What retro things have you done today?

[hohum]

Does your motherboard beep for no VGA when you turn it on or is there just no image?

I am starting to think my problem may be I/O based and the problems almost always occur during CDROM access (I have tried 3 different drives and both IDE channels.)

Initially it didn't (was able to boot up and shutdown using the power switch, just no video output), but after the third attempt it beeped a few times and the onboard graphics took over instead.

If you've swapped a few drives thus far (and presumably ide cables also) then it's looking like a suspect motherboard if the ram turns out ok I guess. Perhaps you'll get to recap something yourself too at this rate!

 

[LewisRaz]

Well I have a happy ending finally



Swapped the 120mhz pentium for a 100mhz and we are good!

Surprisingly noticably slower at running scandisk than the 120 was . Will still destroy the 100mhz 486 it replaced. Upped the ram to 32mb while I was at it

 

[hohum]

Easier fix than expected then! So I guess the question is: is the cpu knackered, or does it just not play nice with that particular board for some reason?

 

[LewisRaz]

Easier fix than expected then! So I guess the question is: is the cpu knackered, or does it just not play nice with that particular board for some reason?

Im happy with it! Just a shame so many hours were lost. Now windows is fully installed I cant get it to see my mouse(Using the motherboard headers for parrallel and serial with a PCI bracket)... This build is cursed ahah

 

[LewisRaz]

This build is definitely cursed. Tried both serial headers, both possible orientations of the connector. Even stole the connector from an I/o controller card and tried that. No mouse detected >.<
No ps/2 header on the motherboard so cant use that route. Unlike my last mouse trouble i know 100% that this mouse is working!

 

[hohum]

No idea, haven't had a serial mouse in years! Can't offer any suggestions other than checking the configuration of the com ports in the bios perhaps.

 

[LewisRaz]

I was up stupid late trying to sort it. Stripped down motherboard to ensure no confilcts. Disabled plug and play and manually assigned addresses. Still no joy

 

[hohum]

I think at your stage I'd be pretty fed up to the point of building something else! Out of curiosity do you have the same problem if you were to use Win98 instead of 95?

 

[almoststew1990]

This build is definitely cursed. Tried both serial headers, both possible orientations of the connector. Even stole the connector from an I/o controller card and tried that. No mouse detected >.<
No ps/2 header on the motherboard so cant use that route. Unlike my last mouse trouble i know 100% that this mouse is working!

Which driver are you using for it in DOS?

Edit - if you're getting desperate... https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=pci+PS/2+port&_sacat=0

 

[LewisRaz]

I did see those mate but from my research they dont work in windows 95 as they are actually USB controllers.

I have not tried 98 or pure dos yet. I do have the driver disk for the mouse so will try DOS later.

I had been reading that the pins on the cables can be different so I cracked it open and checked that mine are wired correctly.

 

[LewisRaz]

Just tried it in pure dos using the mouse driver disk, it also included a test program, nothing!

Time to move on to my next socket 7 system

I probably would not have invested this much time tinkering with this stuff if it wasnt for lockdown

 

[LewisRaz]

Finally "finished" the project today. Think I was on my 4th motherboard before I got a system all working nicely! This one has 2x ps2 ports instead of AT so I was concerned about them lining up with the case. The Keyboard lines up perfectly and I can use a serial mouse with it so that is all good.

Final specs:
Biostar M5ATA motherboard.
Pentium 133mhz.
32mb Ram.
ATI 3D Rage II+ VGA card (not sure if this is 2mb or 4mb as of yet)
Yamaha MF-719 Soundcard..
1GB CF card for HDD.
48x creative cdrom.
Windows 98 (Just far easier setting up drivers etc than 95 with no real caveats)

Will get some finished pics up soon

Also just finishing setting up the 486 sx 50 system.
Installing DOS and windows 3.11.

Will probably just tinker with that one before putting it away.

The pentium will be getting plenty of use tho

 

[!bluetonic!]

Just tried it in pure dos using the mouse driver disk, it also included a test program, nothing!

Time to move on to my next socket 7 system

I probably would not have invested this much time tinkering with this stuff if it wasnt for lockdown

Hello. I had the same issue. It turns out there are two types of wiring for a serial mouse port motherboard header. The common and not so common.

I bought a cable for the 'other' and voilà. It worked.

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=58252

 

[LewisRaz]

Hello. I had the same issue. It turns out there are two types of wiring for a serial mouse port motherboard header. The common and not so common.

I bought a cable for the 'other' and voilà. It worked.

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=58252

Ah I had read about that but for me it was easier to just try another board. Which worked out much better Cheers tho!

Managed to bring all of the building side of my projects to completion or near enough over the week.




MESH PC:
1GHZ Athlon
Asus A7V
512mb ram
Geforce 3 ti 200
Soundblaster LIVE CT4780
16gb CF Drive.
Windows 98se

Cheap black case:
Pentium 3 600mhz
Gigabyte GA-BX2000+(Returned from the dead after a bath in IPA!)
256mb ram
Geforce 2 mx400
Creative Vibra 16s CT2890
40GB HDD
Windows98se

Top Desktop:
486sx50 with 256k cache.
Trigem motherboard with integrated I/O.
16mb ram
Trident 8900C 1MB VGA card.
Soundblaster 2.0
200mb HDD
Dos only.

Bottom Desktop:
Pentium 133 Mhz
Biostar M5ATA Motherboard
32mb ram
ATI 3D Rage II
Yamaha MF-719 (OPL3 and GM chip onboard)
1GB CF Drive
Windows 98se (Was going to be 95 but 98 retains almost all compatibility that I need and just makes things easier.)

I have actually put them all away now except for the 600mhz pentium as there was so much clutter accumulating around my desk, and this is in my lounge

Been enjoying a bit of dungeon keeper on there. Runs so much better than the dosbox versions on GoG/Origin.

 

[Ninco!]

Gosh that Mesh PC brings back memories.

I owned the exact same case and the specs must be pretty much what I had back in 2000. The only difference is that I had a Live drive partnered with Labtec LCS-2414 speakers. A 19" Sony G400 CRT rounded out my specs.

Eventually in 2003 I purchased Logitech Z560 4.1 surround speakers, but the cables were horrendous! If only I had put the money towards an amp and speakers instead.

The Mesh reminds me of six key games of the day, Colin McRae, Grand Prix Legends, Team Fortress, Day of Defeat and Counterstrike. I'll also never forget the launch of Operations Flashpoint in 2001, I only had my PC for a few months and it brought my Mesh to its knee's! Never played a game where you could see for miles! I was gutted when I had to reduce the view distance to playable limits. GPL was pretty brutal on specs as well!

 

[LewisRaz]

Glad to hear it gave you some good memories!
Its a really solid case I have had a few builds in it. This is now back to the original components that I got with it. Paid £5 for it

 

[Ninco!]

Glad to hear it gave you some good memories!
Its a really solid case I have had a few builds in it. This is now back to the original components that I got with it. Paid £5 for it

Bargain!

I look from time to time on eBay for beige box Mesh's and they are pretty uncommon! I once saw a Mesh in the same case a while back, the temptation was strong but the seller was asking silly money so left it.

P.S. It goes without saying that you have a great collection!

 

[LewisRaz]

Been playing Dungeon keeper on dosbox and it just doesnt feel smooth. If you push the cycles up then some parts get too fast but the game still feels sluggish.

Just thought I would load it up on my old P2 laptop to see if I had the nostalgia tinted glasses on but it was very smooth on there and nothing was too fast.

Another time when period correct hardware is great

Now I just have to move my savegames over.

 

[pingwing]

Completed the classic Broken Sword (remastered) sitting comfortably at my tv, took the time to really enjoy the story and the classic puzzles, didn't much appreciate the remastered puzzles though, they lack some imagination.

Onwards to the second, even though I remember this one being shorter and I'm more excited about the 3rd on my PS2.

 

[almoststew1990]

It seems I've completely burned out on retro gaming... Don't even have a retro PC set up! None of my games make we want to build a PC at the moment.

@pingwing I completed BS1 about 10 years ago and thought it was great (with the help of an online walkthrough from the goat puzzle onwards). I now have bs2 remastered in my GOG collection and on my phone and yet have only got a third of the way through.