Just been testing a bunch of PCs & associated hardware ready for this weekend - I've invited friends over for a retro PC LAN Party, so just making sure all 9 computers are going to be ready for use, as well as checking all peripherals are in good working order, ie. keyboards, mice, controllers etc.

Aside from a couple of dead CMOS batteries & other minor niggles, all good so far. 😀

2x 1998-era PCs, 2x 2000-era PCs & 2x 2003-era PCs should all be good to go.

As a side attraction, not LAN connected but just for fun - my IBM XT 4.77MHz CGA build, a 386SX 16MHz PC & a 486 DX2-66 PC should all be good too, I just need to give the 486 a check over tomorrow as it can be a little cranky.

Some repair activity again. Several months ago I bought pile of scrap video cards, HDDs, main boards etc. In the box there was this Sapphire Radeon 9600 XT that output scrambled colorful screen. I have spent too many hours to find out where's the issue, including capacitor replacements, missing component checks and so on. Yesterday it had a lot of cold spray which actually "fixed" it occasionally, but I wasn't sure what was the sweet spot. Today I gave it a final check after which I would have resoldered the GPU. Fortunately I found two missing resistors near power supply op-amp (was I blind?). I'm amazed this site still exists and I found it so quickly: http://alasir.com/reviews/sapphire_radeon_960 … oltmodding.html Finding this small blind 200R resistor is next to impossible. I found 0805 size 200R + 3k3 and it shall be enough for testing purposes. Quick test and it gives proper output at least on POST screen. Yey!

There's also this interesting sound card test: http://alasir.com/reviews/soundbench/index.html

PTherapist wrote on 2021-11-24, 18:53:

I've invited friends over for a retro PC LAN Party, so just making sure all 9 computers are going to be ready for use, as well as checking all peripherals are in good working order, ie. keyboards, mice, controllers etc.

Sounds perfect! I have planned the same thing for couple of years now. I mean is: collected truck-load of retro gear in that intention. I hope the day will come.
I have organized few small group Commodore 64 game nights, but a real retro PC LAN party would be totally different.

I've been attempting to find where in my 486 mobo/case there is a ground. As it turns out, one of them is somewhat nonstandard.

luckybob wrote on 2019-05-01, 18:39:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/404433 … 0501_002718.jpg […]
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https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/404433 … 0501_002718.jpg

Today I saved a Trenton TR-P6V pentium pro board from the bin. I had actually bought this board 10+ years ago and it never worked right, the bios would hang and could never finish posting. Well, I stumbled across the board last night when i was goofing around in the garage and gave it another go.

Still had errors, but this time I was armed with a eeprom programmer, and sure enough, the bios chip was wonky. Not enough the system wouldn't post, but enough where it couldn't finish. So I contacted the people that made the board: https://www.trentonsystems.com/ and they were quick to respond and happy to provide a manual and updated bios. So in addition to the board now working properly, I now have a manual!

There still is a borked memory slot (or a bad simm) but I can fix that easily enough.

I'll post both over onto vogons drivers for the people that google sends here. Also if anyone has a TR-DP6 version of this board (dual cpu), shoot me an message as I'd love to get it from you.

I am currently trying to get a system running which uses the Trenton TR-P6V board. Trenton no longer supports the board. Do you still have the manual? I would really like to get a copy of it. My first problem is I do not see anything on the board that looks like a CMOS battery, which has to be replaced. I hope after all this time you will be able to help. Thank you!

Managed to overclock an Am5x86 133 to 160 no problem on a M912 ver 1.7, with air cooling. Super stable.
Couldn't get it to post with 50mhz fsb, to 200mhz. One cpu would stop at C5 on post card, the other one wouldn't even post.
I don't have 50 or 45ns ram to test further.

I guess you need a good board to get there. Mine isn't good enough.

fool wrote on 2021-11-24, 19:19:

There's also this interesting sound card test: http://alasir.com/reviews/soundbench/index.html

I just read through this, I love sound cards so it was an interesting read.

The most hillarious part of it for me was that Creative bought Ensoniq, cloned their AudioPCI sound card and managed to make it worse 😁

I'm installing, and uninstalling OSs on my fast AthlonXP/Voodoo 3 system. I can't seem to decide on a combination I like. I tried standalone Win98 but it was too cookie cutter. I switched to DOS/Win2K multiboot and I'm not 100% happy with it because ESS Solo-1 in DOS (forced IRQ10) is kind of meh. The system is:

AthlonXP 1700+
1GB DDR RAM
Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Terrateci 128i (ESS Solo-1)

Basically for running 1994-1999 DOS and Win9x games. I think I may just reduce RAM to 512K and go for Win98/Win2K dualboot.

Had to readjust my PVM-9L1's tube since it was slightly off center when I serviced it a year ago to fix the composite sync issues. Looks better and still sharp.

PTherapist wrote on 2021-11-24, 18:53:

Just been testing a bunch of PCs & associated hardware ready for this weekend - I've invited friends over for a retro PC LAN Par […]
Show full quote

Just been testing a bunch of PCs & associated hardware ready for this weekend - I've invited friends over for a retro PC LAN Party, so just making sure all 9 computers are going to be ready for use, as well as checking all peripherals are in good working order, ie. keyboards, mice, controllers etc.

Aside from a couple of dead CMOS batteries & other minor niggles, all good so far. 😀

2x 1998-era PCs, 2x 2000-era PCs & 2x 2003-era PCs should all be good to go.

As a side attraction, not LAN connected but just for fun - my IBM XT 4.77MHz CGA build, a 386SX 16MHz PC & a 486 DX2-66 PC should all be good too, I just need to give the 486 a check over tomorrow as it can be a little cranky.

I've literally got an 8 Retro PC LAN setup configured and ready for this to happen, but don't know anybody nearby who would want to do it 🤣. Honestly kinda jealous.

Well, I managed to find what was causing the ground on my case, and corrected the issue with a dual layer tape patch. Now the problem is figuring out if it's the serial mouse that is crashing windows 95, or if it's the serial mouse that's doing it. Either way, I am now fully in this 486 build. I have put sweat, and now blood in to it. As for why I am using Windows 95, it's purely to allow myself to put it up on CPU-Z verification. After that, nothing but DOS and win3.1.

Unsuccessfully tested a PIII 800 on MB Procomp BVC3A, connected everything necessary for starting, but even pressing PWR-ON several times, it does nothing.
The CPU fan does not spin, and in the post card everything is turned off.
I have not yet understood what the problem could be but the mosfets are not shorted, I will try to look around the power lines if there is any interruption.

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-26, 00:48:

Well, I managed to find what was causing the ground on my case, and corrected the issue with a dual layer tape patch. Now the problem is figuring out if it's the serial mouse that is crashing windows 95, or if it's the serial mouse that's doing it. Either way, I am now fully in this 486 build. I have put sweat, and now blood in to it. As for why I am using Windows 95, it's purely to allow myself to put it up on CPU-Z verification. After that, nothing but DOS and win3.1.

There were some driver and hardware cursor issues with some SVGA graphics cards and various versions of their drivers back in the day, move the mouse pointer and it would freeze and lock the machine up, or other times would move, go all scrambled and corrupted and either crash or throw general exception faults shortly after. Later drivers were usually the cure.

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-11-26, 23:07:

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-26, 00:48:

Well, I managed to find what was causing the ground on my case, and corrected the issue with a dual layer tape patch. Now the problem is figuring out if it's the serial mouse that is crashing windows 95, or if it's the serial mouse that's doing it. Either way, I am now fully in this 486 build. I have put sweat, and now blood in to it. As for why I am using Windows 95, it's purely to allow myself to put it up on CPU-Z verification. After that, nothing but DOS and win3.1.

There were some driver and hardware cursor issues with some SVGA graphics cards and various versions of their drivers back in the day, move the mouse pointer and it would freeze and lock the machine up, or other times would move, go all scrambled and corrupted and either crash or throw general exception faults shortly after. Later drivers were usually the cure.

It might actually just be the wheels inside my mouse, since windows does detect a generic serial mouse, as does CTMouse.

Edit: I am at a complete loss. The mouse just doesn't want to work despite "working" according to DOS and windows. And, funnily enough, Rebel Assault, a game that has a nice menu system that supports mouse movement, is reporting my DX2-66 as running at 14 MHz. I guess I need to figure out how to get the turbo figured out.

For a moment, i consider 2013 as retro.

Set up my old workstation PC for sale.
Selling it in local Estonian forum, but who want's to see more pictures and specs, you can find them out here: https://foorum.hinnavaatlus.ee/viewtopic.php? … 2042&highlight=

Kinda sad to sell it - it's just beautiful machine. But by now, too old and slow for stuff i need to do...

GigAHerZ wrote on 2021-11-27, 10:42:

Kinda sad to sell it - it's just beautiful machine. But by now, too old and slow for stuff i need to do...

Have you considered turning it into a highly overpowered WinXP retro rig?

From what I can see, that motherboard should still have XP drivers. And you can always dual boot with Win7 for some of the earlier games from the 2010s.

I did some repair work today on a few motherboards. I still have a small pile of things to repair which require replacement parts but I managed to get through some of them today.

I try to photograph and share the most interesting of the mundane but sometimes there are surprises to be had along the way.

I would love to stream these kinds of repairs sometime. I think it would be interesting.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-11-27, 10:54:

GigAHerZ wrote on 2021-11-27, 10:42:

Kinda sad to sell it - it's just beautiful machine. But by now, too old and slow for stuff i need to do...

Have you considered turning it into a highly overpowered WinXP retro rig?

From what I can see, that motherboard should still have XP drivers. And you can always dual boot with Win7 for some of the earlier games from the 2010s.

Not really. My interest ends with Pentium 1 and Windows 98 and WinXP has never excited me that much.
But you are correct, it could be a great candidate - the motherboard even has a good old PCI slot.

GigAHerZ wrote on 2021-11-27, 10:42:

For a moment, i consider 2013 as retro.

2013 retro? Damn, I must be getting old - 8 years seems new to me 😀

Mind you, 500 miles to my brother (he lives in a wooden shack in the Scottish Highlands) feels like a trip down the road 😀

To pass time today, got into vintage watch repair hobby I was looking at one wind up stopwatch with lower jewel hole that was replaced incorrectly, so have to find another jewel with this correct hole size.

Then another stop watch, modified a junky replacement balance wheel, which is not machined correctly so it oscillated funny, so lightened up the wheel for Slava 1/10 second stopwatch by cutting most of rim off leaving two ends stubs to vibrate faster, it is parts stopwatch anyway. I have few Slava stopwatches so this is not a issue.

Cheers,

debs3759 wrote on 2021-11-27, 22:06:

GigAHerZ wrote on 2021-11-27, 10:42:

For a moment, i consider 2013 as retro.

2013 retro? Damn, I must be getting old - 8 years seems new to me 😀

Mind you, 500 miles to my brother (he lives in a wooden shack in the Scottish Highlands) feels like a trip down the road 😀

I have younger than that but still have older than 8 years. Retro isn't correct IMO.
Old is better. From K8 and up, 775 too, are good to use WinXp to the max, but aren't retro platforms.

Don't tell me your brother is off the grid 😀
Would be quite opposite to you! 🤣