Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-09-14, 17:51:

On many of these Trident cards the real ROM contents are garbled when read out on a normal EEPROM reader, but the computer reads the EEPROM just fine when it's on the card because they rearranged some of the address pins.

Sounds like something obscure enough that it would be nice to document, maybe even revers engineer by comparing raw/pc dumps and writing a script to remmangle bios files back/firth. Does your card map bios weirdly?

No?

Lately i have been searching around for the perfect card to put inside of the 99 machine (the voodoo 3 just doesn't cut it) so i was searching for the mystical GF 256, i got lucky and i was able to find 2 one SDR and one DDR, the problem is how can i cool them properly ?

I like to go overkill regarding temps and i was lucky enough to find not one but 3 coolers, still in the package, for 19€ i had to buy it, i don't know which one to use on the 256 though.

GigAHerZ wrote on 2023-09-14, 14:13:

Works really quick - in less than 5min chips are empty.

That is really deceptive, because the way things work is not when the chip programmer says the cells look blank but when appropriate dose has been absorbed. These things are fully analog inside and an analog comparator type deal determines if the charge is low enough to be zero or one, however, the data cells work by trapping electrons in them that are donated by the UV light and if the cells don't get "full" you will get bit rot sooner than later because there is leakage from these cells (the same problem exists for flash chips, except their exposure is done inside via a charge pump but bigger data density, smaller cells, less electrons, easier time escaping... thus data retention time is much lower). Short exposure like that can make things appear as if they're erased but it is pretty certain that the actual cells are nowhere near full, the datasheets tell about 25...45minute exposures for a reason and pro-EPROM erasers use exactly these kind of bulbs in them too. Do not skim on the exposure time, you want tens of minutes if you want longetivity of the data. The same thing applies to the sunlight and UV LED based erasures, actual dosage is harder to determine with these ways however 🤣.

Hey, so I finally got that Athlon 64 motherboard I was talking about (Asus K8V-MX), and at first, it worked just fine! But now all of a sudden, it stopped working, and just like all the other motherboards I have, whenever I turn it on, the computer seems to have power (cpu fan is spinning, ide is getting power, etc) but there is no apparent "feedback", i.e the VGA signal doesn't come on.
Can anyone help me diagnose this issue?

...Actually, I think it might be something with the chipset or something, as when I try to power it off using the DC switch, nothing happens.
Weird this keeps happening to me with different motherboards.

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-14, 22:44:

...Actually, I think it might be something with the chipset or something, as when I try to power it off using the DC switch, nothing happens.
Weird this keeps happening to me with different motherboards.

It would be best to start a specific thread, and specify your hardware and all other relevant details.

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-14, 22:33:

Hey, so I finally got that Athlon 64 motherboard I was talking about (Asus K8V-MX), and at first, it worked just fine! But now all of a sudden, it stopped working, and just like all the other motherboards I have, whenever I turn it on, the computer seems to have power (cpu fan is spinning, ide is getting power, etc) but there is no apparent "feedback", i.e the VGA signal doesn't come on.
Can anyone help me diagnose this issue?

What's the condition of the bios battery? I've had quite alot of boards that I thought were dead or had problems but turned out to just be a dead/missing bios battery. Some boards just act ether dead or act randomly when the battery is low/dead/ missing.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-09-14, 22:50:

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-14, 22:33:

Hey, so I finally got that Athlon 64 motherboard I was talking about (Asus K8V-MX), and at first, it worked just fine! But now all of a sudden, it stopped working, and just like all the other motherboards I have, whenever I turn it on, the computer seems to have power (cpu fan is spinning, ide is getting power, etc) but there is no apparent "feedback", i.e the VGA signal doesn't come on.
Can anyone help me diagnose this issue?

What's the condition of the bios battery? I've had quite alot of boards that I thought were dead or had problems but turned out to just be a dead/missing bios battery. Some boards just act ether dead or act randomly when the battery is low/dead/ missing.

Swapping the CR2032s doesn't make a difference. I just tried that now and no dice.
I should specify by the way what happens. I push the power button. The power led turns on then immediately off. The CPU fan goes forever. I can't push the power button again unless I unplug the PSU.
In other words, it won't POST.

Nevermind, somehow I got it to work by finagling with the power button...

So I somehow managed to get the motherboard working, as said.
However, I'm running into two new problems:
It's not detecting any SATA drives despite there being SATA ports on the mobo and an SSD connected. I don't see anything SATA anywhere on the bios. The BIOS is dated 2003. Maybe that's why? Anyways, I'm using IDE drives now and they're detected.
Also, I used WinSetupFromUSB to flash an image file of the installer for Windows XP Home SP2 to a USB flash drive, and... whenever I run the setup, the Windows setup BSODs.
Fun.

I performed a bit of a downgrade on my Ivy Bridge Retro Rocket for NT/Win9x/Win2k/OS2. I replace one of the SATA DVD-RW drives with an IDE/ATAPI DVD-RW with working audio outputs using a SATA to IDE adapter. This way, I can get CD audio to play in some on my older software in Windows and Win-OS2.

The adapter works in AHCI mode, and it can pass the correct commands to the optical drive to trigger audio playback. I plan to use the digital audio output with my Audigy 2ZS in Win9x and Win2k, while I’ll use the analog output with a Ensoniq AudioPCI in NT 3.51 or with a Crystal 4280 PCI sound card in OS/2.

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-14, 23:56:

So I somehow managed to get the motherboard working, as said. However, I'm running into two new problems: It's not detecting any […]
Show full quote

So I somehow managed to get the motherboard working, as said.
However, I'm running into two new problems:
It's not detecting any SATA drives despite there being SATA ports on the mobo and an SSD connected. I don't see anything SATA anywhere on the bios. The BIOS is dated 2003. Maybe that's why? Anyways, I'm using IDE drives now and they're detected.
Also, I used WinSetupFromUSB to flash an image file of the installer for Windows XP Home SP2 to a USB flash drive, and... whenever I run the setup, the Windows setup BSODs.
Fun.

There are known limitations with early VIA SATA controllers with regards to SATA2/3 and SSD size.

pentiumspeed wrote on 2023-09-14, 14:52:

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-09-14, 14:37:

Cover that, you'll give yourself cataracts, or sunburned eyeball or something.

YES. DO NOT OPERATE any UV exposed! You will damage your eyes easily.

Cheers,

All of the warnings are already present on the UV lamp. However, they appear to only be in Chinese. 😬

Updated my main late Win98 retrorig. Since somehow I have broken my Abit VH6T motherboard and I had an Athlon XP 2600+ (thoroughbred-b) laying around, I decided to go with AMD for a bit (also forced by the current prohibitive prices of Tualatin compatible motheboards).

I had also a dead Gigabyte GA-7VT600-RZ which I hadn't tried to fix it yet. It turned out it was just a dislocated smd component and now it is up and running.

Paired with the FX5200 Ultra it's a very nice medium-high end retrorig.

DerBaum wrote on 2023-09-11, 13:35:

I was amazed that it really works...

First batch done. Still not perfect but WAAAY better then before.

I will use the probably last 3 days of sun this year to get another batch done.
This time i pulled out the things i basically gave up on to see them ever beige again.
The disgusting keyboards and mice 😁

All my AT Keyboards look like directly from a sewer.

And some ide CD/DVD drives.

I really wanna know what my neighbours are thinking 😁

I just got a Sound Blaster Live (Model CT4830) in the mail.
Of course, it's kinda useless right now because I don't have a 3.5mm male to male jack to plug it into my Windows XP PC's (the Athlon 64 one I was talking about setting up) monitor's speakers, and also (I found this out recently) literally ANY OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLER (I've tried: Multiple versions of Windows XP, Windows 7, FreeBSD, Puppy Linux, even Haiku) crashes when ran from USB on said PC for some reason, and I don't have an internal optical drive yet.
Nonetheless, it's cool.

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-15, 21:13:

I just got a Sound Blaster Live (Model CT4830) in the mail. Of course, it's kinda useless right now because I don't have a 3.5mm […]
Show full quote

I just got a Sound Blaster Live (Model CT4830) in the mail.
Of course, it's kinda useless right now because I don't have a 3.5mm male to male jack to plug it into my Windows XP PC's (the Athlon 64 one I was talking about setting up) monitor's speakers, and also (I found this out recently) literally ANY OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLER (I've tried: Multiple versions of Windows XP, Windows 7, FreeBSD, Puppy Linux, even Haiku) crashes when ran from USB on said PC for some reason, and I don't have an internal optical drive yet.
Nonetheless, it's cool.
rn_image_picker_lib_temp_d498d845-2950-48c4-a7c8-508f15363b9c.jpg

umm... have you tried copying the install files to the hard drive and running them from there? I dont think burning a CD would have been the route I would pick first.

luckybob wrote on 2023-09-15, 21:42:

ChrisNonyminus wrote on 2023-09-15, 21:13:

I just got a Sound Blaster Live (Model CT4830) in the mail. Of course, it's kinda useless right now because I don't have a 3.5mm […]
Show full quote

I just got a Sound Blaster Live (Model CT4830) in the mail.
Of course, it's kinda useless right now because I don't have a 3.5mm male to male jack to plug it into my Windows XP PC's (the Athlon 64 one I was talking about setting up) monitor's speakers, and also (I found this out recently) literally ANY OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLER (I've tried: Multiple versions of Windows XP, Windows 7, FreeBSD, Puppy Linux, even Haiku) crashes when ran from USB on said PC for some reason, and I don't have an internal optical drive yet.
Nonetheless, it's cool.
rn_image_picker_lib_temp_d498d845-2950-48c4-a7c8-508f15363b9c.jpg

umm... have you tried copying the install files to the hard drive and running them from there? I dont think burning a CD would have been the route I would pick first.

You mean like, making a partition on the HDD and flashing it with an installer CD image?

Yup. I do this as default for windows 95/98. Just a basic fat32 should work. Worst case, a 2nd hard drive.