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My uncommon/epic MPC2 486 VLB build

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First post, by HanJammer

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Corona virus epidemy forced me (like most of you) to stay at home most of the time, so I finally had time to build the project I had in mind for last year or so...

The idea was to build 486DX2 VLB based MPC2 compliant rig from 93/94 - but instead of using regular common brands (Asus/Biostar/Shuttle/MSI/Creative Labs and so on) make it a little more unusual. It's main purpose will be playing 90-95 games and demoscene stuff.

For this purpose I already had this case with built in speakers:

https://i.imgur.com/dFVRYGT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/R0740Sm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hazd20j.jpg

But I needed to dismantle the previous (idiotic) built first (it came to me like this year ago or so):
https://i.imgur.com/XZ9rgqj.jpg

On board were:
- MSI MS-4134 Ver. 1.1 - PCI+VLB abomination of a motherboard: https://i.imgur.com/Ks7IvO7.jpg
- AMD Am486DX2-66 - which I keeped for my build: https://i.imgur.com/BTENa9g.jpg
- 8MB of RAM in 2 70ns Topless modules: https://i.imgur.com/LHeGo0W.jpg
- CL-GD5434 PCI graphic card: https://i.imgur.com/P840bnr.jpg
- SB Pro 2 (CT1600): https://i.imgur.com/U6ajuJo.jpg
- Boring generic VLB IDE controller: https://i.imgur.com/LGqsQv4.jpg
- Boring Mitsumi 4x CD-ROM: https://i.imgur.com/HZ2Dn0U.jpg
- Hitachi/IBM Deskstar DSAA-3540 - 525MB HDD which I kept for new build: https://i.imgur.com/sv6Xo54.jpg

Next I needed to dismantle the case for cleaning and retrobrighting.
https://i.imgur.com/DM0J5ut.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HBZXpBK.jpg

Top cover has some scratches, but it is how it is, I won't do anything to it for now.

Initially I wanted to use different parts than I finally did but motherboard vs case layout forced me to think about choosing other parts instead.
- Motherboard: Genoa TurboExpress 486VL-3 (it's version D) - I love Genoa, also this motherboard is simple and beautiful, unfortunatelly BIOS limits HDD to 504MB: https://i.imgur.com/xWjVY8W.jpg
- CPU: Intel 486DX2-66MHz 5V CPU (but because I found out the previous build had Am486 I decided to use AMD - I'm a sort of AMD fanboy/Intel hater)
- RAM: 16MB in 4 4MB 60ns modules (it's an overkill, I know, but they were just laying around - I will probably replace them with 8 MB in 1MB modules later)
- Graphic card: one of the following cards: Spea V7-Mirage (S3 805), Genoa WindowsVGA 24 Turbo 8500-VL-18/28 or Miro Crystal 8S VL (S3 805) - simply because I had them, I decided to go with Genoa card as it nice to have 2 Genoa components on-board: https://i.imgur.com/z0Iymqu.jpg
- Disk controller / I/O card: Promise (?) HLC-3000SP: https://i.imgur.com/fHnlkVo.jpg
- SCSI card: Procom SCSI Xelerator - simply because I like how it looks, also it's BIOS has features that make my inner nerd smile (not found on Adaptec controller): https://i.imgur.com/6BZyYT2.jpg but because of lack of space I had to go with generic Adaptec AHA-1542C: https://i.imgur.com/mBX8Qb9.jpg
- Sound card: Primax Soundstorm M16C - a "better" Gravis Ultrasound: https://i.imgur.com/YD0R0bl.jpg and AWE32 CT2760 but again - it was too large to fit in this case (CPU colides with two ISA slots) so I had to choose something different - possible options were CT2770[A] (SB16 Value), CT2740 (SB16), CT1600 (SBPro2 I got from previous build) and MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 LMSI - I choose the latter: https://i.imgur.com/S48PwAi.jpg
- I wanted active CPU cooling as this case is not well ventilated - I used on of those black coolers as it's silent and cools CPU very well: https://i.imgur.com/qzlF9vS.jpg
- NIC: initially I wanted to use Cabletron E2219 card unfortunatelly it turned out to be broken, so I used IBM AT/LANTIC card which works well.
- FDD: JPN SMD-300: https://imgur.com/SWrfH2l
- CD-ROM: I wanted to use SCSI CD-ROM but I don't have one that fits my taste, so for now I used Wearnes WCD-120A 2x speed: https://imgur.com/9qcicF4

The fit in the case is tight but no components are stressed: https://imgur.com/EIT79aM
That's how PAS16 fits the CPU cooler: https://i.imgur.com/bHRXB34.jpg - thank god, the plastic cooler enclosure is ribbed!

Problems:
1) Plexi on the front panel

Unfortunatelly in the cleaning process I dammaged the plexi element on the front panel later in the process - some letters came off (not really because of retrobrighting - they just flew off in contact with water): https://imgur.com/0pH0nA8
I tried to recover some of them using a brush and paint, but I cleaned the surface with IPA which immediatelly resulted in the cracks all over the surface (WTF?!):
https://imgur.com/OSyIPIC
https://imgur.com/LDn2G0G

Then I decided to remove the cracks and lettering with sand paper - again I made a mistake of cleaning it with IPA afterwards (I didn't knew that what's causing the plexi cracks - I thought removing it caused it in the first place as it stressed the element a bit):
https://imgur.com/Vv7UQp6

I think I will order a new element with laser etched letters. Also the retrobright didn't came out perfectly leaving some minor blemishes (not really visible unless in bright daylight). That's how case looked after cleaning and retrobrighting:
https://imgur.com/cBjE6d4

Lesson learned - don't use IPA for cleaning plexi elements in cases, remove them before cleaning.

2) Speakers needed some fixing - not only they were apparently put togheter in haste (gaskets between speakers and their enclosures were wrapped and didn't do their job right from the factory!) but also I had to glue the membranes back to the speakers:
https://imgur.com/rBoeIg1
https://imgur.com/CRPDsrd
https://imgur.com/SmFYk7G
https://imgur.com/vxcFFaL
They sound resonably for such a small speakers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY2uJeGSgOQ (sorry for retarded, vertical video).

3) I need to replace the volume potentiometer with a new one or at least clean the one I have with a pot fluid.

4) CD-ROM is detected in the system but DOS doesn't see any contents of the CDs (I know the CD-ROM drive is good). It's connected to GUS configured as secondary IDE controller but apparently there is some problem here.

5) I need to add XT-IDE - I hoped the Promise controller will let me handle the HDD max size situation as it has it's own BIOS, but nope.

Any ideas, suggestions? 😀

New items (October/November 2022) -> My Items for Sale
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Reply 1 of 9, by imi

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that's an interesting PAS16 "LMSI"... it doesn't have any of the LMSI components populated x3

also yes, alcohol and acrylic do not mix apparently, shouldn't be too hard to replace though, custom etched sounds nice, fill in the etched letters with white paint.

very nice and clean build :3

Reply 2 of 9, by HanJammer

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Yes, I already asked the guy who made this kind of parts for my previous project for a price. I will fill it with paint or use transparent adhesive film for a laser printer and stick it to the back of non-etched window.

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Reply 3 of 9, by Horun

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Nice case !

HanJammer wrote on 2020-04-22, 18:07:

and MediaVision Pro Audio Spectrum 16 LMSI - I choose the latter

The choice of a MV PAS is a good one imho. Very 1993-1994 ! Curious if your card is an OEM version ? Compaq used them in some builds and maybe P.Bell too iirc. I have a 650-0042-01k with the LMSI chips, and it has the outputs for Speaker where your's has just line Line out level (based on missing: Out's/caps and the jumper J9 behind Line Out jack) instead of 2watt /channel Speaker out. Also missing the MV 101 D stamp on the big chip makes me think it was for some OEM that included powered speakers with their package. Very interesting !

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 9, by HanJammer

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It may be an OEM indeed. Some bus noises/hissing are audible on this card, but not to an extent present on SB16 from these years. I don't really need speaker out, because this case has built in amplifier anyway (not the best quality I guess, I will need to add some shielding to it, and maybe replace the wires with something better as well).

Anyway I wonder which card has better mixer - should I route GUS line-out to line-in of PAS and it's line-out to case's amp, or should I use GUS mixer instead?

Also I'm not getting the mixer software on PAS - using PAS * command it gives me nice, semi-graphic UI, but it doesn't seem to save the mixer settings... probably I will be better off using PAS command with switches to set the volume levels I like/need but it gives me a bit of a headache 😉

Some pics of case's amp and connectors below...

Wiring is like this:

Rear line-in (from sound card) -> volume potentiometer -> amp -> front panel breakout board (headphones out) -> VU LEDs and L/R speakers
and for microphone it's just:
Front panel mic-in -> rear mic-out

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New items (October/November 2022) -> My Items for Sale
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Reply 5 of 9, by Horun

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HanJammer wrote on 2020-04-23, 02:21:
It may be an OEM indeed. Some bus noises/hissing are audible on this card, but not to an extent present on SB16 from these years […]
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It may be an OEM indeed. Some bus noises/hissing are audible on this card, but not to an extent present on SB16 from these years. I don't really need speaker out, because this case has built in amplifier anyway (not the best quality I guess, I will need to add some shielding to it, and maybe replace the wires with something better as well).

Anyway I wonder which card has better mixer - should I route GUS line-out to line-in of PAS and it's line-out to case's amp, or should I use GUS mixer instead?

Also I'm not getting the mixer software on PAS - using PAS * command it gives me nice, semi-graphic UI, but it doesn't seem to save the mixer settings... probably I will be better off using PAS command with switches to set the volume levels I like/need but it gives me a bit of a headache 😉

Some pics of case's amp and connectors below...

Very Nice ! Great project. Not sure if running the GUS thru PAS or running PAS thru GUS would be better, would have to try both. When trying to save from PAS * mixer GUI did you use the Shift + F5 to save ? It should have written a ini type file back to where the PAS files are, might want to check if a file was updated at time of the save. Been a year or two since playing with one but they are really good cards considering the time period and would include one in any 486 build myself.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 9, by HanJammer

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Yeah, I tried that, but it doesn't seem to save the settings - it says to use SHIFT+F5-8 keys to save and F5-8 keys to load (which I understand are just 4 mixer profiles), but when I save it under F5 for example, and then press F5 to load - it restores 'default' settings. Same if I set the mixer, leave the PAS program, and enter it again... I will play with it some more...

On the other hand GUS' mixer is idiotic - graphic and set using a cursor (with mouse or cursor keys to move it around the screen). ;D

New items (October/November 2022) -> My Items for Sale
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Reply 7 of 9, by HanJammer

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So I got the CD-ROM running. Possibly it was a missing jumper on the CD-ROM (strange, because it was working fine in Pentium machine) and bad contact of the cable connected to GUS (it presented the same behaviour with another CD-ROM).

New items (October/November 2022) -> My Items for Sale
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Reply 8 of 9, by HanJammer

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imi wrote on 2020-04-22, 18:53:

that's an interesting PAS16 "LMSI"... it doesn't have any of the LMSI components populated x3

also yes, alcohol and acrylic do not mix apparently, shouldn't be too hard to replace though, custom etched sounds nice, fill in the etched letters with white paint.

very nice and clean build :3

So the custom acrylic parts came - one is plane (I used thin film for laser printers to add some lettering to the back, I need to print it on the better printer though, but the lines are not visible when it's mounted to the case) and the second one with etched letters which I will clean and fill with white paint later. I really like how it turned out!

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