VOGONS


First post, by Mentalbass

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Hello,
I recently switched from a pnp ISA ct4170 sb vibra card to a aztech galaxy 2 ISA card.
Super card ! Install was quick and works with all dos games. No high low dma conflict.
My pc, p166mmx with 1997 award bios behaves strange. Even with the olds card:
When turning on pc it sometimes hangs and after reboot works. Than for example a game hangs because sound is not found....
It only works when i switch pc on, go straight into bios, only save direct and let it quit.
Everything works great ONLY if i go and save into bios first....

Is the battery dead or weak ?
Something else. I don't think it's sound card related..

Thanks for the help

Rise of the Triad

Reply 1 of 7, by Mentalbass

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Update:
Battery is not the culprit.
Pc hangs with no beep at first. Direct shutdown and turning it second time on and everything works.
....
Is my motherboard degrading or is it a power issue?

Rise of the Triad

Reply 2 of 7, by cyclone3d

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Maybe weak battery.

Might want to try clearing the BIOS settings with the jumper on the motherboard as well. Sometimes that helps with weird issues.

Could be the power supply I guess. How old is it? What brand / model?

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Reply 3 of 7, by Mentalbass

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-02-09, 02:34:

Maybe weak battery.

Might want to try clearing the BIOS settings with the jumper on the motherboard as well. Sometimes that helps with weird issues.

Could be the power supply I guess. How old is it? What brand / model?

Sorry for my late response.
I don't know the exact brand of the motherboard but it's pre-1997. No AGP slot. 3 ISA slots and 4 PCI.
Award bios jan 1997. 32 Mb Edo Ram.
Whats happening right now:

1. Start pc.... no beep no display...hdd rattles. No boot into biosscreen with mem count.
2. Turn it off and on. Starts directly with beep. Graphiccard info, bios memcount, post bios and config and autoexec load.
3. When playing game good sound!

But for some reason occasionally pc starts direct and normal. But then no sound in game. And this happens random.
I send the pc to a tech guy who helped me before with various stuff. He might help the old retro gamer 😀

Its not cmos battery btw. Tested with new battery.

Rise of the Triad

Reply 4 of 7, by daikatana_

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I don't reckon it's a power supply. It may be the memory. If you have an opportunity to swap memory modules for different ones, try it. Or if your rig has two pairs of RAM, try it with just one pair and if the problem persists, try the other pair.

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Reply 6 of 7, by Mentalbass

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canthearu wrote on 2020-02-10, 23:41:

Even just use an eraser to clean the contacts of your existing memory, might just have a slightly iffy contact, along with any ISA/PCI cards in the computer.

Cleanup is commencing. Good tip!
Its being taken apart and screened for faulty caps, connectors etc.

Rise of the Triad

Reply 7 of 7, by Mentalbass

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daikatana_ wrote on 2020-02-10, 22:03:

I don't reckon it's a power supply. It may be the memory. If you have an opportunity to swap memory modules for different ones, try it. Or if your rig has two pairs of RAM, try it with just one pair and if the problem persists, try the other pair.

Memory is being looked at too.

Ill give you guys an update on, if found, what the culprit was.

I hope cleaning contacts will do the trick and go back to serious dos gaming.
Thanks !

Rise of the Triad