I know there are blank ones; though not cheap they are also not very expensive and with a dremel you can easily cut out an AT keyboard hole on those. What I really need are those early ATX backplates though, never saw them around for sale..

appiah4 wrote:

I know there are blank ones; though not cheap they are also not very expensive and with a dremel you can easily cut out an AT keyboard hole on those. What I really need are those early ATX backplates though, never saw them around for sale..

The blank ones are very cheap at less that $1 a piece shipped:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-I-O-shield-no-a … HU/362472821364 - $1.87 for 2 shipped from China.

Originally the backplate was the part of the case, later comes the mainboards with own backplate. So be careful with the early atx cases and their backplates - it is possible, they are unique.

Do cameras count? I just bought a Sony Mavica FD87. Couldn't resist because I need floppies and the seller seems to be including a 40 pack of sealed 1.44mb disks with it and they are so pricey to get new on ebay. Won the auction for $14.65 after shipping so I'm pleased enough. Looking forward to taking 640x480 dog pics with a crappy old lens.

If anybody knows a cheaper way to acquire bulk unused disks that are preferably not neon, I'm all ears.

cyclone3d wrote:

appiah4 wrote:

I know there are blank ones; though not cheap they are also not very expensive and with a dremel you can easily cut out an AT keyboard hole on those. What I really need are those early ATX backplates though, never saw them around for sale..

The blank ones are very cheap at less that $1 a piece shipped:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-I-O-shield-no-a … HU/362472821364 - $1.87 for 2 shipped from China.

Grabbed four of them. I have a dremel to cut out AT Holes as I please, these should come in handy.

BeginnerGuy wrote:

Do cameras count? I just bought a Sony Mavica FD87. Couldn't resist because I need floppies and the seller seems to be including a 40 pack of sealed 1.44mb disks with it and they are so pricey to get new on ebay. Won the auction for $14.65 after shipping so I'm pleased enough. Looking forward to taking 640x480 dog pics with a crappy old lens.

If anybody knows a cheaper way to acquire bulk unused disks that are preferably not neon, I'm all ears.

s-l1600.jpg

I bought a Sony Mavic too last month. Mine came with a pack of floppies too.
Nice Camera's.

This lot was on sale for less than $5 so I grabbed it. Appears to be an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2 (how much memory can the VXPro+ i.e. VIA VPX cache?). The motherboard is sold as not working, which is not surprising as it is missing two caps market purple, and one component seems to be partially torn off (marked red). Can anyone tell me what the red marked component is called, how I can determine its rating and whether it can be fixed or replaced?

The soundcard is a chipset I didn't have before (Zoltrix Audio Plus 6400 3D PnP V.5 AV310 - I already have the AV309 version with CS4232, but this one appears to be the AV310 version with CMI8330)

appiah4 wrote:

This lot was on sale for less than $5 so I grabbed it. Appears to be an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2 (how much memory can the VXPro+ i.e. VIA VPX cache?). The motherboard is sold as not working, which is not surprising as it is missing two caps market purple, and one component seems to be partially torn off (marked red). Can anyone tell me what the red marked component is called, how I can determine its rating and whether it can be fixed or replaced?

VXPRO+.jpg

The soundcard is a chipset I didn't have before (Zoltrix Audio Plus 6400 3D PnP V.5 AV310 - I already have the AV309 version with CS4232, but this one appears to be the AV310 version with CMI8330)

PCChips, eh? 🤣 From the same guy?

appiah4 wrote:

This lot was on sale for less than $5 so I grabbed it. Appears to be an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2 (how much memory can the VXPro+ i.e. VIA VPX cache?). The motherboard is sold as not working, which is not surprising as it is missing two caps market purple, and one component seems to be partially torn off (marked red). Can anyone tell me what the red marked component is called, how I can determine its rating and whether it can be fixed or replaced?

That red encircled component is a "Choke coil inductor". You could replace it with another with the same number of spires and diameter, but it seems that you could just solder it in place again as it doesnt seems to be damaged.

appiah4 wrote:

This lot was on sale for less than $5 so I grabbed it. Appears to be an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2 (how much memory can the VXPro+ i.e. VIA VPX cache?). The motherboard is sold as not working, which is not surprising as it is missing two caps market purple, and one component seems to be partially torn off (marked red). Can anyone tell me what the red marked component is called, how I can determine its rating and whether it can be fixed or replaced?

VXPRO+.jpg

The soundcard is a chipset I didn't have before (Zoltrix Audio Plus 6400 3D PnP V.5 AV310 - I already have the AV309 version with CS4232, but this one appears to be the AV310 version with CMI8330)

do not invest to much time to the pcchips and the vxpro stuff 😀
http://redhill.net.au/b/b-bad.html

Intel486dx33 wrote:

I bought a Sony Mavic too last month. Mine came with a pack of floppies too.
Nice Camera's.

Then post a picture of your own and not a stock image FFS.

Got a new pet last week.

tayyare wrote:

PCChips, eh? 🤣 From the same guy?

Nah, not the same guy, some other dude. The motherboard is an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2, not PCChips.

Also got these in the mail today:

Intel i740 VIVO and a Music Quest MPU-401 card by keropi

appiah4 wrote:

Nah, not the same guy, some other dude. The motherboard is an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2, not PCChips.

Elpina M537D == PCChips M537

It's the legendary VXPro that many of us owned back then because it was basically the cheapest Socket 7 around.

Thallanor wrote:

Then post a picture of your own and not a stock image FFS. […]
Show full quote

Intel486dx33 wrote:

I bought a Sony Mavic too last month. Mine came with a pack of floppies too.
Nice Camera's.

Then post a picture of your own and not a stock image FFS.

Got a new pet last week.

71-dPjoSeWL._SX425_.jpg

Beautiful! What breeder?

This is my cat being playful. Such a silly one.

arncht wrote:

appiah4 wrote:

This lot was on sale for less than $5 so I grabbed it. Appears to be an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2 (how much memory can the VXPro+ i.e. VIA VPX cache?). The motherboard is sold as not working, which is not surprising as it is missing two caps market purple, and one component seems to be partially torn off (marked red). Can anyone tell me what the red marked component is called, how I can determine its rating and whether it can be fixed or replaced?

VXPRO+.jpg

The soundcard is a chipset I didn't have before (Zoltrix Audio Plus 6400 3D PnP V.5 AV310 - I already have the AV309 version with CS4232, but this one appears to be the AV310 version with CMI8330)

do not invest to much time to the pcchips and the vxpro stuff 😀
http://redhill.net.au/b/b-bad.html

I believe I have a fine example of what you speak. Too bad, as I like the white ISA slots and it runs rather well other than one 72-pin memory clip is broken. Even has an AMD DX2/80 in it. It does have the suspicious cache chips, the soldered BIOS chip and the blank chipset though.

I had almost the exact motherboard between 1994 and 2012 that had real L2 cache and an AMD AM486-DX4 120 CPU in it. That was a beast, until the BIOS chip died (Award, aka, the "Y2K bug" BIOS that was on a PROM chip).

PCChips M912 v1.7 with fake L2 cache

You can, however, desolder the fake L2 cache, remove the solder leads that serves as the L2 cache size and make it into a motherboard with real L2 cache:

PCChips M912 v1.7 with real L2 cache

And, if needed, you can desolder the BIOS chip carefully and purchase an IC socket like this: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/on- … 53-5-ND/4147603 (Digikey part number: ED3053-5-ND).

Also, I found a SIMM-72 slot: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te- … 4049-ND/1639981 (Digikey part number: A114049-ND) in case you're interested as well.

appiah4 wrote:

tayyare wrote:

PCChips, eh? 🤣 From the same guy?

...The motherboard is an Elpina M537D (VX_Pro+) V5.2, not PCChips.

Elpina Vx Pro but not PCChips? You need to repeat your PCChips 101, because you just failed 🤣

So i picked up a PS/1 (another one). I already had a 386 one, but wanted the original 286 one. dallas RTC is dead as expected and the floppy is malfunctioning, but it's a nice system to have.

ordinarily, not a big deal. however, see if you can spot what it came with.

bjwil1991 wrote:

I had almost the exact motherboard between 1994 and 2012 that had real L2 cache and an AMD AM486-DX4 120 CPU in it. That was a b […]
Show full quote

I had almost the exact motherboard between 1994 and 2012 that had real L2 cache and an AMD AM486-DX4 120 CPU in it. That was a beast, until the BIOS chip died (Award, aka, the "Y2K bug" BIOS that was on a PROM chip).

PCChips M912 v1.7 with fake L2 cache

You can, however, desolder the fake L2 cache, remove the solder leads that serves as the L2 cache size and make it into a motherboard with real L2 cache:

PCChips M912 v1.7 with real L2 cache

And, if needed, you can desolder the BIOS chip carefully and purchase an IC socket like this: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/on- … 53-5-ND/4147603 (Digikey part number: ED3053-5-ND).

Also, I found a SIMM-72 slot: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/te- … 4049-ND/1639981 (Digikey part number: A114049-ND) in case you're interested as well.

Oh no sir, this will be going on the hardware giveaway thread since it works fine and someone might like a project like what you speak of.

liqmat wrote:

Beautiful! What breeder? […]
Show full quote

Thallanor wrote:

Then post a picture of your own and not a stock image FFS. […]
Show full quote

Intel486dx33 wrote:

I bought a Sony Mavic too last month. Mine came with a pack of floppies too.
Nice Camera's.

Then post a picture of your own and not a stock image FFS.

Got a new pet last week.

71-dPjoSeWL._SX425_.jpg

Beautiful! What breeder?

This is my cat being playful. Such a silly one.

catplay.jpg

HUH' 😳 What?