Show off your old and retro computer parts

[da na]

Packard Bell PB420 and Compaq monitor are alive! I realized later that I am, in fact, an idiot - this is a white phosphor MDA monitor, so of course it won't do VGA sync on green. Screen is a little blurry and not quite centered, but I'm just glad it works - will tweak convergence later. 

Currently this is the furthest I can go with this system. My IT teacher made me take the hard drive out and give it back to him to make sure nothing important was on it (and I had to lend him my Pentium 4 system with IDE so he could actually do that). Floppy drive seems to work, recognizes disk. I don't have a PS/2 keyboard, and this does not have an XT/AT port. I do know it has 64MB of memory, but unsure of CPU.

I can probably get a PS/2 keyboard for free (because I'm just good like that) but worst comes to worst I assume a USB adapter will work. 

My other 486 system will not POST. It shows 3.3v on an ISA port POST test card, which is odd. So I'm not quite sure what is going on there. And it won't make it past POST. But I am glad this one is working!!

(I will clean it up and remove the PRAM battery ASAP.)

[Dabombinable]

9 hours ago, 8tg said:

Here’s the end result of the soltek 478 board, corsair xms pro led 400mhz ddr, pixelview fx5900 xt, apevia iceberg power supply, turtle beach Santa Cruz, etc

new problem, it won’t post with an ide to CF adapter and a 32gb cf card installed

i may have to actually fit a 3.5” hard drive and ide cable into here 

Or you could just use an m.2 SATA to IDE adapter (or mSATA  - most will use the same controller). Far better long term than using a CF card.

[FK FOSS it is Socialism]

for bender.

[Rysters Tech]

This is my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 8124. It's powered by an AMD k6-2/333 and has 64MB of EDO memory and a SiS5598 chipset for video because I don't have a graphics card for this system yet. It didn't have the hard drive when I got it, so I put in a 160GB ide drive I pulled from a DirecTV DVR box as a backup drive because I don't have any way of connecting ide drives to a modern enough system to back them up using modern software such as Macrium Reflect. for the win98 os drive I have a 20GB Seagate U Series 5 from 2001. I also have a 2.5 GB Medalist drive but I'm not certain about its health as it's just barely new enough to have SMART. The case is in excellent shape with all the original stickers on the front still in place, it isn't yellowed, no rust, no nothing. I replaced the dead 90w power supply (i have laptops from 2008 that have 120w power bricks) with a 250w known good lite-on unit. Its missing its floppy drive, but you cant really tell unless you shine a light at it and can see the insides. However I do have one i can install but i'd have to rig the eject button as mine is part of the front panel and is no longer there. 

[Bitter]

4 hours ago, SiliconMagician said:

This is my Packard Bell Pack-Mate 8124. It's powered by an AMD k6-2/333 and has 64MB of EDO memory and a SiS5598 chipset for video because I don't have a graphics card for this system yet. It didn't have the hard drive when I got it, so I put in a 160GB ide drive I pulled from a DirecTV DVR box as a backup drive because I don't have any way of connecting ide drives to a modern enough system to back them up using modern software such as Macrium Reflect. for the win98 os drive I have a 20GB Seagate U Series 5 from 2001. I also have a 2.5 GB Medalist drive but I'm not certain about its health as it's just barely new enough to have SMART. The case is in excellent shape with all the original stickers on the front still in place, it isn't yellowed, no rust, no nothing. I replaced the dead 90w power supply (i have laptops from 2008 that have 120w power bricks) with a 250w known good lite-on unit. Its missing its floppy drive, but you cant really tell unless you shine a light at it and can see the insides. However I do have one i can install but i'd have to rig the eject button as mine is part of the front panel and is no longer there. 

I might have the floppy drive that fits that. I remember stripping a chassis like that for screws and stuff but I don't know if I kept anything from it. I think mine was a HP but the button looked the same oval shape.

[Corrupt_Liberty]

Just picked up this WD Raptor X still sealed in the box! 

 

This got me thinking about an ultimate 2007ish build so I picked up this beautiful Asus ROG Striker II NSE with an Intel Extreme QX6850.

 

I have a Nvidia GeForce 8800 Ultra on the way and hope to find a second one (and a third?). I'm not sure what case to use yet and the cooler in the picture is just for testing.  I'd like to find a period correct CPU water block and an old bay style reservoir. 

[da na]

A pristine NiCd batt from a Packard Bell board notorious for these exploding. 

 

What should I replace this with? It throws codes with it desoldered (yes I will clean the board eventually) so I want to replace it (also so it saves my FDD settings), but I can't think of a good option. A new NiCd? 

Also, how should I clean this... it's quite a mess. Will an air duster be safe? Will I want to clean the head as well?

[Dabombinable]

40 minutes ago, Mel0n. said:

A pristine NiCd batt from a Packard Bell board notorious for these exploding. 

 

What should I replace this with? It throws codes with it desoldered (yes I will clean the board eventually) so I want to replace it (also so it saves my FDD settings), but I can't think of a good option. A new NiCd? 

Also, how should I clean this... it's quite a mess. Will an air duster be safe? Will I want to clean the head as well?

That 5.25" drive is definitely an old one. To get that bad it needed to be constantly used. Mine looked spotless by comparison - and it scrapped discs until I cleaned the head.

[Dabombinable]

So both the 9200 and 9200SE are Sapphire cards. Hopefully the cap fixes the 9200. It's 25v instead of 10v though as they and 16v 470 microfarad caps are too small. Being low esr might affect the card positively.

[SimplyChunk]

2 hours ago, Mel0n. said:

Also, how should I clean this...

I'd be interested in an answer to this too.  Clean up the old Panasonic i got

[Bitter]

I have a small very quiet air compressor, took a cheap blow gun and put the inflator needle in it. I super glued around the threads so it doesn't leak air and wrapped tape around the side hole on the needle. Now I have a very focused strong small jet of air great for dusting out parts, also now it's ultra dangerous and could cause an air embolism if you blasted it against your skin so just don't do that.

[Dabombinable]

30 minutes ago, SimplyChunk said:

I'd be interested in an answer to this too.  Clean up the old Panasonic i got

What I did - blew dust out, and then used q-tips and isopropyl alchohol to clean the head (clean=tips came away clean) and other pits and pieces. Then I oiled the rails. Still need to clean it some more after some of my Uncle's 5.25" (my Aunt had stolen the floppies from everyone in our family, forgotten and then gave them to me) made the head dirty again.

Lets just say that the after dark and "adults only" floppies had hair in them from a certain region. And there was only 1 possible culprit. Yes - I legit have late 80's pron and pron games on 5.25" floppies

[da na]

Just now, Dabombinable said:

What I did - blew dust out, and then used q-tips and isopropyl alchohol to clean the head (clean=tips came away clean) and other pits and pieces. Then I oiled the rails. Still need to clean it some more after some of my Uncle's 5.25" (my Aunt had stolen the floppies from everyone in our family, forgotten and then gave them to me) made the head dirty again.

Lets just say that the after dark and "adults only" floppies had hair in them from a certain region. And there was only 1 possible culprit. Yes - I legit have late 80's pron and pron games on 5.25" floppies

Good to know, I tried cleaning the heads of a bunch of 3.5" drives (with that exact method) and they all died. Probably not from my cleaning, they already didn't work but the cleaning didn't make them work better.

 

Only 5.25s I have are for the C64... so i'll take one of those pron disks if you want

[Dabombinable]

3 minutes ago, Mel0n. said:

Good to know, I tried cleaning the heads of a bunch of 3.5" drives (with that exact method) and they all died. Probably not from my cleaning, they already didn't work but the cleaning didn't make them work better.

 

Only 5.25s I have are for the C64... so i'll take one of those pron disks if you want

If the drive is trying to read disks and just scrapping material from them - then the drive only needs a clean (or has a borked head). Otherwise yeah - probably unsalvageable.

[Dabombinable]

I couldn't be bothered setting up outside. So windows open, fan on and under my desk. Repair marathon. My ESS 1868f is next.

[Dabombinable]

Recap worked. I now have a relatively powerful universal AGP PC. Also it is easy to see which CPU socket is which now that I'm not using the same coolers. And why the chipset never gets warm.

[Dabombinable]

Its official. No more artifacting in Windows and the drivers install:

[da na]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

Its official. No more attifacting in Windows and the drivers install:

 

"Ever had TWO SCREENS at ONCE?"

-my Radeon 9200's box

[8tg]

Daily reminder propriety power supply cables are anti consumer practices made to force you to buy a specific companies special cables and nothing else.

behold, the ultra x connect

 

it’s a full modular power supply from 2004 that has some interesting cables

 

and you can see through it

 

the cables themselves are just male to male cables, one side is a 20 pin, the other side is a 20 pin, one side is a p4 cpu connector, the other side is a p4 cpu connector

 

what this also allows is the oddball molex chains depending on distance and use case can be oriented however you want, if you want it to start with a split or start with a single end, plug in whatever part of the chain you want

this also means that should I ever need replacement cables, I can just use whatever cable extensions and connector flippers, ie a male to male adapter

or cablemod can even do a full set of custom cables with male connectors on both ends

this should’ve been the standard, but instead Corsair, evga, seasonic, etc all decided they didn’t want their cables to be interchangeable and in order to keep a monopoly on their individual units cable replacements they disguised the proprietary cables as “consumer safety oriented” to make sure you don’t buy the wrong cables.

[Dabombinable]

48 minutes ago, 8tg said:

Daily reminder propriety power supply cables are anti consumer practices made to force you to buy a specific companies special cables and nothing else.

behold, the ultra x connect

 

it’s a full modular power supply from 2004 that has some interesting cables

 

and you can see through it

 

the cables themselves are just male to male cables, one side is a 20 pin, the other side is a 20 pin, one side is a p4 cpu connector, the other side is a p4 cpu connector

 

what this also allows is the oddball molex chains depending on distance and use case can be oriented however you want, if you want it to start with a split or start with a single end, plug in whatever part of the chain you want

this also means that should I ever need replacement cables, I can just use whatever cable extensions and connector flippers, ie a male to male adapter

or cablemod can even do a full set of custom cables with male connectors on both ends

this should’ve been the standard, but instead Corsair, evga, seasonic, etc all decided they didn’t want their cables to be interchangeable and in order to keep a monopoly on their individual units cable replacements they disguised the proprietary cables as “consumer safety oriented” to make sure you don’t buy the wrong cables.

I haven't managed to find one for sale that's affordable - it'd be perfect for my Socket A build.

[Guest]

Looking for a particular operating system, which I did NOT find yet.....

 

 

This old Gem from back in the day.

 

A tribute to times gone past.

 

[Corrupt_Liberty]

So the Geforce 8800 Ultra that I ordered finally arrived and I was able to fire up my nForce 790i SLI board to test it.  Good news!  The board works great! 

 

Bad news...

The GPU is borked.  Back to ebay. 

[Dabombinable]

6 hours ago, Corrupt_Liberty said:

So the Geforce 8800 Ultra that I ordered finally arrived and I was able to fire up my nForce 790i SLI board to test it.  Good news!  The board works great! 

 

Bad news...

The GPU is borked.  Back to ebay. 

Definitely won't be repairable unlike my 9200.

[Corrupt_Liberty]

17 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

Definitely won't be repairable unlike my 9200.

Luckily I anticipated this and ordered a backup that arrived today.  A lovely EVGA 8800 GTX.

 

And now I'm 0 and 2. 

[da na]

3 minutes ago, Corrupt_Liberty said:

Luckily I anticipated this and ordered a backup that arrived today.  A lovely EVGA 8800 GTX.

 

And now I'm 0 and 2. 

That's what my poor Quadro FXes did... RIP