Successfully patched Bitmap Bros' Xenon to run in 16 colors on an IBM PCjr.

Good reads while waiting for the pizza order to come out in a rainy night.

wbahnassi wrote on Yesterday, 00:20:

Good reads while waiting for the pizza order to come out in a rainy night.

With those colors, that place looks very Sound Blaster compatible haha.

Just when I told myself no more computers, a Cyrix 5x86 has appeared (still figuring out that pesky MHz display). Still debating whether I want to go with a POD in this machine, but this is my first Cyrix so I'm already becoming fond of it.

A recent acquisition sunkindly? Im trying to limit new things also (running out of space), but there is no way I would resist that!

RetroBus wrote on Yesterday, 07:06:

A recent acquisition sunkindly? Im trying to limit new things also (running out of space), but there is no way I would resist that!

Yeah! I originally wanted a board with VLB for more historical flavor but figured I might as well just get something I can use my ET6000 with since it was displaced from my Pentium III build.

sunkindly wrote on Yesterday, 06:22:

Just when I told myself no more computers, a Cyrix 5x86 has appeared (still figuring out that pesky MHz display). Still debating whether I want to go with a POD in this machine, but this is my first Cyrix so I'm already becoming fond of it.

The attachment IMG_7288.jpg is no longer available

Wild Cyrix appeared!
sunkindly: no more computers!
its not very effective...

Living wrote on Yesterday, 19:50:

Wild Cyrix appeared! sunkindly: no more computers! its not very effective... […]
Show full quote

sunkindly wrote on Yesterday, 06:22:

Just when I told myself no more computers, a Cyrix 5x86 has appeared (still figuring out that pesky MHz display). Still debating whether I want to go with a POD in this machine, but this is my first Cyrix so I'm already becoming fond of it.

The attachment IMG_7288.jpg is no longer available

Wild Cyrix appeared!
sunkindly: no more computers!
its not very effective...

Cyrix used QUAKE!
Cyrix hurt itself in confusion...

Today I went to go make sure the cooling is all good to go before I run it at 120MHz consistently (the CPU came with the mobo) and to my pleasant surprise it's the IBM variant!

Also yes it says Socket 2 which further solidifies me wanting to really make this an oddball build.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2025-10-06, 02:33:

Installed sockets for the following on my IBM 5150 board: […]
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Installed sockets for the following on my IBM 5150 board:

P8284A clock generator chip (mine might be faulty and I did the socket so it can be swapped on the fly)
Bank 0 RAM + bit pairty for Bank 0 (so they can be swapped easily)

I still get the continuous beep, which means the 8284 is most likely dead as a hammer or the RAM is dead. Either that or U33 (BIOS) is bad. When I get the EPROMs, I'll do the diagnostics ROM first and see if it boots up with that and if it does, then I'll do the GLaBIOS ROM and go from there. If it doesn't boot with the U33 swapped, then I'll have to replace the P8284A with a new one and if it boots up, then it's fixed entirely and I can get it all set up with an ATi EGA Wonder 800, Sound Blaster 2.0 w/ CMS upgrade, AST SixPakPlus SPK-384 upgraded to 576KB RAM, XT-FDC card, and XT-CF connected. I'll have to figure out how to hook up the internal speaker header to the sound card, but that should be just a 4-pin header and only solder on the audio part from the header to the mic input on the sound card. Either that or figure out a better way since there is no PC speaker header on the sound card itself.

One of my 5150s had bank zero issues so installed sockets on 2 of the DRAMS. Found it difficult, desoldering with thoes thick boards and ended up having to repair multiple pulled traces.
Sounds like you'll soon have success with yours.

My Athlon XP 2600+ system gave me a scare - started powering off by itself when under load (or sometimes bluescreening), requiring a hard reset of the PSU's physical power toggle switch. I was worried my Radeon 9700 Pro could be dying, but I think I've narrowed it down to it just taxing my modern Corsair PSU's 5v capacity. Putting it on its own dedicated rail seems to have settled things down. Took the opportunity to add a couple 120mm fans to the case - sure, the added noise defeats the purpose of the passive cooler on it, but I kind of don't want to take any unnecessary chances with this card.

The fans actually came with a little in-line speed control adjustment, so I could set them to low and they're still pushing plenty air: 👌

A rant / activity hybrid but I went to buy something for one of my builds on eBay and apparently I've been blocked. I bought a card from them and returned it a couple of months ago, but it went smoothly and I even left positive feedback. I never spoke to anyone directly, I just went through the automated return process. Super bummed because they carry a really decent stock. I even have them as a saved seller. Why offer returns if you're just going to block a customer for it?

ubiq wrote on Today, 02:44:

My Athlon XP 2600+ system gave me a scare - started powering off by itself when under load (or sometimes bluescreening), requiri […]
Show full quote

My Athlon XP 2600+ system gave me a scare - started powering off by itself when under load (or sometimes bluescreening), requiring a hard reset of the PSU's physical power toggle switch. I was worried my Radeon 9700 Pro could be dying, but I think I've narrowed it down to it just taxing my modern Corsair PSU's 5v capacity. Putting it on its own dedicated rail seems to have settled things down. Took the opportunity to add a couple 120mm fans to the case - sure, the added noise defeats the purpose of the passive cooler on it, but I kind of don't want to take any unnecessary chances with this card.

The attachment IMG_3133.jpeg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_3135.jpeg is no longer available

The fans actually came with a little in-line speed control adjustment, so I could set them to low and they're still pushing plenty air: 👌

The attachment IMG_3132.jpeg is no longer available

The 9700 Pro should use 12v. The extra power is a 12v plug.

It could be GPU overheat powering it off, if that is what is happening.

Faulty mainboard capacitors could also be why it powers off. What model is the board?

ubiq wrote on Today, 02:44:

My Athlon XP 2600+ system gave me a scare - started powering off by itself when under load (or sometimes bluescreening), requiri […]
Show full quote

My Athlon XP 2600+ system gave me a scare - started powering off by itself when under load (or sometimes bluescreening), requiring a hard reset of the PSU's physical power toggle switch. I was worried my Radeon 9700 Pro could be dying, but I think I've narrowed it down to it just taxing my modern Corsair PSU's 5v capacity. Putting it on its own dedicated rail seems to have settled things down. Took the opportunity to add a couple 120mm fans to the case - sure, the added noise defeats the purpose of the passive cooler on it, but I kind of don't want to take any unnecessary chances with this card.

The attachment IMG_3133.jpeg is no longer available

The attachment IMG_3135.jpeg is no longer available

The fans actually came with a little in-line speed control adjustment, so I could set them to low and they're still pushing plenty air: 👌

The attachment IMG_3132.jpeg is no longer available

It may have been a coincidence, but with a similar passive cooler (Thermaltake) my memory went out on GF4 Ti 4200 (TSOP), so adding fans to support airflow is just as well.

Cleaned and Improved my NV6600GT cooling solution. Put Raspberry Pi surplus heatsinks into good use.
Arctic Accelero S2 is capable cooling it just fine. Interesting observation about memory chips - only top 2 got hot, bottom right ones stayed cool. Also while memory chips in use are hot they are not the hottest elements - power delivery section is even hotter. Most of the actively cooled GT6600-s have horizontally aligned heatsink fins, so active cooling is probably recommended for this card.

roxfly wrote on Today, 06:29:

The 9700 Pro should use 12v. The extra power is a 12v plug.

It could be GPU overheat powering it off, if that is what is happening.

Faulty mainboard capacitors could also be why it powers off. What model is the board?

The 9700Pro does not only use 12V.
In fact, most of the power consumed is on 3.3V and 5V - I've measured it:

https://tehsiggi.github.io/agp-power-monitor/ … deon9700pro_128

It's a not an uncommon thing on 9700s that if the power is insufficient, you'll get artifacting. There have been threads about this here as well.

The R300 used in the 9700 has a thermal diode, but it is not used in any regular design. It would require an LM63 on the board to be populated, which iirc. has never been done. Therefore there is no way that a overheat on the 9700 would cause a shutdown.

sunkindly wrote on Yesterday, 21:00:

Cyrix used QUAKE! Cyrix hurt itself in confusion... […]
Show full quote

Living wrote on Yesterday, 19:50:

Wild Cyrix appeared! sunkindly: no more computers! its not very effective... […]
Show full quote

sunkindly wrote on Yesterday, 06:22:

Just when I told myself no more computers, a Cyrix 5x86 has appeared (still figuring out that pesky MHz display). Still debating whether I want to go with a POD in this machine, but this is my first Cyrix so I'm already becoming fond of it.

The attachment IMG_7288.jpg is no longer available

Wild Cyrix appeared!
sunkindly: no more computers!
its not very effective...

Cyrix used QUAKE!
Cyrix hurt itself in confusion...

Today I went to go make sure the cooling is all good to go before I run it at 120MHz consistently (the CPU came with the mobo) and to my pleasant surprise it's the IBM variant!

Also yes it says Socket 2 which further solidifies me wanting to really make this an oddball build.

The attachment IMG_7291.jpg is no longer available

Socket 2 have one extra contact, so why not 😏.

tehsiggi wrote on Today, 10:33:

The 9700Pro does not only use 12V. In fact, most of the power consumed is on 3.3V and 5V - I've measured it: […]
Show full quote

roxfly wrote on Today, 06:29:

The 9700 Pro should use 12v. The extra power is a 12v plug.

It could be GPU overheat powering it off, if that is what is happening.

Faulty mainboard capacitors could also be why it powers off. What model is the board?

The 9700Pro does not only use 12V.
In fact, most of the power consumed is on 3.3V and 5V - I've measured it:

https://tehsiggi.github.io/agp-power-monitor/ … deon9700pro_128

It's a not an uncommon thing on 9700s that if the power is insufficient, you'll get artifacting. There have been threads about this here as well.

The R300 used in the 9700 has a thermal diode, but it is not used in any regular design. It would require an LM63 on the board to be populated, which iirc. has never been done. Therefore there is no way that a overheat on the 9700 would cause a shutdown.

Thanks, good to know! Part of the reason I post here is because I don't necessarily know what I'm doing and appreciate the advice and wisdom of those here who do. 😌

I never was getting any artifacting whatsoever with the card, which I considered pretty encouraging with regards to the health of the card.

During my troubleshooting, I took the heat sink off to visually inspect it and redo the thermal paste, which I hadn't done since getting it so who knows how old it was:

Nothing looked leaky, so I buttoned it back up (being a bit generous with the paste due to that pretty proud shim its got)

I ultimately ruled out the 9700 Pro as the issue and considered the PSU itself to be the problem. I also ruled out CPU thermals as well as the mainboard caps (I recapped the mobo when I got it - yes, it needed it). The powering off issue required physically toggling the physical power switch on the PSU to get it started again. It's a brand new PSU, but of course that doesn't mean it's good. For now, putting the 9700 on its own rail instead of the one driving the HDs seems to have fixed things.

In terms of 9700 Pro care - should I put heat sinks on the ram? If it came to it, I'm probably up to replacing the caps on the card, but the ram would be another story.

IMO would very much recommend. My 3d Prophet largely survived thanks to RAMsinks.

Fired up the old Commodore 64 and fixed the datassette with a new belt.

ubiq wrote on Today, 16:44:

I ultimately ruled out the 9700 Pro as the issue and considered the PSU itself to be the problem. I also ruled out CPU thermals as well as the mainboard caps (I recapped the mobo when I got it - yes, it needed it). The powering off issue required physically toggling the physical power switch on the PSU to get it started again. It's a brand new PSU, but of course that doesn't mean it's good. For now, putting the 9700 on its own rail instead of the one driving the HDs seems to have fixed things.

In terms of 9700 Pro care - should I put heat sinks on the ram? If it came to it, I'm probably up to replacing the caps on the card, but the ram would be another story.

I'd always grant the memory on 9700s and 9800s memory heatsinks. The memory gets quite warm and the stock cooler already has bad airflow over the memory. Given that you are cooling it passively, I'd highly recommend additional heatsinks on the memory.

I'd leave the caps as is. Of all 9500s, 9700s and 9800s I had, none of them died / failed due to bad caps.

The 5V rail of your PSU is rated at 20A, which nowadays is sufficient, however that's only 100W. The 9700 will take around 20W of it's 60W from the 5V rail. That leaves you with 80W for the rest of the system. Given that socket 462 boards often rely on the 5V rail for CPU power, you might be a bit in a tight spot here under load. Not sure about your a7v8x-mx.