First post, by rick12373
- Rank
- Oldbie
I picked this up a few years ago. I upgraded the CPU from the 486SX2-66 to a 486 DX4-100 using an overdrive. I also took the RAM from the original amount (not sure if that was 12MB I can't seem to find the original specs) to 64MB RAM. I had to adjust the centering of the CRT by adjusting some of the tuning screws inside the monitor, which was very scary! So I got it working nicely back then until the hard drive died on me. It was the original 420 MB Conner? drive. I bought an SD Card to IDE interface but never got round to putting it in.
Anyway I decided to get it working again and I am happy to report getting the SD card to work was way easier than I expected. Right now I have a 256MB one in there but I will be upgrading that to a 512MB shortly. I was sure there was going to be some problem getting it to recognize the drive but it worked first time and DOS installed without a problem. I really do like this machine, I just hope the monitor never gives out as that would probably be non-repairable (especially for me). I love being able to slide the SD card out, put in my modern machine and then copy new software over before slotting it back in. So convenient!
I was playing Return to Zork recently and noticed that the sequences that stream from the CD were slow and choppy. The game has a program that tests the speed of the CD drive and it returned a speed well below the recommended for the game. I am not entirely sure what speed drive this machine came with, the information that I have found online seems to indicate that it is either a single speed 😮 or 4 speed drive. I am leaning towards it being single speed. After rooting around in my spares I found an MSI 52x Max CD ROM drive. It looks like it is in very good condition and even has a headphone jack and volume on the front, which I like. I haven't hooked it up yet. This drive should work on the machine shouldn't it? The picture isn't my machine by the way.
486 DX4-100 (overdrive)
16MB 72-pin SIMM RAM (2x8MB)
1MB Diamond Speedstar Pro VLB video card
SB 16 Value CT2770
AOpen VI15G Socket 3 Motherboard
HDD/FDD VLB controller card