First post, by Hamby
- Rank
- Member
I have a very frustrating system I've wasted weeks on. I'm done with it. I give up, I may give up on retro computing altogether. I'm tired of feeling stupid.
I had a K6-2 300mhz system. I had DOS6.22 / Win3.1 running on it, although it was getting flakey, which I blamed on the 6 gig HD.
So I decided to upgrade to a 8GB CF card with IDE adapter and install windows 98. Wouldn't recognize the card, or would recognize it but fdisk wouldn't partition it. or fdisk would partition it but the Win98 install couldn't find it or wouldn't format it. Reset the removable bit... would fdisk and format, but wouldn't install. Sometimes wouldn't recognize CD-ROM drive. Sometimes couldn't find either the CF drive or the CD-ROM. Got a 32GB ultra card that doesn't need the removable bit reset. Same thing. Reset the bit on it. Same thing.
Somewhere in here I got a new motherboard with Pentium 133 upgraded to 233. Can't find jumper 11 which I can set to change it from the 133 mhz pentium to the 233mhz pentium I also bought (to get close to the K6-2's clock speed), so I have to stick with the 133 cpu for now.
Got Win98 installed on the 8gb drive... tried installing Win98 on the 32GB drive. Computer wouldn't recognize the CD-ROM. Reinstalled the 8GB drive... still wouldn't. Used second IDE controller with CD-ROM separate cable... tried different CD-ROM. Still nothing. Won't boot from 8GB drive.
Took apart the power supply, cleaned it out, no sign of corrosion or bad caps. Still no joy. So now I've tried different motherboards, different cpus, different CD-ROMs, different CF cards, different IDE controllers on two different motherboards, pulled all peripheral cards, tried 2 different video cards...
The only thing I haven't replaced was the power supply.
Just blew money on 2 new EIDE cables. Stupid me, I figured they'd be backward compatible. But, no. There's a block in one of the pinholes of the cable ends, so they won't work with this motherboard.
I also blew money on a new power supply which I haven't installed yet because I was hoping to use it in a 286 or 486 build I was planning to have done by now.
Mode: Rant
No, I'm not adept at using a multimeter, I don't have an oscilloscope, my soldering iron is unused and probably inadequate, I haven't soldered in 20+ years. I don't know what capacitors or resistors or diodes to use if necessary, and I haven't a clue where to order them from (I miss Radio Shack). Digikey and Mouser are freaking impossible mazes for me. "What's the difference between this capacitor and this seemingly identical capacitor?" If I order, I'll end up with 20 different capacitors, none of which work with what I need, like happened with the IDE cable. (and the nearest Fry's is 200 miles away).
I was willing to try growing and fixing simple things, but if I'm inadequate to figure this stuff out... I'm getting to the point of to hell with it. I can't even get to first base.
No, I don't want to go to college and learn electrical engineering. I just wanted to develop modern GAMES on vintage hardware, using some vintage software on some vintage hardware for part of it, and testing on vintage hardware. I wanted to help keep the DOS and early Windows era alive. I wanted to explore the PC world I missed by being tied up in the Amiga world. I wanted an alternative to the internet appliances computers are becoming. I'm starting to pay too high a price to do what I wanted to do, while still not being able to do what I wanted to do!
I pulled the battery on a 286 motherboard because I saw the efflorescence of corrosion. I got myself a half dozen 2032 battery holders, only to find out here that no, you can't replace a barrel backup batter with a CR2032 because you need to install a diode here and cut a resistor there... find the right resistor on your own, and you should know what kind of diode is required and how to install it, dummy. You can't get replacement barrel batteries, but you can get these super capacitor thingies that you understand even less and will probably require some complex rewiring we're not going to bother telling you about. One person tells me I can use a rechargeable 2032 without the diode, another person tells me I can't, because the result could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the spacetime continuum and destroy the entire universe! Or worse, blow up my computer.
Oh, yeah... I broke the tabs on the memory sockets of my Soundblaster AWE32. No problem; I'm told I can get replacement sockets. No problem.. I get 30 pin sockets... that don't match the existing sockets. There's a gap between the banks in the existing ones and nobody told me there are different kinds of 30 pin sockets other than angled and not-angled. So I have another set of sockets on the way, that appear to match my Soundblaster's, but probably aren't angled now that I think about it, just... because.
It's not that I'm unwilling to learn to recap boards, or that I'm unwilling to solder in new memory sockets. It's that nothing I've done so far, works. So I can see myself pulling caps, and installing the wrong ones in the wrong place or the wrong orientation causing a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the spacetime continuum and destroy the entire universe... or worse, blow up my computer.
Vintage hardware is getting darned expensive these days, as are parts, and I didn't have money to spare to begin with. And I figured getting this Win98 system going would be the easiest part.
So now I guess I have to surf YouTube for tutorials on how to use a multimeter to test the power supply. Hopefully they'll include what to look for as well as how to connect the multimeter up to it without the result causing a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the spacetime continuum and destroy the entire universe... or blow up my power supply. Death isn't an optimal outcome, either, come to think of it.
I'm not condemning anyone for not being willing or able to help me figure this stuff out; nobody is under obligation to take me by the hand, and I'm not the kind to blame others for my own failure or inadequacy. I'm just at the end of my patience.
Mode: Analysis
It *has* to be either the power supply or the cables. Two different IDE cables would have to have broken lines in them for it to be the cables. And dummy here hasn't a clue how a power supply could affect recognition of IDE drives.
Since I can't try new cables, at least for awhile, I'll have to try the new power supply. It's 400watt with +12, -12, +5 and -5v on it. It should do the job... the current one is 230watt with the same voltages. I have the motherboard, 32mb ram, cpu, CF-IDE 8GB drive, Voodoo3 2000 video card, one 3.5" floppy and one IDE CD-ROM connected... and a case fan. And that's it. It shouldn't suck that much power.
I've an old OAK ISA VGA card I may try instead of the Voodoo3. I can't think of anything else to do (other than give up).