DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 02:20:

Hehe, most of that is way beyond my skills! I've never even used LINUX! I'm very happy I managed to fix this problem in a few hours as I was starting to think i should just wait for my t5710 to arrive and get rid of this one...

Funny thing is, pretty much everything I described is either me pushing my skills (soldering the ps2x2pico) or a plan to push beyond my current skills (eg. recapping motherboards). I switched to running Linux full-time around the end of high school back in the early 2000s but then, for a couple of decades, stagnated outside of Python programming and, later, Rust programming.

That said, soldering a fully through-hole device with as little to do as a ps2x2pico is dirt simple as long as you've got a decent soldering iron (ideally a temperature-controlled one like the Hakko FX-888D my brother gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago), 60/40 rosin-core solder (I'm not the only one saying hand-soldering with lead-free is hell), a little isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush for clean-up (check your local drug store for the highest-percentage rubbing alcohol you can find... just not rubbing "compound" with something like camphor added), the time to watch a few YouTube videos on proper technique and the parts are dirt cheap off eBay and Aliexpress, and installing/updating firmware is as simple as holding a button, plugging it into your PC, and then dragging and dropping the file onto the "USB flash drive" that shows up.

Hell, aside from it not coming in kit form and lacking an assembly guide full of photos (maybe something for me to contribute when I build another?), I'd call it the perfect first soldering project for a retro enthusiast. The main reason I was willing to make a ps2x2pico is that the parts are cheap enough that, if I screwed up beyond recovery, I hadn't lost much. (That said, I'm paranoid about these things and combined it with an initial "did I built it correctly?" procedure involving a stack of a $3 PS2-to-USB converter, powered USB hub, and $12 ADUM 3160 USB isolator when plugging it into a PC for the first time. If I hadn't been so impatient from the frustration involved in discovering the change needed for the YD-RP2040, I'd have also taken the time to de-solder the power isolator from the USB isolator as suggested on EEVblog so that it was only passing data signals and downstream devices like the powered USB hub weren't connected to the PC's 5V and Ground.)

(Though, for a first-time person, I would recommend not trying to save money with an aftermarket Raspberry Pi Pico since the YD-RP2040s you find from China need an extra modification. Other recommendations are a small-gauge wire stripper for exposing the copper after you cut a nonsensical/hazardous male-to-male PS/2 cable from China in half, a glue gun or tube of "sensor safe" (i.e. alcohol-cure, not acid-cure) automotive silicone so you have a way to strain-relief the solder joints between the PS/2 cables and the board, desoldering braid and a desoldering pump in case you make a mistake... ideally with some rosin flux you can add to make the solder melt more easily and a YouTube video on good technique, and a gripper thing like "helping hands" or "third hand"... cheap Chinese ones will do fine.)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 02:20:

I also was looking for a way to enable more options (like IRQ assignment!) in the bios with a modded bios file or something like that but had no luck so far. I found a 1.13 modded bios for another thin client model but it probably is unusable on this one!

Almost certainly unusable. The only way it wouldn't be is if they're literally the same hardware sold under different part numbers, as has occasionally happened in the world of thin clients, and recovering a bricked machine after a bad BIOS flash is not a task for a novice. (You need special hardware to clip directly onto the flash chip and program it externally from another PC.)

(The BIOS is what's responsible for providing the uniformity that allows things like "every device which uses the same AC97 chip with legacy support can use the same legacy SoundBlaster TSR".)

EDIT: Also, I posted a screenshot of my t5530's current desktop in the What retro activity did you get up to today? thread if you're curious.

Prez wrote on 2020-04-22, 08:29:

I did work some weeks on compiling a list of known Thin clients, chipsets and labtops i know about and searched over internet. Here it is :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18X3ux … dit?usp=sharing

It's gone now. Can we get a new link?

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 14:42:

Funny thing is, pretty much everything I described is either me pushing my skills (soldering the ps2x2pico) or a plan to push be […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 02:20:

Hehe, most of that is way beyond my skills! I've never even used LINUX! I'm very happy I managed to fix this problem in a few hours as I was starting to think i should just wait for my t5710 to arrive and get rid of this one...

Funny thing is, pretty much everything I described is either me pushing my skills (soldering the ps2x2pico) or a plan to push beyond my current skills (eg. recapping motherboards). I switched to running Linux full-time around the end of high school back in the early 2000s but then, for a couple of decades, stagnated outside of Python programming and, later, Rust programming.

That said, soldering a fully through-hole device with as little to do as a ps2x2pico is dirt simple as long as you've got a decent soldering iron (ideally a temperature-controlled one like the Hakko FX-888D my brother gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago), 60/40 rosin-core solder (I'm not the only one saying hand-soldering with lead-free is hell), a little isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush for clean-up (check your local drug store for the highest-percentage rubbing alcohol you can find... just not rubbing "compound" with something like camphor added), the time to watch a few YouTube videos on proper technique and the parts are dirt cheap off eBay and Aliexpress, and installing/updating firmware is as simple as holding a button, plugging it into your PC, and then dragging and dropping the file onto the "USB flash drive" that shows up.

Hell, aside from it not coming in kit form and lacking an assembly guide full of photos (maybe something for me to contribute when I build another?), I'd call it the perfect first soldering project for a retro enthusiast. The main reason I was willing to make a ps2x2pico is that the parts are cheap enough that, if I screwed up beyond recovery, I hadn't lost much. (That said, I'm paranoid about these things and combined it with an initial "did I built it correctly?" procedure involving a stack of a $3 PS2-to-USB converter, powered USB hub, and $12 ADUM 3160 USB isolator when plugging it into a PC for the first time. If I hadn't been so impatient from the frustration involved in discovering the change needed for the YD-RP2040, I'd have also taken the time to de-solder the power isolator from the USB isolator as suggested on EEVblog so that it was only passing data signals and downstream devices like the powered USB hub weren't connected to the PC's 5V and Ground.)

(Though, for a first-time person, I would recommend not trying to save money with an aftermarket Raspberry Pi Pico since the YD-RP2040s you find from China need an extra modification. Other recommendations are a small-gauge wire stripper for exposing the copper after you cut a nonsensical/hazardous male-to-male PS/2 cable from China in half, a glue gun or tube of "sensor safe" (i.e. alcohol-cure, not acid-cure) automotive silicone so you have a way to strain-relief the solder joints between the PS/2 cables and the board, desoldering braid and a desoldering pump in case you make a mistake... ideally with some rosin flux you can add to make the solder melt more easily and a YouTube video on good technique, and a gripper thing like "helping hands" or "third hand"... cheap Chinese ones will do fine.)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 02:20:

I also was looking for a way to enable more options (like IRQ assignment!) in the bios with a modded bios file or something like that but had no luck so far. I found a 1.13 modded bios for another thin client model but it probably is unusable on this one!

Almost certainly unusable. The only way it wouldn't be is if they're literally the same hardware sold under different part numbers, as has occasionally happened in the world of thin clients, and recovering a bricked machine after a bad BIOS flash is not a task for a novice. (You need special hardware to clip directly onto the flash chip and program it externally from another PC.)

(The BIOS is what's responsible for providing the uniformity that allows things like "every device which uses the same AC97 chip with legacy support can use the same legacy SoundBlaster TSR".)

EDIT: Also, I posted a screenshot of my t5530's current desktop in the What retro activity did you get up to today? thread if you're curious.

Thanks!

Crap, still getting random errors whenever trying to play mp3 files on Windows Media Player

The one that pops up the most is this: "fatal exception 0e has occurred at 0028:0000009". I'm really running out of ideas... Tried IDE fixes from VIA, enabling just one IDE channel, different 4in1 driver packs, drivers, etc... Nothing seems to fix this, although winamp seems more stable, as usually the mp3 files play without issues... Maybe Windows Media Player just hates this particular t5530 Thin Client or something is conflicting (BIOS is so limited, it's not very helpful).
Last thing i'm gonna try is disabling the LAN card and the USB support...

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 18:24:

Crap, still getting random errors whenever trying to play mp3 files on Windows Media Player

The one that pops up the most is this: "fatal exception 0e has occurred at 0028:0000009". I'm really running out of ideas... Tried IDE fixes from VIA, enabling just one IDE channel, different 4in1 driver packs, drivers, etc... Nothing seems to fix this, although winamp seems more stable, as usually the mp3 files play without issues... Maybe Windows Media Player just hates this particular t5530 Thin Client or something is conflicting (BIOS is so limited, it's not very helpful).
Last thing i'm gonna try is disabling the LAN card and the USB support...

Here are some photos of my BIOS that you can check to see if there are obvious differences. (One more coming in the next post.)

Beyond that, I really do suspect that your experimentation may have left shards of old drivers or driver configuration in your system as it did with mine before I rolled back to the backup I took prior to installing any audio drivers.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 18:45:

(One more coming in the next post.)

...and here's the final one.

Oh, also, have you tried running a 32-bit non-UEFI version of Memtest86+ on it? That's one of the things I always do when I receive or build a new machine.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 18:46:

...and here's the final one. […]
Show full quote

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 18:45:

(One more coming in the next post.)

...and here's the final one.

IMG_0837.JPG

Oh, also, have you tried running a 32-bit non-UEFI version of Memtest86+ on it? That's one of the things I always do when I receive or build a new machine.

Thanks! My bios settings are pretty much exactly the same as yours! I did a clean installation and still get the same crashes with media player... Maybe it's directx 9 related. Gonna do another full clean install and I'm gonna try the memtest86 program.

Thanks!

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 18:59:

Maybe it's directx 9 related.

Here are the MD5sums for all the things I'm running on this one which I thought might be relevant. Let me know what else you've installed and I'll tell you the filenames and md5sum for anything equivalent that I've installed.

5f8832e16c14bbbb6fe0e681ea627c0e 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.7z
2d09d34918e301d2b952aba762bc7263 cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip
f16534596deeae286f14cd5ed9cab3b9 Combined-Community-Codec-Pack-2007-02-22.exe
fe36ef3abf2589bef67f0113f40ff845 daemon347.exe
90ea73d305d489c9eb4088d9aa18bcc5 dgVoodoo1.50Beta2.zip
1918fd39f1dbbf5797095b329b7d082c directx_dec2006_redist.exe
22098231992c8c808543825e19dc9454 instmsia.exe
1af39de468f473e6c7e6bc67977568d7 Q323455.EXE (A.K.A. dsclient.exe)
a6fed98255c7172f5ffce0ece87b1d09 scr56en.exe
5a688f8cb02c350485bad47450f87793 StartupCPL.zip
f19a747991212f84519e150f117a79e3 timezones.reg (fix for the ...Slip.7z)
4e33c98627ea50d3e44cd62d323345d6 vcredist_x86.exe
c9ab08597ed7fd7dd3ccb71961c4fca6 VIAHyperion4in1456v.exe
32ea21ede0f01347c33410006a0f49f9 via_rhine_ndis5_v384a_x86.zip
0530169fb9c6e4869348f7df35e45aae VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip
8c5a3919ebd789b687c0b588f7be8e30 Vinyl_AudioCode_v600a.zip
1f19a5f196d8d79880d9b66d160034b6 winamp295.exe
f0465621c2a0f59c89ca2f6c98c9de1a x360c.w98.x86.en.zip

@DoutorHouse
Hello, I just played 23 MP3 files directly from a USB stick on the T5710 under Windows 98SE with Windows Media Player as a test. Works so far. Do you still need installation instructions for the ThinClient T5710? I have it in a long and a short version. The short version would be: open the garbage can, put the T5710 in, close the lid and move on to another project. The longer instructions mean that the ThinClient can work to some extent, but it is definitely annoying. 😉

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:13:

Here are the MD5sums for all the things I'm running on this one which I thought might be relevant. Let me know what else you've […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 18:59:

Maybe it's directx 9 related.

Here are the MD5sums for all the things I'm running on this one which I thought might be relevant. Let me know what else you've installed and I'll tell you the filenames and md5sum for anything equivalent that I've installed.

5f8832e16c14bbbb6fe0e681ea627c0e 98se_Vogons_Approved_Slip.7z
2d09d34918e301d2b952aba762bc7263 cn700_win9x_16-01-23-24.zip
f16534596deeae286f14cd5ed9cab3b9 Combined-Community-Codec-Pack-2007-02-22.exe
fe36ef3abf2589bef67f0113f40ff845 daemon347.exe
90ea73d305d489c9eb4088d9aa18bcc5 dgVoodoo1.50Beta2.zip
1918fd39f1dbbf5797095b329b7d082c directx_dec2006_redist.exe
22098231992c8c808543825e19dc9454 instmsia.exe
1af39de468f473e6c7e6bc67977568d7 Q323455.EXE (A.K.A. dsclient.exe)
a6fed98255c7172f5ffce0ece87b1d09 scr56en.exe
5a688f8cb02c350485bad47450f87793 StartupCPL.zip
f19a747991212f84519e150f117a79e3 timezones.reg (fix for the ...Slip.7z)
4e33c98627ea50d3e44cd62d323345d6 vcredist_x86.exe
c9ab08597ed7fd7dd3ccb71961c4fca6 VIAHyperion4in1456v.exe
32ea21ede0f01347c33410006a0f49f9 via_rhine_ndis5_v384a_x86.zip
0530169fb9c6e4869348f7df35e45aae VIA_USB2_V270p1-L.zip
8c5a3919ebd789b687c0b588f7be8e30 Vinyl_AudioCode_v600a.zip
1f19a5f196d8d79880d9b66d160034b6 winamp295.exe
f0465621c2a0f59c89ca2f6c98c9de1a x360c.w98.x86.en.zip

Noticed my bios is the latest version 1.03... yours is 1.01... Will probably reflash it, just for the fun of it! 😜
Your audio drivers are also older than the ones i'm using, directx is the same... same usb and lan drivers too... not using the rest.
Gonna try again!

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:15:

@DoutorHouse
Hello, I just played 23 MP3 files directly from a USB stick on the T5710 under Windows 98SE with Windows Media Player as a test. Works so far. Do you still need installation instructions for the ThinClient T5710? I have it in a long and a short version. The short version would be: open the garbage can, put the T5710 in, close the lid and move on to another project. The longer instructions mean that the ThinClient can work to some extent, but it is definitely annoying. 😉

Ahah, i haven't got my t5710 yet but if it's so damn hard to configure properly like this t5530... 😜

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:20:

Your audio drivers are also older than the ones i'm using

Honestly, given how fiddly I found audio drivers to be on my end, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the cause of your problem.

EDIT: Wait, are you still trying to play them off a USB drive? ...because I'm not using USB flash drives and I can think of two potential reasons that could be a problem:

• Aforementioned issues with NUSB upgrading that DLL which needs to be an older VIA-specific version.
• Some kind of weird interaction between the native USB support and the BIOS's USB Mass Storage support. (At least once, back with the previous install, I saw the same USB drive appear twice if it was plugged in at boot, and that could result in corruption if things try to write to both of them or read from one before the cache is flushed for the other.)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:21:

Ahah, i haven't got my t5710 yet but if it's so damn hard to configure properly like this t5530... 😜

• I've seen other people saying in this thread that the t5710 is your best option if you want broad-spectrum DOS through Windows game compatibility.
• I actually have a t5710 on order along with a couple of other thin clients to experiment with, so we'll see how that goes... might take a little while though, since I probably won't be doing much with it until the couple of 8GB Disk-on-Modules I ordered also arrive. (the third thin client takes a CF card and I've already got an 8GB CF card and an active SD-to-CF converter that I'm not currently using.)

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:21:

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:20:

Your audio drivers are also older than the ones i'm using

Honestly, given how fiddly I found audio drivers to be on my end, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the cause of your problem.

Have you tried playing any mp3 files using media player? I'm suspecting all these drivers don't work that well it, as winamp seems to play them without any issues...
Also, would you mind checking if you have just one or both IDE channels enabled?
Thanks for all your time and help on this!!!

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:48:

Have you tried playing any mp3 files using media player? I'm suspecting all these drivers don't work that well it, as winamp see […]
Show full quote

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:21:

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:20:

Your audio drivers are also older than the ones i'm using

Honestly, given how fiddly I found audio drivers to be on my end, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the cause of your problem.

Have you tried playing any mp3 files using media player? I'm suspecting all these drivers don't work that well it, as winamp seems to play them without any issues...
Also, would you mind checking if you have just one or both IDE channels enabled?
Thanks for all your time and help on this!!!

No problems so far, testing MP3s with Windows Media Player 6.01.05.0217, Media Player Classic 6.4.9.0 from the Combined Community Codec Pack, and the Windows 3.1/Video for Windows-style Media Player.

I did have a newer Windows Media Player when I used the 2004 updates CD on the previous install but my memory of whether I tried it with MP3s or just as a way to play videos I hadn't set WinAMP for is vague. If I did, I don't remember any crashes.

That said, as I mentioned in the edit to the previous message, I haven't been using any USB flash drives, so potential causes I can't rule out are:

• Having NUSB installed
• Something to do with reading the data off a USB flash drive
• Something BIOS, if you had the USB stick plugged in when you booted and the BIOS's own USB Mass Storage support is in play
• I once saw the BIOS's USB Mass Storage drive letter AND an NUSB-provided drive letter show up in My Computer after booting with the USB flash drive in, so having the OS see two drives when there's really only one could cause I/O problems. (i.e. the reason mobile phones and eReaders which could represent themselves as USB Mass Storage devices locked out their UIs when you plugged them into a computer.)

I'm not sure what you mean by checking whether I have one or both IDE channels enabled, but here's a screenshot of Device Manager.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:10:

No problems so far, testing MP3s with Windows Media Player 6.01.05.0217, Media Player Classic 6.4.9.0 from the Combined Communit […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:48:

Have you tried playing any mp3 files using media player? I'm suspecting all these drivers don't work that well it, as winamp see […]
Show full quote

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 19:21:

Honestly, given how fiddly I found audio drivers to be on my end, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the cause of your problem.

Have you tried playing any mp3 files using media player? I'm suspecting all these drivers don't work that well it, as winamp seems to play them without any issues...
Also, would you mind checking if you have just one or both IDE channels enabled?
Thanks for all your time and help on this!!!

No problems so far, testing MP3s with Windows Media Player 6.01.05.0217, Media Player Classic 6.4.9.0 from the Combined Community Codec Pack, and the Windows 3.1/Video for Windows-style Media Player.

I did have a newer Windows Media Player when I used the 2004 updates CD on the previous install but my memory of whether I tried it with MP3s or just as a way to play videos I hadn't set WinAMP for is vague. If I did, I don't remember any crashes.

That said, as I mentioned in the edit to the previous message, I haven't been using any USB flash drives, so potential causes I can't rule out are:

• Having NUSB installed
• Something to do with reading the data off a USB flash drive
• Something BIOS, if you had the USB stick plugged in when you booted and the BIOS's own USB Mass Storage support is in play
• I once saw the BIOS's USB Mass Storage drive letter AND an NUSB-provided drive letter show up in My Computer after booting with the USB flash drive in, so having the OS see two drives when there's really only one could cause I/O problems. (i.e. the reason mobile phones and eReaders which could represent themselves as USB Mass Storage devices locked out their UIs when you plugged them into a computer.)

I'm not sure what you mean by checking whether I have one or both IDE channels enabled, but here's a screenshot of Device Manager.

mplayer_screenshot.png

Thanks again so much for all your time and help on this!!!
I checked all my files and they are the same as yours. I just reinstalled win98se clean and i'm gonna start installing the drivers. I'm kinda worried it has to do with the order i installed them last time, especially those VIA 4in1 ones... maybe they mess some very specific windows setting...
I noticed you also have scsi devices on your list, which i don't have...
Should I start with the video ones or the 4in1?

EDIT: went ahead and installed just the video drivers and then the audio drivers, nothing more, not even the 4in1 drivers... Then played a 320k mp3 file on media player and got the same fatal exception error. This time it produced a message about a file named quartz.dll... I'm really suspecting this has to do with the audio drivers and directx! 😀

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

Thanks again so much for all your time and help on this!!!

No problem. It's sort of a blend of "do unto others as you'd have done to you" and taking it as an opportunity to build up the google-able record I wish had been available when I started researching for mine.

I'd offer to help you eliminate a lot of variables from your diagnosis by spinning up an HTTP server on my PC and PMing you a link to download the backup I made using Damn Small Linux but even the earliest backup I made already has the WinZip Self-Extractor 2.2 serial number that I paid for in the Windows registry and I'm not really in the mood to try to hex-edit user.dat to find it and overwrite it with zeros. (Not to mention, of course, my actual, not-pirated Windows 98SE CD key.)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

I checked all my files and they are the same as yours. I just reinstalled win98se clean and i'm gonna start installing the drivers. I'm kinda worried it has to do with the order i installed them last time, especially those VIA 4in1 ones... maybe they mess some very specific windows setting...

If it helps, my procedure was more or less "Install the network and video driver, reboot so I can gain access to my network share and higher video resolutions, install everything except the audio and 4in1 driver including a bunch of utilities like 7zip, reboot so I can use Damn Small Linux to make a backup as a homebrew System Restore Point, install the audio driver and the 4in1 driver, reboot."

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

I noticed you also have scsi devices on your list, which i don't have...

I only have a "D347PRT SCSI Controller" which should be the virtual one for DAEMON Tools's virtual DVD drive(s).

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

Should I start with the video ones or the 4in1?

This time around, I installed the 4in1 as the very last thing, after even the audio driver, because I never experienced any overt problems without it, so I wanted the option to use my backups to roll back if installing it for the potential performance improvements introduced instability somewhere else.

Doing it that way also lets you test before and after installing the 4in1.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 21:38:

No problem. It's sort of a blend of "do unto others as you'd have done to you" and taking it as an opportunity to build up the g […]
Show full quote

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

Thanks again so much for all your time and help on this!!!

No problem. It's sort of a blend of "do unto others as you'd have done to you" and taking it as an opportunity to build up the google-able record I wish had been available when I started researching for mine.

I'd offer to help you eliminate a lot of variables from your diagnosis by spinning up an HTTP server on my PC and PMing you a link to download the backup I made using Damn Small Linux but even the earliest backup I made already has the WinZip Self-Extractor 2.2 serial number that I paid for in the Windows registry and I'm not really in the mood to try to hex-edit user.dat to find it and overwrite it with zeros. (Not to mention, of course, my actual, not-pirated Windows 98SE CD key.)

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

I checked all my files and they are the same as yours. I just reinstalled win98se clean and i'm gonna start installing the drivers. I'm kinda worried it has to do with the order i installed them last time, especially those VIA 4in1 ones... maybe they mess some very specific windows setting...

If it helps, my procedure was more or less "Install the network and video driver, reboot so I can gain access to my network share and higher video resolutions, install everything except the audio and 4in1 driver including a bunch of utilities like 7zip, reboot so I can use Damn Small Linux to make a backup as a homebrew System Restore Point, install the audio driver and the 4in1 driver, reboot."

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

I noticed you also have scsi devices on your list, which i don't have...

I only have a "D347PRT SCSI Controller" which should be the virtual one for DAEMON Tools's virtual DVD drive(s).

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 20:33:

Should I start with the video ones or the 4in1?

This time around, I installed the 4in1 as the very last thing, after even the audio driver, because I never experienced any overt problems without it, so I wanted the option to use my backups to roll back if installing it for the potential performance improvements introduced instability somewhere else.

Doing it that way also lets you test before and after installing the 4in1.

Ah yes, i forgot you had Daemon Tools installed!

Well, i'm really thinking that the problem has to do with directx and the audio drivers. Probably the way the mp3s i'm playing were encoded, or something. I'm always trying with a big one (320kb, about 12mgs) . The crash only seems to happen when media player is playing it and i usually get two different fatal exception errors on those BSOD. First one is 0028:00000009 and the other is 0028:C000BC4E. Not sure if i can upload the mp3 here, so you could try it and see if the same happens on your t5530... but here's a link: https://mega.nz/file/zA0yWTbT#GjmDlGDj4f36Sdx … mV0evcEubAsTh4M
I've google about these and some people recommended installing directx 9.0b instead of 9.0c...
I'm just gonna try with a different and smaller mp3 file and install winamp 2.95... Everything else seems to be working great anyway, i'm just being a bit OCD about this... 😜

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 22:12:

Ah yes, i forgot you had Daemon Tools installed! […]
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Ah yes, i forgot you had Daemon Tools installed!

Well, i'm really thinking that the problem has to do with directx and the audio drivers. Probably the way the mp3s i'm playing were encoded, or something. I'm always trying with a big one (320kb, about 12mgs) . The crash only seems to happen when media player is playing it and i usually get two different fatal exception errors on those BSOD. First one is 0028:00000009 and the other is 0028:C000BC4E. Not sure if i can upload the mp3 here, so you could try it and see if the same happens on your t5530... but here's a link: https://mega.nz/file/zA0yWTbT#GjmDlGDj4f36Sdx … mV0evcEubAsTh4M
I've google about these and some people recommended installing directx 9.0b instead of 9.0c...
I'm just gonna try with a different and smaller mp3 file and install winamp 2.95... Everything else seems to be working great anyway, i'm just being a bit OCD about this... 😜

Tested it. No crash in Windows Media Player 6.01.05.0217, no crash in the Windows 3.1-style Media Player, and no crash in Media Player Classic as installed by the Combined Community Codec Pack.

Did you install the Combined Community Codec Pack with the md5sum I listed? ...because I have it installed, it's in its default configuration where it assigns MP3 handling to FFDShow, and I remember that, especially in this era, getting all the right codecs installed and working together without them stepping on each others' toes or just being buggy on their own merits was a hell all its own.

It's at https://web.archive.org/web/20070225155921/ht … d.php?type=cccp if you want to try it.

It wouldn't surprise me if switching MP3 handling to FFDShow fixes some kind of bug in handling MP3 formats that people weren't commonly generating at the time the codec bundled with Windows Media Player was written. (Remember that hard drives with single-digit numbers of gigabytes were the norm in 1998, dial-up Internet had only exploded into public consciousness in 1995 and 1996, and it wouldn't be until around 2005 that broadband was commonplace enough for things like YouTube to take off, so 320kbit MP3s were rare as hen's teeth.)

(The CCCP was created by a bunch of anime fansubbing groups to be less of a minefield than other codec packs, which were, in turn, less of a minefield than installing individual codecs manually, and it delegates most of its format support to ffdshow by default to minimize the chance for conflicts or un-tested combinations. It's basically the state of things to this day. "Delegate most of it to a built-in copy of ffmpeg" is the active ingredient to things like VLC Media Player, SMPlayer, Linux's GStreamer codec framework, and basically anything else that originates in the open-source world.)

EDIT: That'd also explain why WinAMP is immune. It has its own internal MP3 support instead of relying on whatever DirectShow codec you have installed.

ssokolow wrote on 2024-05-30, 22:44:

Tested it. No crash in Windows Media Player 6.01.05.0217, no crash in the Windows 3.1-style Media Player, and no crash in Media […]
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DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 22:12:

Ah yes, i forgot you had Daemon Tools installed! […]
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Ah yes, i forgot you had Daemon Tools installed!

Well, i'm really thinking that the problem has to do with directx and the audio drivers. Probably the way the mp3s i'm playing were encoded, or something. I'm always trying with a big one (320kb, about 12mgs) . The crash only seems to happen when media player is playing it and i usually get two different fatal exception errors on those BSOD. First one is 0028:00000009 and the other is 0028:C000BC4E. Not sure if i can upload the mp3 here, so you could try it and see if the same happens on your t5530... but here's a link: https://mega.nz/file/zA0yWTbT#GjmDlGDj4f36Sdx … mV0evcEubAsTh4M
I've google about these and some people recommended installing directx 9.0b instead of 9.0c...
I'm just gonna try with a different and smaller mp3 file and install winamp 2.95... Everything else seems to be working great anyway, i'm just being a bit OCD about this... 😜

Tested it. No crash in Windows Media Player 6.01.05.0217, no crash in the Windows 3.1-style Media Player, and no crash in Media Player Classic as installed by the Combined Community Codec Pack.

Did you install the Combined Community Codec Pack with the md5sum I listed? ...because I have it installed, it's in its default configuration where it assigns MP3 handling to FFDShow, and I remember that, especially in this era, getting all the right codecs installed and working together without them stepping on each others' toes or just being buggy on their own merits was a hell all its own.

It's at https://web.archive.org/web/20070225155921/ht … d.php?type=cccp if you want to try it.

It wouldn't surprise me if switching MP3 handling to FFDShow fixes some kind of bug in handling MP3 formats that people weren't commonly generating at the time the codec bundled with Windows Media Player was written. (Remember that hard drives with single-digit numbers of gigabytes were the norm in 1998, dial-up Internet had only exploded into public consciousness in 1995 and 1996, and it wouldn't be until around 2005 that broadband was commonplace enough for things like YouTube to take off, so 320kbit MP3s were rare as hen's teeth.)

(The CCCP was created by a bunch of anime fansubbing groups to be less of a minefield than other codec packs, which were, in turn, less of a minefield than installing individual codecs manually, and it delegates most of its format support to ffdshow by default to minimize the chance for conflicts or un-tested combinations. It's basically the state of things to this day. "Delegate most of it to a built-in copy of ffmpeg" is the active ingredient to things like VLC Media Player, SMPlayer, Linux's GStreamer codec framework, and basically anything else that originates in the open-source world.)

EDIT: That'd also explain why WinAMP is immune. It has its own internal MP3 support instead of relying on whatever DirectShow codec you have installed.

Thank you again so much for taking time to test it! I went and tried a different smaller mp3 and had the same crash.
Then, having ran out of ideas, I decided to apply the same bios version you have (1.01). Mine was 1.03 but it applied without any issues. I checked on BIOS settings and the MAC address is now all zeros (not sure if it's normal) but entered windows, and tried those mp3s again. Surprise: no errors whatsoever!!! I guess this later 1.03 Bios has some kind of error (i checked and it says it adds support for a new microprocessor.... I'm gonna run a few more tests...

Here are both bios, in case you wanna test that wonky 1.03 😜

DoutorHouse wrote on 2024-05-30, 22:57:

Thank you again so much for taking time to test it! I went and tried a different smaller mp3 and had the same crash.
Then, having ran out of ideas, I decided to apply the same bios version you have (1.01). Mine was 1.03 but it applied without any issues. I checked on BIOS settings and the MAC address is now all zeros (not sure if it's normal) but entered windows, and tried those mp3s again. Surprise: no errors whatsoever!!! I guess this later 1.03 Bios has some kind of error (i checked and it says it adds support for a new microprocessor.... I'm gonna run a few more tests...

Here are both bios, in case you wanna test that wonky 1.03 😜

*facepalm* If newer audio drivers are not necessarily less buggy, I should have considered that maybe the BIOS could be the same.

I'll save copies of those files in case I wind up with another t5530 that needs to be downgraded.