Re: Question about and need bios update for PVI-486SP3 and P/I-P6NP5

Posted on 2015-05-27, 19:08

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You can try version 0305 and see if that works but, I doubt it. This is odd since, if you were able to flash your BIOS and actually write (update it), if the jumpes are still in the correct setting, the BIOS should be able to update itself (the ESCD). Try first by "clearing" your BIOS (with the …

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Re: win95 or 98 for high end 486?

Posted on 2015-05-27, 18:54

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I ran some tests back in the day on my AMD 486DX4-100 (and even on my old Cyrix 486DLC-40) to determine which OS ran the best (Windows 95 or Windows 98). WIndows 95 (without the Windows Desktop Update that is included with IE4) runs quite well on any 486 PC (provided you have enough memory) but, a …

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Re: Question about and need bios update for PVI-486SP3 and P/I-P6NP5

Posted on 2015-05-26, 05:37

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Try the 5V setting as well but, this is strange. Try searching on the internet for causes and possible solutions. I got around my problem by setting it to the 5V setting.

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Re: Question about and need bios update for PVI-486SP3 and P/I-P6NP5

Posted on 2015-05-25, 06:08

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Well this is old I just noticed I am now getting an Error -- Can't Write ESCD, any suggestions on what to do? Based on an internet search, your flash ROM is 12V. Yes, I received the same "Can't write ESCD" error message after I changed the jumper settings back to "normal" mode. You need to ensure …

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Re: The secret of Monkey Island - CD - No sound

Posted on 2015-05-24, 21:36

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

CD-ROM audio is not dependent on IRQ or DMA settings of your sound card. All that it does is to route the audio source via your sound card to the speaker or line out of your sound card.

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Re: Question about and need bios update for PVI-486SP3 and P/I-P6NP5

Posted on 2015-05-24, 21:31

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've attached everything you need for the PVI-486SP3 motherboard. Unfortunately, I can't help you with the P/I-P6NP5 motherboard but, try Asus' website at http://support.asus.com. Alternatively, just search the web. That's how I found the PVI-486SP3 BIOS revisions. The last "official" BIOS revision …

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Re: The secret of Monkey Island - CD - No sound

Posted on 2015-05-24, 20:51

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

My experience has been that the Creative Plug & Plug Configuration Manager (the one for DOS 6.22/Windows 3.1) don't work that well with MS-DOS 7.1 (it "thinks" you have Windows installed and then "forces" you to configure everything via Windows). I suggest that, if you only want "pure" DOS, rather …

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Re: The secret of Monkey Island - CD - No sound

Posted on 2015-05-24, 19:00

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

The default irq is 7 for older models (mostly the original Sound Blasters) and 5 for newer models. However, nothing prevents you from choosing another irq, so long as it doesn't conflict with another device. I'd stick with irq 5, unless you're playing very old games that expect the irq to be at 7.

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Re: Unknown Socket 3 Motherboard

Posted on 2015-05-24, 16:34

by

by jesolo

in Milliways

in Milliways

Can't be that many Soyo socket 3 motherboards that had both PCI and VLB slots. I'll see of I can track down something

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Re: The secret of Monkey Island - CD - No sound

Posted on 2015-05-24, 16:29

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

MS-DOS 7.1 was bundled with Windows 95b and also with Windows 98. I can't see how you could have installed it as a standalone operating system (unless it's some hacked version). Try typing win at the command prompt and see whether Windows doesn't start up. If that doesn't help, locate the CTPNP.CFG …

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Re: Am486DX4 "Plus"?

Posted on 2015-05-24, 09:12

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Refer to the attached links for more information: http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&l1=AMD&l2=486%20DX http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am486 The more common CPU's were the ones that had write through level 1 cache. AMD later introduced the "enhanced" or "plus" CPU's with write back level 1 cache and …

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Re: Issue with Blood + AWE64 Gold

Posted on 2015-05-23, 21:58

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

When you say DOS mode, are you referring to "real" MS-DOS mode or, MS-DOS prompt (i.e., running a DOS window within Windows)? Check your AWE64 plug 'n play IRQ & DMA settings (CTPNP.CFG in your Windows directory). Make sure they correspond to your game's setup menu settings. You can also run …

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Re: Socket 3 boards with PCI - Worth it?

Posted on 2015-05-23, 21:50

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes. VLB is a bit of a pain and hard to get. And you have less options. PCI can be quite good on socket 3 if you get a good board. In your opinion, what would you say are good PCI based socket 3 boards? Which combo (VLB & PCI) socket 3 boards are the good ones? From what I've read, on some combo …

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Re: The secret of Monkey Island - CD - No sound

Posted on 2015-05-23, 21:35

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

From what it sounds like, the audio on this particular CD might actually be red book (CD Digital Audio) and not digital files (like wave or MIDI files) that are being played back. Check whether you have a CD-ROM audio cable connected between your DVD-ROM drive and your sound card. If so, check the …

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Re: Best way to image a bunch of 5.25 floppies?

Posted on 2015-05-23, 07:10

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Back in the day, I just backed up all my floppy disks on CD's.

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Re: Socket 3 boards with PCI - Worth it?

Posted on 2015-05-23, 06:59

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think it comes down to personal preference. Some people prefer VLB as this architecture was designed with your 486 in mind. However, you might find that VLB expansion cards (HDD controller & especially "good" graphics cards) are a bit more expensive and hard to come by these days than your PCI …

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Re: Sound cards? Do they make that much of a difference?

Posted on 2015-05-20, 22:14

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think ESS Audio drives (1688/1868) were what most people had back in the late DOS era, at least around where I live. Small computer companies building cheap computers loved them because they worked and they were cheap. Lucky enough they were mostly not only cheap and compatible but also decent …

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Re: Sound Canvas differences

Posted on 2015-05-20, 19:51

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sound Canvas 55 MKII (SCB-55) is from what I know, due to increased polyphony (24->28 voices) and additional sounds, a better model. Based on other posts I've read, I tend to agree. However, most General MIDI games were developed on the "mark 1", and therefore did not utilise these additional …

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Re: Sound cards? Do they make that much of a difference?

Posted on 2015-05-20, 19:27

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The perfect sound card doesn't exist, sadly. Agree, I've done some extensive investigations myself and, although there are arguably better clones out there, practically all of these lacked Sound Blaster 16 support (most only supported Sound Blaster Pro and some had very poor Sound Blaster support …

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Re: Buying a Pentium 2 233MHZ PC.

Posted on 2015-05-20, 11:46

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you do buy the Pentium II, run some benchmark comparisons between the two. You can then decide which one you want to keep.

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