Law212 wrote on 2024-03-24, 21:15:

Sorry for the double post. It seems any time I post with images, I get an error, then refresh the page, and then my post is posted twice. I've been having this issue for a few months on here

When I get a posting error, I go back to the page prior to typing the post, then refresh. A new thread will be there, or a comment on an existing post will be there. If I accidentally double post, I'm always able to delete the last post (but not any post before that, until that becomes the last post in a thread)

haha, just had a post error, did what I posted, and it was there to read

Small update

I suspect that PC may be configured wrong ...didnt know the PII came in 133 speeds.

PCChips M747. Let the nightmares begin.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-24, 22:22:

PCChips M747. Let the nightmares begin.

Just don't feed it after midnight.

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-03-24, 22:12:

I suspect that PC may be configured wrong ...didnt know the PII came in 133 speeds.

The display says that there is a CMOS checksum error. Maybe some setting was lost in the BIOS. But I would imagine that a Pentium 2 would be configured by jumpers.

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-03-24, 23:35:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-03-24, 22:12:

I suspect that PC may be configured wrong ...didnt know the PII came in 133 speeds.

The display says that there is a CMOS checksum error. Maybe some setting was lost in the BIOS. But I would imagine that a Pentium 2 would be configured by jumpers.

Early PII motherboards had jumpers later ones had autodetect via BIOS or dip switches IIRC.

If the pictures are correct on Retro Web then this board is one of the BIOS autodetect ones so a dead bios battery would be the reason.

From the stories I have read this board needs to be taken out the back and quietly burned, dont even bother with a new battery just put the poor thing out of its misery.

Heh I thought it was gonna be either PC Chips or Asus with the ATX form card, but didn't want to be blamed for the curse, either way.

yah first boot, wiped/dead CMOS my other PC Chips boards report 133 too until defaults loaded and rebooted.

Now onward to the fun part of PC Chips ownership... just being amazed and thrilled every time you can get a DOS prompt or windows desktop. 🤣

I actually have pretty good luck with them usually.

Obligatory M747 chipset register twiddling thread:
PCChips M747 / SiS 600 Tuning: The Anti Thesis Thread. NOT the bane of MY existence.

I still don't know how stable it will be (probably terrible, but at least it will crash faster). That VRM looks sketchy (insert "MC34063, not even once" meme).

lti wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:07:

Obligatory M747 chipset register twiddling thread:
PCChips M747 / SiS 600 Tuning: The Anti Thesis Thread. NOT the bane of MY existence.

I still don't know how stable it will be (probably terrible, but at least it will crash faster). That VRM looks sketchy (insert "MC34063, not even once" meme).

As much as this place hates on PCChips motherboards we all deep down have a soft spot for the utterly terrible parts they made and the memes that came with that 😁

Also I know this isnt exactly the right place but any one have a pointer for a robust Bootloader/Boot manager that can handle everything from DOS to Win7 and Linux ?

Law212 wrote on 2024-03-24, 21:14:

Was about to leave the thrift store empty handed , but I saw this as I was walking out the door. It was looking right at me. I walked past it at least twice , or I must have, or possibly it was put out after I walked there before.
Either way, I got a rush of adrenaline, hurried over and picked it up. It was labelled at $5.49.

I cant wait to open it up and see what's inside!

Well, did you open it yet? 😁

If I had to guess I would say the VGA card is probably an S3 Virge or Trio64v+ since the back plate has a cutout for an audio output, usually for use with an MPEG decoder add on I believe. Some models have that backplate but are lacking the connector.

The sound card has me puzzled though. I can't think of any that have screws that attach through the back plate... What would they even connect to? Would love to see what card that is...

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:42:

Also I know this isnt exactly the right place but any one have a pointer for a robust Bootloader/Boot manager that can handle everything from DOS to Win7 and Linux ?

I like lilo, but I also once built a PC using only a pocket knife for giggles, so maybe you want another opinion.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-03-25, 03:41:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:42:

Also I know this isnt exactly the right place but any one have a pointer for a robust Bootloader/Boot manager that can handle everything from DOS to Win7 and Linux ?

I like lilo, but I also once built a PC using only a pocket knife for giggles, so maybe you want another opinion.

Ive been looking at BootIT Bare Metal v1.92 but I have never used it so no idea if itll do what I need it to.

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-03-24, 22:12:

I suspect that PC may be configured wrong ...didnt know the PII came in 133 speeds.

That was my first assumption when turning it on and seeing that. I opened it up last night, but I didnt have time to really look at it. I will be doing so today at work.

Although not as sophisticated, I use GRUB4DOS as my retro boot manager.

Got this haul for a relatively reasonable price of 60€:

GPU on top is Asus V8200 Deluxe, a GF3 VIVO card. It is one of those "original" GF3s, so it is not a ti200 or ti500. You don't bump into these that often, at least where I live. GPU below it is Sapphire Radeon 9800pro AIW. Again, something that locally is normally quite hard to come by.

The three CPUs next to Asus card from left to right are Intel 8088, Intel 8087 and Nec manufactured 8086. And the Athlon below them is the mighty Thunderbird 1333.

Update on the PC i picked up yesterday.

Its a Pentium 2 , 233 with 128 megs of RAM
Has an ati rage II + with a memory addon to make it 8 megs.

With a new video card, it could be a decent little machine.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2024-03-25, 17:35:

Got this haul for a relatively reasonable price of 60€: […]
Show full quote

Got this haul for a relatively reasonable price of 60€:

9800etc.jpg

GPU on top is Asus V8200 Deluxe, a GF3 VIVO card. It is one of those "original" GF3s, so it is not a ti200 or ti500. You don't bump into these that often, at least where I live. GPU below it is Sapphire Radeon 9800pro AIW. Again, something that locally is normally quite hard to come by.

The three CPUs next to Asus card from left to right are Intel 8088, Intel 8087 and Nec manufactured 8086. And the Athlon below them is the mighty Thunderbird 1333.

Beware of that cooler on the 9800. You're lucky if the card works - they were notorious of failing with that heatsink.

My 3.5 floppy drives arrived today! 😀

The Sony drive got a small crack in the cover in shipping, but I only paid $8 for it, so I'm not going to complain.

Now it's time to get the Alps installed in my DOS/Win3.1 system alongside the GoTek.

Let the data archiving begin!