Wow jealous of your patience 🤣. Awesome work on the sa6. I just picked up a sa6r for free but one small caviat every 8mm cap is swollen no wonder it doesnt post just spinning fan. Same shitty jackon caps. This is my first s370 board and i also was disappointed in the no tualatin support:(. But its moddable right?

@amadeus777999 - the RAMBUS P4 systems are on top of my list together with Slot A parts. I buy them as soon as I see them. 😁 The Pentium 66 story will be posted this week.

@ greasemonkey90s - Got to love those JACKCON caps, real high quality 😁

As far as I know, you can mod the CPU or the CPU socket on the SA6/SA6R so that it will be Tualatin compatible. You can also buy a modded CPU and just drop it in the socket.

Everything I do on these older components is natural to me, so patience isnt a concern 😁 If I dont do it right the first time, I have to come back later and do it proper, so being patient is better in the long run 😁 The DEMONS that haunt me are STRONG and I cant be content with a job half done.

Jackcon caps sure are high quality! 🤣

Just found a load of them on a 430TX board I revived (Totem TM-586TX4). Strange thing is the lead spacing is absurdly small on them.

Black Sabbath - "N.I.B." from The End

THE ORIGINAL PENTIUM

I was in high school when I first heard about the Pentium CPUs with the FDIV bug. This was happening around 1994-1995, I cant remember exactly. Back then, I didnt have a PC. My first PC came much later, in 1996. One thing is certain though, I couldnt even dream about a Pentium powered PC and truth be told, I didnt know what the damn thing was. I had to buy my first PC like you buy potatoes at the market. Only after this purchase I was able to know what I need and how I can spend the hard earned money that my parents gave me.

Until 1994 when I entered the computer science high school from my city, I didnt know what the heck was with these computers. Because the computers were very expensive, until 1996 my contact with the magic PCs took place only at high school and sometimes at few of my friends which had a better financial situation. An internet connection was out of the question. What the hell was that?!?! Internet serious business.

I remember that we were thoroughly amused that those that paid a lot of doe for the first Pentium right at its introduction, bought a “defective CPU”.

Fast forward to more recent times. In December 2017 I found the following Pentium setup:

* ASUS PCI/I-P5MP3 Rev. 2.4
* CPU Intel Pentium 66MHz - SX837 - A8050166 - L4102613 - 94025376AA MALAY

From the seller's add, by the looks of it, I was pretty sure that it was about a P66 with the famed FDIV BUG! The pictures were blurry and I couldnt see well the model number. Even so, I decided to buy the damned thing as it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT! (If you want to find out continue to read.)

I had to wait almost two weeks until the package arrived through the local Post Office Courier service. I was very annoyed because the parts should've arrived in two or three days but after I put my hands on the relics, all my anger vanished in thin air.

I saw the add on the local OLX site and it specified that the motherboard was considered defective. The asking price represented the value of the Pentium 66MHz CPU and the motherboard was bonus. I wouldn't've paid so much for just a CPU even if it was the first Pentium CPU, if I wasnt sure that I could recover the motherboard. This sounded way easier in my mind than in reality.

I didnt spend too much time pondering as the add was quite old and I didnt want someone else to steal my thunder, so I put my hands on the phone and I took care of the delivery details. The seller was kind and he also said that he had the original RTC/CMOS battery - Benchmark BQ3287MT, the controller that worked with the kit, plus two old modems and an old graphic card. For all of this I had to pay around 50 EUROS. NO BRAINER! Albeit with the high probability that the motherboard was toast…little did I know how much effort will be required to awaken THE BEAST! OH BOY!

After I found out that I was going to receive the RTC battery, the only thing that still was nagging me was the fact that the BIOS chip looked kind of suspicious as it didnt have the original silver sticker. As I wasnt going to back off, I said F@K IT! My gut feeling was telling me that all was OK but even so I couldnt be too calm. Good luck finding a BIOS chip replacement when the information about this motherboard is so limited.

Eversince I saw the add, I wasnt thinking straight and I left my passion take control.

Right after I receveid the parts, I removed the black stickers from the chips of the motherboard. I also had to straighten a pin from one of the chips, because it made contact with a neighbouring pin, an absolute NO NO when I was going to power it up. The whole operation was stressful, as always. In the end I got the desired results. Another bullet dodged.

Initial state.

Little did I know that the picture bellow, made in a weather so cold that I couldnt feel my fingers, will be the solution to my problem with this kit, which will prove to be quite stubborn and it will refuse until the last moment, to BOOT from a HDD, as if it didnt want to be brought back to life...REMEMBER! Always take pictures before you do anything with any component. Very often the jumper settings arent well documented and you will search in vain for a manual or additional information on the internet. I KNOW HOW IT IS because I've been there and trust me, IT SUX BIG TIME!

After I received the kit I powered it up but I wasnt greeted by a HAPPY POST BEEP and the screen remained BLACK.

Initially, I thought that the culprit was the RTC battery and I decided to make my first RTC BATTERY MOD. This procedure was presented in the episode:

"Hey Grandpa, do you still lose track of time?!?!? "

Re: Hello, World! :D - Robert B's PC builds - oogle away freely :)

Another POST test, with the modded RTC battery, didnt bring anything new. The kit still didnt POST. The chips from the motherboard were getting warm, sign that it received current, but the screen was still BLACK. I tried other RAM sticks, video cards and PSUs but to no avail.

In the end I got to the conclusion that maybe the data from the BIOS chip was corrupted and there was nothing else I could do until I bought a BIOS programmer.

After this, I started to restore the controller, another vital piece of the P66 puzzle, that would render the kit useless if it didnt work. These old motherboards dont have a buil-in FDD/HDD/SERIAL/PARALLEL controller. In the past I ran away from motherboards that need separate controllers or have RTC batteries. Not anymore.

Meet the: JPN CORPORATION CA8302E-1

Re: Hello, World! :D - Robert B's PC builds - oogle away freely :)

In January 2018 I bought a MiniPRO TL866A BIOS programmer for almost 120EUROS. It took me a while to pull the trigger. I wasnt too happy that I had to pay so much for a BIOS programmer, but I knew that I will need it in the future, so I bought it. With this programmer I was also able to recover the PowerColor EvilKing IV L-card 3dfx Voodoo4 4500 32MB AGP, after many have said that it is beyond rescue...aaahh sweet memories...what an adrenaline rush I had when I saw the screen light up and the image was crispy and flawless...3dfx VooDoo4 4500.....PRICELESS!!!

The identification of the specs of the BIOS chip was difficult as the markings were all but gone.

I used a powerful source of light and I wetted the surface of the chip with IPA 99%. This way I found the exact model number : CAT28F010

https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/CAT28F010-D.PDF

I made a copy of the existing BIOS and I had to choose between three versions that I found on the ASUS site. ASUS, a company that respects itself! I was able to find BIOS files for a motherboard that is over 20 years old right on the manufacturer's site! GG!!! This doesnt happen very often today.

https://www.asus.com/supportonly/PCII-P5MP3/HelpDesk_BIOS/

I tried the first BIOS version, 0205/25.05.1994, even if it was meant for a motherboard with Revision 2.3 and my board was Revision 2.4. I didnt want to use a BETA BIOS or a BIOS for a board with the Revision 3.1 or greater.

POWER ON!

BEEP! I'M ALIVE! F@K YEAH!!! AWSOME!!! OUTSTANDING!!! Man I'm GOOD 😁! POST GOODNESS!!!

The RTC battery MOD for the Benchmark BQ3287MT was executed correctly and it retained the BIOS settings at POWER OFF and after the system was disconnected from the mains. AWESOME NEWS!

The system booted from the FDD and I was able to access the contents of my floppy disks.

Next, I connected a HDD to the controller and I tried to make the system boot from it. No matter what I tried, I wasnt able to make the system, identify, format or boot from the HDD. Hours were spent trying different things. The HDD was identified in BIOS but that was it. Even in BIOS, from the built in menu, Hard Disk Low Level Format Utility, I wasnt able to format the damned thing! I tried many HDDs to no avail.

I took a moment and I thought about all the steps I took until I got the system to POST and I got to the conclusion that maybe the RTC battery wasnt what it was supposed to be as the silk screen on the motherboard specified that a Dallas DS1287 is required. I knew that the BQ3287MT is compatible with the DS1287 but I paid 13 EUROS for a DS1287 which also had to be MODDED.

http://www.rigelcorp.com/8051/DS1287.pdf

Another test, this time with the DS1287 and I still couldnt BOOT from the HDD. W@T THE F.........................K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The situation was worse, as the DS1287 didnt retain the BIOS settings after I disconnected the system from the mains or it was powered off. I thought that maybe I didnt mod the battery correctly and I separated both the "+" and "-" terminals even if this wasnt required. All was for nothing. Two additional modifications later, I came to the conclusion that the DS1287 was either busted or it wasnt what I needed. Hours lost ...shheeeshhhh....

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/2vylqdx0c/

BACK TO BQ3287! https://www.dataman.com/media/datasheet/Bench … arq/BQ3287x.pdf

I removed, checked and tried anything I could think of. CACHE chips, RAM sticks, HDDs, FDDs, PSUs, you name it, I tried it. STILL NOTHING!

After sleepless nights, moments in the day when parts of my brain were locked trying to solve the P66 puzzle, together with the accumulated stress, I said that maybe I need a smaller HDD as the JPN CORPORATION CA8302E-1 controller has a limit of 10 Heads / 1024 Cyl / HDD up to 528MB.

I found at the flea market two small HDDs: a Western Digital Caviar 140 AT Compatible Intelligent Drive WDAC140 980 cyl * 5 heads * 17 spt * 42.7MB!!! - Produced in 21.01.1992. MDL: WDAC140-32M and a CONNER CP30251 - Conner Peripherals 240MB.

These two HDDs brought nothing new. I still wasnt able to BOOT from them. ALL THE EFFORT WAS FOR NOTHING!

RTC BATTERY.NO! HDD.NO! Maybe I should try other BIOS versions?

I programmed the BIOS chip with the version 0401/21.07.1994 for motherboards that are REVISION 3.1. Surprisingly the board POSTED and now I had support for HDDs greater than 528MB: "PCI/I-P5MP3 (for Rev. 3.1 or above) BIOS 0401 Support 4 IDE HDD & >528MB size (LBA)" plus more settings in BIOS. Even so, I didnt get any results.

As the BETA BIOS 0402/17.11.1997 was newer than the version 0401/21.07.1994 I tried it too. STILL NOTHING! F@K!F@K!F@K! I couldnt BOOT from THE HDD.

THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR PLAYING WITH THE KRAKEN!!! SUFFER !!! SUFFER !!! SUFFER !!! Ohhhh the agony and despair! 😁

BIOS VERSION POST/BOOT screens.

When I was ready to throw in the towel it hit me!

When I cleaned the motherboard I took off all the jumpers and when I put them back I put them as it is specified on the internet and not how they were when the I received it. I couldnt find a PDF with the manual so these schematics were all I had. To make matters worse, the data from the silk screen settings on the motherboard wasnt intuitive and it didnt help me.

https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/A/A … -P5MP3-188.html

I think that you already know where I F@KED UP!

I put the jumpers how they were when I got the motherboard and reluctantly I pressed the POWER button...

ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO! I was able to boot from any HDD and I even connected a Western Digital Caviar SE - 80GB/7200rpm. The speed of this 80GB HDD was dizzying coming from snail type HDDs that were measured in Megabytes.

Well...that was easy...

The motherboard went through two cleaning stages. One before testing and the final one before it was placed in its box together with her sisters.

Ready for a good cleaning.

No detail was overlooked.

Smile at the camera you BIG LUMP OF GOLD!

Final cleaning.

Extreme attention to detail. I preffer cotton sticks when I want to make the PCB shine, because I can apply more "pressure" when I have to remove the adherent dirt which isnt bothered at all by IPA 99% and a soft brush. This is the difference between clean and super clean. All in all, my cleaning procedures give me about 95% of what I want. I'm never satisfied.

Clean! Clean! Clean!

I replaced all the black jumpers with new, white ones, a new white zip tie for the 66MHz quartz oscillator and the motherboard was better than new.

The seal of approval. Gloves are needed while handling the motherboard.

Evergreen.

If I knew how much effort will be required for the restoration and recovery of the P66, I might've not bought it, who knows... In many cases it is better to let passion take over but you should also make a analysis for what is required to achieve your goal.

After this, the kit worked flawlessly.

A fellow vogons member, amadeus777999, asked me to run a few DOOM v1.9 Shareware tests. After 100+ runs made to quantify the performance of the 66MHz Pentium, I must say that I am quite impressed. It ran stable and I didnt have any trouble at all. The results were needed for a project of his.

Test setup:

*P66 with FDIV bug
*ASUS PCI/I-P5MP3 Rev. 2.4 with latest beta BIOS / 256KB CACHE
*16MB 4x4MB
*7200rpm 80GB HDD 8MB buffer
*NO SOUNDCARD INSTALLED.

STARTING POINT: https://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/misc/doombench.html

DOOM Shareware V1.9: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/idstuff/doom/doom19s

Video cards used during testing:

* 3D BLASTER BANSHEE - Creative CT 6760 - PCI
* Matrox Millenium 4MB MGA-MIL/2B - PCI
* S3 VIRGE/DX - PCI
* Jaton Tseng B54/ET4000W32P - PCI
* Black Magic ET6000 - PCI
* ARK LOGIC ARK2000PV - PCI
* Cirrus Logic CL5446 - PCI
* Creative CT6950 - TNT2 M64 - PCI
* Diamond VIPER V330 BIOS 1.50 RIVA 128 - PCI
* SIS 6215C - PCI
* Trident TGUI9440 - PCI
* Colormax S3 TRIO64V+ - PCI
* S3 TRIO64V2/DX - PCI
* Cirrus Logic CL5430 - PCI
* ATI RAGE LT PRO - PCI
* Trident TVGA9000C -ISA

The following cards didnt work on this motherboard: Creative CT6950 - TNT2 M64 *** Diamond VIPER V330 BIOS 1.50 RIVA 128 - PCI *** ATI RAGE LT PRO - PCI. Fore sure it is a case of PCI version incompatibility.

Before I saw how the P66 and the video cards would perform, I had to optimize the BIOS settings.

* MS-DOS 6.22 stock.
* TURBO ON via jumper.
* SMARTDRV.EXE WASNT LOADED.
* In BIOS: WB is a few clicks faster decat WT so I used WB for all tests.(WT-Write Through / WB-Write Back)

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/154fcylyg/

After I set up all I could and I got some nice SpeedSyS 4.78 results, I was ready for the main course.

Next came the testing of the video cards. Three runs each, FULL SCREEN and SCREEN DECREASED TWO TIMES.

I was already fed with the same timedemo on and on. Also I had to write doom -nosound -nomouse -timedemo demo3 many many times ... ... ...

SOME NICE RESULTS HERE!

After this I ran other tests.

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/dos-benchmark-pack.html

Results

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1jq9g3yg8/

Some FUN and misc stuff.

FDIV BUG CPU for sure 😁 WIN! WIN! WIN!

All this adventure spanned across months. All this time wasnt used just for the P66 as I had other ongoing projects. I had the setup on my test table for a few days and then it spent weeks in its box.

More months have passed until I was able to tell you the story.

Looking back, I can say that it was all worth it, even if it took a lot of time, money and effort.

This was THE ORIGINAL PENTIUM story.

It brings me great pleasure to own this kit, as it is the FIRST PENTIUM and the cherry on top it is also "defective" FDIV bug and all. The ASUS motherboard with the Intel chipset completes the picture. Add to this the fact that it is speedy, I wonder what could I possibly want more. Retro HW digging at its best! WIN! WIN! WIN!

Meanwhile, I got my hands on two RAM FPM kits one of 2x16MB=32MB and one of 2x32MB=64MB.

In the future I will be able to build an awesome PC in which pulsates a PENTIUM 66 heart!!!

More later.

Dio - Rainbow In The Dark [HD]

Gigabyte GA-660 PLUS REV1.4 😁

Some scars from the DUMPSTER trips but it is alive and kicking A$$!!! 😁 I also had to repair a cut trace...

Initially I wanted to group a few stories in the same episode but due to the fact that lately my HW gathering has slowed down, I think I'll post smaller episodes which are easier to follow....we'll see...TL;DR is still my Trade Mark there is no escape from this...I'm sure that you all agree with me... 😁

Another patient that I want to rescuse is the GA-8TM. It needs a bunch of new caps and I think I'll use cheaper ones as I want to retain the "originality" of the board. Who am I to question the decisions of the manufacturer of the board? 😁 If the board will prove to be alive I'll buy the good stuff: Nichicon, Rubycon and Panasonic. Meanwhile I'll use regular LOW ESR stuff and see if she's alive. I had to employ some detective skills to determine the specs of a missing cap: I CALL IT SHADDOW ANALYSIS 😁 😁 😁 All will be revealed at the appropriate time...

A V5 5500 AGP still eludes me. Collectors from my country that hoard them dont want to sell one to me...I'm sure I'll find a bunch of them somewhere down the road...I had an opportunity to buy one but it was repaired and the price wasnt too fair from my point of view...

More later.

Hi Robert - thanks a lot for your thorough story/benchmarks regarding the legendary Pentium!
Your score with the ET6000 is really fast.
If you have already sent it to Anton and it doesn't show up after a while, resend it, as scores sometimes seem to get lost.

@amadeus777999 - I"m happy that the P66 odyssey is out of my system 😁 - I thought that I wasnt going to be able to put it to rest 😁 It was an uphill battle up to the last moment.

I didnt send it to him yet but I'll do it soon.

https://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/misc/doombe … html#submission

L.E. DONE!

Great work on that P66! That board looks really nice.

You get extra points for the Sabbath/Dio soundtrack 😉

Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing

Geforce 256 SDR - THE FIRST GPU

I've been searching for a Geforce 256, for some time but all of my efforts returned a big fat ZERO. I was thinking that all I'll ever do will be to stare at pictures on the internet and sigh a little, like it is the case of a VooDoo 5 5500 card which is stubborn and doesnt want to enter my collection. For sure it will be punished with intensive cleaning procedures and long baths in IPA 99% plus a full disassembly and other tortures, no wonder it doesnt want to get caught 😁 The prices are ridiculous and I dont want to buy repaired cards. My point of view is: ALL OR NOTHING. I'm sure this is old news, as you might've already suspected that 😁

I have in my collection many components that are fully restored, parts that have marked many of my years, parts that I have owned and many that I've read about back in the day, but it's still not enough 😁 There is always that certain something that makes you say: I WANT IT!

At the begining of October I found my first GF256 SDR: Eagles Geforce 256 32MB AGP - 30-155AD-155-41A / 128 bit SDRAM - Winbond W986432DH-5.

Even if it wasnt made by a big manufacturer, I wanted to have it and I bought it for a very low price. A GF256 is still a GF256 no matter the manufacturer.

I was lucky to find a GF256 SDR with a 128 bit memory bus instead of 64 bit. So, I have in my possesion a fully fledged GF256 SDR. The original GF256.

The video memory is running at 150MHz instead of the default 166MHz but that doesnt bother me at all. The Winbond W986432DH-5 memory chips are rated for up to 200MHz and they run at 166MHz any day of the week.

The moment I received my first GF256 was a special one. The Holy Grail, the first GPU, was in my hands. I had to remove the cooler as soon as possible and take a few pictures with the graphic chip like I saw back in the day on the internet or in magazines. The string: Geforce and a tiny 256 was there and all my doubts were gone.

I'm already on the trail of a GF256 DDR but I dont know if I'll buy it. We'll see...

The Eagles card arrived in good condition and kind of clean by some standards. Some dirt and dust in the cooling system and on the back. Nothing too bad.

As soon as I received the card, I removed the cooler which was held with a thermal pad. Given the age of the card I didnt power it up as soon as I put my hands on it and I wanted to be sure that the cooler will do its job.

I raised an eyebrow when I saw how thin the heatsink was.

To remove the cooler, I left the card in the sun for a few minutes, I put lots of IPA 99% under the heatsink using a syringe then and I gently twisted the cooler left and right a few times. Soon the cooler was free.

The thermal pad was like a thin black sponge.

At first I wanted to replace the cooler with one of the many that I have in stock but none fitted well. The distance between the holes is a few milimeters bigger than the standard.

What to do???

I searched again in a few boxes with spare parts and I found a green heatsink from the northbridge of an old motherboard.

PERFECT FIT! I think that back in the day, they used whatever they had in stock, so the distance between the fixing holes on the PCB wasnt always STANDARD.

I applied some Arctic MX-4, I oiled the fan and I powered up the card.

Purring like a kitten.

I ran 3dmark 99 and 3dmark 2000. All went well. Clear image and ZERO artifacts. (PIII-800MHz, 384MB RAM, Slot 1 motherboard).

After I knew that the card was alive and kicking came the part that I like the most. I think that you already know what I'm talking about...

I cleaned the metal parts and the card received a well deserved IPA 99% wash.

Microfiber cloth and attention to detail.

Bracket attached and some pictures with the cleaning results. Looking good.

Because I didnt find another cooler that would fit the card and I didnt want to use the green heatsink, I decided to retain the originality of the card and I replaced only the tired push-pins that came with the card with a fresh spring loaded pair.

Arctic MX-4, 'nough said 😁.

I cleaned the fan. It works well without rattling or other problems.

Flawless victory.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/s0kvk0k8/

I need to clean two more motherboards. The rest of the parts that I have aquired are ready to tell their story. I must say that there will be a few interesting stories ahead 😁

The past days I cleand 4 slot CPUs 😁 3 Pentium II/66MHz and a K7 700MHz. The K7 was a little over 1 EUR at the flea market. NO BRAINER! 😁

I also did a little organization : ODDs, FDDs, HDDs, plus 10 socket 7 coolers and an external ZIP drive. The box is quite heavy: 20-25 kg 😁 All parts are squeaky clean!

Next: I need to buy 200 ESD bags for the hoard of other cards I have gathered.

More later.

Robert B wrote:

Thank you all for the appreciation :D […]
Show full quote

Thank you all for the appreciation 😁

My only problem is adding images. I have over 400 pics with a lot of details. All are sized around 512KB and my only gripe is that postimage.org doesnt put them in order as I like. Well whats free it's free 😁

I dont know if Vogons will let me upload around 250 MB of files.

2nd step - THE CASE

The case received a special treatment - full disassembly. A wash with hot water and detergent, followed by a good scrub with CIF Cream. I removed a bit of the yellowing from the plastic but I wanted to keep the "character" and the aging. The stuff that says 'been there done that!

First I used a coarse fabric/felt but in the end a soft sponge was better.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1bpwv62w2/

Heh, I happen to have that exact case with the same badge. The only difference though is mine has a LG DVD-RW and the rig inside it is a Pentium MMX 200MHz 😁

Does CIF work on this kind of yellowing in the picture? I can live with one side of the case being with several rust spots (which I look onto fixing) but that yellowing is CLEARLY not from age.

I saw that you found a case like mine 😁

The logo is AGER and the AGER systems were sold in the '90s.

In general you wont be able to remove all the yellowing without a Retrobright treatment. The yellowing is due to a fire retardant that migrates towards the surface of the plastic under the influence of UV light.

In your instance you can try CIF cream and see what you get in return. Much of the yellow/brown stuff in the picture looks like dirt and grime.

Robert B wrote:

I saw that you found a case like mine 😁

The logo is AGER and the AGER systems were sold in the '90s.

Thanks for letting me know! Datecodes on most parts seem right (1997) except a NIC card that was probably added later in its life (2004 datecodes) and of course an LG DVD-ROM which was installed to replace the dead CD-ROM that is shown in the picture (that one was taken while I took a pitstop at a local bar in the area) but otherwise it's pretty much period correct.

Robert B wrote:

In general you wont be able to remove all the yellowing without a Retrobright treatment. The yellowing is due to a fire retardant that migrates towards the surface of the plastic under the influence of UV light.

In your instance you can try CIF cream and see what you get in return. Much of the yellow/brown stuff in the picture looks like dirt and grime.

I do know about the fire retardant yellowing (have experienced that on several cases) old white/ cream cases, but in this case I suspect it being nicotine, especially since on the edges it's a darker color of yellow than most parts.

By the way, here's the specs as of now. I paid $4.91 (20RON) for it from a gypsy who looked to make some small money for his family. He also had the CRT that came with the machine but that one was so yellowed I didn't take it.

Here are the current specs. I threw away the CD-ROM (a Toshiba) shown in my picture as it was dead as a rock. Text marked in green represents what modifications were done to the machine.

200W generic AT PSU
Biostar MB-8500TVX-A mobo - i430VX, w/ Dallas RTC mod
48MB 72-pin EDO RAM
Matrox Millenium MGA 2064W 2MB PCI
Realtek RTL8139D PCI NIC
Hitachi-LG GSA-4167B
Sony 3.5" FDD
Maxtor 83240D4 3.2GB IDE HDD
IBM DCAA-34330 4.3GB IDE HDD
SoundBlaster 16 Value CT2770 ISA
Pentium MMX 200MHz Socket 7
USB bracket
Windows 98 SE w/ NUSB3.6

Left to do is sand and paint one side of the case as it has some pretty big surface rust spots, clean the front panel with CIF and probably add a NEC USB2.0 card (will try a VIA one beforehand because I want to see if that one works in another machine)

NEXT WEEK: I deep freeze a GF2 😁...sort of 😁

More later.

Super Micro P6DLS V2.1 has been cleaned. 😁 What a board, what a motherboard. Even if it is based on the 440LX chipset, I still love it to bits. The fact that it supports faster CPUs than the PII 333/66 that are stated in the manual adds to the appeal. I managed to run dual 500 Celerons PPGA using slotkets. I can make a really out of the ordinary build with this puppy.

I honed my skills on the GA-8TM and now I can change caps without too much trouble. That means that I can revive more pacients in the future 😁 The GA-8TM still refuses to POST even after I've changed 7 caps. Seven more await to be changed. If this doesnt work I'll give it a proper burial. I spent too much time with it already. I tried three CPUs: P4 423 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7 plus many RAMBUS kits and still NO POST.

To this date the GA-8TM needed: desoldering of the BIOS chip and soldering of a PLCC32 socket, new USB ports, a missing cap near the memory slots, 7 fresh 330uf 25V caps and the list will grow.

I'm sure that the board was scraped and perhaps it took some damage to the northbridge after it was tossed in a big pile of waste. Broken pieces from the LPT port, scratches on the northbridge heatsink, cracked hook on the CPU socket and a torn capacitor, suggest this.

There is still a 0.0000001% chance that I might rescue it 😁

The complete list of HW that I have aquired the last months which has been cleaned and restored. A few were beyond rescue but 95% of them are A OK!

1. 3dfx – Guillemot Maxi Gamer Phoenix – VooDoo Banshee PCI
2. 3dfx - Diamond VooDoo 1- 4MB PCI
3. 3dfx - Creative CT6670- VooDoo 2 12MB
4. Adaptec 1200A
5. AMD K7700MTR51B – K7 Slot A 700MHz
6. Aureal Vortex 1 FSUGSM32 P/N: MPB-000093 Rev 1.10 PCI
7. Butterfly Intel i740 AGP
8. Creative 2x CD-ROM – CR-563-B
9. Creative Annihilator 2 GB0010 GF2 GTS 32MB / Creative GF2 GTS COMPAQ OEM
10. Creative SB16 Value CT2770 ISA
11. ECS P4ITA V1.0 – S423 motherboard
12. Fastware Intel i740 Power 3D AGP
13. Gigabyte GA-660 Plus Rev 1.4 – TNT 2 PRO
14. Gigabyte GA-8TM Rev 1.0 - S423 motherboard
15. Intel Celeron 300A – SL2WM
16. Intel DX4-100 DX40DRP100
17. Jamicon/Amptron/Fast Fame 650B-ATX /KM650B - Slot 1 440BX motherboard
18. Mistumi 12x CD-ROM FX120T
19. Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 AGP
20. Pentium II 266, 333 – SL2HE, SL2S5
21. Pentium II 350MHz SL2U4
22. PowerColor TNT 2 PRO - CTNT2SD
23. RAMBUS RAM
24. Slotkets, DDR RAM
25. Socket 423 coolers
26. Socket A Cooler – PDC38130BC
27. Supermicro P6DLS Rev 2.1 - 440LX dual Slot 1 motherboard

I have prepared between 12-14 episodes and I'll try to post weekly. 3000 pictures have been taken and I reckon that near 1000 will be posted over the following months 😁

More later.

Almost ANNIHILATED

This episode will feature two nVIDIA Geforce 2 GTS graphic cards.

One required a lot of work to be returned to a state as close to 100% as possible, the other one was just a walk in the park. The difference was like that between night and day.

Both have been bought from the flea market for a very low price.

Even if they have different product numbers/names, there is no doubt that they are identical. Both have been manufactured by Creative, one called 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 the other one a Compaq OEM model.

* Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 GeForce 2 GTS / GB0010
* Compaq OEM GeForce2 GTS / WAIMEA 316903700001 R01 / 179642-004 / 231023-001

Let's get to nut cutting.

Creative Labs 3D Blaster Annihilator 2 GeForce 2 GTS / GB0010

When I bought this card it seemed that I'll have no problems returning it to its former glory. A few scratches, the fan full of dirt, the usual stuff.

When I quickly checked the card at the flea market, all seemed to be in order. I haggled a bit and I managed to drive the starting price down. After this, I was the happy owner of a nice GF2 GTS card. A CREATIVE card nonetheless.

When the moment to restore the card came, I checked the PCB again. This time I was thorough. Each component was scrutinized.

To my amazement, I saw that a memory chip somehow survived a massive blow which also affected a few neighbouring ceramic capacitors, which suddenly have become a little thinner. 😁

I checked each ceramic capacitor and each pin of the memory chip and because I didnt find anything bad I decided to leave everything as it was. THANK GOD for leaded solder!

I said to myself: LUCKY ME!!! You still need to work on your end and CHECK each part BETTER, before you BUY!!!

I dodged a bullet.

Usually I clean a card before I test it, to ensure that it has the best chances to work but in this instance I decided to just clean the cooler and see if it is alive.

I knew that the fan didnt turn smoothly so I took it apart to see what's what.

SURPRISE, the steel shaft of the propeller ate into the sleeve bearing due to the lack of lubrication.

GREAT!

I have no ideea as to what has caused the corrosion. Maybe the card took a bath somewhere down the road...

I cleaned well the sleeve bearing and the propeller, I used a thicker oil and I assembled back the fan so that I could test the card.

When I put the fan back I managed to rip off a piece of the frame of the fan. Super Glue to the rescue...OLD STUFF IS OLD...

All was not OK.

After I removed all the dirt and God knows what was inside the sleeve bearing, the propeller had a wobble like it was facing a hurricane. I have never seen such a massive wobble and I must say that a quite a few of fans have passed through my hands. Maybe the accumulated dirt on the propeller and the lack of lubrication are the culprits here.

GREAT!!! NICE!!! OUTSTANDING!!! What could I possibly want more?!

More problems.

I assembled the fan as best as I could and I was ready for the real test.

Clear image. ZERO artefacts.

I looked inside the case to see if everything was alright and what did I see? The fan didnt spin at all. I tried to move it with my finger but it didnt start to spin.

SUPER!!! This GF2 is driving me nuts!!!

I took out the card from the PC and I checked the area near the fan connector.

I didnt like what I saw. A tranzistor was showing signs of damage.

A cotton stick dipped in IPA 99% confirmed what I suspected. The stuff on the top of the tranzistor wasnt dirt but a burn mark.

GREAT!!! Will I find more damaged parts?! I WONDER?

I removed the dead tranzistor form the PCB.

Because the tranzistor was TOAST, the identification number was also TOAST.

I couldnt find on the Intenet a clear picture with a good card. Blurry pictures all over the place.

I checked the tranzistor again and I saw the number "1".

I took a moment off and I tried to remember where I saw this number?

Hmmmm. The way the number "1" was placed on the tranzistor meant that only one more character would fit right on it. This made me remember the humble 1P tranzistor! This part was also busted on the EPOX EP-58MVP3C-M motherboard which I also managed to save some time ago.

The modern equivalent of the 1P tranzistor is MMBT2222A - SOT-23 package.

https://www.taitroncomponents.com/catalog/Dat … t/MMBT2222A.pdf

I searched on the Internet and I found a supplier for the required MMBT2222A tranzistor. The only problem was that to justify the price of the tranzistor and shipping I also had to buy a bunch of electrolytic capacitors.

At that time I didnt want to buy anything even if I had a lot of other pacients on the operating table.

I remembered that I saw a lot of 1P tranzistors on the PCB of old fans, so I started to dig in various boxes to find damaged fans that I didnt throw out.

BEHOLD! FULL of 1P tranzitors. No purchase needed! GREAT NEWS!

Time for a transplant.

When I tested the card again, I used another fan which I knew for sure that it worked.

FIXED!

A close-up with the fallout resulted after the blow that the memory chip and the ceramic capacitors registered.

Dont think even for a moment that I was out of the woods...

I wanted to preserve the originality of the card, being Creative and all, so I decided to save what could not be saved, the fan.

PITA! PITA PITA! with a burst of RAGE at the END.

The broken piece from the frame of the fan needed to be glued back again...

This time I was more careful.

After I glued back the broken piece I said F@K THIS! and I wanted to change the fan with another one.

Said and done. I took from a box a dead ATI Radeon 8500 AIW which had a similar fan.

A great replacement....but IS IT?

NOPE! The voltage is different...5V vs 12V

I returned to the pacient on life support...the original fan...Because the card wasnt supposed to run 24/7 the originality was way more important.

I cleaned the original fan again and I used a mix of a thicker oil and a little grease. I took all the required steps to ensure that the mix wasnt too thick.

The round white plastic part, is very important as it keeps the magnet of the propeller in alignment with the winding of the motor of the fan. After this I was ready for another test.

IT WORKS!!! ... but IS IT?

More fiddling and fine tuning until all was PERFECT. The fan must turn smoothly.

Time for the finishing touches: transparent Poxipol and fresh 0.2mm TESA double sided tape for the sticker.

I managed to obtain what could not be obtained, the recovery of a damaged, consumed, tired, fan...

Something still bothered me though.... The fan still didnt run as I wanted it to. Go figure...sometimes it didnt start or it didnt run well.

I took it apart again and this time I separated the motor from the plastic frame...Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain (Official Video)

DISASTER: craked tranzistors and a torn/burned wire from the winding of the motor.

Even if I saw the damage I still thought that I could save it...unfortunately this time another part of the frame of the fan broke off...

RAGE!!! RAGE!!! OH THE RELEASE...

I dumped the fan on the floor and I stepped on it. All that was left after this were small bits of plastic. When I calmed down I looked at the results of my rage and I slowly said: there is no coming back from that.

I didnt take pictures...and even if I did I wouldnt've posted them.

After I composed myself I was ready for another round.

I must finish what I have started. No loose ends this side of the border.

I took the card in my hands and I stared at it for a few moments.

What the F.....K?!?! A ceramic capacitor was hanging for dear life...solder that son of a gun back! How did I miss that???

Another person could've just attach another fan and would've called it a day.

NOT ME! I had to exchange the cooling system no matter what!

The heatsink was glued well.

I tried: to put the card in the freezer, dental floss and IPA 99%, baths in IPA 99% for hours and hours, I left the card in the sun, I used a hair dryer and ...ALL WAS FOR NOTHING!!! The thermal glue didnt budge.

I started to look for a solution on the good ol' INTERNET.

I found a method that involved the use of a freeze spray. 3Dfx Voodoo 5500 Heatsink Removal - The safe and easy way

After I read some more, I found out that I could buy the freeze spray from local electronics repair shops or I could use a can off compressed air that was held with the head down.

The question was if I could find these in my city.

I found a can of compressed air and a can of freeze spray. The freeze spray can be used to detect damaged PCB components, broken PCB traces, etc. Clever stuff the freeze spray is.

iPhone 7+ Finding a Short on VDD Main Using Freeze Spray
Finding a shorted component with freeze spray. Samsung HLN5065

The YT clip was straight forward but me being me and because I had a few mishaps in the past meant that I had to take precautions before I used the freeze spray. You can never be too careful, trust me.

Gloves, glasses and a thick winter jacket. FULL BODY ARMOR!!! The freez spray can cool down to -55C. The contents of the freeze spray can splash and you dont want that stuff in your eyes, skin or on your face. The vapors must not be inhaled. After I read the precations on the can and the internet I was close to give up.

Even with the freeze spray I needed three tries until I managed to remove the damned heatsink.

Initally I didnt use the clear plastic extension tube that came with the spray and I was enveloped by vapors when the contents of the spray touched the fins of the heatsink.

The spray I bought was way stronger that the one in the YT clip.

I attached the clear plastic extension tube and I was ready for another round.

I pressed until I could see that some liquid came out of the can.

I waited for a few seconds until I saw frost forming, then I took a credit card and I put it between the graphic chip and the heatsink, in an area free of ICs, and I applied force, quite a lot of force.

You should've seen my face when I saw that the markings from the graphic chip remained on the glue that was stuck on the heatsink. Regardless, I was pumped that I managed to remove the heatsink. In YO' FACE MOTHER...

Frosty pic.

Did the card survive this ordeal?

Apply AC MX-4, DeepCool V50 and fire that $hit UP!!!

I need a drink...Cypress Hill - Tequila Sunrise

Different but are they?

GF2 GTS vs GF2 Ti

The finishing touches.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/29rbwqkku/

The recovery of this card took several days and it obsessed me. I didnt let up until I did all I could and then some. This restoration almost destabilized my daily balance. I was truly on the knife's edge.

After this endeavour I took some time off. I didnt want to look at another component for more than a month.

I was tired. The obsession almost ate me. A few of you might understand this.

After this experience I came to the conclusion that I should slow down a little even if I still dont know the true meaning of this.

Still it's my way or the highway. 100% or NOTHING.

The upside is that after this downtime, somehow I came BACK STRONGER. I still want to inject myself with old HW only that this time I know how to protect myself and I wont dedicate so much effort for just any old part.

This was intense. In many aspects it is close to the VooDoo 4 4500 story and even above it in other.

Almost Annihilated and almost an Annihilator.

Lets return to the matter at hand.

I still have to present one more card.

Compaq OEM GeForce2 GTS / WAIMEA 316903700001 R01 / 179642-004 / 231023-001

Just SMOOTH SAILING...the pictures are self explanatory.

ZERO PROBLEMS!

Enjoy!

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/e94zbl4e/

Didnt I tell you that these stories are different like night and day?

True story. 😁 Dr. Dre - Still D.R.E. ft. Snoop Dogg

MORE LATERZZZzzzzZZZZ! 😁 😁 😁

Cypress Hill - Dr. Greenthumb

NEXT WEEK: I PLAY WITH LAZZZZOOOORRZZZZ 😁

He he he 😁

Creative CR-563-B 2x CD-ROM / Creative SB 16 Value CT2770

In one of the many trips I made to the flea market this year, I came across a Creative CD-ROM unit. At first I didnt want to take it, but after I got home I went back and I bought it.

I paid the hefty sum of 1.1EUR and it was mine. Because I have cleaned and reconditioned many ODDs and my success rate was a flawless 100%, I knew what to expect.

A Creative 2x CD-ROM unit is nothing to sneeze at, I said to myself...

The unit was made by PANASONIC and the model is CR-563-B.

The follwoing day I did a quick test to see if it is alive and kicking.

I already knew that it wasnt a regular IDE CD-ROM unit and if I was going to see if it works I would need a sound card or an add-on card with a PANASONIC interface. Because at that time I didnt have a single card with such an interface, I wanted to see if at least worked. I inserted a CD, I saw that the tray still worked well despite the fact that the unit was 24 years old, I saw that the LED lighted up and the unit tried to read the disc.

Everything seemed well.

After all of this, I stored the CD-ROM unit and I started to look for a sound card with a PANASONIC interface. Back in the day, before the IDE interface became the MASTER BLASTER, there were a few competing standards when it came to ODDs. SONY/MITSUMI/PANASONIC/IDE. A real jungle. This fact alone made me reluctant when I had to buy old parts that dont come in the form of a kit. The probability that I would be missing a piece of the puzzle is greater and I might not be able to find it!

In the end I found a Creative SB 16 Value CT2770 sound card at a decent price and I anxiously waited her arrival.

I think that you already know what came after I received the sound card...A lot of cleaning, of course.

Peeling off the layers of dirt and grime. Patience was the word of the game.

Clean as a whistle.

DONE!

Armed with the missing piece for this puzzle I was ready for the real test. I already cleaned the laser lens well and the unit received a mild cleaning.

The CD-ROM unit was correctly identified by WIN 95 and it seemed that I might be in for a session of smooth sailing. I knew that it might have some problems with certain CD-R/CD-RW discs or with different coloured discs so I already prepared a bunch of silver and audio CDs if this was going to be the case.

20+ CDs later, all that I could muster, was a correct identification of the length of the track in CD SPeed 99 and the reading of the names of the tracks on an audio CD. No matter what I tried, the unit wasnt able to play a song from an audio CD.

Well...this SUX...

I knew that this units had a flaw. The sprocket that is in contact with the motor that moves the laser head back and forth, has the bad habit of cracking so I dismantled the unit completely.

Observe the extremely soft black brush which has the role of maintaing the laser lens clean of dust. I raised an eyebrow when I saw it. A first for me.

Well... the sprocket and the worm sprocket from the motor were ALL OK!

I used a little silicone grease where it was required and I placed the laser head at the middle of the metal shaft onto which it travels, to see if when I would power-up the CD-ROM unit it would travel to its initial position.

After I powered up the unit, the head traveled to its initial position. This meant that all the sprockets and the motor were in good working condition. The micro-contact placed in the zero position was also OK.

WARNING Do not work on a CD-ROM unit or any other ODD when it is taken out of its casing or has the top cover removed and it is powered up . All the operations described above were done with the unit disconnected from electric current or with the unit assembled in its casing. Under no circumstance was I going to do stupid things and maybe suffer some form of eye damage. REMEMBER! It doesnt pay to be STUPID! All in all I DO NOT recommend that you do any kind of work on this type of electronic devices unless YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Even if it seems simple, you might end up in a world of hurt. (Just my 2 cents)

I searched for DOS drivers hoping that it might be a case of an obscure incompatibility somewhere.

http://ibm-pc.org/drivers/cdrom/PANASONI/panason.html

The unit was correctly identified under MS-DOS. Even so, I still wasnt able to make it read a single CD.

In the end I turned my sight to the elephant in the room.

The laser head itself.

I read on the internet that in some instances you can a adjust a trimpot from the laser head and give it a new lease of life.

I did two adjustments. I used a small bit from a screwdriver set and the first time a turned the trimpot just a hair and the second time 25% more.

I had to take apart and assemble the unit each time I adjusted the trimpot. Tedious work I tell you...

After the second adjustment I could hear that the CD was identified faster and the unit sounded healthier.

In the end all was for nothing as the unit didnt read a single disc. After the ordeal with the Creative GF2 GTS from the previous episode I said THAT'S IT and I prepared the unit for cleaning. In the future I might try again to revive this old dog...for now it will be put into storage.

This is how I remained without my 100% recovery rate when it comes to ODDs 😁 I suppose it had to happen sometime 😁

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/223k8gpjc/ *** https://postimg.cc/gallery/1tf6a0rig/

More later.

That's pretty sad. I'm thinking about buying the sound card + Creative Labs CD-ROM combo online to make my 486 more period correct as the 32x CD-ROM drive I have isn't working very well. Did you put in a jumper for the drive ID as 0, 1, 2, or 3?

To my knowledge the PANASONIC interface doesnt accept two devices on one cable and the interface on sound cards accepts only CD-ROMs. I think this is the case of all sound cards no matter the interface SONY/MITSUMI/PANASONIC/IDE.

I didnt use a jumper on the ID 0,1,2 or 3 as I didnt think it was necessary. The unit was always recognized in WIN 95 and MS-DOS.

Ah. I had a Mitsumi double-speed CD-ROM (ATAPI) that did the same thing. It would spin for a split second and it gives out a CD reading error message in both MS-DOS and Windows, but, got detected, especially with my IDE to USB enclosure for the 3.5" hard drives on my Windows 7 and 10 laptops. Sometimes, those laser boards fail over time and the double-speed CD drives, regardless of the connection (proprietary, IDE, SCSI), were prone to failures. My grandpa's old IBM Aptiva 2168-M55's Quad-Speed Mitsumi CD-ROM drive still works to this day. It could be a bad I/O chip causing the drive to not read, or the laser assembly has bit the dust.