What retro things have you done today?

Retro6 · 23 Feb 2022 at 21:51

Kurgen said:
HPs website says XP and Vista

I need a special HP disk for them because they all have some kinda firmware lock which is preventing anything earlier than Windows 7 from being installed to them. XP and vista will just blue screen when attempting to install either of those.

It seems like a common issue for these particular machines from my google searches. Maybe a BIOS flash might solve things...

This is what happens when I attempt to install Windows XP. its the same on all three of the machines.

Kurgen · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:03

drakulton · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:06

The issue is caused by two many zeros in the technical information. Try deleting some of them.

Kurgen · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:07

have you tried using genuine HP XP and Vista Discs as they look at the BIOS to verify its an HP machine

Retro6 · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:16

Kurgen said:
have you tried using genuine HP XP and Vista Discs as they look at the BIOS to verify its an HP machine

I haven't tried an HP XP disk yet but that is probably what I need. I will search for one in a bit and try it.

Armageus · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:31

Retro6 said:
I need a special HP disk for them because they all have some kinda firmware lock which is preventing anything earlier than Windows 7 from being installed to them. XP and vista will just blue screen when attempting to install either of those.

It seems like a common issue for these particular machines from my google searches. Maybe a BIOS flash might solve things...

This is what happens when I attempt to install Windows XP. its the same on all three of the machines.

Stop 0x0000007b is related to storage controller mode.

If you change the Sata controller option in the bios from AHCI back to IDE/Legacy/Emulated it should install fine

Failing that you may need to provide a Sata driver via the F6 floppy method

Retro6 · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:48

Armageus said:
Stop 0x0000007b is related to storage controller mode.

If you change the Sata controller option in the bios from AHCI back to IDE/Legacy/Emulated it should install fine

Failing that you may need to provide a Sata driver via the F6 floppy method

Thanks man I really appreciate it. I thought it was something BIOS related but couldn't be sure. I've changed the settings to IDE mode and the XP installation is working now.

drakulton · 23 Feb 2022 at 22:54

Retro6 said:
Thanks man I really appreciate it. I thought it was something BIOS related but couldn't be sure. I've changed the settings to IDE mode and the XP installation is working now.

I can just smell that XP goodness. Make sure you have headphones/speakers attached to hear the title.WMA

Guest2 · 23 Feb 2022 at 23:00

My father in law still insists on using xp to this day as his daily machine, on the internet too. He thinks the chinese will spy on him or something if he uses win 10

drakulton · 23 Feb 2022 at 23:03

Guest2 said:
My father in law still insists on using xp to this day as his daily machine, on the internet too. He thinks the chinese will spy on him or something if he uses win 10

As long as he's wearing condoms on his fingers when he's typing his bank details in, he should be okay.

Retro6 · 23 Feb 2022 at 23:35

drakulton said:
I can just smell that XP goodness. Make sure you have headphones/speakers attached to hear the title.WMA

I remember that from years ago I have to install drivers so there is no audio at the moment. XP is installed now I noticed its service pack 1. I could have sworn I downloaded service pack 3. First thing I need to is download all the chipset drivers.

Retro6 · 24 Feb 2022 at 14:45

I have all the HP chipset drivers now and I downloaded and installed Service Pack 3.

I have two running XP PRO SP3 and the other is on Windows 7

I have been informed today that there maybe more HP DC7900 PC's at work up for grabs. Apparently there is a locked room full of them so I'm going to make some inquiries. I will take the lot. Some maybe quad cores. There pretty good machines.

Kurgen · 26 Feb 2022 at 17:27

got some bits i dont need if anyone wants them, gonna put them in MM for £5 inc delivery

Beige DVD Rom, Biege (ish)Philips DVD Writer, biege 3.5" floppy, generic soundblaster PCI, Net gear PCI LAN card

Retro6 · 26 Feb 2022 at 19:03

I've just been sorting out an old Dell Optiplex 745. It was full of dust. It had been sitting under my bed for years and decided to do something with it. Its on the slow side and a bit laggy so time to upgrade it. I will replace the 1.8GHz dual core with a 3GHz dual core processor. They are only about 2 to 3 pounds on ebay that should give it a bit more speed and I'm thinking about putting in an SSD but will need at least 256 or 250 GB of drive space so I can have both Windows XP and Lubuntu on it. An SSD with a 3GHz dual core should speed it up and then this will be my bedroom PC for browsing the internet and playing some XP retro games so I will have the best of both worlds in one PC. I could do with adding a 1GB GPU for better graphics for games and better video playback in Linux.

phatboy · 27 Feb 2022 at 16:07

Taken a risk on eBay.....Sapphire HD3850 AGP was at £25 bid with a minute left, untested but these things never come up for sale and it was all working but the guy doesn't have an AGP machine to test it anymore.... apparently! Got it for £27

Either going to make me a happy Ben or otherwise I have a nice shelf ornament I guess

nitram100 · 27 Feb 2022 at 19:05

Played Gauntlet 2 on the NES with my bro

phatboy · 27 Feb 2022 at 19:10

nitram100 said:
Played Gauntlet 2 on the NES with my bro

Fine use of a day!

nitram100 · 27 Feb 2022 at 19:22

phatboy said:
Fine use of a day!

Damn right! Picked up a CIB for only 20 quid for xmas for my bro and we got around to playing it today. We have a list of retro games we are running through, next on the list is Dynamite Cop Dreamcast tomorrow

phatboy · 27 Feb 2022 at 19:31

nitram100 said:
Damn right! Picked up a CIB for only 20 quid for xmas for my bro and we got around to playing it today. We have a list of retro games we are running through, next on the list is Dynamite Cop Dreamcast tomorrow

Tbh, at present I am having more fun ploughing through older games on My Evercade VS and the Gamecube than anything else. A lot of BIG games coming out recently, but not all that exciting for me, sadly

Forgot what a fantastic game Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg was

nitram100 · 27 Feb 2022 at 19:35

phatboy said:
Tbh, at present I am having more fun ploughing through older games on My Evercade VS and the Gamecube than anything else. A lot of BIG games coming out recently, but not all that exciting for me, sadly

Forgot what a fantastic game Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg was

Yeh man, to be honest with the way modern gaming has been lately I find myself playing older games. Me and Bro have a huge retro collection, original games and consoles in a dedicated retro room. Just always find ourselves chilling on the bean bags playing SNES Smash Tennis haha.

Game cube does have some gems man, NHL Hitz 2002 is our go to multiplayer game.

What's your fav retro console mate? Dreamcast has to be our overall i think.