Tetrium wrote on 2021-11-28, 10:20:

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2021-11-27, 22:44:

Got new RAM for my overkill build: https://i.imgur.com/HwQJi9T.jpg https://c.tenor.com/1EPcfrfuO3UAAAAM/more-power.gif Looks so […]
Show full quote

Got new RAM for my overkill build:


Looks so nice with the red PCB.

Then this happened:


The sticks are fine. I checked them on a KT400 board.
It's the board which can't handle more than 2GB. My buddy has the same problem on his KT3 Ultra2 with OCZ sticks. Underclocking or raising timings/voltage didn't help.
We also found threads were people had the same problem with other sticks (Kingston, Corsair). Is this a common problem on KT333 or does it just affect the KT3 Ultra2?

So I went ahead and downloaded the manual for the KT3 Ultra2 (as this was the board model number you mentioned in this reply) and it did indeed make no mention of having certain limitations to the memory, which somewhat surprised me as I was expecting them to be there. Manual was downloaded from the MSI website itself.
From memory (my own that is, no pun intended 🤣) these chipsets did have certain limitations when using larger amounts of memory, mostly needing to lower clockrates and/or loosen timings to be able to run stable.

Isn't, maybe, a chipset bug? Early revision with issues?

I got a set of Altec Lansing ACS33 2.1 speakers in fantastic condition. I am really pressed for space on my DOS gaming PC desk (actually a printer stand!), and the ACS33 speakers are small enough that I can just barely fit them on either side of my monitor at ear level. The Roland MA-8s I had been previously using are fantastic but MASSIVE, and I was forced to place them on a shelf below the monitor, and I didn't like how this affected the sound since they were (far) below ear level. It also frees up that space on the lower shelf, so I could move my SC-55 down to the middle shelf with my MT-32:

Surface: Monitor, speakers, keyboard
Middle shelf: MT-32, SC-55, mixer, subwoofer, joystick
Bottom shelf: PC

I played through a mission in Wing Commander, and am VERY pleased with the ACS33! They sound fantastic, and the subwoofer adds some nice depth to the sound without being overpowering at all.

I had a very similar 2.1 speaker setup back in the day for the first PC I built myself, so it's a bit of a nostalgia trip having this!

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2021-11-27, 22:44:

Then this happened: https://i.imgur.com/YT018zw.jpg […]
Show full quote

Then this happened:

This may not help, but since the errors are happening on the blockmove test...
I had a problem with motherboard+sdram failing with radomish errors at radom addresses, but only on Blockmove and Mod20 tests when testing the whole stick. Never had an error in any other test, or if I retested just one of the addresses that had shown a problem. The bit error was always toward the top of the 64 bits, so not entirely random. I thought maybe one of the dram chips was overheating so I pointed a fan directly at the RAM, left Memtest running (all tests, except bit fade) for 24 hours and had no errors.

Tetrium wrote on 2021-11-28, 10:20:

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2021-11-27, 22:44:

Got new RAM for my overkill build: https://i.imgur.com/HwQJi9T.jpg https://c.tenor.com/1EPcfrfuO3UAAAAM/more-power.gif Looks so […]
Show full quote

Got new RAM for my overkill build:


Looks so nice with the red PCB.

Then this happened:


The sticks are fine. I checked them on a KT400 board.
It's the board which can't handle more than 2GB. My buddy has the same problem on his KT3 Ultra2 with OCZ sticks. Underclocking or raising timings/voltage didn't help.
We also found threads were people had the same problem with other sticks (Kingston, Corsair). Is this a common problem on KT333 or does it just affect the KT3 Ultra2?

So I went ahead and downloaded the manual for the KT3 Ultra2 (as this was the board model number you mentioned in this reply) and it did indeed make no mention of having certain limitations to the memory, which somewhat surprised me as I was expecting them to be there. Manual was downloaded from the MSI website itself.
From memory (my own that is, no pun intended 🤣) these chipsets did have certain limitations when using larger amounts of memory, mostly needing to lower clockrates and/or loosen timings to be able to run stable.

KT333 doesn't like driving more than 2 sticks of DDR unless they are buffered.

mastergamma12 wrote on 2021-11-28, 09:31:

fosterwj03 wrote on 2021-11-27, 18:18:

If you consider hardware older than a decade retro, I got this GeForce GTX 285 OC in the mail yesterday. I got it for my Overkill yet vanilla Windows 2000 build. So far, it works with the last Win2k-compatible nVidia drivers in my test system. I'm going to put it in the Overkill system this afternoon.

Despite being a blower, the fan is actually pretty quiet even under full load. I think I'm going to like this card in Windows 2000 quite a bit.

What driver?

GeForce Desktop Release 197.45 for Windows XP. Release 257.21 works as well.

The Control Panel app is broken with this card on Windows 2000, but the display driver and Display Properties dialog work perfectly.

Just managed to find this nearby me for free. A gigabyte g-max pc. The case has an ugly charm to it, and it's pretty dirty. Pentium 4 1.7, and a voodoo3 2000 PCI. Sadly a fair few caps have popped on the motherboard though so recapping time.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2021-11-28, 11:24:

Somewhat unexpectedly, I got my hands on a HP Vectra VL5.

Not sure what to do with it. My Pentium MMX rig already covers that era of gaming. I guess I might refurbish the Vectra and resell it at some point.

Those are nice machines, I just scored the same machine (VL5/200) and was surprised that it has 6 RAM slots and the Intel HX chipset on the mainboard. I believe the models without the front panel volume control normally came with a decent Sound Blaster 16 ISA variant and they sometimes have early dual interface PCI network adapters. Mine is missing the "Vectra" front panel cover which is tragic.

I picked up a couple of machines at the e-waste place last week, an HP VL5/200 that's in good working order but is missing part of the front panel cover... and this:

IBM PS/2 model 30 / 286 in working condition, with a Kingston LEM type processor upgrade to a 386 sx / 25.

Nexxen wrote on 2021-11-28, 08:46:

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-28, 08:06:

Today I managed to snag a working 5.25 Mitsubishi FDD for $5, and 16MB of 30 pin ram for $10. So now I have a way to read just the driver disk for my almost-working serial mouse both kinds of floppies, and have way too much ram for what a SX2-66 can actually run.
IMG_2527.jpg

WOW!!

I take it that’s a good deal? Or are those drives rare?

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-28, 18:07:

I take it that’s a good deal? Or are those drives rare?

If the drive works it's a very good deal! 5.25'' drives are not rare at all, but for some reason they command absurd prices on eBay.

I got this pretty nice condition IBM ThinkPad 380XD, the top of the line model with a 266MHz Pentium II, but it has this annoying fan error that won't go away and the fan isn't working for some reason. Unfortunately for me I haven't found a replacement for sale yet either...

TheMobRules wrote on 2021-11-28, 18:42:

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-28, 18:07:

I take it that’s a good deal? Or are those drives rare?

If the drive works it's a very good deal! 5.25'' drives are not rare at all, but for some reason they command absurd prices on eBay.

All I can think of is a “this is old and I heard old games are worth money” tax, like the rainbow Apple logo tax.

MN_Moody wrote on 2021-11-28, 16:33:

Those are nice machines, I just scored the same machine (VL5/200) and was surprised that it has 6 RAM slots and the Intel HX chipset on the mainboard. I believe the models without the front panel volume control normally came with a decent Sound Blaster 16 ISA variant and they sometimes have early dual interface PCI network adapters.

Mine's a VL5/166 and it came without a sound card, network card and even without a CD-ROM! Fortunately, I have a spare Hitachi drive and a Vibra16 card, both of which should feel right at home in this Vectra. The HX chipset is an interesting choice indeed. I imagine these systems were originally intended as workstations where the extra cacheable RAM a would have been handy.

Mine is missing the "Vectra" front panel cover which is tragic.

Ouch. You might be able to get one separately though.

I just watched this video and the author was in the same predicament but he somehow managed to find a replacement.

Nexxen wrote on 2021-11-28, 11:40:

Isn't, maybe, a chipset bug? Early revision with issues?

No, it's KT333CE, the latest which still supports 3.3V AGP (necessary for Voodoo cards).

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-11-28, 14:01:

KT333 doesn't like driving more than 2 sticks of DDR unless they are buffered.

Thanks for the info.
So switching to another board won't fix the issue.
Guess I'll have to stick to 2GB then. Still more than enough.

RaiderOfLostVoodoo wrote on 2021-11-28, 20:35:

No, it's KT333CE, the latest which still supports 3.3V AGP (necessary for Voodoo cards). […]
Show full quote

Nexxen wrote on 2021-11-28, 11:40:

Isn't, maybe, a chipset bug? Early revision with issues?

No, it's KT333CE, the latest which still supports 3.3V AGP (necessary for Voodoo cards).

BitWrangler wrote on 2021-11-28, 14:01:

KT333 doesn't like driving more than 2 sticks of DDR unless they are buffered.

Thanks for the info.
So switching to another board won't fix the issue.
Guess I'll have to stick to 2GB then. Still more than enough.

That's certainly not universally true - I have a Soyo SY-KT333 DRAGON Ultra Platinum which works just fine with 3 x 1GB sticks of unbuffered PC3200, from bog standard Micron / Crucial to these performance sticks from Corsair

https://www.newegg.com/corsair-2gb-184-pin-dd … N82E16820145491

I'm pushing my memory but I don't remember ever using more than 2 sticks of RAM in a KT333 or KT400 motherboard. For KT400, it was because the board would not run at DDR-400 with more than 2 for sure. For KT333, I do not remember, but I THINK my MSI KT3 Ultra would not POST that way.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2021-11-28, 21:08:

That's certainly not universally true - I have a Soyo SY-KT333 DRAGON Ultra Platinum which works just fine with 3 x 1GB sticks of unbuffered PC3200, from bog standard Micron / Crucial to these performance sticks from Corsair

That's KT333CF, which is a downclocked KT400. So it doesn't have AGP 3.3V.

MN_Moody wrote on 2021-11-28, 16:42:

I picked up a couple of machines at the e-waste place last week, an HP VL5/200 that's in good working order but is missing part of the front panel cover... and this:

IBM PS/2 model 30 / 286 in working condition, with a Kingston LEM type processor upgrade to a 386 sx / 25.

Oh my, look at that Dallas clock - from the year of our Lord 19hundred and 88 !
These things go waay back it seems...
And still working ?! 😄
The clock settings I mean.

bestemor wrote on 2021-11-28, 22:12:

Oh my, look at that Dallas clock - from the year of our Lord 19hundred and 88 ! These things go waay back it seems... And still […]
Show full quote

MN_Moody wrote on 2021-11-28, 16:42:

I picked up a couple of machines at the e-waste place last week, an HP VL5/200 that's in good working order but is missing part of the front panel cover... and this:

IBM PS/2 model 30 / 286 in working condition, with a Kingston LEM type processor upgrade to a 386 sx / 25.

Oh my, look at that Dallas clock - from the year of our Lord 19hundred and 88 !
These things go waay back it seems...
And still working ?! 😄
The clock settings I mean.

Nope, the battery is long dead.. but a Glitchworks replacement along with some floppy images of the original setup/diagnostics floppies worked great! The floppy drive works fine, which is a frequent problem, and it came stock with 4 megs of RAM in addition to the crazy 386/sx 25 upgrade module... so I can't complain much. The 30 megabyte ESDI hard disk is toast so I'm going to install an XTIDE with an integrated/powered CF card slot (since there's no molex power to run an IDE drive or powered CF/SD card) and call it good. I figured I'd broken the purist bubble with the glitchworks RTC chip so doing the same with the storage subsystem wasn't a total sin, I just have to figure out how to extend the LED header to the front of the case and it should be quieter and faster than new.

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-28, 18:07:

Nexxen wrote on 2021-11-28, 08:46:

BetaC wrote on 2021-11-28, 08:06:

Today I managed to snag a working 5.25 Mitsubishi FDD for $5, and 16MB of 30 pin ram for $10. So now I have a way to read just the driver disk for my almost-working serial mouse both kinds of floppies, and have way too much ram for what a SX2-66 can actually run.
IMG_2527.jpg

WOW!!

I take it that’s a good deal? Or are those drives rare?

The machine is gorgeous.

Good deal? For 5$ it's a total steal!!

Sometimes everything falls into place and the result is beauty.