Re: Did PC-Chips ever release a high quality motherboard?

Posted on 2021-04-17, 06:50

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting to see people have had luck w/ both newer and older PCChips boards... My rule of thumb is: Pentium and above = good; 486 and below (especially if SARC/PCChips' own chipset) = avoid like the plague! I've owned 4 PCChips mobos, so here we go: M575, S7, TXPro chipset which is rebranded …

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Re: VLB Mach32 Issues: Stuck in CGA Mode?

Posted on 2021-04-14, 06:59

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I figured it out! Changing the VGA Memory Size didn't make a difference, and the power-on screen looked normal with the "ATI MACH32 VLB" string displayed. But it turns out there were video mode options that I missed in INSTALL.EXE. I first thought that changing from VGA mode to CGA mode and back …

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VLB Mach32 Issues: Stuck in CGA Mode?

Posted on 2021-04-13, 19:45

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

After extensive searching on Ebay, I managed to score a ATI Mach32 VLB with 2mb DRAM, model # EXM229: 20210413_115654.jpg I was excited to throw it into my 486DX2-66 VLB system (PCChips M601), thinking it would be a huge upgrade over the atrocious TVGA9200CXR. As soon as I powered it up, I noticed …

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Re: Bought an unknow computer

Posted on 2021-04-13, 19:08

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

As a side note, check the caps on that board. I had two similar Intel 965 boards (forgot the exact model) and they both had bulging and leaking KZG caps.

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Re: DVD accelerators compared

Posted on 2021-04-10, 08:00

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Are there any players that will decode on a non-MMX CPU? I'm trying a 360p MPEG1 on a Pentium Pro 200@233 mhz and ATI Rage Pro Turbo PCI. The enhanced driver from the ATI Rage 5.30 CD didn't make a difference under Win98's media player and the ATI player gives an error on non-MMX CPU. I can't …

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Re: Running Windows NT 4.0 on a Cyrix DLC/SXL/DRx2

Posted on 2021-04-01, 02:19

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm a bit late to this, but just wanted to share my own findings. It is possible to run NT 5.0 (2000 Beta) on a 486DLC. I've successfully installed Beta 2 Build 1906 on physical hardware. Here's the setup I used: -FX-3000 motherboard -TX486DLC/E-40GA -Cyrix Fasmath CX-83D87-40-GP -32mb ram -128kb L2 …

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Re: Best and worst sound cards you have ever owned?

Posted on 2021-03-26, 06:50

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Favorites Original Sound Blaster 16 CT1740: -Low noise -Real OLP3 -Volume wheel is convenient -High sampling rate makes it one of the earliest cards that can play modern WAVs -Much easier to set up than a PNP card. Driver support could not be better. I got it to work well on every version of …

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Re: Sound Blaster 16 CT4170 won't install on NT 4.0

Posted on 2021-02-10, 00:03

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

Just a followup which will hopefully help anyone else who's struggling to get sound or mouse working on the 4DPS: The "Creative Labs Sound Blaster 1.X, Pro, 16" driver quit working yesterday. I tried again to install the CT4170 through the "found new hardware" popup, but it still wouldn't play any …

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Re: Sound Blaster 16 CT4170 won't install on NT 4.0

Posted on 2021-01-31, 00:49

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

When you overclocked the FSB, did you also change the clock divider in the CMOS setup? At 33 MHz, it should have a divider of 4, but at 40 MHz it should be 5. By keeping the divider at 4 and with a FSB of 40 MHz, you're running your ISA bus at 10 MHz, which could be the cause of your problems. That …

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Re: Sound Blaster 16 CT4170 won't install on NT 4.0

Posted on 2021-01-30, 22:24

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I managed to get the CT4170 to detect, by setting the FSB back down to 33 mhz from 40 mhz. After that first boot at 33 mhz, it would successfully detect every time, even @ 40 mhz, strange how it would refuse to initialize only for the first time @ 40 mhz. After that, I installed the card through the …

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Sound Blaster 16 CT4170 won't install on NT 4.0

Posted on 2021-01-30, 04:42

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Sound

in Marvin \ Sound

I've followed the instructions here to try and install a SB16 CT4170 in Windows NT 4.0: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=ftp://soporte.uson.mx/DRIVERS/AUDIO/sbawe32/SBPNP.TXT&ved=2ahUKEwj40eyy58LuAhVyHDQIHWQUCYoQFjADegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw1xFQnmIetlub4_ZPgnB0a- But I never get the " …

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Re: VT586VXC Socket 7 Won't Install Windows 2000

Posted on 2020-12-19, 11:00

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Quick update, I was having a similar problem on a Tualeron (Tualatin Celeron) system. Win98 installed fine but W2K and XP would BSOD at "Setup is starting Windows", with "inaccessible_boot_device" or "unmountable_boot_volume" respectively. I read that the previous hal.dll error could also occur when …

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Re: VT586VXC Socket 7 Won't Install Windows 2000

Posted on 2020-12-18, 09:45

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Thanks for the tips! I managed to get to the HAL selection screen by pressing F5... selecting ACPI-enabled or "standard PC" made no difference 😕 I indeed have the FC-1307 SD adapter and am installing W2K from a FAT16. I've used several of these adapters and they've never given me trouble, even …

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VT586VXC Socket 7 Won't Install Windows 2000

Posted on 2020-12-18, 03:49

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I just won a Socket 7 system in really good shape off ebay. It came with a really obscure Vision Top VT586VX(C) motherboard with a 430VX chipset, that has a P-MMX 233 and 64mb (4x16mb EDO) ram installed. Using a SD-IDE w/ adapter it installed 98 and NT 4.0 with no problems... but it stubbornly …

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Re: Show us your retro computer cases

Posted on 2020-12-08, 22:12

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

DTK "TECH-1230", currently a 386DX-40 build: 20mb ram, Cirrus GD5429 1mb, Opti sound card. Originally had a socket 3 board, but wouldn't boot with a dead Dallas chip (any of yall who's had a Dallas chip soldered to the mobo... I feel your pain 😤) 20201208_135044.jpg Dell 486P/33, early 486DX-33 …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2020-11-20, 20:43

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I fried a TI-branded DLC, in particular a -40BGA, IIRC? I also have a /E-40GA that still works. Never quite understood what the difference was between those two designations, maybe the second one is a later iteration? That is definitely good to know; I'll also keep an eye out for more adapters that …

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Re: Serial Mouse woes

Posted on 2020-11-19, 10:27

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Do you have any modems installed? I had a Socket 5 system that would simply refuse to recognize the serial mouse in W2K and XP, but had no problems in 98. I think it was a modem conflict of some sort (forgot if the conflict showed in device manger) so I had to disable the modem. Even then, …

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Re: Custom interposer module for TI486SXL2-66 PGA168 to PGA132 - HELP!

Posted on 2020-11-19, 10:08

by

by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm surprised as well since the chip wasn't at 50 mhz for long (it posted at 50, but wouldn't boot Win95). I confirmed it was bad after dialing it back to 40; it would crash upon reaching the Win95 desktop. But only with internal cache enabled, so I think the cache was fried. It seems that someone …

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Re: Epson NB3s restoration

Posted on 2020-11-19, 09:05

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Have you considered drive overlay software? I've had excellent results with EZ-Drive 9.03W, as described here: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=42113 It should allow you to boot from any hard drive (and access the full drive) without needing to match the original hard drive parameters. As long …

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Re: Problems with Trident 8900c chipset ISA VGA card and Win 3.11

Posted on 2020-11-19, 08:41

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by NScaleTransitModels

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Do you have a picture of the card? Sounds like it may actually be a 512kb card; a lot of sellers list these ISA cards with the wrong amount of video memory. 1024x768x16 and 800x600x256 is the usual limit for 512k cards. I'm pretty sure that your card cannot go up to 32k or 65k colors. Even if you …

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