Sphere478 wrote on 2023-12-04, 00:32:

Horun wrote on 2023-12-03, 03:12:

Downloading bios files off a motherboard makers ftp in ch before they remove everything. Got a long was to go.....filezilla reports over 100Gb still in queue..ue..ue...ewu 🤣
added: currently working on soc 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, will work on 2011 later. Looks like elhvb.com has most of the soc 462, 478, 775, 939, 1366 stuff...

Thank you that! Please re host somewhere for everyone to have access

I will gladly provide a mirror for any such files.

Maybe not completely retro, but I added an SSD to my AMD K6 system using a SIL3114 PCI Sata controller. Added bonus: this completely circumvents the 32GB harddrive limit in the bios.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2023-12-04, 02:09:

Nexxen wrote on 2023-12-04, 01:49:

I was checking some K6 stuff and found that amd-k6.com isn't online anymore.
Hope anyone can shed some light.

I just checked and it loads up some Chinese language site. Hopefully the original comes back as it was a great resource.

This sucks, hope it comes back soon. I hoped for a missed update on my part.

H3nrik V! wrote on 2023-12-04, 06:41:

ubiq wrote on 2023-12-02, 18:12:

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-12-02, 02:55:

That's on my to do list, have a "fixer upper" P2B-D lurking around, two s370 1Ghz PIII and a number of slotkets to persuade into working with them. Not quite sure what gfx will go with it, I might give it a Gf3.

Hmm yeah, it was back in July - I got a couple slocketed Mendocino 533s going on an ASUS P2L97-DS. Ultimately didn't build a system with it, as I had a P2B-DS and higher sights. Currently that system has a couple SL457 P3-800s in it. I have a couple 1100MHz S370 SL5Q3s that I want to get in there, but I'm about 1 coppermine-compatible slocket short. I've been working on my soldering game, so it might be time to revisit modding one of my cheaper slockets...

IMG_5568.jpeg

What are those downright beautiful copper heatsinks? Would really match my P2B-DS and 2xCuMine 1.1 ... 😀

They're actually brand new StarTech heat sinks. I bought them new off Amazon earlier this year - they don't seem to list them anymore, so they may have recently been discontinued?

Oh, and obv I swapped out the fans for Noctuas. 😉 (I can't remember if I checked them in my P2B-DS for size - the spacing between the cpu slots is significantly smaller than on the P2L97-DS)

It's not nearly as advanced as some of the other stuff being discussed in this thread, but we recently got an ASRock Z68 Pro-3M running with Win XP Pro SP3 x86. The system is still on our static mat, for testing, but I just couldn't help myself - I had to turn back time and play some 3D "Space Cadet" Pinball! :>))

irisgrunn wrote on 2023-12-04, 11:01:

Maybe not completely retro, but I added an SSD to my AMD K6 system using a SIL3114 PCI Sata controller. Added bonus: this completely circumvents the 32GB harddrive limit in the bios.

Nice. What kind of speeds do you get with this setup?

PcBytes wrote on 2023-11-24, 15:32:

brostenen wrote on 2023-11-24, 14:33:

PcBytes wrote on 2023-11-19, 12:01:

Not sure what you found but they're not genuine.

Sony never released a wireless controller until the PS3. The only licensed wireless PS2 controller is the Logitech Cordless Action Controller.

Oh well.... I guess it were knockoff back in the 00's then?
Anyway. Some of them must be good enough, and at least you get wireless.

Yeah, Logitech's controllers were the best go-to for wireless PS2 controllers.
I seem to remember they were fetching quite a pretty penny over the standard PS2 controllers at one point but my memory is pretty rusty PS2-wise.

Anyway....
People who do vintage console videoes, are talking about these translucent controllers. I believe they are named retrofighter or something.
They should be decent controllers as such.

Worked on finishing setting up my Pentium 200 build, adding all the usual connections, etc.

Then I started getting boot failures. Popped in a diagnostic card and it would fail at the "d3:d1" code.

However, it was very intermittent. Sometimes it would fail a couple times in a row. Other times it would be about 20 times before failing.

Did the usual troubleshooting, yanked everything out, swapped RAM, swapped video card. Still getting the error.

Finally getting frustrated figured there might be an issue with the board itself, so I took the whole thing apart.

That is when I noticed this:

It turns out these errant legs belong to capacitor C14. It doesn't look like a capacitor replacement, since there isn't the usual signs of rework. Even weirder is it looks like only one leg is soldered on.

Not sure if this is ultimately the cause of these issues, but it at least gives me somewhere to start.

Building up a Tauntek IC tester kit to test out all the old 74 series logic chips I have.

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-12-04, 21:45:

irisgrunn wrote on 2023-12-04, 11:01:

Maybe not completely retro, but I added an SSD to my AMD K6 system using a SIL3114 PCI Sata controller. Added bonus: this completely circumvents the 32GB harddrive limit in the bios.

Nice. What kind of speeds do you get with this setup?

Speeds are ok, though I was hoping it would be a bit quicker, it feels like it's only a slight improvement over a 7200rpm spinning disk.

irisgrunn wrote on 2023-12-05, 08:09:

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-12-04, 21:45:

irisgrunn wrote on 2023-12-04, 11:01:

Maybe not completely retro, but I added an SSD to my AMD K6 system using a SIL3114 PCI Sata controller. Added bonus: this completely circumvents the 32GB harddrive limit in the bios.

Nice. What kind of speeds do you get with this setup?

Speeds are ok, though I was hoping it would be a bit quicker, it feels like it's only a slight improvement over a 7200rpm spinning disk.

I would go for a RAID 0 setup! That is when the speed kicks in!

My retro activity today is discovering how quirky vintage 1992 socket 1 VLB motherboards are to the DX4ODPR100 CPU.
I have absolutely no issues what so ever with using a DX2-66 with 256k cache but having issues with it for the DX4ODPR.
I had read on this forum that I should disable the 256k and just do 128k. Ordered and got the 64k tag ram chip and still
no cigar. I had a hunch that maybe I need to take off the cache chips still installed in bank 1 as I was thinking the tag cache
chip was at fault. I havent been able to use the L2 cache at all with the DX4 ODPR100. Everything went good with the DX2
and I swapped in the DX4 ODPR viola, I have L2 cache! Wooo hoooo! Now I am testing each cache chip individually as I had found
bad cache with DX2 from the set I had installed. Hopefully I can get the 256k cache setup in writeback working by the end of the day.

Receiving and testing the second batch of vintage motherboards, expansion cards, etc., from e-waste. The condition of this batch is much better than the previous one; some of them even come with original box and/or documents.

Biostar MB-8500TVG

Delta MP2-BX-X

DFI P5BV3+

Those four bulging capacitors (between CPU socket and BIOS chip) have been replaced; my first recap by my own!

EPoX EP-51MVP3E-M

Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X-AP + P3-933

MSI MS-5145

Strangely enough, MSI made this board for KTX instead of selling it under its own brand; the manual mentioned nothing about MSI. The box even contains copies of fax messages from an MSI employee to a customer, detailing about using 75 MHz FSB, all with MSI letterhead. Wow.

SuperPower SP-P2BXA

Had to use The Retro Web to identify this "white box" motherboard.

(Clockwise from top right) Orchid Righteous 3D II, an ET4000AX (defunct), a TNT2 M64 32MB, and a SiS 6326 4MB. Still looking for a good method to test this Orchid card......

Two 56k external modems (one with complete box), 13 ISA sound cards (3x CT4150, 5x CT4170, 5x ES1868F), and a sealed copy of MS-DOS plus enhanced tools (most likely 6.22 as the Certificate of Authenticity was issued in 1998)!

Unlike the previous batch, EPoX EP-51MVP3E-M was the only motherboard that could not POST. A pity for its nice design (ATX power and form factor; accepts both EDO and SDRAM; clearly marked FSB, multiplier, and voltage jumpers).

For the record, neither Asus P/I-P55T2P4 nor ECS P5VX-Be in the previous batch was able to POST. 😢

I picket up a EVGA GTX 780ti off ebay this week for £30 which arrived today which I proceeded to install in my new XP build. I was anticipating it not to work with the way it had a bit of bubble wrap around it and thrown in a large box. Thankfully it works. Installed fine in XP and played some Outrun 2 on it. All i need now is a PCI-E X-Fi card and the build is finished.

Bancho wrote on 2023-12-05, 22:30:

I picket up a EVGA GTX 780ti off ebay this week for £30 which arrived today which I proceeded to install in my new XP build. I […]
Show full quote

I picket up a EVGA GTX 780ti off ebay this week for £30 which arrived today which I proceeded to install in my new XP build. I was anticipating it not to work with the way it had a bit of bubble wrap around it and thrown in a large box. Thankfully it works. Installed fine in XP and played some Outrun 2 on it. All i need now is a PCI-E X-Fi card and the build is finished.

Clean build. Which case is that?

kingcake wrote on 2023-12-06, 03:01:

Clean build. Which case is that?

Its a Fractal Design Focus G Mini. Really like this case for the 2 drive bays. I may get the ATX size version for a different build.

Bancho wrote on 2023-12-06, 08:43:

Its a Fractal Design Focus G Mini. Really like this case for the 2 drive bays. I may get the ATX size version for a different build.

Baby size like, has window on the side, 2 drive bays. It is a nice case. To bad they don't come in white version as well.

dormcat wrote on 2023-12-05, 21:27:

Receiving and testing the second batch of vintage motherboards, expansion cards, etc., from e-waste. The condition of this batch […]
Show full quote

Receiving and testing the second batch of vintage motherboards, expansion cards, etc., from e-waste. The condition of this batch is much better than the previous one; some of them even come with original box and/or documents.

Biostar MB-8500TVG

Delta MP2-BX-X

DFI P5BV3+

Those four bulging capacitors (between CPU socket and BIOS chip) have been replaced; my first recap by my own!

EPoX EP-51MVP3E-M

Gigabyte GA-6VX7-4X-AP + P3-933

MSI MS-5145

Strangely enough, MSI made this board for KTX instead of selling it under its own brand; the manual mentioned nothing about MSI. The box even contains copies of fax messages from an MSI employee to a customer, detailing about using 75 MHz FSB, all with MSI letterhead. Wow.

SuperPower SP-P2BXA

Had to use The Retro Web to identify this "white box" motherboard.

(Clockwise from top right) Orchid Righteous 3D II, an ET4000AX (defunct), a TNT2 M64 32MB, and a SiS 6326 4MB. Still looking for a good method to test this Orchid card......

Two 56k external modems (one with complete box), 13 ISA sound cards (3x CT4150, 5x CT4170, 5x ES1868F), and a sealed copy of MS-DOS plus enhanced tools (most likely 6.22 as the Certificate of Authenticity was issued in 1998)!

Unlike the previous batch, EPoX EP-51MVP3E-M was the only motherboard that could not POST. A pity for its nice design (ATX power and form factor; accepts both EDO and SDRAM; clearly marked FSB, multiplier, and voltage jumpers).

For the record, neither Asus P/I-P55T2P4 nor ECS P5VX-Be in the previous batch was able to POST. 😢

Friend here the paw, beautiful cards, I haven't seen similar lots for years, but if you need help, for those that don't start, just ask.

Once again, @Bancho, that's a very nice machine you have there ! I'm actually jealous...

Gonna be packing stuff into storage real soon.

Made some time today to fix one of my 3Dfx Voodoo Banshee cards while I've still got the hot air station and test computer ready. In the process of doing this however I learned a ton about testing video memory that I did not know before, using VMTCE I managed to pinpoint the exact fault on this Elsa Victory II card - it actually had 2 faults, the first I fixed through dumb luck and an incomplete understanding of the memory layout / tools, but I got there in the end.

The second fix took some time, swapping multiple chips and finding at each point that nope, that wasn't the problem. Eventually pinpointed it down to a single damaged trace that I was able to locate through a software tool and isolating memory pins 😀
Also I was able to disable half the memory to help with separating the primary fault, which caused graphical errors in VGA mode. From the secondary fault which only showed up in games. A single little resistor controls whether the card is going to use 8MB or 16MB.

Here's how the memory errors looked until I got the exact point:

My test rig which now has a dedicated VMTCE compact flash card. I got so sick of waiting for the floppy version to start up and this avoids cards without heatsinks from heating up too much: