appiah4 wrote on 2020-07-20, 11:59:

I had happily bought a very cheap ASUS PVI-486SP3 PCI/VLB Socket 3 motherboard, but once I received it I noticed something that I hadn't when looking at the item's potato photos, a burnt pin on the CPU socket. So tell me Vogons, does this mean there is no hope for this board? Could it be just the plastc that's burnt? Would a socket change be in order? Or would it be a lost cause regardless?

You can remove the C ring on the end and then slide the handle out. Slide the top back as far as it goes and the top should come off (have removed those type a few times before). I do see two broken pins or wires sticking out of some holes top left side. Good luck !

Also today bought a 50 pack of 1x-24x CDR for $3.50 but got 50% off so cost me $1.75, local SA store. Hopefully they are readable in 4x and 8x old cdroms, will have to test one and make a note...no picture as am sure you all know what a spindle of blank cdr look like hahaaa

mpe wrote on 2020-07-20, 19:10:

Filled a gap in my soundcard collection... https://dependency-injection.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DSC_7794-scaled.jpeg […]
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Filled a gap in my soundcard collection...

Nice ! Hope it works well ! I have a 1350 but never ran into a 1330 for a reasonable price.

Forgot: a few days ago bought Bigelows PC Technicians Troubleshooting Reference book, 1998 edition for a few dollars. It has in the back a complete listing of POST codes (and what Ports they appear on) for many computers/motherboards including the regular AMI/Award/Pheonix BIOS plus a bunch others. Was amazed to see Arche, AST, AT&T, C&T, Compaq, DTK plus dozens of others that modify the Award or AMI bios POST codes to their own. In all 83+ pages of POST codes by manufacture plus dozens more of beep codes. Also includes 26 pages of various IBM Diag codes. That is what caught my eye, all those POST and Diag codes ! When I have time will scan/image the pages by manufacture and creat pdf's and upload to our driver library. No wonder my one DTK board gave me odd codes not found on the sheets of my POST card docs.....they are diff than standard AMI or Award

mpe wrote on 2020-07-20, 19:10:

Filled a gap in my soundcard collection...

Congrats! Looks to be in fantastic shape and still my go-to Sound Blaster for my retro boxes.

devius wrote on 2020-07-20, 20:32:

kolderman wrote on 2020-07-20, 19:24:

If you consider albatross parts "gaps" in your collection you must have a fun time being a collector 🤣

What are albatross parts?

See Adlib Gold and Voodoo Rampage prototype. Or just look at Artex' and Hard1k's post histories.

gdjacobs wrote on 2020-07-21, 01:28:

devius wrote on 2020-07-20, 20:32:

kolderman wrote on 2020-07-20, 19:24:

If you consider albatross parts "gaps" in your collection you must have a fun time being a collector 🤣

What are albatross parts?

See Adlib Gold and Voodoo Rampage prototype. Or just look at Artex' and Hard1k's post histories.

Hahaha. 😀 I see what you did there...

Artex wrote on 2020-07-21, 02:44:

Hahaha. 😀 I see what you did there...

Few know that Fate of Atlantis is a thinly disguised documentary where Indiana Jones finds Artex' secret bunker of treasures.

gdjacobs wrote on 2020-07-21, 01:28:

devius wrote on 2020-07-20, 20:32:

kolderman wrote on 2020-07-20, 19:24:

If you consider albatross parts "gaps" in your collection you must have a fun time being a collector 🤣

What are albatross parts?

See Adlib Gold and Voodoo Rampage prototype. Or just look at Artex' and Hard1k's post histories.

I think I would punch my monitor if I did that..

Got these CPUs in the mail today.
It's better to get them while they are dirt cheap, they don't take up space anyway.

Miphee wrote on 2020-07-21, 10:25:

Got these CPUs in the mail today.
It's better to get them while they are dirt cheap, they don't take up space anyway.

well it would be nice, unfortunately even completely random CPU lots get super expensive nowadays ^^
seems like a few nice ones in there

imi wrote on 2020-07-21, 10:47:

well it would be nice, unfortunately even completely random CPU lots get super expensive nowadays ^^
seems like a few nice ones in there

Even newer CPU lots?
I'm currently aiming at the cheap (s478, s775, s939, post-2000 server CPUs) segment, these are very affordable now and people don't care about them at all, not retro or interesting enough. Yet.

Well, I've cleaned the board (and the socket) as best I could. There were also some bent legs on the northbridge that I straightened.

Disassembling the socket didn't work too well, I managed to remove the lever but removing the top part was not possible. There are some socket/tabs that hold it down and the socket plastic is too brittle to actually flex enough to remove the top without cracking it, so I gave up. The hole around the scorched plastic is wide, I'm pretty sure this is due to an overheating pin that scorched the socket plastic and 90% confident the socket pin should work fine. I will give it a try tonight and see how that works out.

gdjacobs wrote on 2020-07-21, 04:01:

Artex wrote on 2020-07-21, 02:44:

Hahaha. 😀 I see what you did there...

Few know that Fate of Atlantis is a thinly disguised documentary where Indiana Jones finds Artex' secret bunker of treasures.

That made me laugh really hard. Your post made my morning.

Anyone have a fan that goes on a pentium 200 MMX? The cpu has a heat sink on it, and the fan should snap on to it. Its a great CPU but i cant use it without the fan.

Bancho wrote on 2020-07-20, 11:04:

I purchased a Compaq Armada 7792DMT laptop the other week. It was listed as spare/not working but the picture showed it powered on to Windows 95 and it was very reasonable priced. The laptop arrived today and overall its a really nice example, although its going to be a project as not everything is right with it.

Does anyone know if there is a repository or where i could get the SoftPaqs for this laptop? I'd like to try and get the install fresh but using the compaq image. Any help and advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I don't have much experience when it comes to Laptops of this era. I think it will certainly make a nice retro laptop for some dos gaming.

Nice looking laptop, hopefully you can fix the floppy drive.
For the SoftPaqs, try googling this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:ft ... mada 7700"

And that:
https://www.google.com/search?q="armada ... y" softpaq

Finally, after 3.5 months 'in transit' from Italy.... my Korg AG-10 module arrived!

lolo799 wrote on 2020-07-21, 18:32:

Nice looking laptop, hopefully you can fix the floppy drive. For the SoftPaqs, try googling this: https://www.google.com/search? […]
Show full quote

Bancho wrote on 2020-07-20, 11:04:

I purchased a Compaq Armada 7792DMT laptop the other week. It was listed as spare/not working but the picture showed it powered on to Windows 95 and it was very reasonable priced. The laptop arrived today and overall its a really nice example, although its going to be a project as not everything is right with it.

Does anyone know if there is a repository or where i could get the SoftPaqs for this laptop? I'd like to try and get the install fresh but using the compaq image. Any help and advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I don't have much experience when it comes to Laptops of this era. I think it will certainly make a nice retro laptop for some dos gaming.

Nice looking laptop, hopefully you can fix the floppy drive.
For the SoftPaqs, try googling this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:ftp://ft … om/pub/softpaq/ "armada 7700"

And that:
https://www.google.com/search?q="armada ... y"+softpaq

Thanks dude. I think the issue is the belt with FDD. Its a Citizen W1D and these seem to be prone to bad belts. Today i found out it has Wavetable built in. I was listening to Passport using ESFM. There is a MPU adapter listed in the Midi selection, selected that and it played passport which sounded like it was wavetable. Pretty cool!

appiah4 wrote on 2020-07-21, 11:17:

Disassembling the socket didn't work too well, I managed to remove the lever but removing the top part was not possible. There are some socket/tabs that hold it down and the socket plastic is too brittle to actually flex enough to remove the top without cracking it, so I gave up. The hole around the scorched plastic is wide, I'm pretty sure this is due to an overheating pin that scorched the socket plastic and 90% confident the socket pin should work fine. I will give it a try tonight and see how that works out.

Those sockets are a pain to remove in some cases. You need to be really careful when removing it as the plastic is brittle and might break. I had to replace the CPU lever on my PCChips M912 V1.7 w/ real L2 cache and managed to break the top part of the CPU socket, but I had a spare from a dead board and still swivels back and forth without issues.

I recommend a plastic tool to free the top of the CPU socket to prevent damage (I used a metal screwdriver, which is a bad idea to use that since it can slip and damage a pin) and some patience. I wish you the best of luck with the repairs. Good looking board as well.

Salient wrote on 2020-07-21, 18:35:

Finally, after 3.5 months 'in transit' from Italy.... my Korg AG-10 module arrived!

If you have an old-school Mac (or a PowerPC G4/G5-based machine that can run Mac OS X in Classic mode), keep an eye on this thread:

Classic Mac MIDI application in Mac OS X Classic and MIDI interface use?

...because I will be posting screenshots from the official Korg AG editor (and hopefully the editor itself too) in the future.

Seller said it powered on and started up for a minute, then downpowered and wouldn't turn back on. I'll take on the challenge. Hopefully it is just the power supply.