** Acme's [Akagi's] Retro Odyssey! From Apple ][ to Pentium 4. Repair, modding, and more! **

[Akagi]

Nothing wrong with that - it was just a version of Windows 7 released ahead of its time before hardware support had caught up. Bet it's fairly problem free these days

I guess we'll see!

At least I won't have the issue a lot of people had where they complained it was slow, because their XP era machine couldn't drive it.

I've actually NEVER used Vista on anything other than underpowered junk, so perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Akagi]

I liked Vista, it was a pretty decent OS in the end

I'm a bit sad that Business edition doesn't include any of the Home stuff, like media centre and so on.

But its the license the machine has on it so...

 

[Akagi]

I am being tested by this computer...

I can't install Windows because the installation keeps hanging at the "completing installation" step.

Semi failed troubleshooting:

Spoiler

Every time it fails and I re-boot, I have to start the install again from scratch. At this point I have practically memorised the product key!

Ran an extended memory test / system self test which took over 3 hours to complete...

It passed everything.

Attempted to try another SSD which I stole out of my laptop...

It didn't like it...

Tried to make it like it...

Huh? But you just said.......... what

Doesn't matter, it still didn't like it.

Perhaps it doesn't have enough capacity. But I had Windows 10 installed on this when it was in my laptop so surely it must do...

Tried a different graphics card...

No dice there either.

Next thing I am going to do is try installing from a different DVD drive.

If that doesn't work, I am going to burn a fresh install DVD.

If that doesn't work, I have ordered a new SSD, so I'll try that.

If that doesn't work... Well, I have also ordered a pair of upgrade CPUs, to max out the machine. X5460s!

If that doesn't work (and I wouldn't expect it to, how often to CPUs fail really?) then I'll buy a replacement motherboard I guess!

Lets see how far down that list I have to go...

 

[Akagi]

@Rroff this one is definitely tacky!

Right so, I tried a slightly different Vista ISO, on a fresh DVD, and used my known-good USB DVD drive.

The setup failed at the same spot, during the final step after the main install, but this time instead of a lockup I got a rather useful BSOD!

0x00000101 "CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT"

"This indicates that an expected clock interrupt on a secondary processor, in a multi-processor system, was not received within the allocated interval."

So it could be CPU related (how convenient that I have a new pair of CPUs on the way, then...) or it might still be a RAM issue.

One last go for the night, with half the RAM removed.

Was only 2 problems with Vista really - some of the background processes were unoptimised resulting in the system always being slight busy with the knock on effect of that and some stuff was just slightly awkward flow wise. A lot of the changes in 7 are really minor but make all the difference when you are using the OS daily, especially if operating more than one system. Sadly things they've not learnt with 10/11.

Interesting to know. I did the same as most and went from XP straight to 7, so I've never really experienced it myself, nor have I given it a chance until now.

I doubt I'll use this machine heavily enough to notice!

 

[Akagi]

So it turns out that I am a moron. I know this is a shock to you all.

The only thing I had added into the configuration since it was last working was the network card.

I had apparently completely forgotten that fact... Naturally removing it resolved the issues immediately...

I finally arrived at this after first eliminating absolutely everything else... I tried installing with half the RAM slots populated, I tried the other RAM slots, I tried the other RAM sticks, I tried one RAM stick, I tried another GPU, I stole the SSD out of my laptop and formatted it (good job me!) to try that, I tried another optical drive, I burned another copy of Vista to another disk, I even changed some BIOS settings, and ordered another SSD, (order since cancelled...) before finally... It dawned on me...

I must have half installed Windows to and re-formatted that poor Gigabyte SSD about a dozen times...

So... The onboard NIC still doesn't work. It is detected, and the drivers automatically install, but it doesn't detect when a cable is connected.

I found the Broadcom chip on the board and had a look at the condition of the components around it, and there was a tiny surface mount resistor that looked a little crooked. I gave it a gentle prod, and it fell off...

Circled here in red:

So, thats quite likely to be the issue I'd imagine. I have a Microsoft Surface USB to ethernet adapter somewhere, I'm going to see if I can use that... If I can, problem solved as far as I'm concerned!

Before I resign myself to that solution though, I am going to see if I can install the drivers without the network card installed, and then see if it will boot into windows and work. Fingers crossed... I am not holding out hope!

e; That didn't work, though the BSOD didn't occur when the card was installed in the second PCI-E x16 slot. Regardless, I can't make the drivers work anyway, so USB thingy it is... It better work or I might lose it.

 

[Akagi]

I actually liked vista as well, it was my first 64bit OS... and the condition that i installed was it must work with Battlefield 2. and it worked fine. Im not sure on the system , i think it was the i7 920, with 6gb RAM which is probably why i thought it was speedy and our corporate pc at time was a pentium 4 and literally took 10 minutes to boot up

I can see an i7 feeling pretty quick after using a P4!

When using the Dell earlier on I had to keep reminding myself that I can have a few tabs open without the machine going into meltdown. With the P4 system I was in a habit of only having one thing going at a time.

In other news, I picked up a parts machine for free. An interesting looking case, but it was bashed and bent and had paint scraped off of it and buttons missing, so I decided to just strip everything useful out of it.

Tear-down and parts pilfered:

Spoiler

Bit of a birdsnest

Cold cathode! When was the last time you saw one of those?

Soundblaster Live! This was the main reason I was interested in it... This will go nicely in the Me machine that is having trouble giving me audio. That is of course assuming the Windows 98SE driver works!

PalitDaytona MX440 64MB. It works, but what else is there to say about it? It has a cool purple PCB I guess!

A mishmash of RAM. The SuperTalent stick is interesting.

Asus A7V8X-X socket A board

Athlon XP 2600+

A nice (relatively of course) Hiper PSU!

Cheapy blue CPU heatsink, the fan doesn't light up.

The cathode may live to see another day!

A couple of Hitachi Deskstars, a 150GB and a 180GB? They say 123.5GB and 164GB on them.

Another DVD writer

Good quality Samsung floppy drive

And just about every other scrap of usefulness

 

[Akagi]

2500+ Barton core - decent OC stepping iirc



120GB and 160GB. I can't be bothered to work it out, but probably from a time when HDD manufacturers were a bit more "honest", and you actually got 120GB and 160GB formatted capacity. (Due to the difference in Gigabytes vs Gibibytes 1024 vs 1000)

That makes sense! Hence "2500" written on it. CPU-Z said its a 2600+ hence my confusion.

Ah, cool, thanks for explaining!

 

[Akagi]

The Precision now has 2x Xeon X5460 at 3.16GHz.

Why you ask? Because I can I say.

I don't know, something about the CPU clock speed starting with a 3 instead of a 2 makes it seem more beastly...

But that is another 500MHz per core, so it's almost like having an extra 1.5 cores! Or something...

 

[Akagi]

Back together with the X5460s and the drive cage and RAM fan are back in, because a.) the RAM gets extremely hot, and b.) the POST moans at me about the fan being missing and there is no way to disable that test.

Remember these widgets?

In other news, the Soundblaster Live! is now in the Me machine, Windows 98 drivers installed perfectly, and I have sound!

I also added a rear fan grille to make it look less jank.

 

[Akagi]

i had plenty of those cold cathodes and plenty of that little controller powerbox that went up in smoke

Hmm, perhaps I shouldn't use it...

 

[Akagi]

This Casetek CK-1020 arrived today! Many thanks to @Kurgen for offering to ship it to me.

It has some goodies still inside too. The RAM is nice to have, but please message me if you'd like me to send it back, as I'm not sure you intended to leave it in there...

Further pictures and info!

Spoiler

It is apparently new old stock, and it is in pretty nice shape overall!

It has a lockable front door with the bays and the buttons behind it. I don't have the key, but its easy enough to get one for this sort of lock if I feel the need!

And behind that another door hinges open to allow removal and installation of the drives using plastic skids (very cool), cleaning the intake fan filter, and also locking the side panel!
There is one retention clip missing in here that the door is meant to snap into, so I'll have to see what I can do about that...

Contents wise it has half an X58 system, which I'm sure I can find a use for at some point.

You can also see a mounting point for two fans, so they can draw air from... The... Solid side panel? Righty-o Casetek.
And the side panel has an optional intrusion detection switch, which is pretty neato.

The paint is going a little iffy from age and storage, but if thats the worst of its condition, being 20 years old, thats pretty amazing if you ask me!

You can barely tell in normal lighting, so it looks basically immaculate unless you scrutinise!

Love them or hate them it also has this IDE cable inside, which I think I'll use in the Pentium 4 machine, along with the silver one I salvaged from the last machine I posted!

Plans wise I haven't quite decided what to do with it, but I have a few ideas floating around...

Option 1 is to find a dual socket 771 E-ATX motherboard and use parts from the Dell to make a custom dual socket Core 2 era machine.
Option 2 is to build a Core 2 Quad or Phenom X4 system, but that will have to be down the road when I have the funds to find some nice parts.
Option 3 is to fit the missing parts of the X58 system that is already installed. I just need an IO shield, a CPU cooler and a GPU!

Things are starting to get out of hand...

Watch this space I guess!

 

[Akagi]

Put the funky not-ribbon cables in the P4 machine and re-did the cable management as best I could.

Little before/after side by side.

 

[Akagi]

I really think the motherboard in the Dell may be in trouble, beyond just the missing surface mount components causing the network port to not function.

The network card in the PCI-E x8 slot causing a system crash is one reason why, I have tested it in another machine, and in another slot on the machine, and it worked in both cases. So I suspect an issue with the slot.

I am also having issues with USB devices being detected, the front panel ports seem to be intermittent, and depending on what devices are plugged into the rear, further connected devices are flagged as faulty or do not show up at all...

I tried updating the BIOS to the latest version available, and installed chipset drivers, nothing changed.

So I am possibly looking for a T5400 or a motherboard from one if anyone has any leads. There are some on the bay of e for more than a whole system is worth, but I'm not going to buy one of those...

For now, I've bought a very cheap PCI card with 4x USB ports, as a last ditch attempt to bandaid fix it.

 

[Akagi]

Probably not too helpful but fwiw Dell Poweredge SC1430 is an almost identical machine - difference is mainly in slot configuration (no pcie-16x)

I need the x16 slot for my use case really, but thats interesting to know. The board looks like a cut down version.

 

[Akagi]

I must be out of my god damn mind but I just bought three untested Intel S5000PSL dual socket 771 server motherboards and a pair of socket 771 Mac Pro passive CPU coolers.

Assuming that they work, which in itself is a big maybe, the jury is out on whether or not PCI-E graphics cards are supported or not. I found some threads where people were having issues... But I found one where someone claimed that the exact card I want to use (GTX260) works on theirs...

 

[Akagi]

In preparation, because this case won't have nearly enough airflow for this application (this is a stupid idea, after all) - I made an adjustment to the front of the case.

I spaced out the blue section of the front panel using longer screws and spacers:

So that some air can be drawn in around the sides as well as more being able to come from above and below...

It still looks OK.

I'll remove the lowest three 5.25" blanks, and mount a fan in here as an intake, which will blow directly onto the CPU heatsinks.

I really don't think this is going to work well enough but ah, we'll see.

 

[Akagi]

PCs dont need airflow its a myth...

I hope the pair of 120W Xeons agree.

 

[Akagi]

Mmmm I am just now learning that these boards don't support sound.
Of course. Server boards. I am a dummy.

I guess if it works I will also need a sound card.

Actually yknow, I think I have a Xonar DGX somewhere...

e; no, no I don't. I must have sold it...

 

[Akagi]

A revelation, TWO 120mm fans fit in the drive bay area stacked atop each other. I have bought some fan grille mesh filter stuff to attach to the back of the door.

Playing around with where stuff might go... It is going to need a lot of cooling to keep up with a pair of 120W chips, 80W of burning hot fully-buffered RAM, and a GPU dumping heat into the case...

I'll probably set the rear fan and the top fan to be exhaust, and add another little fan to the IO area...

I am also considering modifying the case to have an additional 120mm intake at the front where the current 80mm is, but I'll see how it is first...

The more I look at this thing, the more I'm sure it was originally some kind of server/workstation chassis that got modified for sale as a gaming case. It even has holes for server grade motherboards, and the general construction and weight of it, as well as the styling, the expansion card supports, etc...

 

[Akagi]

Packed away the vintage stuff for the time being, because the spare room is required for the next few weeks

And doing a bit of sorting, so I can actually find things...

I also found the lost Xonar DGX... AFTER ordering a USB sound dongle thing...