VOGONS


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Reply 20 of 39, by soggi

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chinny22 wrote on 2024-12-11, 05:14:

Haha whereas for me having the deactivated hardware in device manger isn't allowed.

Oh yes, I also don't like that...so deactivating in the BIOS is THE way!

shamino wrote on 2024-12-11, 22:58:

...maybe I should post a thread for it just to set people off. 😀

Don't you dare! 😁

kind regards
soggi

Vintage BIOSes, firmware, drivers, tools, manuals and (3dfx) game patches -> soggi's BIOS & Firmware Page

soggi.org on Twitter - inactive at the moment

Reply 21 of 39, by myne

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Last I checked 9x never showed extra CPU's.

It's been a while since my bp6 though.

I built:
Convert old ASUS ASC boardviews to KICAD PCB!
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.
Dos+Windows 3.11 auto-install iso template (for vmware)
Script to backup Win9x\ME drivers from a working install
Re: The thing no one asked for: KICAD 440bx reference schematic

Reply 22 of 39, by soggi

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myne wrote on 2024-12-12, 03:42:

Last I checked 9x never showed extra CPU's.

That's right, it doesn't show and doesn't use extra cores or CPUs because it only supports one CPU with one core and that's why I don't like to run it on multi core/CPU systems. 😀

kind regards
soggi

Vintage BIOSes, firmware, drivers, tools, manuals and (3dfx) game patches -> soggi's BIOS & Firmware Page

soggi.org on Twitter - inactive at the moment

Reply 23 of 39, by myne

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Everyone has their quirks

I built:
Convert old ASUS ASC boardviews to KICAD PCB!
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.
Dos+Windows 3.11 auto-install iso template (for vmware)
Script to backup Win9x\ME drivers from a working install
Re: The thing no one asked for: KICAD 440bx reference schematic

Reply 24 of 39, by soggi

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Sure! 😁

BTW I also wouldn't install Win9x on a Pentium Pro system because it has bad 16 bit performance.

kind regards
soggi

Vintage BIOSes, firmware, drivers, tools, manuals and (3dfx) game patches -> soggi's BIOS & Firmware Page

soggi.org on Twitter - inactive at the moment

Reply 25 of 39, by maxtherabbit

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soggi wrote on 2024-12-12, 04:40:
Sure! :-D […]
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Sure! 😁

BTW I also wouldn't install Win9x on a Pentium Pro system because it has bad 16 bit performance.

kind regards
soggi

that's overblown, I run 98SE on my single CPU blacktop 233 and it does great

Reply 26 of 39, by H3nrik V!

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2024-12-12, 14:11:
soggi wrote on 2024-12-12, 04:40:
Sure! :-D […]
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Sure! 😁

BTW I also wouldn't install Win9x on a Pentium Pro system because it has bad 16 bit performance.

kind regards
soggi

that's overblown, I run 98SE on my single CPU blacktop 233 and it does great

No doubt those 233 MHz and one meg of cache more than compensates for the "poor 16 bit performance" 😎

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 27 of 39, by myne

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9x is a mishmash of 16 and 32.
It may have been relatively slower than a p5 at the 16 portions, but it was much faster at the 32.

SUVs aren't great around corners, but I don't see much evidence of anyone giving a crap.

I built:
Convert old ASUS ASC boardviews to KICAD PCB!
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.
Dos+Windows 3.11 auto-install iso template (for vmware)
Script to backup Win9x\ME drivers from a working install
Re: The thing no one asked for: KICAD 440bx reference schematic

Reply 28 of 39, by nd22

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I have a few VP6 and I never installed Win 9X on them. I put 2000 and XP. Thay are not connected to the internet and while 2000 feels very snappy and responsive I would not discard XP - basic SP3 with no updates does not feel slow in any way. Note that having at least 1gb of ram for XP helps a lot!
On the other hand I also installed 2000 and XP on my BP6's with dual Celeron 500 and there is a noticeable difference between them: XP is very slow to start and shut down - it is not what I would call a usable system; on the other hand 2000 feels right at home on BP6&Celeron's.

Reply 29 of 39, by Dwaco

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shamino wrote on 2024-12-11, 22:58:

If I were to build a Windows 98 game machine around my Voodoo3 and a couple sound cards,
I've sometimes thought the best system I have for it is a dual Slot-2 workstation.
If I ever get in the mood to build that, maybe I should post a thread for it just to set people off. 😀

Why would that set people off? It is the most sensible thing to do for year 2025.

PC: HP Kayak XU800 [PIII 600EB, 256 Mb RAM, Voodoo3 3000, SB Audigy Platinum EX]
Sparc: Sun Blade 1000 [2x UltraSparc III, 3Gb RAM, 2x 73Gb FC-AL 10k], Sun Blade 100
PA-RISC: HP C3750 [FX10Pro]
MSX2+: Sony F1XDJ

Reply 30 of 39, by SYZYGY

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Welp, an update… something ain’t good.

Here’s the issues… I haven’t been able to reliably boot off a CD to play test RAM with Memtest x86.

Most boots hang after I get “Verifying. DMI Pool Data”

The odd time I am able to get it to boot off CD-ROM and run Memtest x86 it hangs/freezes at 1%. This happens regardless of what RAM stick I put in DIMM slot 0 or regardless of what version of Memtest x86 I use.

I have swapped out optical drives and cables.

It *could be* that ALL the SD RAM 133Mhz sticks I own are bad, so I am thinking to buy a brand new stick of 256 MB 133Mhz SD RAM to rule that out… however I don’t think it is the RAM that is the problem.

It *could* be the cache on the PIII SL4MB and SL52P chips in the motherboard. (BTW, if I am to use only one PIII for testing purposes I understand I need to put a terminator in the unused 370 socket, is that right? I do not own one of these)

I am using a known good 32MB RAM Nvidia GeForce 2 MX graphics card (I state this incase someone thinks my video RAM is bad).

Sadly my intuition leads me to think the problem is my VP6 board.

I have set RAM settings in the BIOS to “normal” and other settings but that has not remedied the problem.

Please note the capacitors on the VP6 look good and are not bulging.

I am hoping that someone knows the issue I am having here and suggests things to try… if there’s no simple solution I am thinking to donate the board to the @bitsundbolts YouTube channel so he can try fixing it for content. I sadly can not afford to invest in repair equipment right now nor do I have the skill set/ ability required to solder (medical issues).

Reply 31 of 39, by myne

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One cpu. Memtest.
If fail. Swap. Repeat.
If fail... Shit. Try washing the board? 25 years of dust can be problematic

I built:
Convert old ASUS ASC boardviews to KICAD PCB!
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.
Dos+Windows 3.11 auto-install iso template (for vmware)
Script to backup Win9x\ME drivers from a working install
Re: The thing no one asked for: KICAD 440bx reference schematic

Reply 32 of 39, by sfryers

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SYZYGY wrote on 2024-12-14, 12:58:

It *could* be the cache on the PIII SL4MB and SL52P chips in the motherboard. (BTW, if I am to use only one PIII for testing purposes I understand I need to put a terminator in the unused 370 socket, is that right? I do not own one of these)

I'd suggest either trying to find a S370 terminator for testing, or to find a better-matched pair of CPUs. Looking at the photo in your original post, one of the CPUs appears to be marked 1.7v and the other 1.75v. If the board is trying to run them both at 1.7v, this could potentially be a source of instability.

MT-32 Editor- a timbre editor and patch librarian for Roland MT-32 compatible devices: https://github.com/sfryers/MT32Editor

Reply 33 of 39, by SYZYGY

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sfryers wrote on 2024-12-14, 13:46:
SYZYGY wrote on 2024-12-14, 12:58:

It *could* be the cache on the PIII SL4MB and SL52P chips in the motherboard. (BTW, if I am to use only one PIII for testing purposes I understand I need to put a terminator in the unused 370 socket, is that right? I do not own one of these)

I'd suggest either trying to find a S370 terminator for testing, or to find a better-matched pair of CPUs. Looking at the photo in your original post, one of the CPUs appears to be marked 1.7v and the other 1.75v. If the board is trying to run them both at 1.7v, this could potentially be a source of instability.

Yeah probably a good idea, however I understand the board ran with these exact two processors on it for 10 years or so.

Still I found a terminator on eBay, on the way.

Reply 34 of 39, by SYZYGY

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myne wrote on 2024-12-14, 13:39:

One cpu. Memtest.
If fail. Swap. Repeat.
If fail... Shit. Try washing the board? 25 years of dust can be problematic

Did you see the first photo in this tread? I think it is pretty clean. I guess soaking the board in distilled water and then isopropyl alcohol couldn’t hurt but I doubt this would fix the issue.

I have ordered a socket 370 terminator off eBay… should arrive after Xmas I bet.

Probably should go ahead and bug at least one NEW stick of 256 MB SD RAM

Reply 35 of 39, by SYZYGY

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sfryers wrote on 2024-12-14, 13:46:
SYZYGY wrote on 2024-12-14, 12:58:

It *could* be the cache on the PIII SL4MB and SL52P chips in the motherboard. (BTW, if I am to use only one PIII for testing purposes I understand I need to put a terminator in the unused 370 socket, is that right? I do not own one of these)

I'd suggest either trying to find a S370 terminator for testing, or to find a better-matched pair of CPUs. Looking at the photo in your original post, one of the CPUs appears to be marked 1.7v and the other 1.75v. If the board is trying to run them both at 1.7v, this could potentially be a source of instability.

Born are 1.75 v according to Intel Ark anyway

Reply 36 of 39, by SYZYGY

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Okay, last update...

So I was laboring under a misaprehension regarding this motherboard's history. The friend who gifted it to me (Thanks again Rob!) got it when a customer came to him to get his computer fixed. it wasn't working (don't know the issue) but the customer opted to have the VP6 replaced with a single P4 motherboard and proc. The customer didn't want the VP6 back so it went into a anti static bag where it lived for 20 plus years until it was shipped to me. Long story short it is not a known working motherboard. Could have been a victim of power surge, anything. The way I see it, either VP6 motherboard is band, one or both of the PIII procs are bad, or both the motherbaord and procs are bad.

I think it's gonna cost me about €100 to find out (Socket 370 terminiator, two known wotking PIII procs, and a new stick of 256MB SD RAM) and I don't want to spend that so off it goes to be donated!

Reply 37 of 39, by myne

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Try it without one chip.

I built:
Convert old ASUS ASC boardviews to KICAD PCB!
Re: A comprehensive guide to install and play MechWarrior 2 on new versions on Windows.
Dos+Windows 3.11 auto-install iso template (for vmware)
Script to backup Win9x\ME drivers from a working install
Re: The thing no one asked for: KICAD 440bx reference schematic

Reply 38 of 39, by Bruno128

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SYZYGY wrote on 2024-12-14, 12:58:

Here’s the issues… I haven’t been able to reliably boot off a CD to play test RAM with Memtest x86.

For stability testing you should only use 1 module and not a mix of 4 random ones.
Also those old Teapo capacitors don’t help, they are all goners. It’s a common problem with Abit boards even back then not to mention 20 years later.
As for CD-ROM boot its BIOS may not have this function in the first place.

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Reply 39 of 39, by e8root

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Nice system. I always found these muti-processor systems quite fascinating but never really had one.
Thankfully I managed to snatch board with two Xeons 2.4GHz - based on Northwood cores.
Even better: got two 3.2GHz Gellatin core based CPUs with HT @ 533MHz bus and 1MB L3 cache. Compared to Pentium 4 Extreme Edition which ran at 800MHz and had 2MB L3 the CPUs I got are slower and from tests I saw I can expect performance comparable to 800MHz Northwood - but still should be not too shabby and especially with 2 cores and 4 logical cores.

Anyways for your system:
Windows 2K vs XP - imho not that much difference really. Out of the two Windows 2K is more retro and cooler but at the same time it is pretty much the same OS. The same as in actual system requirements given you tweak things like services is almost identical. You only really use more memory thanks to lower resolution/color depth icons/graphics and smaller binaries. This does mean 2K will use less memory but in practice it isn't that big of a difference and if it makes sense really depends on how much memory you have. For 192MB I think Windows 2000 it is. If it was 512+MB I would say XP would start making more sense.

Where it comes to graphic card you cannot go wrong with Voodoo3 - it is about perfect for this class of computers.
2K/XP and 3dfx however is not the best pairing. It kinda works but it is not what drivers were really designed for. Win98SE is optimal for 3dfx - you just loose ability to use second CPU with this OS. Good to have it for some games anyways.

From Nvidia I would definitely not recommend Riva TNT2 M64 as these are very slow GPUs. Normal TNT2 were pretty speedy, almost as fast as Voodoo3 but somehow those are extremely rare cards. In my whole life even working at computer repair shop I only ever saw real 128-bit TNT2 only one time in my life. It was 16-bit model and was much faster than M64. Not as fast as Voodoo3 and 16-bit looked much better on 3dfx. 32-bit looked better on TNT2 than 16-bit on 3dfx but even 128-bit cards didn't have enough bandwidth/fillrate. You can of course get faster GeForce and have 32-bit and eat it too.

Myself I have FX5900ZT, 5900XT and Quadro FX1000 - the latter I will definitely put in to that Gellatin system.