TPU's Nostalgic Hardware Club

[Random Murderer]

That might seem like an obvious solution, but sorry to say it's not possible. Both Hiren's CD (which I used to test the system) and games (such as NFS 3 Hot Pursuit) which tend to crash or freeze need a working CD (or DVD) drive, in order to start

Since you legitimately own these CDs, could you not just rip ISOs of them on another PC and use a virtual drive software like Daemon Tools or Alcohol to mount them on the PC you want to use them on?

Note: I am NOT condoning piracy by saying this, just proposing a workaround.

 

[Trekkie4]

Since you legitimately own these CDs, could you not just rip ISOs of them on another PC and use a virtual drive software like Daemon Tools or Alcohol to mount them on the PC you want to use them on?

Note: I am NOT condoning piracy by saying this, just proposing a workaround.

No one said otherwise lol Besides, most of these games are either abandonware or obsolete, to the point where game developers don't give a damn on who's using them and for what purpose. Anyhow, regarding your suggestion - yes, I already have ISO images made (for my entire CD collection actually), but it seemed too complicated & time consuming job to set it up & get it working. IMHO, it would be just easier to find a replacement DVD unit (especially since I'll have to find alternative, sooner or later) & see if it works that way. Not to mention that all my ISO and BIN backups are located on the external HDD, which no longer seem to be working on K7VT2 board. I've tested the HDD on a modern S775 machine running Win7 and didn't have any problems, so I'm absolutely sure that it's Asrock behind this issue. However, the question whenever DVD drive has something to do with this or not remains to be seen & answered.

 

[Random Murderer]

No one said otherwise lol Besides, most of these games are either abandonware or obsolete, to the point where game developers don't give a damn on who's using them and for what purpose. Anyhow, regarding your suggestion - yes, I already have ISO images made (for my entire CD collection actually), but it seemed too complicated & time consuming job to set it up & get it working. IMHO, it would be just easier to find a replacement DVD unit (especially since I'll have to find alternative, sooner or later) & see if it works that way. Not to mention that all my ISO and BIN backups are located on the external HDD, which no longer seem to be working on K7VT2 board. I've tested the HDD on a modern S775 machine running Win7 and didn't have any problems, so I'm absolutely sure that it's Asrock behind this issue. However, the question whenever DVD drive has something to do with this or not remains to be seen & answered.

Wait, you're having odd issues with the USB and odd issues on PATA? This is sounding more and more like a north bridge issue.
Are you 100% sure that this board is healthy?

 

[dorsetknob]

Trekkie4
Need to test ide dvd r/w Its black then you might get PM

 

[Trekkie4]

Wait, you're having odd issues with the USB and odd issues on PATA? This is sounding more and more like a north bridge issue.
Are you 100% sure that this board is healthy?

Yes, both USB and PATA are acting up! And no, I never said that K7VT2 is healthy, in fact it DOES seem to be failing or experiencing technical failure of some sort ... even though both Prime95 and MemTest86+ checked out OK. Even HDD sector by sector check, it all turned out OK, but overall system seems to be acting up & randomly crash or hang. Like, for example - I've had a situation where I couldn't start NFS 3 game, it would always give me black screen & hang (so I had to press the reset button), even completely froze at one point (even the sound output froze, giving me the same sound tone to the point where I had to restart) but the game would work completely normal next time, or some other day. Like I said, randomly! USB thing is not random however, it was never capable to detect legacy hardware and more recently, it's giving me "delayed write failed" for the external HDD, it can't recognize NTFS partitions (WinXP, SP1)

If it really is a north bridge issue, then it's a good thing I already got replacement board ready TBH, I wasn't looking forward to replacing the entire mobo & having to change the entire cable management, but I /am/ going to replace this thing, even if K7VT2 isn't the problem. I've been reading the online reviews (quite few of them) and ppl had been really frustrated with Asrock, especially when this thing was brand new. According to them, K7VT2 had been known for DDR incompatibility issues & similar problems. The average score for this model was around 2.5, maybe 3 out of 5. While at the same time A7V8X-X scored 4.8 out of 5 and ppl have nothing but good words for them.

Trekkie4
Need to test ide dvd r/w Its black then you might get PM

Not sure I understood you lol, but okie dokie

Oh and BTW - I forgot to include the pics of previously mentioned Asus A7V8X-X board.


Not to be confused with Asus A7M266, from the previous page

 

[vigia]

Yes, both USB and PATA are acting up! And no, I never said that K7VT2 is healthy, in fact it DOES seem to be failing or experiencing technical failure of some sort ... even though both Prime95 and MemTest86+ checked out OK. Even HDD sector by sector check, it all turned out OK, but overall system seems to be acting up & randomly crash or hang. Like, for example - I've had a situation where I couldn't start NFS 3 game, it would always give me black screen & hang (so I had to press the reset button), even completely froze at one point (even the sound output froze, giving me the same sound tone to the point where I had to restart) but the game would work completely normal next time, or some other day. Like I said, randomly! USB thing is not random however, it was never capable to detect legacy hardware and more recently, it's giving me "delayed write failed" for the external HDD, it can't recognize NTFS partitions (WinXP, SP1)

If it really is a north bridge issue, then it's a good thing I already got replacement board ready TBH, I wasn't looking forward to replacing the entire mobo & having to change the entire cable management, but I /am/ going to replace this thing, even if K7VT2 isn't the problem. I've been reading the online reviews (quite few of them) and ppl had been really frustrated with Asrock, especially when this thing was brand new. According to them, K7VT2 had been known for DDR incompatibility issues & similar problems. The average score for this model was around 2.5, maybe 3 out of 5. While at the same time A7V8X-X scored 4.8 out of 5 and ppl have nothing but good words for them.


Not sure I understood you lol, but okie dokie

On those motherboards the IDE,usb go through the southbridge, and that one is a VIA, so try to change the drivers.

http://download.viatech.com/en/support/driversSelect.jsp

 

[Trekkie4]

Yes, but why? I didn't change any drivers to XP or done any changes to the hardware specs, it's all the same as it was before. Besides, Asrock not being able to recognize legacy USB devices is not a driver issue, since you don't use USB drivers in DOS.

 

[vigia]

Yes, but why? I didn't change any drivers to XP or done any changes to the hardware specs, it's all the same as it was before. Besides, Asrock not being able to recognize legacy USB devices is not a driver issue, since you don't use USB drivers in DOS.

About the USB legacy that can be the bios, maybe the beta versión can help you

http://soggi.eu/motherboards/asrock/K7VT2.htm

The IDE stop responding in DOS?

 

[Trekkie4]

Nope, just the USB (doesn't work, whatsoever). However, I did have a particular situation under Hiren's CD, during the HDD test (well, detection of the actual drives to be exact) where the system stopped responding & had to restart.
As for the USB issue, all 6 ports are working OK once you boot into Windows, both 1.1 and 2.0 ones. I'm using VIA Hyperion "4 in 1" drivers to recognize all the VIA related stuff and never had any problems with these drivers, on either of my VIA boards

Thanks for the link, but I already got the latest version ... 1.30. To tell you the truth, I didn't bother with beta versions, since those can sometimes be unstable. It's been a long time ago, but I remember finding and downloading the latest available BIOS from the official (Asrock) website. When I 1st got the board it was running 1.10, so I was quite certain that flashing the BIOS will resolve the USB issue.

 

[stinger608]

That might seem like an obvious solution, but sorry to say it's not possible. Both Hiren's CD (which I used to test the system) and games (such as NFS 3 Hot Pursuit) which tend to crash or freeze need a working CD (or DVD) drive, in order to start

Just pop in one of the white drives just to test the theory then?

I could be, as most are stating, the motherboard but it wouldn't take but a few minutes to pop one of the white drives in to insure it isn't the optical drive.

 

[Trekkie4]

OK, might give it a try ASAP. Or I'll just find the black one right away & swap it for good, along with rest of the hardware (but I'll make sure to test K7VT2 regardless of swapping the mobo for Asus)

 

[daddski]

LOL what a great place. I believe I have possibly a dx 33 and pentium 75 board with ram and processor. Also I am sure I have a 133 amd processor I played duke nukeum with it for ages lol... I am sure I also have a few amd's under 350 mhz as well. I'll dig them out and go from there. Thanks for a great fun place... Anyone needing some kb or mb ram let me know I may have jsut what you need. I remember how buying another meg cost over a hundred dollars and my first 1 gig drive was slated to be so big you would never fill it up lol....

 

[Trekkie4]

Welcome to the club @daddski and enjoy the ride

Edit
@stinger608 I'm in the process of finding & buying a pair of matching DVD-RW drives the for the RetroMaster rig, will post more updates once I have those delivered

 

[Recon-UK]

 

[Random Murderer]

Sadly, I use this damn thing every day
At least it's "Super Speed 33.6 kbps"

 

[Trekkie4]

Finally got the two DVD RW drives delivered earlier today, so you can expect an update on RetroMaster 2000 coming up soon!

 

[daddski]

Welcome to the club @daddski and enjoy the ride

Edit
@stinger608 I'm in the process of finding & buying a pair of matching DVD-RW drives the for the RetroMaster rig, will post more updates once I have those delivered

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Just picked up a floppy and lite-on dvdrw dl nib for .99 and 1.99 on ebay. Awesome! I also dug through my stuff and have a socket a, a few other amd processors and a intel dx 75 with fan lol. Now I need a couple of motherboards for original athlons and maybe that dx 75. I see some on ebay but most sell for too much for what they are. Just missed one of those purple ecs boards with I think 166 onboard.... 9.95 sigh always missing those lol.....

 

[Trekkie4]

-----

Just picked up a floppy and lite-on dvdrw dl nib for .99 and 1.99 on ebay. Awesome! I also dug through my stuff and have a socket a, a few other amd processors and a intel dx 75 with fan lol. Now I need a couple of motherboards for original athlons and maybe that dx 75. I see some on ebay but most sell for too much for what they are. Just missed one of those purple ecs boards with I think 166 onboard.... 9.95 sigh always missing those lol.....

Yes, those older AT-styled boards are getting more & more difficult to find. I remember searching for 4x86 components couple of years ago, couldn't find anything! Which reminds me, I've been talking to a guy who's willing to sell (more like give it away) a whole bunch of 4x86, Pentium & Pentium 2 (Slot-1) AT boards! Some of those are even inside their AT cases, as in complete units so I'll make sure to take couple of pics when (and if) I get those. Until then, enjoy this one pic here I have the entire gallery which was emailed to me, but since these are not mine I've decided not to upload the entire thing, for the sake of preserving privacy & personal information.


Including some of the extra hardware components, such as SoundBlaster AWE32, along with generic sound card which has Yamaha OPL chipset ... therefore things ought to get pretty interesting

As for the Socket 462, check this one out! Just got this gem yesterday and oh man! That's all I can say, I've never, EVER seen (or heard about) Socket A mobo with SATA, 4x IDE interfaces, dual DDR400 RAM channel configuration, firewire support, 6-channel Dolby Digital sound output and god knows what! This board is the absolute beast, and the only thing left for me to do is test it, to see if it actually works or not. But considering I've only paid it 4.50$, it's not like I'm worried about that. Check out the official website, they got a whole bunch of useful information on this particular model.


As for the RetroMaster 2000, here are the two Pioneer DVD-RW drives, along with Samsung FDD. Will post more information on RetroMaster 2000 some time this week. The idea is to upgrade DVD drives 1st, then test the existing board (ASRock K7VT2) just like @stinger608 pointed out - and only then upgrade the entire thing to Asus A7V8X-X for good.

 

[debs3759]

Which reminds me, I've been talking to a guy who's willing to sell (more like give it away) a whole bunch of 4x86, Pentium & Pentium 2 (Slot-1) AT boards! Some of those are even inside their AT cases

I have a few 486 boards (most are tested and working), all with 5x86-133 processors. Depending on price (if you are selling), I may be interested in AT cases, with or without contents, although I am just looking for cases for builds from 486 up to Slot A and Socket 370. Might even be interested in a socket 4 board if you come across one with VLB slots

 

[Trekkie4]

I have a few 486 boards (most are tested and working), all with 5x86-133 processors. Depending on price (if you are selling), I may be interested in AT cases, with or without contents, although I am just looking for cases for builds from 486 up to Slot A and Socket 370. Might even be interested in a socket 4 board if you come across one with VLB slots

Nah, it's not worth it, trust me... These AT cases are mostly incomplete (as seen from the pic) and some of their power supplies were taken apart & had fans removed. I have no idea why, I can only assume they were too loud for ppl to listen all day long. Not to mention the fact that most of these are missing top covers, and/or are showing signs of rust. So therefore I've only agreed to take part of what you saw (complete units), with the exception of 4x86 machine on the left. The idea is to find a decent AT case myself, so that I can put together a nice 4x86 DX2 system together Maybe even put that AWE32 inside, we'll see.

There's also one other system which wasn't in any of the pics, but it's also part of the deal. Not sure of the exact specs, but from what I understood it's mATX system with Pentium 3 (S370), featuring either 512 or 1024MB of SD-RAM, and it's all tidy-packed inside mATX case.

Edit
Oh, and I also won't be taking that desktop Pentium MMX machine, on top of all those mini towers. I've managed to talk the owner into leaving (at least one) system to himself, because he also seems to be retro enthusiast just like the rest of us He's hoping to find Pentium Overdrive CPU & use it with one of those AT mobos, to re-create the machine he owned back then, when Overdrive was new.

 

[Doc41]

I've been really lazy with this, but i just got some progress on it

Got a temp PSU and the H50 revived yet again with a cheap "no-brand" res (hey it works) now just need to slap a fan on the NB heatsink so it doesnt melt


haven't really started OC'ing it yet but i thought id give it a quick try.... for some reason the mobo wouldn't post if i go above 2.9GHz. and it would just go back to default settings after a couple of failed posts

meh i'll try again sometime later

 

[Trekkie4]

Took the liberty of testing that Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 board and it does work OK! The only "downside" is the CPU, it came with Athlon 1700+ which normally I wouldn't mind (especially for a system such as RetroMaster) but this is serious stuff, so I'm pretty sure it can do better than that! Maybe Athlon 3200+ model or Sempron from the similar range...

Oh well, back to our usual retro broadcast But rest assured, you'll be hearing more about Gigabyte board some time in the future!

 

[debs3759]

Maybe Athlon 3200+ model

Have you seen this listing? £8.99 for the fastest socket A processor, I just received one I bought a week ago. There are 4 left.

 

[buzzi]

Hi everyone! This is my first post here on TPU
Here you have just a couple of shots from a beloved hardware collection (an entire basement of computers from late 80s and on, never get tired of admiring their circuitry) taken before giving away to a friend, of course good hands.

a Quantum Bigfoot found with cracked PCB

a VGA (I guess) with IC on sockets and discrete components, which make me love it!

and a heavyweight hard drive

EDIT: added a dot matrix printer photo found on SD card (still remember my father yelling at it )

and a keyboard I'd like to use to give a nostalgia touch to my desktop, I'll ask that friend of mine to lend me a PS/2 adaptor, so far I am using the wireless logitech one on background working flawlessy since 2008:

Cheers!

 

[dorsetknob]

Welcome to TPU buzzi
Thanks for shareing those Photo's