PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-24, 20:02:

Fixed this A7V8X Rev 2.0... again. […]
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Fixed this A7V8X Rev 2.0... again.

First off, I gotta thank @Robert B for his socket swapping technique. I have mastered it enough to be able to swap 462 sockets without needing to go through the painful process of desoldering.

Now, onto the board. This A7V8X was saved last year from the school near my apartment. The PC it was in was in rough shape... and so was the board.

I had managed to first swap a working socket plastic from a dead A7V600-X, but that one was way too cheap and didn't last long.

Pictures here is a socket harvested from a dead GA-7VAX... the green socket strikes again, just like @quicknick had on his Soltek 75FRN2-L! It was the only socket that would sit tight when slid on the socket pins from the ASUS.

Stuck a 2000+ in there, OC'd to 2600+, yey. Not sure what would the utility of a KT400 board be (especially when I have an actual Soltek 75FRN2-RL coming through to keep my NF7 some company, 🤣) but given this was quite the iconic board to find here in RO, why not. It's a piece of history, after all. (and at least it has slightly more features than the average A7V8X-X)

Maybe I should take it for a test build sometime and pair it with the free Studioworks CRT I got last week, as well as a nice pair of IBM Infinity speakers.

Sweet!

I have a A7V8X-MX SE with a 2600+ in a system as my most "modern" retro computer. Haven't done much with it yet, as I'm mostly interested in early-mid 90's stuff at the moment, but it'll be there when I get to it. 🙂 I remember a lot of boards from that era had active cooling on the chipset, so I popped a 40mm fan on it even though it is a pretty chonkin' HS.

CPU fan currently on loan to my baby-at 440BX system, which I was messing around with yesterday. Think I'm going to stick with a PIII-750 for now - pairs well with the Voodoo 3. Added a SB-16 because there was room - and since I'm using one of those cd-audio cables with multiple plugs and it lined up nicely with the SBLive... yeah, it seems to work fine to plug 'em both in. 🥴

Just for fun I think I'll delegate a Radeon 9000 Pro made by Gigabyte for that A7V8X. Will see where that takes me 😁

Continued on my quest to see how many Windows installs I can cram onto a single PC.

Why do you have a different operating system for A3D and EAX?

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-03-25, 01:30:

Why do you have a different operating system for A3D and EAX?

I have multiple sound cards, a Diamond Monster Sound MX300 for A3D and an Audigy 2 ZS for EAX.

I set up multiple installs so I could tailor each installation for the respective sound cards and audio formats.

While hardware profiles could theoretically work instead, part of the issue is the A3D.DLL file. The drivers for each card installs their own version in the Windows System folder. Some folks apparently set up batch files to copy the correct version depending on the games they are playing.

Whereas I just opted for totally separate Windows installs. 😁

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-25, 00:04:

Continued on my quest to see how many Windows installs I can cram onto a single PC.

Always wondered about BootIt, might pull the trigger on this one of these days. If I want to add another OS to my 98SE build, will I need to start from scratch or does the app work around what you've already got?

Dan386DX wrote on 2024-03-25, 01:50:

Always wondered about BootIt, might pull the trigger on this one of these days. If I want to add another OS to my 98SE build, will I need to start from scratch or does the app work around what you've already got?

That depends on how your partitions are set up.

I left un-partitioned space on my SSD drives. If I wanted to add another OS install, I could just create an additional partition and do that.

It can also resize and move partitions around. Although I haven't played around with those options too much.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:01:

That depends on how your partitions are set up. […]
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Dan386DX wrote on 2024-03-25, 01:50:

Always wondered about BootIt, might pull the trigger on this one of these days. If I want to add another OS to my 98SE build, will I need to start from scratch or does the app work around what you've already got?

That depends on how your partitions are set up.

I left un-partitioned space on my SSD drives. If I wanted to add another OS install, I could just create an additional partition and do that.

It can also resize and move partitions around. Although I haven't played around with those options too much.

Partition Setup HD0 250GB.jpg

Partition Setup HD1 128GB v3.jpg

Thanks for the great answer, as it happens I only partitioned 32GB of the SSD for the Win 98/Pentium 3 build leaving 200 odd free. I see how it works now, that's great.

The BootIt devs could literally use your PC as a poster-child for the capabilities of their program!

b_riera wrote on 2024-03-22, 14:07:

Haven't seen anybody doing switches instead of the now trendy switchless mod in a long time! (those reset button switchless mods always were finicky for me)
You can actually get away with just one switch because the two switches add an impossible region of 50Hz Jap and. I've perfected my switched region mod for the Sega MD/Genesis by using a single slide switch soldered to the ground plane.

That's definitely a much neater solution.

1 question though, what is the blue wire going to the chip for?

Tested the Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 mainboard I've got yesterday on the flea market and it's working!
20210821_203352.jpg
20210821_203349.jpg
Now I have a dilemma on what system to build... dual Pentium 3 @1GHz or 1,4 GHz Tualatin based on ASUS TUSL2-C...
[/quote]

Hello! I 've got a similar motherboard for a flea marketbut i can 't turn it on. The led on my motherboard lights and cpu fan is working but there is no sign on the screen. It has a ONE Pentium III 850mhz cpu on it. I also try to use settings for switches and jumper frormmanual but it seems pointless. Your's configuration is based on motherboard's manual? Because from your pictures i can see u use diffirence settings for 1Ghz from my manual. I am looking forward for your reply so i can test my retro M/B. Many thanks!!

I was testing the network on A/UX with telnet to towel.blinkenlights.nl for the Star Wars movie in ASCII art and theyre down? Is it working for anyone?

Even on my modern computers and phone the connection to the movie is timing out.

bearking wrote on 2021-08-22, 13:15:

Tested the Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 mainboard I've got yesterday on the flea market and it's working! 20210821_203352.jpg 20210821_20 […]
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Tested the Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 mainboard I've got yesterday on the flea market and it's working!
20210821_203352.jpg
20210821_203349.jpg

Now I have a dilemma on what system to build... dual Pentium 3 @1GHz or 1,4 GHz Tualatin based on ASUS TUSL2-C...

Hello! I 've got a similar motherboard for a flea marketbut i can 't turn it on. The led on my motherboard lights and cpu fan is working but there is no sign on the screen. It has a ONE Pentium III 850mhz cpu on it. I also try to use settings for switches and jumper frormmanual but it seems pointless. Your's configuration is based on motherboard's manual? Because from your pictures i can see u use diffirence settings for 1Ghz from my manual. I am looking forward for your reply so i can test my retro M/B. Many thanks!

Did some real nice upgrades today on my IBM PS/VP 433 Dx/D (model 6384):

Installed a Pentium Overdrive 83mhz processor. At first the bios gave me a "malfunction" error on the Level 1 cache and although the computer posted and detected the processor properly, it was slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww as crap. Benchmark scored it at half the speed of my 486dx 33 and slower than a 386. Ensured that the motherboard jumpers were set properly. Worried I had a defective processor, but after scouring the internet, figured out I needed to do a BIOS update to get it to work. Once I did that, all is well. I got it brand new sealed in the box off ebay for about $150. Pricey, but I got it as a gift for myself after going through some shit. I also needed the processor upgrade to make use of my next upgrade:

CD-ROM! I remember the excitement of getting a CD-ROM for the first time in the early 90s, even though all I had to use was the copy of Encarta that it came with. I was just about as excited for this. Its a Creative Matsushita 2X CD-ROM that I got on ebay for about $55. My PC only has one IDE port, and I'm using both channels for the HD and my CF-IDE, so wanted to be able to run it through my SB 16 (CT1740). Works perfectly.

Only have a handful of dos games on CD, but what was at the top of my list was Star Trek 25th Anniversary and Star Trek Judgement Rites. Just had to have some fun in config.sys and autoexec.bat to free up enough conventional memory (needs 560k!). Have them playing music through the MT32, and thanks to the CD version can hear all the original voice actors from the series.

I really am a big fan of the PS/VP - it is so upgradable. My next upgrade should probably be a VLB video card - never had one back in the day and not super familiar with what is out there, so would take any suggestions as to what ones I should look out for in a machine like this. Wish I could use the L2 Cache slot but seems impossible to find the Cache modules for these machines. Memory can go from 16mb to 64mb, but the IBMs can be picky about what ram sticks they take.

Started printing new homes for my old processors.

First one is done and I really like it! Much better than how I was storing them, in the old clam-shells they came in. 😀

Source: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4884515

I'm bedridden due to a virus I picked up at a conference last week. So, I've been playing FF7 PC through the MU-50 whenever I can stay upright for half an hour straight.

And I've noticed my first proper tuft of grey hair coming in.

I'm just coming out recovering from an awful virus I picked up as well. Convulsions and muscle spasms are the worst to have 🙁

The little times I would be able to manage to walk and not just scream in pain from the above (to the point where even my neighbours from upstairs had worried if I was okay), I was replaying Ford Racing 3 on a Epox 8RDA6+, challenging myself to go further than the Easy difficulty 🤣.

Fortunately it wasn't something resistant and the cure was the fizzy aspirin+C every 6 hours. Normal aspirin didn't work at all, nor anything else managed to bring me down from the 39.6*C fever.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-25, 23:36:

I'm just coming out recovering from an awful virus I picked up as well. Convulsions and muscle spasms are the worst to have 🙁

Fortunately it wasn't something resistant and the cure was the fizzy aspirin+C every 6 hours. Normal aspirin didn't work at all, nor anything else managed to bring me down from the 39.6*C fever.

Glad you're feeling better. Sadly I don't own a thermometer, but luckily - no convulsions or spasms; just every part of my body is unbearably stiff (as in, falling over because my feet aren't moving at the right speed stiff) and my brain keeps switching off and on.

I have a gallon of Nuun (well, rather less than now), ice lollies in the freezer for the worst moments, and a comfy bed. And a large box of co-codamol, which I think I'm going to stop avoiding now because I'd have been asleep 4 hours ago if I hadn't been stingy with the pain pills. Silly rabbit.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-25, 00:04:

Continued on my quest to see how many Windows installs I can cram onto a single PC.

If you're feeling adventurous, you could try Windows NT 3.1. It runs beautifully on my G7S620 with a SB16, D- link network card, and a Matrox Impression Plus.

It's the fastest fully functional (with audio, networking, and high-res video) NT 3.1 system that I own. You're pretty much limited to running Windows 3.x software, but that's part of the charm.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:01:

That depends on how your partitions are set up. […]
Show full quote

Dan386DX wrote on 2024-03-25, 01:50:

Always wondered about BootIt, might pull the trigger on this one of these days. If I want to add another OS to my 98SE build, will I need to start from scratch or does the app work around what you've already got?

That depends on how your partitions are set up.

I left un-partitioned space on my SSD drives. If I wanted to add another OS install, I could just create an additional partition and do that.

It can also resize and move partitions around. Although I haven't played around with those options too much.

Partition Setup HD0 250GB.jpg

Partition Setup HD1 128GB v3.jpg

Love BootIt Bare Metal, I do similar to what you do re install w98se once then just copy it into new partitions for different sound and graphics card combos. I always keep a plain vanilla w98 install ready to copy for new combo. I’ve an identical multi boot for my Thinkpad 600E which has drivers all the way from DOS to XP

PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-25, 23:36:

nor anything else managed to bring me down from the 39.6*C fever.

Need a better heatsink 😉