gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-15, 20:36:

Sony CPD-420GS. Unfortunately not that bright of a picture

Try performing a factory color reset. It should be under the OPTION menu. You need to leave the monitor on for 30 minutes, then you'll be able to activate that function. It will automatically recalibrate the monitor.

I did this on a Sony monitor I acquired not too long ago and it made a huge difference in the picture output.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-01-16, 03:13:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-15, 20:36:

Sony CPD-420GS. Unfortunately not that bright of a picture

Try performing a factory color reset. It should be under the OPTION menu. You need to leave the monitor on for 30 minutes, then you'll be able to activate that function. It will automatically recalibrate the monitor.

I did this on a Sony monitor I acquired not too long ago and it made a huge difference in the picture output.

I've done that, I think that's for the white balance for colour accuracy. It's not that dim compared to my apple 21" studio CRT but not as wow bright as my other Trinitron or lg studioworks

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-01-16, 00:28:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-15, 20:36:

Sony CPD-420GS. Unfortunately not that bright of a picture

Adjust the brightness at the flyback

I've read about the g2 pot adjust but don't want to electrocute myself

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:38:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-01-16, 00:28:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-15, 20:36:

Sony CPD-420GS. Unfortunately not that bright of a picture

Adjust the brightness at the flyback

I've read about the g2 pot adjust but don't want to electrocute myself

I really would like to know who started the rumour that CRTs are some sort of magical death box if you touch any part of the inside at any time. In reality there are 1 or 2 specific places that if you touch them you might *wish* you were dead for a minute, but unless you have a pacemaker or other heart condition it isn't going to kill you.

Also isn't G2 Drive software controlled on most Sony monitors? I thought WinDAS took care of that.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:51:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:38:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-01-16, 00:28:

Adjust the brightness at the flyback

I've read about the g2 pot adjust but don't want to electrocute myself

I really would like to know who started the rumour that CRTs are some sort of magical death box if you touch any part of the inside at any time. In reality there are 1 or 2 specific places that if you touch them you might *wish* you were dead for a minute, but unless you have a pacemaker or other heart condition it isn't going to kill you.

Also isn't G2 Drive software controlled on most Sony monitors? I thought WinDAS took care of that.

Might be the fact the tube itself can hold an astronomical amount of voltage, but that would only the case if the CRT has been powered on recently, same for the capacitor that powers the gun. If the CRT has been sitting around for god knows how long un-powered then it should have no dangerous voltages stored and would be safe to work on.

Touching a live/recently powered tube the wrong way with the wrong tools and knowledge would leave you slightly better than an overcooked chicken nugget, same applies to the gun capacitor, that would give you a good enough boot to send you to the ER. And yes you should be treating electric shocks as serious, you have no idea what path the current took through you getting back to ground.

There is a good reason old electricians hated working on CRTs.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-01-16, 06:57:

Might be the fact the tube itself can hold an astronomical amount of voltage, but that would only the case if the CRT has been powered on recently, same for the capacitor that powers the gun. If the CRT has been sitting around for god knows how long un-powered then it should have no dangerous voltages stored and would be safe to work on.

! Careful, the vacuum tube acts as a capacitor and can recharge without powering up the monitor since a discharge. Depends if the monitor/tv has bleed resistors !

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:38:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-01-16, 00:28:

gmaverick2k wrote on 2023-01-15, 20:36:

Sony CPD-420GS. Unfortunately not that bright of a picture

Adjust the brightness at the flyback

I've read about the g2 pot adjust but don't want to electrocute myself

G2 pot is usually plastic and insulated but using an insulated tool is recommended!

If it's the Gamma/Brightness out of whack then G2 is the way to fix.
Later Sony models have to set this with WinDAS software, but I think yours is older and like most other crt monitors/tvs there is G2 pot on the flyback.

If the problem is lack of vibrancy/contrast it may be worn guns or the RGB amp values have drifted with old caps. You can adjust RGB Bias and cutoff for this - not sure if your monitor has a service menu for this to set or has the manual asjustment pots on the neckboard (needs care to adjust)

Service manual here:
https://servlib.com/sony/monitor/cpd-420gs.html

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-01-16, 03:13:

Try performing a factory color reset. It should be under the OPTION menu. You need to leave the monitor on for 30 minutes, then you'll be able to activate that function. It will automatically recalibrate the monitor.

I did this on a Sony monitor I acquired not too long ago and it made a huge difference in the picture output.

+1
I think the CPD-420GS may be too old for this though.

A CPD-G420 would have it

Last time I opened up my Sony 17Sf monitor I couldn't find any trim pots for adjustment. I think it needs WinDAS for this purpose, and unless I'm mistaken the 420GS is more recent than the 17Sf... so I'd wager it needs WinDAS as well

Ensign Nemo wrote on 2023-01-15, 18:27:

kohellus@gmail.com wrote on 2023-01-15, 08:26:

Bought this a few months back. It took a long time to arrive and it took a long time for me to get time to know the insides of it 😀

I know guys who like to read in the bathroom, but computing is a whole new one (-:

Lol It has the best lighting and its the most uncluttered room i have for bigger projects, including reading 😁

Pawlicker wrote on 2023-01-15, 21:09:

kohellus@gmail.com wrote on 2023-01-15, 08:26:

Bought this a few months back. It took a long time to arrive and it took a long time for me to get time to know the insides of it 😀

Nice machine, but you might want a nicer PC-9801 machine for those Window Accelerators (since they're for Windows and a few 256 color games). To use them you'll need to connect the onboard video to them and your monitor to the accelerator. You might also want to get a NEC PC-9801-26k board being that some games use the sound ROM. Also be sure to remove the NiCD battery if you haven't already. To write floppies for it, use SAMDisk and write HDM files.

Be very careful because you'll end up buying more 9801s guaranteed. Also get the rubber dome keyboards they're more likely to work from experience.

Thanks for the info. Iam complete newbie with these and just bought some random junk to see where i get. Probably will buy more, they are quite more fascinating than regular PC's, atleast this one is because of so much over engineering 😀

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was a good deal but I'm feeling buyers remorse already.

Some aren't in factory condition and has marks of repair or modification attempts. I haven't examined them thoroughly yet. The one lower right is probably hopeless. Diagnosing them will be some time consuming thing....

Just picked up this 17" Samtron 75V monitor.

Seems in decent shape. Other than a slight scratch on the screen, it seems free of noticeable defects.

I do notice some vertical line shifting using EGA modes, but I suspect that's a timing issue w/ the VGA card. In both text mode and VGA modes it seems perfectly fine.

kohellus@gmail.com wrote on 2023-01-16, 16:18:

Pawlicker wrote on 2023-01-15, 21:09:

kohellus@gmail.com wrote on 2023-01-15, 08:26:

Bought this a few months back. It took a long time to arrive and it took a long time for me to get time to know the insides of it 😀

Nice machine, but you might want a nicer PC-9801 machine for those Window Accelerators (since they're for Windows and a few 256 color games). To use them you'll need to connect the onboard video to them and your monitor to the accelerator. You might also want to get a NEC PC-9801-26k board being that some games use the sound ROM. Also be sure to remove the NiCD battery if you haven't already. To write floppies for it, use SAMDisk and write HDM files.

Be very careful because you'll end up buying more 9801s guaranteed. Also get the rubber dome keyboards they're more likely to work from experience.

Thanks for the info. Iam complete newbie with these and just bought some random junk to see where i get. Probably will buy more, they are quite more fascinating than regular PC's, atleast this one is because of so much over engineering 😀

There's a Discord server with most of the PC-98 users in the west in it (PC-9800 Series Central) and you're welcome to ask any newbie questions there.

For a 9821 I'd recommend buying a CX/2/3/13 if you want gaming, they're compact and have FM. The Cs2/Ce2 is okay but the only CPU upgrades are "clip on" upgrades or else you're stuck with an anorexic 486sx. The 9801DA/FA aren't bad machines either, but the FA might need recapping. The 9821As/Ap/Ae definitely will, I have a 9821Ae project lying around I need to recap when I get time.

It's a good thing you bought a SCSI card however. You'll just need a weird SCSI cable, but you'll want one for every PC-98 you own without an HDD carrier/hardcard since PC-98s normally did not get provisions for installing internal HDDs without one until later on. The CX/2/3/13 doesn't need one and neither do the models of that era.

The other thing you can do once you get a HDD is load the YAHDI image on it. If you have a bigger HDD there's a trick to get bigger HDDs on said image as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz0aDJx8I78

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-01-16, 18:03:

Just picked up this 17" Samtron 75V monitor.

Seems in decent shape. Other than a slight scratch on the screen, it seems free of noticeable defects.

I do notice some vertical line shifting using EGA modes, but I suspect that's a timing issue w/ the VGA card. In both text mode and VGA modes it seems perfectly fine.

outside of any small imperfections it looks generally in great condition!

DAVE86 wrote on 2023-01-16, 17:33:

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was […]
Show full quote

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was a good deal but I'm feeling buyers remorse already.

Some aren't in factory condition and has marks of repair or modification attempts. I haven't examined them thoroughly yet. The one lower right is probably hopeless. Diagnosing them will be some time consuming thing....

What kind of colleague would ask 100 euros for crippled and/or abused cards. That is looking fubar.

PD2JK wrote on 2023-01-16, 21:21:

DAVE86 wrote on 2023-01-16, 17:33:

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was […]
Show full quote

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was a good deal but I'm feeling buyers remorse already.

Some aren't in factory condition and has marks of repair or modification attempts. I haven't examined them thoroughly yet. The one lower right is probably hopeless. Diagnosing them will be some time consuming thing....

What kind of colleague would ask 100 euros for crippled and/or abused cards. That is looking fubar.

TBF 100 euro is basically what a single working V1 goes for.

The good thing is Voodoos don't use any BGA chips, everything has pins/legs. Which means with proper skill and good soldering equipment you can swap everything up to and including RAM modules and the TMUs.

For a highly skilled technician, its probably not a horrible deal. If he can fix 3 by cannibalizing the other two, its a hell of deal IMO.

DAVE86 wrote on 2023-01-16, 17:33:

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was […]
Show full quote

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was a good deal but I'm feeling buyers remorse already.

Some aren't in factory condition and has marks of repair or modification attempts. I haven't examined them thoroughly yet. The one lower right is probably hopeless. Diagnosing them will be some time consuming thing....

Looks like you've got a couple Voodoo Rush cards there. Not sure if this will help you at all, but I recently got a Voodoo Rush and I was worried it might be broken but it turned out to be just software issues. The 2D was working, but trying to start a game with Glide in DOS was crashing my system. When I jumped into Windows 98 I was getting "out of range" messages on my monitor, but then I tried 3D Mark 99 and it ran just fine. From what I can tell D3D games were fine and it was just Glide games that were the issue. After moving back to version 2.43 of Glide I managed to get games working in Windows. I haven't gone back to try in DOS yet, but from what I understand the Rush doesn't like DOS games, so I'm not holding out hope there.

The other common issue apparently is that the drivers will overclock the 2D chip in Windows and that can lead to garbled text. There's a registry setting you can edit to bring the clock speed down which will fix the problem.

Anyway, hopefully that can help you. Good luck!

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2023-01-17, 04:29:

TBF 100 euro is basically what a single working V1 goes for. […]
Show full quote

PD2JK wrote on 2023-01-16, 21:21:

DAVE86 wrote on 2023-01-16, 17:33:

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was […]
Show full quote

I got a bunch of dead voodoos from a colleague who was sort of promising to trade them for some time. I think bellow 100EUR was a good deal but I'm feeling buyers remorse already.

Some aren't in factory condition and has marks of repair or modification attempts. I haven't examined them thoroughly yet. The one lower right is probably hopeless. Diagnosing them will be some time consuming thing....

What kind of colleague would ask 100 euros for crippled and/or abused cards. That is looking fubar.

TBF 100 euro is basically what a single working V1 goes for.

The good thing is Voodoos don't use any BGA chips, everything has pins/legs. Which means with proper skill and good soldering equipment you can swap everything up to and including RAM modules and the TMUs.

For a highly skilled technician, its probably not a horrible deal. If he can fix 3 by cannibalizing the other two, its a hell of deal IMO.

Have to agree here.

Just to pick out what cards are in the lot:
ViewTop 3D Vulcan Voodoo Rush
Hercules Stingray 128/3D Voodoo Rush (Someone seems to have added a cooler; Also, this will have a really huge screen printed logo on the back, which is neat)
Gainward Dragon 3000 Voodoo 2 (Looks to be missing two heatsinks... though I don't see any residue? Either way, these heatsinks are used on cheap SiS and other cards so they aren't impossible to replace)
ProComp G111 Voodoo 2
Provideo Voodoo 2? (Not 100% sure on that. Regardless, this is the only one that looks visibly damaged to me. )

Unless there is other damage to the other cards that I didn't spot, 100 euro is a fantastic price for this lot. Even if you aren't interested in trying to fix the one with the missing chip you'd probably get back a decent chunk of what you spent on this lot just putting that right on ebay for parts. There are not many Voodoo 2s with blue PCBs out there, so someone would certainly buy it to repair if you don't want it.

Managed to get this for $20. Feeling very lucky. Unfortunately I don't have a CPU/Motherboard powerful enough to take full advantage of it. 😀

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-17, 07:37:

IMG_0332.jpeg

Managed to get this for $20. Feeling very lucky. Unfortunately I don't have a CPU/Motherboard powerful enough to take full advantage of it. 😀

Grab a Socket 754 motherboard and a cheap high end Sempron. They are still pretty cheap.

appiah4 wrote on 2023-01-17, 07:49:

danieljm wrote on 2023-01-17, 07:37:

IMG_0332.jpeg

Managed to get this for $20. Feeling very lucky. Unfortunately I don't have a CPU/Motherboard powerful enough to take full advantage of it. 😀

Grab a Socket 754 motherboard and a cheap high end Sempron. They are still pretty cheap.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm definitely debating if I should go with something more attainable like that, or searching for one of the final AGP boards, but since I don't want to spend too much that's probably a fool's errand. 😀