Re: Audigy 2 ZS Crackle Fix

Posted on 2024-01-19, 19:57

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just a thought - is it possible that these caps go bad because of heat from the close-by VRMs, instead of being a low capacitance issue to begin with? The problem is, at least on the X-Fi cards, that Creative used caps that can't handle the ripple from the buck converter output. It shortens their …

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Re: Audigy 2 ZS Crackle Fix

Posted on 2024-01-19, 19:55

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This is a pretty common problem with Audigy 2 and X-Fi cards, especially around the on board power regulation. I usually have the best luck finding the correct physical dimensions with polymer caps from Kemet on Mouser.

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Re: ISA Modems / DOS & Windows 3.x

Posted on 2024-01-18, 23:28

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

They needed the processing power because the "modem" was just an ADC and the signal processing/decoding had to be done in software. They tended to work better if you limited the maximum connection speed with AT commands before connecting, but then of course you weren't using all the possible …

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Re: BIOS Upgrade Diskette, DMP format?

Posted on 2024-01-18, 20:37

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Easiest thing to try would be to see if 7zip can open it. It usually handles any type of image format out there. Even packed EXEs.

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Re: Voodoo2 + USB 2.0 Card = Crash!

Posted on 2024-01-18, 18:03

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Older motherboards can be very picky about the USB controller type. Most people have the best luck with NEC based cards. But sometimes VIA et al work better. Depends on the combination of bios/mobo chipset/drivers being used.

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Re: ISA Modems / DOS & Windows 3.x

Posted on 2024-01-18, 18:00

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

The IBM HSC crap, at least, DID work 'acceptably' in highend (for the time) pentium systems. (Even if they did make the system lurch to a crawl the instant dialling happened...) They needed the processing power because the "modem" was just an ADC and the signal processing/decoding had to be done in …

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Re: Pentium4 and SSD

Posted on 2024-01-18, 08:04

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by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Arrived Tday, win98 installed without issue on a Crucial SSD 120GB. My question is: this Pentium4 now think to have some sort of IDE drive but... what about Trim? What about all the management that SSDs need? Trim is unnecessary for modern Crucial SSDs. See here . Just leave the computer idling at …

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Re: ISA Modems / DOS & Windows 3.x

Posted on 2024-01-18, 05:48

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Of course! I totally forgot about the infamous MWAVE cards. There *were* very early IBM HSC modems that were ISA. They used the isa plug and play bios extensions to get configured, and were basically just a crappy soundcard. See for instance, here, with this 'it's obviously lucent' and being 8bit …

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Re: ISA Modems / DOS & Windows 3.x

Posted on 2024-01-17, 23:52

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

AFAIK soft- or win-modems were always PCI or AMR. I never saw an ISA one as a system builder, anyway. I stand to be corrected. Edit: Forgot about MWAVE cards!

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Re: Modern Retro PC cases, whats your favourites?

Posted on 2024-01-17, 19:38

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by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I like the Zalman T6. Compact mid tower that has an optical drive bay and holds 2 3.5" drives. They go for $50.

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Re: External Battery for 486 Mainboard

Posted on 2024-01-16, 22:16

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by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I‘m using a 3 x 1.5V pack in 3 different 486 machines and they‘re working great. They came without a connector so I just cut up some CD-ROM music cables and used those connectors. One of those PCs had a new barrel battery soldered in by the previous owner. But although it saved all the settings, …

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Re: External Battery for 486 Mainboard

Posted on 2024-01-16, 21:57

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by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I recommend a solution with 3 AA or AAAs. I don't know why people use CR2032 in these old motherboards. They go flat incredibly quick because they only yield ~2.7V after the diode drop. Older RTC chips need 3-6V typically. The old PC-style Motorola RTC pulls about 150uA in standby. That will kill a …

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Re: Connecting front USB to Chaintech CT-6VIA5T motherboard

Posted on 2024-01-16, 17:26

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It's very easy to repin a dupont female header connector used with USB brackets. Lift the little tabs with a small pick and slide out the pin.

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Re: end of DVD storage

Posted on 2024-01-16, 17:23

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by kingcake

in Milliways

in Milliways

I have cheapo CD-Rs I made around 2001 that still work just fine. Maybe I'm lucky. I still burn critical data to BD-R DL discs. Not for archival purposes, but because they can't be easily accidentally wiped by me screwing up a file system command or accidentally exposing them to magnetic fields. I …

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Re: Adaptec AHA-1542C with Toshiba SCSI CD-ROM

Posted on 2024-01-15, 22:55

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by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You don't need a SCSI card with a BIOS for CD-ROM use. That just introduces problems. I use an AHA-1502 or something in my 386. The most basic 16-bit ISA 50-Pin SCSI card Adaptec made. Along with a Toshiba 4x SCSI Tray Loader. Zero issues. Reads CD-Rs no problem. I know, but I use SCSI harddrive in …

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Re: Weird Packard Bell 386 Problem -- VGA Noise, Reboot Loop, Himem.sys issue

Posted on 2024-01-15, 22:54

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

So it turns out the problem was actually setver. Not himem.sys. Now DOS boots. But I try to run setver or smartdrv they both produce divide overflow errors. Filename image_67207425 (1).JPG File size 1.82 MiB Views 100 views

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Re: Adaptec AHA-1542C with Toshiba SCSI CD-ROM

Posted on 2024-01-15, 22:50

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You don't need a SCSI card with a BIOS for CD-ROM use. That just introduces problems. I use an AHA-1502 or something in my 386. The most basic 16-bit ISA 50-Pin SCSI card Adaptec made. Along with a Toshiba 4x SCSI Tray Loader. Zero issues. Reads CD-Rs no problem.

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Re: VIA Epia 800 experience

Posted on 2024-01-15, 21:16

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by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You will fry the chipset southbridge/motherboard power rails by doing this! Those pins connect directly to the raw chipset pins and power without any of the filtering or electrical protections USB requires. VIA uses a special daughterboard for the front USB headers called the USB-CV1. You must …

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Re: VIA Epia 800 experience

Posted on 2024-01-15, 16:29

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

First off, what is "OC"? I believe it stands for "open connection", meaning nothing should be connected to it. EDIT: Looks like some manufacturers use it to mean "overcurrent" for USB overcurrent protection/detection, so it could be that too.... I finally got around to soldering up a converter …

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Re: Weird Packard Bell 386 Problem -- VGA Noise, Reboot Loop, Himem.sys issue

Posted on 2024-01-14, 17:36

by

by kingcake

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

PD2JK wrote on 2024-01-14, 08:54: Since you own an oscilloscope, you could measure that 50MHz crystal and the one above it. Maybe something is off. RTC crystal is below it, but shouldn't be a problem regarding the instability. Crystals look rock solid. Looked at them cold and after the machine was …

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