Got myself a boxed SCP-55, my first item of Roland gear. Plugged it into Libretto 50CT and started Doom. I only have two words to describe it: holy sh*t!!!

Now I need to find a way to mix YMF715 output with SCP-55 to hear both sound effects and music simultaneously.
P.S. Man, this card is so hot...

What model is the laptop from the box cover?