Turbo switch functionality on high end 486 & early Pentium 1 systems

Posted on 2015-02-14, 16:01

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been playing around on old PC hardware for a couple of years now. One thing that I haven't yet fully tested is the turbo switch functionality on these systems. Please note, the purpose of this topic is not to discuss other methods of slowing down your system (like disabiling the L1 & L2 cache …

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Re: Asus 486 mobo PVI-486SP3 won't POST.

Posted on 2015-02-11, 19:19

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Realise this is a very old post but, I just bought a PVI-486SP3 motherboard myself (rev 1.2) and thought I'd share some of my findings. Came with some cables, an Intel 486DX-33 CPU (with its heatsink and fan) and even the original manual. At first I swopped out this CPU with an AMD DX4-100 (write …

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Re: Aztech Waverider Pro 32-3D

Posted on 2015-01-31, 20:36

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi everyone. I own a couple of Aztech Sound Galaxy soundcards (from the 1st generation to the 4th generation) I've discoverd that the poor digital sound quality ( in DOS ) is actually due to a setting in the soundcard's Mixer control utility. All that you have to do is to load the Mixer control tsr …

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Re: SoftMPU project needs your help! (game & sound card testing)

Posted on 2014-12-15, 23:05

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by jesolo

in SoftMPU

in SoftMPU

Tested SoftMPU 1.9 on a 486 DX4-100 (LS-486E PCI motherboard with ISA slots) with a Roland MT-32 attached via a connector cable from the sound card's MIDI Out port to the MIDI in port on the MT-32. I then rerouted the sound output back to the Line In on the sound card. I tested it on the following …

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Re: What updates do you consider critical for Windows 98 SE?

Posted on 2014-10-18, 16:29

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I always just run the Unofficial SP 2.1a along with whatever version of DirectX I need. Never had any problems with that. I also use the USB mass storage updated drivers too, nusb33e.exe . These are a truly a blessing when using flash drives and other external storage. I don't use my Win98SE boxes …

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Re: 486 PCI Motherboards Benchmarks

Posted on 2014-09-27, 09:11

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting. First time I've actually seen a motherboard with the battery in this configuration. However, after browsing a bit, I see that they were also quite common on these type of motherboards. I've always just known about the old NiCd/NiMH batteries and the button (or coin) type batteries ( …

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Re: 486 PCI Motherboards Benchmarks

Posted on 2014-09-26, 19:40

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think you've got it covered. If you have other CPU's, maybe consider using a standard AMD or Intel 80486DX4-100, instead of the Overdrive CPU. The Overdrive CPU you selected is slighty faster than a standard Intel 80486DX4-100 with 16k L1 cache or an AMD 80486DX4-100 with 8k L1 cache (this is …

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Re: Help with DOS mode in Windows 98 SE

Posted on 2014-09-25, 20:27

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If you don't have random freezes on your machine or there is no sudden tearing or "fuzzy lines", then it should be fine. Basically, if you inserted it correctly and deep enough into the slot and you've fastened the bracket properly to the chassis, then it shouldn't give you any problems.

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Re: Help with DOS mode in Windows 98 SE

Posted on 2014-09-23, 22:50

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, that is a quick way of booting straight into DOS. However, this won't load any DOS drivers or memory managers (you need to "define" that in your start up files in the relevant sections).

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Re: Help with DOS mode in Windows 98 SE

Posted on 2014-09-23, 22:31

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

One possible reason for your problem is because, once you start in MS-DOS mode, you are loading certain DOS based drivers. Typing "exit" will just try to load Windows, without unloading those MS-DOS drivers, which could cause Windows to hang (for various reasons, like not enough memory available, …

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Re: Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-07, 18:56

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I suppose I could replace the worn connector but, I would have to cut the wire and attach (solder) a new one back on. I'll see how it goes. If it really becomes worn out and doesn't want to make a connection anymore, then I'll replace it. Should be able to find a replacement 5 pin DIN connector on …

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Re: Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-07, 15:58

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

That is some breakout box. After my last post, I decided to give it one more try. I discovered that the connector on Midi out port 1 does have a bit of a lose connection. If I bend the cable a bit to the one side, then I have a connection. Probably the age and use over the years has caused the …

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Re: Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-07, 12:13

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I managed to resolve my IRQ2 (9) conflict on the MIDI interface. Seems like the culprit was not my motherboard but, my sound card. On this particular sound card (Aztech Labs Sound Galaxy - AZT1605 chipset) you can actually specify a separate IRQ for the MPU-401 UART MIDI interface. Despite me …

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Re: Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-07, 08:26

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, SoftMPU was the next thing I wanted to test. What does the breakout box of your V24 look like? Do you perhaps have a picture of it? Do you think the breakout box of a MPU-IPC-T would work with the V22/V24?

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Re: Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-06, 19:38

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks. I did try the MIDITEST.EXE. With IRQ 2 (9) setting, no luck. With IRQ 7 setting, it does initialise. Unfortunately, no luck with the MIDI cables Will try in another motherboard.

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Re: Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-06, 18:54

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks. Does answer some of my questions. I actually also own a Roland MPU-IPC-T and have tested this card on the same motherboard on which I currently have my Roland MPU-IPC-T installed. I then tested it on another 486 motherboard and had the same problems. Seems like this card is faulty (at least, …

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Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface with daughterboard - problems in getting this card to work properly

Posted on 2014-09-06, 15:57

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hope someone can assist me. Attached is a photo of a Voyetra V-22 MIDI interface card, with its MPU-401 compatible MIDI daughterboard on the right hand side. The other two photo's shows what the MIDI interface cables looks like. V-22 with daughterboard.jpg Pic01.jpg Pic02.jpg I seem to be having …

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Re: Should I keep my Presario 2256?

Posted on 2014-08-02, 11:07

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

It might seem now that the Presario 2256 is not perhaps what you need but, in a couple of years from now, you could end up kicking yourself for giving away your old machine. As the years go by, these type of hardware will become rarer and rarer. I gave away an old 486 of mine and today I want to …

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Re: Jumper settings on two VESA Local Bus Graphics cards

Posted on 2014-08-02, 10:49

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by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, you're right. On the S3 card, I traced both jumper JP4 & JP5's connection leads to the vacant memory slots. Fortunately, I have no need to expand the memory on this card since I'm using it in my old 486 PC. The current 1mb of on board memory is sufficient for playing my DOS games.

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Re: Jumper settings on two VESA Local Bus Graphics cards

Posted on 2014-08-01, 17:37

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thank you for the advice. I actually tested both cards on the old Landmark Speed test (v2.0 & v6.0). The S3 has a video speed rating of 16661 chr/ms whereas, the Cirrus Logic only managed 8777 chr/ms. For matter of interest, my old Tseng ET4000AX (16-bit ISA) card managed about 3000 chr/ms. On the …

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