What retro things have you done today?

Nevakonaza · 28 Apr 2020 at 01:59

@cee-S-dee love those old horizontal beige cases,Just the nostalgia.

I might get me one of these old cases one of the days to rehouse my Socket A Sempron system in,Sure its not a 286/386/486 but still old regardless.

almoststew1990 · 28 Apr 2020 at 08:58

oops...

LewisRaz · 28 Apr 2020 at 09:43

Oh dear! @almoststew1990 !
What happened? Dodgy sata connector?
Did the rest of the hardware survive?

hohum · 28 Apr 2020 at 10:01

Wow, that's unfortunate

Poor connection to the drive?

almoststew1990 · 28 Apr 2020 at 10:12

I think what happened was the little verticle bit of the sata connector, on the dvd drive, snapped off at some point (you can see it is missing in the picture). I thuink I put the PSU Sata connector in the wrong way up as it would fit that way. It was a bit stiff when I connected it up but it still "clicked" into place with a small amount of force so I didn't think anything of it. Seems quite a strong reaction to it just being connected up the wrong way around - it literally burst into flames, maybe the size of 5 candles or so!

Luckily I only had a fairly meh board and CPU connected up, and my HDD was on a different power connector. I'm hoping the board, GPU, soundcard and HDD lived as all the fans were whirring away until I yanked the power cable out.

hohum · 28 Apr 2020 at 10:42

Yeah, I guess that would do it. Bet that was exciting! Hopefully everything else is fine.

paradigm · 28 Apr 2020 at 10:59

almoststew1990 said:
I think what happened was the little verticle bit of the sata connector, on the dvd drive, snapped off at some point (you can see it is missing in the picture). I thuink I put the PSU Sata connector in the wrong way up as it would fit that way. It was a bit stiff when I connected it up but it still "clicked" into place with a small amount of force so I didn't think anything of it. Seems quite a strong reaction to it just being connected up the wrong way around - it literally burst into flames, maybe the size of 5 candles or so!

Luckily I only had a fairly meh board and CPU connected up, and my HDD was on a different power connector. I'm hoping the board, GPU, soundcard and HDD lived as all the fans were whirring away until I yanked the power cable out.

Looks to me like when you forced the plug in upside down, some of the pins bent and caused a short of the 5v rail. I'd get the PSU tested as best you can. Ironically I'd guess the DVD drive is fine as it won't have received any voltage (the pins would have been on the insulated plastic side), but the plug is now fubar. You "could" open it up and solder on a new one, but if that's worth it or not is up to you!

almoststew1990 · 28 Apr 2020 at 11:03

I'm just going to scrap the PSU - one of the molex power connectors was dead too and I just thought it's not worth the risk and faff of trimming that connector off and sealing it off with... electric tape or something? I've also taken the opportunity to get an SFX factor PSU as a replacement. I can finally do something with the brand new Tiny PC case I have lying around. (Also I got a new SATA DVD drive).

paradigm · 28 Apr 2020 at 11:24

I'd not necessarily scrap it just yet, I'd test the stability of the rails (put some load on them and measure with a multimeter). The dead connector can be cut off at the previous connector (if it's a chain) using a knife to get it right up to the connector (so no loose cable), or you can heatshrink with some excess to cover loose wires. I've done both in the past.

almoststew1990 · 28 Apr 2020 at 12:04

In non flammable news, a few bits arrived today:

Trident 8900C for my 386SX. My AVGA2 had colour issues so this is a replacement - not the fastest card in the world but compatible and it's going in a 386SX so it doesn't need to be fast!

By some luck I came across an 800MHz Slot 1 CPU on eBay for £11 delivered! It's the same voltage as my currebnt 650 model, and also a 100MHz FSB. It should work, and overclock to 900MHz if I apply a 112MHz FSB setting. Hopefully a nice boost from 650!

LewisRaz · 28 Apr 2020 at 12:56

Nice pickups! I think I have owned 5 ISA GPUs and 4 of them were 8900C. Its the card I am using im my 486.
my K6-3 PC has turned up!
Quickly ripped it out to see what CPU was in it:

There was also a rattling so I was glad I did open it as there was a loose screw.

Will have a proper tinker and teardown later but I have to say it was packed very well in the end and should be a lovely machine to use! Potential to even overtake my P1 133 as my main machine.

almoststew1990 · 28 Apr 2020 at 13:24

Yeah the new card hasn't solved my colour issues. Although it is only in Monkey Island as far as I can tell. I'm enjoying some more CMS music whilst I trust it out though!

I would think that PC will be a better main PC as it will be fast enough for the most demanding DOS games like Duke 3D and be noticeably better in Quake!

(Also it is a 9000c as it was cheaper. Even slower than an 8900c I think)

paradigm · 28 Apr 2020 at 13:49

Anyone have any thoughts on if it's worth me picking up a VLB video card for my 486 DX2-66 box? Currently got a 16-bit ISA Tseng ET4000 in it.

Speaking of DX2-66 chips, I've packaged yours up @LewisRaz, hopefully get it to the PO today.

almoststew1990 · 28 Apr 2020 at 13:57

Depends what games I guess. Graphics card seems to play a role in games like Doom when on a dx2 66, with VLB offering speed improvements over 16bit ISA, but on later games like Duke 3D its the CPU holding you back and PCI would likely be better if you had the CPU grunt. There are benchmark charts comparing dozens of ISA / VLB / PCI cards out there that I can't find on my phone ATM.

Have a look at the LGR building a 486 video and also his recent "Windows acceleration VLB graphics" video which he compares two VLB cards but makes wider observations about when they're a good match for different hardware.

Building a 486 with a 487, differing levels of cache and VLB is my last curiosity I have yet to explore in retro gaming

paradigm · 28 Apr 2020 at 14:30

almoststew1990 said:
Building a 486 with a 487

As far as I was aware there is no such thing. A 486SX that had an upgrade slot for a "487" actually takes a 486DX or an Overdrive chip and disables the soldered on 486SX. Kinda pointless when we live in a world of readily available 486DX Socket 1/2/3 boards.

LewisRaz · 28 Apr 2020 at 16:33

Would a VLB card not pair better with a dx4?

Also +1 for watching LGRs video on the VLB cards.

LewisRaz · 29 Apr 2020 at 11:37

My luck with things broken on delivery continues.
This motherboard is completely dead.
It turns on for a second then turns off but the psu stays on and has to be turned off at the wall

paradigm · 29 Apr 2020 at 12:58

First obvious thing to check is that the CMOS clear jumper isn't set, this would cause exactly that behavior (or a POST loop)

Have you got an ISA POST diag card?

LewisRaz · 29 Apr 2020 at 13:03

paradigm said:
First obvious thing to check is that the CMOS clear jumper isn't set, this would cause exactly that behavior (or a POST loop)

Have you got an ISA POST diag card?

Have tried all of that mate. My last resort is I am going to attempt to hotflash the bios

paradigm · 29 Apr 2020 at 14:00

This is where my MiniPro comes in, I just write new BIOS images outside of the machine!