Wow, nice job getting that working - it looks like you cleaned under the solder mask so it should be good for a long time. I have a 386sx board with fairly similar damage but it doesn't even post, still can't figure out why.

Today I've finally had a chance to enjoy my PCB of ab0tj's HardMPU, it works so nicely on my little 486 test PC and works great with my MT-100 😀

There are about 7 faults in the design and I've got the next board ready in EAGLE, but for now I've got 4 more PCBs that just need a few wires soldered to work right 😁 MPU-401s for everyone*!

*everyone being my stack of retro PCs ranging from 386 to pentium MMX

CMB75 wrote on 2020-07-09, 18:08:

Spend most of my “retro” time today grinding a 286 board out of a case with a Dremel. The board had the Varta disease. […]
Show full quote

Spend most of my “retro” time today grinding a 286 board out of a case with a Dremel. The board had the Varta disease.

ASI286-Varta-damage.jpg

After neutralizing the damage with ethanoic acid I put the board into the dishwasher and gave it a good scrub with isopropyl alcohol afterwards. I replaced a few traces with bodge wire and reseated the chips … lo and behold, it does post.

ASI286-Ruby451-testing.jpg
ASI286-POST-DOS5.jpg

Time to put it into temporary storage - without a battery of course.

Very good !
According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?)
Here's the manual from TH99 once again (in case someone else finds this board) https://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/m/U-Z/30524.htm
Do you have equipment to dump that BIOS ? 😁

Deksor wrote on 2020-07-09, 20:54:

Very good ! According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?) Here's […]
Show full quote

CMB75 wrote on 2020-07-09, 18:08:

Spend most of my “retro” time today grinding a 286 board out of a case with a Dremel. The board had the Varta disease. […]
Show full quote

Spend most of my “retro” time today grinding a 286 board out of a case with a Dremel. The board had the Varta disease.

ASI286-Varta-damage.jpg

After neutralizing the damage with ethanoic acid I put the board into the dishwasher and gave it a good scrub with isopropyl alcohol afterwards. I replaced a few traces with bodge wire and reseated the chips … lo and behold, it does post.

ASI286-Ruby451-testing.jpg
ASI286-POST-DOS5.jpg

Time to put it into temporary storage - without a battery of course.

Very good !
According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?)
Here's the manual from TH99 once again (in case someone else finds this board) https://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/m/U-Z/30524.htm
Do you have equipment to dump that BIOS ? 😁

Shouldn't be a problem to dump that BIOS. Do you want me to upload it here or somewhere else?

Been working on my Via C3 1.2ghz Nehemiah Machine the past week and its making good progress. Windows 98 Installed. I'm playing about with Setmul/CPUSPD and Rayers SMB. Hoping to write some batch files for certain CPU speeds. Running a Awe32 with a Dreamblaster X16/SW60XG/TB Maui in the sound. GF2 GTS for Gfx. Really enjoying this machine so far.

CMB75 wrote on 2020-07-09, 22:16:

Deksor wrote on 2020-07-09, 20:54:

Very good ! According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?) Here's […]
Show full quote

CMB75 wrote on 2020-07-09, 18:08:

Spend most of my “retro” time today grinding a 286 board out of a case with a Dremel. The board had the Varta disease. […]
Show full quote

Spend most of my “retro” time today grinding a 286 board out of a case with a Dremel. The board had the Varta disease.

ASI286-Varta-damage.jpg

After neutralizing the damage with ethanoic acid I put the board into the dishwasher and gave it a good scrub with isopropyl alcohol afterwards. I replaced a few traces with bodge wire and reseated the chips … lo and behold, it does post.

ASI286-Ruby451-testing.jpg
ASI286-POST-DOS5.jpg

Time to put it into temporary storage - without a battery of course.

Very good !
According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?)
Here's the manual from TH99 once again (in case someone else finds this board) https://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/m/U-Z/30524.htm
Do you have equipment to dump that BIOS ? 😁

Shouldn't be a problem to dump that BIOS. Do you want me to upload it here or somewhere else?

Predator99's topic should be perfect for that purpose 😀 80286 BIOS image collection

Bancho wrote on 2020-07-09, 23:01:

https://i.imgur.com/hPaWVeul.jpg […]
Show full quote

Nice case. Clean.

Installed Baldur's Gate 1 yesterday, tried it out. Pretty cool game, and one that I think I'll enjoy a lot. If only I could find someone to play it with...

Same thing with Baldur's Gate 2 today.

In addition, also planning on my next retro build. The specs will be similar to the following:

CPU: Pentium III @ 1 GHz
GPU: Voodoo 3 PCI + Nvidia AGP Card for mid-2000's games
RAM: 512 MB
Sound: Aureal Vortex 2 card

Motherboard doesn't matter too much, so long as it works with all the above specs. Any suggestions?

I MacGyver'ed a temporary power supply for an automotive computer. I wish the Data911 MDS2000 automotive computer I have was so simple.

babtras wrote on 2020-07-10, 05:03:

I MacGyver'ed a temporary power supply for an automotive computer. I wish the Data911 MDS2000 automotive computer I have was so simple.

I love MacGyverisms 👍🏼 Good job

Replaced the Socket 7 board from the capacitor plague Gainward motherboard to a TMC AI5VG+ Rev. 2.00 100MHz FSB support and got everything all sorted out. Had issues with the CD drive not getting recognized, so I connected the LS-120 drive to the same cable the CD drive is connected to and it works. Also got the AWE64 DOS utilities and drivers installed and got the card to work (missed one of the files in autoexec.bat to add C:\CTCM\CTCM) and the card does work, except the AWE32 music portion acts strange for some odd reason, so I need to get that all sorted out, but the card works regardless.

May someone please assist me with the AWE32 issues with the card itself? Is there anything I'm missing in the autoexec.bat file or would conflicts cause this issue?

Another retro activity the last couple days. I helped someone fix and improve a clock in QBasic over a Facebook retro computing page. That got me on a roll with something I had been meaning to do with Turbo C in DOS, doing some graphics with direct memory access rather than using the BGI library. It is quite simple with 320x200x256. Not so simple with 640x480x16 - when I figured out how to do it finally, I realized I lack the ability to do it anything near fast enough to be practical.
But I had fun and learned things anyway.

RetroLizard wrote on 2020-07-10, 05:03:

Installed Baldur's Gate 1 yesterday, tried it out. Pretty cool game, and one that I think I'll enjoy a lot. If only I could find […]
Show full quote

Installed Baldur's Gate 1 yesterday, tried it out. Pretty cool game, and one that I think I'll enjoy a lot. If only I could find someone to play it with...

Same thing with Baldur's Gate 2 today.

In addition, also planning on my next retro build. The specs will be similar to the following:

CPU: Pentium III @ 1 GHz
GPU: Voodoo 3 PCI + Nvidia AGP Card for mid-2000's games
RAM: 512 MB
Sound: Aureal Vortex 2 card

Motherboard doesn't matter too much, so long as it works with all the above specs. Any suggestions?

Anything based on the Intel 440BX chipset, I guess.

Deksor wrote on 2020-07-10, 01:48:

CMB75 wrote on 2020-07-09, 22:16:

Deksor wrote on 2020-07-09, 20:54:

Very good ! According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?) Here's […]
Show full quote

Very good !
According to the POST string, it's an Aquarius System Inc (maybe that's what "ASI" on the case stands for ?)
Here's the manual from TH99 once again (in case someone else finds this board) https://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/m/U-Z/30524.htm
Do you have equipment to dump that BIOS ? 😁

Shouldn't be a problem to dump that BIOS. Do you want me to upload it here or somewhere else?

Predator99's topic should be perfect for that purpose 😀 80286 BIOS image collection

Dumped the contents of the BIOS chips and posted them to the 286 BIOS thread. See: Re: 80286 BIOS image collection

Thank you 😀

I'll add this to my improved TH99 project, thanks for your help 😁

xcomcmdr wrote on 2020-07-10, 06:59:

RetroLizard wrote on 2020-07-10, 05:03:

Installed Baldur's Gate 1 yesterday, tried it out. Pretty cool game, and one that I think I'll enjoy a lot. If only I could find […]
Show full quote

Installed Baldur's Gate 1 yesterday, tried it out. Pretty cool game, and one that I think I'll enjoy a lot. If only I could find someone to play it with...

Same thing with Baldur's Gate 2 today.

In addition, also planning on my next retro build. The specs will be similar to the following:

CPU: Pentium III @ 1 GHz
GPU: Voodoo 3 PCI + Nvidia AGP Card for mid-2000's games
RAM: 512 MB
Sound: Aureal Vortex 2 card

Motherboard doesn't matter too much, so long as it works with all the above specs. Any suggestions?

Anything based on the Intel 440BX chipset, I guess.

I did a little research, and apparently 440BX boards can support CPUs running in 133Mhz FSB? Or should I consider a Socket 370 board instead?

I have a Slot 1 Pentium III running at 800 MHz with a FSB at 100 MHz on an ASUS P2B. It's close to what you want, but I had to use a beta version of the BIOS for it to work.

In other words, that's very high end for this chipset.

You'd be safer with a Socket 370. In my experience, I've never seen a 440BX -based motherboard that allowed more than 100 MHz for the FSB.

I tend to prefer this chipset as it is super stable, and it's the same as I experienced back in the day. Besides, the 200 MHz clock difference was not worth it for me.
Also, I needed an ISA slot, and it's next to impossible to find a motherboard with that, if you want to have a 1 GHz CPU on it too.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2020-07-10, 13:26:

I have a Slot 1 Pentium III running at 800 MHz with a FSB at 100 MHz on an ASUS P2B. It's close to what you want, but I had to […]
Show full quote

I have a Slot 1 Pentium III running at 800 MHz with a FSB at 100 MHz on an ASUS P2B. It's close to what you want, but I had to use a beta version of the BIOS for it to work.

In other words, that's very high end for this chipset.

You'd be safer with a Socket 370. In my experience, I've never seen a 440BX -based motherboard that allowed more than 100 MHz for the FSB.

I tend to prefer this chipset as it is super stable, and it's the same as I experienced back in the day. Besides, the 200 MHz clock difference was not worth it for me.

Some 440BX boards allowed setting 133MHz FSB . Asus P3B-F and Abit BX133 are two examples .

When running at 133MHz FSB, normal 33MHz PCI operation is possible, but AGP base clock will be 89MHz instead of the normal 66MHz . This 89MHz clock essentially limits AGP compatibility to some Nvidia cards, like the FX5900 family for example .

For more compatible examples, see 440BX 133Mhz FSB 89Mhz AGP Video Card Compatibility?

Also note that not all 440BX boards are capable of the divider required for 33MHz PCI operation when running FSB at 133MHz and . Those boards will PCI at 44MHz when using 133 MHz FSB. I suggest checking before buying as overclocking the PCI bus by a third breaks compatibility with lots of PCI devices and can lead to disk data corruption .

well anything above 100Mhz on 440BX is considered "overclocked" but they've been run on that far and wide, some boards more stable than others ^^

Ah, I faintly recalled that it was done, but that was about it. Thanks ! 😀

Later revisions of the ASUS P2B could als be set at fsb frequencies up to 150 MHz via jumpers. Like for example revision 1.10: