RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Aug 16 • 5 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
I bought some memory to upgrade the Pacman PC. SURELY this will go off without a hitch.. surely it will. Okay, let's talk about it, in a 🧵 here! Image
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So, as you saw from the intro picture, we're now showing 1.5 GB of memory in this lovely system. The system booted up into Hannah Montana Linux šŸ˜‚. That's fine.. we can ask it how much memory it sees. Looking good! Image
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Oh, here's the memory installed. Let's kick off MemTest86+ Image
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And here we are, sometime later. Geez. So based on the placement here, two out of the three sticks are bad. I also had a fourth stick, and it was bad too. So, 75% failure rate in this batch. Image
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I pulled out one of my Pentium II systems to see if I could use it to test, but its mobo won't support 512MB DIMMs. But, I don't think this is a mobo issue, I think the memory is bad. Such is life! To be continued. Thx for following along!

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More from @RetroTechChris

Aug 10
I had some "larger" hard drives laying around, and wanted to put one in the new Kehtron computer. But to do that, I had to work around the 528MB limit of this computer's BIOS. Let's use XTIDE to do that...surely this adventure will go off without a hitch... right? Time for a 🧵 Image
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So, first of all, what is this 528MB limit all about? Well, older BIOSes were limited to 1024 cylinders. Around the 486 era, as drives got bigger, BIOSes started to support Logical Block Addressing mode. However, this particular BIOS does not. Image
There are some workarounds! You could use a program like Ontrack Disk Manager which solves the problem in software. You could also upgrade your BIOS to a later version, or even acquire an aftermarket BIOS like MR BIOS (someone put together a nice archive of past versions!) Image
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Read 21 tweets
Aug 9
Got a few things in the mail today! No need to really test the CPU fans or batteries, but let's test the video card! Time for a 🧵 Image
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So, this video card is a Tseng Labs ET4000AX. Here it is next to my other ET4000AX card. Some differences for sure! Image
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I figured I would test this card in the Kehtron 486DX/50 card... and... uh oh! What is the deal here? Seller tested card, and my other Tseng Labs ET4000AX card works in this PC. How odd! Must be a bad card, right? Image
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Read 6 tweets
Aug 4
Okay, let's get some software installed on this "new" 486DX/50 PC of mine. As per usual, nothing was flawless here, so let's go over what went well and where I hit some snags! Time for a 🧵 Image
To get the installers on the box, I decided to use MS LAN Manager and the network. I made a special LAN Manager boot disk with drivers for the Intel EtherExpress 16TP that you see in the bottom of the last picture here. Image
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I've been very curious about how this machine would stack up, so I copied over SpeedSys to benchmark the system. And as we can see, it fell right in line with where it should be! Image
Read 12 tweets
Aug 3
My friend Bill gave me a bunch of case lock keys! Back in the days of the AT standard for cases, keylocks were pretty common on PC clones, and IBM systems as well. Let's see how many locks we can open today. Time for a silly 🧵 Image
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First, the Gateway 2000 you saw in the intro post. First key I tried worked šŸ˜‚ Image
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Next, let's look at the PS/2 Model 30 286. Not today, not happening, this uses a "more regular looking" key. Image
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Read 9 tweets
Aug 3
I already have too many PCs, but I had to have this cute little guy... and there is also a good nostalgic reason for having it! This 386 (now 486) PC needed a lot of work to get it running, let's talk about it in a 🧵 here! Image
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First, in case you missed it, here's the nostalgic reason. Kehtron is a part of my childhood. And this PC was available locally. The weather was also PERFECT yesterday for making an hour drive to get it and rocking out to some 80s tunes on the way šŸ˜‚ Image
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Okay, first order of business, I put this on the table and it was rocking back and forth. I soon discovered why! I didn't have a matching foot so I used a little bit of Goof Off to remove the adhesive. And PSA, like with most chemicals, always work in a ventilated area. Image
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Read 19 tweets
Jul 28
In my haste yesterday, there are TWO THINGS that I forgot to do and post about for this "eMachines" system. One is more important than the other! Let's talk about it in a brief 🧵 here! Image
First of all, before we get too far, recall that this isn't actually an eMachines. The original motherboard failed, and a Pentium III Biostar motherboard was put in to replace it, in what I am calling a "reverse sleeper"
So, what did I forget? Well, the first thing was to showcase the Wake on LAN capability! I installed a 3Com network card with Wake on LAN support. If we know the Ethernet MAC address and have a program to send a "magic packet", and the BIOS settings are right, we can use it! Image
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Read 6 tweets

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