Wolfenstein 3D Freezing on 386sx-40 \ VOGONS

Wolfenstein 3D Freezing on 386sx-40

Topic actions

Post a reply

First post, by mechcentric

Posted on 2018-09-13, 02:53

mechcentric Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 27
Joined: 2018-02-14, 13:01
Location: Washington, DC

Hey y'all,

I'm posting this to receive help troubleshooting my isue. Any advice/suggestions/feedback is appreciated.

So, I'm playing Wolfenstein 3D on my 386sx-40 jumpered to 33MHz with 4MB SDR and an SB-compatible Aztech OPL2 sound card. Running DOS 6, iirc. After about 10 minutes of play, the whole system hard-locks and I have to reset the machine.

Things I have tried:

1. Applied heatsink to 386
2. Set Blaster in config.sys
3. Tried slowest CPU clock (20MHz)
4. Removed sound card, loaded DOS without drivers (hold Shift on OS load) -- THIS WORKS (as far as I can tell, though I do want mouse and sound)

Things I have not yet tried:

1. Testing with reseated sound card (it sits strangely; bracket naturally barely held in by screw)
2. Boot to/run memtest86
3. Etcetera

I look forward to your replies on this post. 😀

mechcentric

AMD 386sx-40/33/25/20, 4MB SDR, CT2230
Intel 486dx2-66, ATI Mach32/64 VLB 1+1MB, 16MB SDR , CT2290
Pentium MMX 166, ATI Rage II + DVD, Voodoo1, YMF718-s
Pentium III 850, Voodoo3 3500, 2x256MB SDR, Aureal Vortex 2 (MX300), 10/100 LAN
Dell P991

Reply 1 of 8, by AtTheGates

Posted on 2018-09-13, 09:27

AtTheGates Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 76
Joined: 2018-09-10, 06:51
Location: UK

Sounds like a classic heat issue if it's always around 10 minutes. Definitely try fixing the card's seating, then look at imroving ventilation. Even just removing PCI blanking plates can help!

Reply 2 of 8, by mechcentric

Posted on 2018-09-13, 09:58

mechcentric Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 27
Joined: 2018-02-14, 13:01
Location: Washington, DC

Thanks for your reply!

I've attached a heatsink to the 386 itself and now it only gets slightly warm even after 10+ minutes of play. I still have to test with the now more properly seated card.

What, besides the CPU, do you think may be causing a heat issue?

mechcentric

Reply 3 of 8, by jesolo

Posted on 2018-09-13, 11:27

jesolo Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 2104
Joined: 2014-06-24, 19:04
Location: South Africa

I must admit, I find it a bit surprising that you would have overheating problems on a 386SX-40. However, there's nothing wrong in attaching a heatsink or just have a small fan blow over the CPU.

Based on what you mentioned, I think that your sound card might be the problem in the sense by not being properly seated in the slot.
While you have sound playback, the slightest movement or vibration could cause a "short" "resulting in a locked (frozen) system.

See what happens after you've properly seated the sound card.

Last edited by jesolo on 2018-09-13, 11:29. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 4 of 8, by FastMHz

Posted on 2018-09-13, 11:28

FastMHz Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 8
Joined: 2016-05-29, 00:05

We will eliminate software as the problem first...new copy of Wolf3D from my rig, and also other games. If no other games crash, it's Wolf specific

Reply 5 of 8, by derSammler

Posted on 2018-09-13, 17:42

derSammler Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3886
Joined: 2017-04-14, 11:30

Had the same issue:
Wolfenstein 3D on Headland HT12/A-based 286

Never found a solution.

Reply 6 of 8, by AtTheGates

Posted on 2018-09-13, 19:07

AtTheGates Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 76
Joined: 2018-09-10, 06:51
Location: UK

mechcentric wrote:
Thanks for your reply!

I've attached a heatsink to the 386 itself and now it only gets slightly warm even after 10+ minutes of play. I still have to test with the now more properly seated card.

What, besides the CPU, do you think may be causing a heat issue?

It could be anything. All depends on aitflow. Is is repeatable with the lid/cover off?

Reply 7 of 8, by cyclone3d

Posted on 2018-09-13, 19:43

cyclone3d Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 7905
Joined: 2015-04-08, 06:06
Location: Huntsville, AL USA

Set Blaster should be in Autoexec.bat, not Config.sys

What are the complete contents of your config.sys and autoexec.bat?

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 8 of 8, by mechcentric

Posted on 2018-09-13, 23:39

mechcentric Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 27
Joined: 2018-02-14, 13:01
Location: Washington, DC

Hey, all! I've fixed the issue!

Turns out the system didn't like the OPL2 card, so I traded it for a CT2230 SB16 (integrated OPL3) and everything works great! It sounds a lot cleaner, too! Also replaced the ancient 9-chip SIMMs with 3-chip ones because they were heating up. Somehow, this even made the OPL2 sound a bit cleaner.

Anyway, thanks for all your help!

mechcentric

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Software

Main menu

Common searches