MSI K8N Neo3 PCIe video - is it that finicky?

Posted on 2014-08-23, 05:17

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by 133MHz

in Milliways

in Milliways

I've been battling with this board all week, and even though I was able to solve my problem, I might as well document it in case it may help someone in the future. The story goes as follows: An acquaintance of mine brought me his desktop PC because it stopped working (no POST). It's a socket 754 …

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Re: SB16 ISA card defect. What to look for?

Posted on 2014-08-20, 05:00

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Looks like the legs on the amplifier chip have corroded, most likely due to leakage from the bad electrolytic capacitors nearby. Definitely remove both the chip and the capacitors, clean the area very thoroughly (otherwise the electrolyte will continue to eat through the card and ruin it completely) …

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Re: Computing terminology in Non-English languages

Posted on 2014-08-13, 03:09

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by 133MHz

in Milliways

in Milliways

While I understand why people with less english skills use Windows and software in their own language I never understand why so many users here on Vogons cling on to localized language specific Windows & DOS versions. In my case: Familiarity. I've been using Spanish Windows for about two decades …

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Re: Post pics of your CRT monitors

Posted on 2014-08-12, 03:25

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

But Japan did have its own standard for scart plugs; the pinout was different from Europe but the same socket used. Yeah that's what I was referring to with 'JP21 RGB'. Thing is, it seemed to be a high-end only thing that never really caught on the mainstream TV market, which is kinda surprising …

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Re: 386DX is it a good one ?

Posted on 2014-08-12, 03:00

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Wow, not only it hasn't yellowed at all, even the original key is still there. Very nice! 😀

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Re: AGP VGA CARDS USA AND EU THE SAME?

Posted on 2014-08-12, 02:49

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Not at all, the TV-out chip is software programmable and the jumper (if present) only affects boot time. The driver either looks up your OS' region settings to determine the correct analog TV standard to use or lets you choose from a (usually long) list of NTSC and PAL variants. The TV encoders in …

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Re: 15" CRT Monitor with manufacturing defect.

Posted on 2014-08-11, 22:39

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As I've said before, there's a problem caused when the electron beam is too 'hot', it causes the shadow mask inside the tube to heat up in certain spots (usually where the brightest parts of the image are), making it physically expand, distorting its shape and messing up color purity in the area, …

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Re: Post pics of your CRT monitors

Posted on 2014-08-11, 21:27

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I believe 21pin RGB wasn't really popular in Japan at all, at least not in the scale RGB SCART was in Europe. They seemed to be stuck in the same RF/Composite/S-Video thing as us in America. I haven't really seen JP21 RGB inputs outside home computer monitors and high end TV sets from the 80s ( …

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Re: 15" CRT Monitor with manufacturing defect.

Posted on 2014-08-11, 02:21

by

by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Sounds like blooming/breathing of the shadow mask caused by localized heating from the electron beam, distorting its shape thus affecting color purity. Try lowering the brightness/contrast a good amount and see if the problem is delayed or eliminated. If the degaussing circuitry were faulty the …

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Re: AGP VGA CARDS USA AND EU THE SAME?

Posted on 2014-08-10, 23:14

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Most of the AGP/PCI video cards I've seen with TV-out come with a jumper to select between NTSC or PAL video at boot time. Once the OS is loaded the TV standard can be freely selected through the configuration utility.

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Re: Post pics of your CRT monitors

Posted on 2014-08-05, 02:39

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm not sure if this affected anything, or, is the actual cause for the screen distortion: It might very well be the cause of your problems as you say. Maybe it's the picture but it doesn't look so bad to me, I've saved monitors with PCBs so scorched they had holes I could poke a pencil through, by …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2014-08-02, 22:08

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is the retro computing stuff I picked up today at my usual flea market: https://133fsb.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/dscn1384.jpg?w=400 It wasn't the 5.25" floppy drive or the overall look of the case that got my attention, it was the case logo. I was like 'Wow, Asder !', but then I got home, …

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Re: Abandoning Skype

Posted on 2014-07-30, 06:28

by

by 133MHz

in Milliways

in Milliways

I too remember Skype working great for audio/video calls, then getting increasingly bloated and ad-ridden. Nowadays in between the ads, the memory leaks & general sluggishness, features like screen sharing working when they feel like it I only launch the program when someone wants to have a video …

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Re: A tale of two PSUs

Posted on 2014-07-29, 21:07

by

by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Fuse is ceramic instead of glass so you can't determine if it's blown just by visual inspection, you'll have to test continuity across it with a multimeter. If you find it has blown, check the rectifier diodes (or bridge) on the primary for shorts.

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Re: Are CGA monitors hard wired to only display the 16 colors of the CGA palette?

Posted on 2014-07-29, 20:32

by

by 133MHz

in Milliways

in Milliways

'CGA' in the arcade world refers to the video scan rate which is 15kHz horizontal and 50~60Hz vertical, which is also known as 'Standard Resolution'. That said arcade monitors take analog RGB and TTL level sync, but in most cases the RGB voltage levels are not directly compatible with RGB SCART or …

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Re: Trashpicked IBM PS/2 Model 25 Restoration

Posted on 2014-07-29, 00:39

by

by 133MHz

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Thanks for all the new comments! I still haven't figured out if the floppy issue is drive or controller related, and looking at the pictures now I believe the casing has yellowed a bit :depressed: (even though it has spent 99% of the time in a dark storage room). I thought 'IBM plastic' didn't …

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Re: Are CGA monitors hard wired to only display the 16 colors of the CGA palette?

Posted on 2014-07-26, 08:09

by

by 133MHz

in Milliways

in Milliways

CGA is 4-bit digital video (3-bit RGB + 1-bit intensity) which gives 2^4 = 16 possible colors. Unlike analog you're stuck with those. Video timings are very close to SDTV so you could do 262 (~240 active) vertical lines, even 312 (~288 active) by dropping the frame rate to 50Hz.

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Re: Post pics of your CRT monitors

Posted on 2014-07-21, 08:10

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Does the monitor still have raster when the picture disappears? A quick way to check this is to crank up the brightness until black becomes gray, that way you can see if it's just the picture blanking out or you're losing raster entirely. If you're losing raster it could be the horizontal deflection …

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Re: Post pics of your CRT monitors

Posted on 2014-07-21, 06:53

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'd say it's a failing electrolytic capacitor, located on from most to least likely: +200V supply for the cathodes B+ filter capacitor Main power supply capacitor

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Re: Replacing a soldered CMOS battery

Posted on 2014-07-18, 01:59

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by 133MHz

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you can't easily get a CR2032 holder you can replace it with a pair of AAs. Cut the battery away leaving some of the tab materials as Maeslin suggested, then solder the flying leads from a 2xAA battery holder to the remaining tab stubs, make sure you get the polarity right. https://content. …

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