sunkindly wrote on 2025-09-24, 06:23:

I tried doing research and reading of my own and I can't really find anything specifically eMachines related as far as dropping a 766 into a 566 even if they're both Coppermine-128 and 66fsb. What Google gave you isn't *wrong* and there's an Overclockers thread of someone running a 766MHz Celeron on a Trigem Cognac board but on an HP machine. What I'm concerned about though is that no BIOS is the same between these OEM manufacturers who like to imprint their own flavor (and limitations) into these PCs and apparently the BIOS will need to support a multipler of 11.5 for the 766MHz to work. Without BIOS update logs or something to indicate more support, I think it's a risk (but worth it if it works). Maybe some more digging will reveal some more definite answers.

I appreciate you making that effort.

From what I can gather the highest you can put into this board is the 766MHz processor, after that (800+) they become totally incompatible for reasons.

I'm eyeing this CPU here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/146626758382

It should, in theory, be drop in and go. I have a brand new CPU cooling fan to go with it as well.

liqmat wrote on 2025-09-24, 11:48:

Don't really have anything to add other than enjoy your build and have fun with it. One of my more enjoyable restores (more of a clean-up really) was an eMachine Celeron 400 system (model 400i3) I rescued from a recycling center sitting in a dark corner. Updated the bios to the last & latest which allowed me to use up to 128GB HDDs. Finally sold it due to space constraints and travel, but hey... another one saved from the meat grinder.

Oh, that's awesome!

What got me on this wasn't a retrobuild video, but it was LGR doing a review of the emachines 566lr.

https://youtu.be/qQo0yOqOb_4

It brought back memories of staying up until 2 in the morning the first day I got my emachines 566 playing... Mortyr, the budget world war 2 time travel game. But I was there, man. It was my computer. The previous 3 machines in the house were work or family units. There was the Tandy computer, The "486" which didn't even have sound, and then the Compaq Presario, the big black beast with built in speakers on the monitor. But the eMachines was the first computer that was specifically mine, and I used it for several years until upgrading to either a gateway or a dell. I can't remember. So, this for me is going back to the year 2000, when life was simpler, and Windows 98 felt like the stuff of science fiction to my young mind.

Hey guys, so update!

I upgraded to a 566i2, not by choice exactly, but the 433i I had received from another buyer had more and more problems buried within as I got deeper into it, and it had been damaged due to the poor packing job of the seller (The CHASIS was BENT!).

So I got a CF Card reader, CF Card, and a CF to IDE adapter. This all seems to work perfectly. The computer detects it, and it boots to DOS.

I have downloaded an archived version of the 566i restore CD (I don't have one, and I have no viable means of burning one at the moment.)

So I thought I could use the CF Card to boot and install windows. It seems to work... Up to a point. In starts unpacking files, and then it reaches a point where it says "invalid command.com" and asks to direct it to one.

I have edited the autoexec.bat to point to C:\ instead of A:\ D:\ or R:\ and that did seem to make it happier.

Still, this command.com thing is basically got me gridlocked, Google is no help either because it keeps talking about boot floppies and boot CD-ROMs which I don't have and can't exactly make. The Restore CD should work. So what am I missing?

I plugged the CF Card back into my my main computer, and it seems like during the Windows 98 unpacking and install it is replacing the DISK command.com(6/27/98) with a new one. (4/23/1999)

Now, i'm sure that i'm making a rookie mistake of some kind here. Obviously Windows isn't keen on the fact that I am installing into the same drive that it's being installed from, but i've been told this is doable in the vaguest of terms.

Any help on this would be amazing. I'm so close to having this thing up and running.

Okay, so I managed to get a CD burned with my WIndows 10 machine, the drive on this girl is ten years old, and IMGBURN kept having trouble. I used a 1X burn speed, and got one to burn.

I had Windows 98SE installed with all the OEM stuff on the CF CARD.

The problem was it was NOT detecting the CD drive... The CD DRIVE that literally installed the OS in the first place, and it has since reinstalled it TWICE. I have tried reformatting the drive with FDISK (which, instead of making it a FAT32 made it UNKNOWN.) I have formatted it with Windows 10 which seems to work.

Now i'm having issues with lfnbk.exe. It will start up and just hang on a screen with it trying to force run this program. Nothing happens. And the orange light on the front of the tower seems to just be on.

I'm doing a scan disk in Windows 98 SE safe mode (Gui, not prompt.). So far no issues.

I'm starting to get nervous. This CF Card was brand new, but i've formatted it and scanned it a bunch of times now, and i'm trying to be gentle.

So. Where I stand right now is that Windows 98 SE seems to be partially installed, I can't speak to the drivers as yet (i'm going to explore in safe mode a bit more and see what's up.) The short file names for DOS are still in place, because it lfnbk.exe doesn't seem to want to work. (I wonder if I could run it from the command prompt in Windows 98 SE and make that work?) The .dat file does exist, but it doesn't seem to... I don't know what's happening. I am so close to this thing being operational.

I have one CD-R left. I don't want to have to waste it if I don't have to.

Any help on this? AI, Google, even searching VOGONS and reddit has proven to be somewhat fruitless, and my experience with Windows 98Se is vinatge, from when I was a kid. If anyone can offer a better way to make this work, for example if it would be possible to install the restore disc through DOSBOX onto the CF Card, or something...

Few things I do know:
1. It's not the CF Card. Like I said I had the system fully operational except for the issue with the CD drive on the first go.
2. It doesn't seem to be anything hardware specific.
3. That leaves... Maybe the CD went bad after the first run? I don't know.

Help, please. i'm losing me mind here.

UPDATE:

Well, i've struggled and struggled... and I finally got her up and running.
1. The sound blaster LIVE! That I purchased is an OEM version from a Dell computer and it completely boned the fresh install of Windows I had on there with a driver issue that was causing many crashes.
2. The Geforce 6200 I purchased does not play nice with the MB even though it is a PCI card it causes a bunch of beeps on starting the machine and does not POST.
3. The 766Mhz CPU I purchased, though it fits in every way from physical to the FSB and the Mhz... It was causing crashes, hangs, and all manner of issues. I am 99% certain this is the result of outdated BIOS on the board. I am currently exploring how to flash this. I'm thinking i'll port the BIOS to the CF harddrive through USB, use my restore CD to boot to DOS, and flash the BIOS directly from the CF HD.... That should work, right?

At this current time the PC is up and running with on board audio and video doing the work. I have a Geforce 2 MX400 and a Sound Blaster Live! on the way from ebay. I splurged and bought brand new ones to (mostly) ensure they work, and they come with stock official drivers, which should make them pretty much plug and play.

RIght now I think I need to verify the MB's exact model number and the version number of the BIOS currently on there before I do anything. If anyone can suggest a good forum thread on here, or elsewhere, to go about flashing BIOS... This is something I have never done before ever in 25 years of working with computers... So... Words of wisdom and help on this front would be greatly appreciated.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-09-24, 05:14:

Far as I can tell from the eMachines BIOS string (31511.EM.0000.D.0007052014) it's a TriGem Cognac 2.x board... https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/trigem-cognac-2.x ...which may well support the ssd

Also, see https://wiki.preterhuman.net/EMachines_eTower_566i2#

The attachment 566I2.zip is no longer available

Is that an updated BIOS version or would that be the precise one that is on my board? Going by the dates on the file I would assume it's a newer one?

OpenMaw wrote on 2025-10-14, 01:03:

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-09-24, 05:14:

Far as I can tell from the eMachines BIOS string (31511.EM.0000.D.0007052014) it's a TriGem Cognac 2.x board... https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/trigem-cognac-2.x ...which may well support the ssd

Also, see https://wiki.preterhuman.net/EMachines_eTower_566i2#

The attachment 566I2.zip is no longer available

Is that an updated BIOS version or would that be the precise one that is on my board? Going by the dates on the file I would assume it's a newer one?

If the BIOS string on your board already shows 31511.EM.0000.D.0007052014, then it's a match for the version in the zip file else you'd need to say what the six digits after the D are to know whether you have a newer or older version atm...this is how the version date is determined YYMMDD of those six digits and not by the (2002) date on the file.

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-10-15, 07:30:

If the BIOS string on your board already shows 31511.EM.0000.D.0007052014, then it's a match for the version in the zip file else you'd need to say what the six digits after the D are to know whether you have a newer or older version atm...this is how the version date is determined YYMMDD of those six digits and not by the (2002) date on the file.

So... Mostly up and running with a Geforce 2 MX 400.

Got the Sound Blaster Live! soundcard in there. It's, again, mostly working, but I can't get the SB16 emulation to work, and it seems to be the result of conflicts cropping up.

https://imgur.com/a/O7R6PTO

When I try to edit the IRQ (I have one open at IRQ 3), even in Safe Mode it says I can't change the settings in there.

Basically without the SB16 Emulation I can't play DOS games with sound on this machine. Which is half of the games I wanted to play. Quake doesn't detect the soundcard, Duke 3D doesn't detect the sound card. I'm sure if I tried Tomb Raider I wouldn't get sound either.

Windows games are working pretty good. Been able to play Quake 2, Half-Life, Soldier of Fortune. Those are all working fine.

Update:
So I have absolutely locked down that it is the SB16 Emulation causing issues. I was able to switch the hardware configuration on the SB16 emulation and change the IRQ/DMA channels so it doesn't conflict, but the moment I reenable SB16 from the hardware manager and restart, the video card craps out and will only display 16 colors 640x480. I get a Code 12 error about the card not being able to find free memory ranges, and it won't let me change the memory ranges. So. I'm stuck.

I was hoping maybe there was a better driver for the card that might solve this issues. I've disabled everything i'm not using including the COM2/serial/LBP2, the modem, the onboard video and audio (through the hardware manager, I can't do it through the BIOS).

I also disabled the crystal audio codec as that is the onboard audio... and I'm not certain if it is a culprit for conflict but I also disabled the MPU-401 (Midi Processing?) in the hardware settings. I don't know if that was a bridge too far, or what, but I figured disabling anything that isn't being used was the place to start (no printer, no modem)...