Figured out what went wrong. The 32MB SIMM-72 (2x 16MB) memory had issues.

The Phoenix BIOS beep codes were this:

1-4-2-1 <-- CMOS RAM read/write failure (this commonly indicates a problem on the ISA bus such as a card not seated)

However, in some cases, the PC still does this with only the built-in RAM.

I recieved an Ps2 Component cable (red, blue, green) today, so I could finally play my Ps2 on our lg flatscreen tv.
It just looks so awesomme on the 50 inch tv. Everything is just as I remembered it from when I had CRT tv.
Then I have downloaded a couple of prebuild RetroPI images, that I will give a go on my RaspberryPI-3 a bit later today.

Upgraded my Voodoo3 PC. Took out my slot 1 AMD 650 Proc and Motherboard / 512 MB PC-133 RAM and installed newer MSI Motherboard with 700 MHZ Athlon and 512 MB DDR RAM to give the Voodoo3 better performance.

Upgraded my CUV-4X Pentium3 933 to a 1 GHZ Pentium 3. Slight boost to the system but seems to help GeForce2 Ultra run even better.

Upgraded my P2B Pentium 2 450 to a Pentium 2 500. Again, small performance boost and keeps my retro PCs somewhat distant from each other in terms of speed as the next machine down from this is a P2 300.

Building a pass through cable for a Canopus Pure 3D Voodoo1 once the DIN9 connector arrives today

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Just putting everyone on notice that all my current projects here are on hold and my activity levels will be dropping due to me getting my first job as a temporary IT Associate at Jackson Hewitt (and if I do well I become a permanent employee and get bumped up to IT Manager since there's is leaving the company). Not many 18 year olds can say there first job was there dream job working on computers for $10 an hour.

Wish me luck.

Good luck. Great for you to be starting at such a young age. Give it your all and great things will happen!

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Considering I'm looking at 50-60 hour weeks I think one job is enough. This is my passion and I'm still pretty sure the seasonal grind is going to burn me out.

On the bright side ill probably be able to poach some decommissioned old equipment at some point since I'm sure used equipment disposal will occur at some point.

Another advantage to working in IT - EVERY IT job I had (and have, currently), I was able to scour old stuff from. One of the perks 😉 Best of luck in any case!

On another note, I found a copy of Spacewrecked! 5.25 inch floppy game and installed it. Everything but the manual is in the box though, so I'll have to get around the DRM somehow...

Jed118 wrote:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Considering I'm looking at 50-60 hour weeks I think one job is enough. This is my passion and I'm still pretty sure the seasonal grind is going to burn me out.

On the bright side ill probably be able to poach some decommissioned old equipment at some point since I'm sure used equipment disposal will occur at some point.

Another advantage to working in IT - EVERY IT job I had (and have, currently), I was able to scour old stuff from. One of the perks 😉 Best of luck in any case!

Uhg... I want to cry every time I think about my first job. I interned at a PC repair shop back in 2003 during my senior year of high school and worked there till they closed in 2006. The shop had been open since the 90s so naturally they had tons of really old equipment laying around. I remember stacks (dozens upon dozens) of ceramic CPUs. Pentiums, 486s, 586s, etc. There was a gigantic box that held upward of 50 old keyboards, mostly beige PS2 and AT keyboards, many of which were Model Ms, the back room held several very old Apple systems and vintage monitors (one of the Macs we hooked up and it worked great... I'm not too familiar with them but it was tall and narrow and had a fairly high res greyscale screen). We had thousands of ribbon cables, box after box of old cards, new in box hardware that sat around waiting for system upgrades, etc. The only things I kept when I left were things they were about to throw away that I thought were neat: A couple of empty retail CPU boxes which I still have (K6-2 and Pentium II or Celeron... can't remember now). Everything else they were either intending to keep or I had no interest in back then because why would anyone want such old junk???? 🤣 🤣 🤣 😵 😵 😵

I had to deal with this suck salad today:

luckybob wrote:

I had to deal with this suck salad today: […]
Show full quote

I had to deal with this suck salad today:

Ootch : sorry to see that.
I hope you have a good insurance.

Today for me : investigating the contents of another Acorn A4000 and preserve apps or utilities present on the hard drive, if they are not available somewhere on the Net.

Jed118 wrote:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote:

Considering I'm looking at 50-60 hour weeks I think one job is enough. This is my passion and I'm still pretty sure the seasonal grind is going to burn me out.

On the bright side ill probably be able to poach some decommissioned old equipment at some point since I'm sure used equipment disposal will occur at some point.

Another advantage to working in IT - EVERY IT job I had (and have, currently), I was able to scour old stuff from. One of the perks 😉 Best of luck in any case!

I second this.....I have taken a LOT of old stuff from work that was otherwise going to surplus. We just cleaned out a bunch of cabinets due to renovations happening in my dept and I made out like a bandit. Also make sure to let others know you are into old computers. You'll be amazed how many people will have stuff they don't want and will give it to you. I got love story of really decent stuff that way as well...Voodoo cards, 9800 Pro / 9800 XT and many others

Setting up an HP Slimline Desktop PC with an A8-3850 APU in my man cave (fits in my stereo cabinet perfect) as an emulator for older consoles and older non PC systems (Amiga / Atari ST / etc). Using an old AverMedia device to run the PC video into my 36" CRT TV....

I know - one prof gave me a pair of old Compaq laptops (4/25) - One worked right out of the box with 12 Mb RAM and a 212 Mb hard disk. The other one is DOA and many parts don't work on it, also there's no adapter. Both need belts replaced in the floppies though.

She also gave me an HP 200LX (4Mb RAM) version and a box of diskettes. Another prof gave me a 386SX and a P100. While I know this well is drying up, I'm also content with not having 123013 computers in my house 😉

Otherwise yeah, sometimes, a freak garage sale opportunity on a trip with my wife to Montreal yielded a Pentium 100 (or 90?) Toshiba colour laptop with 40 Mb RAM (goddamn belt in the floppy is broken though) for $10 was a steal too!

But the days of scouring old stuff from Goodwill is at an end, no matter what LGR might say about it - unless you go all the time, or just volunteer at one.

Beat the first 2 episodes of Jazz Jackrabbit with my nephew (who just turned 6). He had a ton of fun playing it with a Gravis Gamepad. That game really is timeless, even for kids spoiled with the latest consoles.

brostenen wrote:

I recieved an Ps2 Component cable (red, blue, green) today, so I could finally play my Ps2 on our lg flatscreen tv.
It just looks so awesomme on the 50 inch tv. Everything is just as I remembered it from when I had CRT tv.
Then I have downloaded a couple of prebuild RetroPI images, that I will give a go on my RaspberryPI-3 a bit later today.

Great, PS2 and Dreamcast are still my goto systems if I just want to play a game, luckily I still have my big old Sony CRT for those two.

Fitted a 400 Watt ATX PSU into a 4U Antec Rackmount, along with fitting the motherboard stand offs, and measuring whether I need ATX Power Extension Cables (I do), to fit a Socket 939 Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro SLI Mobo with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and 4GB RAM. Have most parts ready, Nvidia GT 710, Skystar 2 Sat Receiver Card, just waiting on a I/O Blanking Plate to arrive from the US before fitting.

Tested and benchmarked a dozen ISA, PCI, and AGP graphics cards and repaired some of them. Found that the S3 Trio32 is faster than most of my ViRGEs while also having better picture (no overdriven brightness, no banding), and that my Voodoo3 3500 works fine with the VGA adapter I bought more than a year ago and never had the time to test. 😀

Wireless wrote:

Fitted a 400 Watt ATX PSU into a 4U Antec Rackmount, along with fitting the motherboard stand offs, and measuring whether I need ATX Power Extension Cables (I do), to fit a Socket 939 Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro SLI Mobo with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and 4GB RAM. Have most parts ready, Nvidia GT 710, Skystar 2 Sat Receiver Card, just waiting on a I/O Blanking Plate to arrive from the US before fitting.

What the he'll are you even building? Also I have my doubts if a video card that new will work on a first gen PCIe board.

I tried to swap the Dallas 1287 RTC from my PS/2 55SX machine for a 12887 that I bought on eBay to avoid invasive actions but it seems I won't get around it as this little sucker seems to be plain dead as well (IBM PS/2 users best friends 161 and 163 still remain)...

yea, I tried that in my model 25 and 30. Same thing. Just going to have to mod the old one. eventually.

Upgraded my Socket 370 system to the guts I took out of the Pavilion 7955 system (Socket 478).

Specs:
Intel Pentium 4 1.5GHz @ 400MHz FSB
ASUS P4B-LA (HP OEM motherboard) <-- will get a better BIOS for more AGP features
2x 256MB SD-RAM PC-100/133 RAM (expandable to 1GB)
Intel i845 Chipset
ADI AC'97 Audio
Maxtor 6L200P0 HDD (32GB Partition) with Windows 98SE on it
HL-DT-ST CD Burner from the Dimension 4550
Samsung DVD-ROM drive (pulled from the Pavilion 7955) <-- in place of the Gigabyte 52x CD-ROM drive that has a belt problem (won't eject without a CD in it) and I can now watch DVDs on my computer
1.44MB 3.5" FDD
ASUS AGP-V3800M 64 (nVidia Riva TNT2 M64) with 32MB SD-RAM <- tried the nVidia GeForce 6200 card with no success (conflicts everywhere as the Aperture size cannot be configured in the BIOS sadly)
STB BlackMagic VooDoo2 3dfx card
RealTek RTL8139 PCI FastEthernet
Compaq Keyboard and Mouse
NEC MultiSync LCD1530V
JBL Platinum speakers