Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2021-01-08, 21:39

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yep traced a PS/2 keyboard pin back to the Intel 1977/AST 1994 chip labelled "237021-902" but I can't find any info on that chip! The SMD caps look OK but I've just ordered a load to replace them. Not sure I can bring myself to do the 'twist off with pliers' method some people use!

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2021-01-08, 21:18

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just checked then and double keys (in DOS or BIOS or just crashes Windows) and it literally stops doing it if I heat that area while the PC is running and I'm typing.

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2021-01-08, 21:08

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

OK I've made some progress with the original board. It must have had a corrupt BIOS or something as the beep codes I could once-in-a-blue-moon get it to do I finally discovered were telling me it wanted to update the BIOS (thanks to this amazing site - https://matrix.home.xs4all.nl/beeps/ast.html), …

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The worst ThinkPad ever

Posted on 2021-01-05, 21:25

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So I picked up this 'iSeries' ThinkPad recently for very little money and although it physically works, the build quality is dire! Badly designed hinges with no structural support around them just awful quality plastic. Every screw post is broken off and also every single clip breaks when you try …

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2020-12-31, 18:43

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I think I'm gonna try make this 6 simm board work. The mounting points look the same, and the riser slot is in the same place (lined up with right hand screw hole on left hand COM port), I can make some auxiliary AT power connector up if needed, and this one has onboard audio so if the riser card …

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2020-12-31, 17:45

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've been pushing it and twisting it all ways! Once in about 20 boots with no RAM in I can get a beep code telling me no video! I'm wondering if another AST motherboard off eBay will fit as I can't find the exact one. It's the riser card I'm worried about

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2020-12-31, 16:15

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Gave the mobo a proper scrub clean and gone over every centimetre, found a manufacturing defect of a capacitor not soldered properly but that's not it. I can't find anything obvious 🙁 Back to eBay then!

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2020-12-31, 15:22

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Oh well I was just playing with it, did a reboot and saw only half the RAM was counted and it hung. It won't come back on any more - it's dead! I don't even get any beep codes. Tried swapping RAM and CPU but no good 🙁

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Re: AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2020-12-31, 14:30

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The room temp was normal (21'C) but the PC may have been cold last couple times I've tried - it's winter and it gets cold in here! Playing with it last night and it seemed to be getting worse... It had been on for a couple hours and I still get maybe 1 in 4 key presses doubled up. I've tried …

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AST Bravo doesn't like the cold

Posted on 2020-12-30, 23:04

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hi all, I am restoring an AST Bravo MS P/75 and it generally works OK, but only after it's been powered up for about an hour. When I first turn it on, literally EVERY key press is doubled up in the BIOS or in DOS. If I try and boot Windows (98SE installed) it hangs hard when I touch the keyboard (if …

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Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today

Posted on 2020-12-29, 21:29

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Got this a few days ago and loving it (even if it's being a little temperamental!)

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Re: Sound Blaster LIVE! Versions

Posted on 2019-06-08, 12:40

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by SteveC

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I have the CT4870 in my 20 year old PC I'm rebuilding at the moment. It didn't install using the default Live! drivers from Creative, but with a touch of encouragement (force the driver install in device manager) it works fine.

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Re: ICQ revival

Posted on 2018-12-09, 15:12

by

by SteveC

in Milliways

in Milliways

Ha just logged into ICQ, guessed my old password and I'm in. The only ID I could find that I used to use (love Google!) not that low though at 29468849 - I've most likely not logged in since 1999 or 2000 and the contact list has sent me right back!

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Re: Unboxing a new old Windows 98 PC!

Posted on 2018-12-01, 18:23

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I love it! 😀 I never find anything on eBay 🙁

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Re: VGA -> HDMI

Posted on 2018-09-11, 22:03

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've done some messing around this evening and found on different PCs I get different results with that Portta device - I've got a range of IGEL thin clients here of a wide range of ages and chipsets (I'm desperately trying to get sound working in DOS!) and some give me BIOS, some don't, some give …

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Re: VGA -> HDMI

Posted on 2018-09-11, 18:43

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had mine plugged into an HDMI capture card or my LG TV. It seemed to depend on the PC I used as the source - most of the time I was on an old 486 ThinkPad and maybe it's the video modes it uses are different? I'll have another play a bit later if I get a minute. I assume you did try pressing the …

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Re: Typical amount of RAM by era

Posted on 2018-09-04, 18:48

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by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've always said (since 386 days anyway) that you should always aim for £100 worth of RAM in your PC. Still holds true now!

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Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

Posted on 2018-09-02, 22:39

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I was recently being given a SiS 486G 3.3/5V Rev E motherboard. Unfortunately, the cache on it was fake and soldered onto the mobo. So I took my desoldering iron, desoldered these piece of shit, then I took a dead PCChips m912 motherboard (which surprisingly had real cache on sockets) and I …

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Re: Benchmarking every 90's 3D Accelerator :)

Posted on 2018-09-02, 22:38

by

by SteveC

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

All I can say really is good luck - it's quite an ambitious project, and one I'd love to do 😀

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VIA vt1708s DOS driver

Posted on 2018-09-02, 17:32

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by SteveC

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Hi all, Anyone ever seen a DOS driver for the VIA vt1708s sound chip? The Windows 9x drivers I've found are VXD so they're no good for real DOS mode. Cheers, Steve

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