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Just got my original IBM compatible back! Need some help.....

fallemarg

Experienced Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2010
Messages
133
Location
Olathe, Kansas
Hello everyone. My apologies for intruding, but as the thread title says, I just recently got the first IBM PC compatible Family computer that we had when I was younger back. A terrible Packard Bell Legend 115 Plus. It's an awful machines, but I love it so much. I have a lot of memories attached to it like the Amiga 1000 that I used to play Sierra games on with my father. Back on topic, the machine's NiCd battery did leak, but I got that cleaned up and an external battery installed. There was some damage, but with help I got it repaired and sealed to hopefully protect it moving forward.

But I need a little help. The video ram for the Headland Technologies Video card was expanded to 1MB, but the 512KB ZIP chip used to expand it died. Also the machine never had any L2 cache installed and I would like to do this. I understand that it will take either 32Kx8 SRAM chips at 28 pins in DIP or another 32 pin DIP at I believe 128Kx8 for either up to 128KB or cache or 512KB of cache. The PB 410/420/420T (mine is a 420 Rev C.0, I believe..) Motherboard doesn't do 256K of cache apparently. I have found a replacement 256Kx16 ZIP chip, but I cannot find a data sheet for it and the information indicates that the Video Ram needs to be asynchronous. Is there a specific way of identifying if the chip found is asynchronous from the numbering on the package? I can tell that it is 70ns, but my knowledge of ram identifier numbers is limited. The package labels the chip as an NEC D424170V-70.

In regards to the Cache apparently 28 pin 15ns SRAM DIP chips can still be purchased from Mouser. The thing that I am running into is the L2 Cache TAG chip. Is this just a 5th chip of the same type that is used at the RAM table or is it a specific chip? Any help in this endeavor would be greatly appreciated. I am hunting for a replacement CRT because the 1020 monitor we had died and if anyone has any information in regards to that I would be appreciative. I am also looking for an oddity and I thought the people here might know some more information about it. I was looking through the old Computer ads from when we purchased our Packard Bell in 1993 and I keep seeing a speaker device show up with the Multimedia PB machines. It looks just like the Labtec LC1000 or Tandy MMS-10 except that it is branded Packard Bell, if anyone has any info on that I would be very appreciative. I have tried doing some searches on google, but it just turns up the Labtec and Tandy speaker set ups. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. I appreciate the help and hope to learn more from here as time progresses.

Kind Regards,

Fallemarg
 
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I've got some Labtec and other brand speaker systems, some of which are NIB, if that's of interest.
 
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When you say you have labtec, do you mean the LCS 1000 or others? I only ask because I'm curious about something I had when I was younger. There was a standalone subwoofer sold by Labtec that I used on my pc around 1995-96. If the info I have found is correct, it's called 2408 or a 2048? If you have any information on that I would be appreciative.

Kind Regards,

Fallemarg
 
It's worth noting that it looks almost identical to my first computer which was a Packard bell multimedia 2000
Sadly, mine died of battery corrosion.
 
I have these:

NIB...

1) Vega SP-888

2) Asound AS-898


Used...

1) Labtec CS-800

2) Labtec LCS-150

3) MLI 168

4) Addonics

5) Surround Sound Pro 691 3D

6) Koss Hard Drivers

7) Coby CS-C205
 
I cannot seem to find anything in regards to the Surround Sound Pro and the Addonics speakers. If you have a chance would you be willing to post some pictures of them here? Thank you!

Regards,

Fallemarg
 
Here's the pics:

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attachment.php


The Addonics uses an AC-DC adapter while the Surround Sound has a built-in power supply.
 

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Those are interesting looking Do you have them in beige? Returning to my original questions, I moved forward on a couple things to help with speeding up the machine..... I hope. I went ahead and purchased some cache chips, and they are - ATT7C199P-12. I chose these because someone else on the forums here purchased the same chips and they worked well for them even though their Packard Bell was a different model. I also purchased the NEC D424170V-70 as that was indicated to me as being compatible for the video ram. I still unfortunately cannot find the Packard Bell 1020 monitor but I managed to pick up a 2025 which is larger and has OSD controls for picture control because it was very affordable. Still would like to find the PB 1020 though. Still curious if anyone has any information regarding the Labtec/Tandy LCS 1000/MMS-10 styled Packard Bell labeled speaker.
 
My wife said she wants me to keep looking for the Packard Bell branded monitor speaker device. Her thoughts were if I'm setting it up to exactly as I had it as a kid then I should find those. I did mention to her that I never had that when I was a kid, and that I already have the speakers I had when I was a kid a good old trusty pair of Labtec MCS-150 speakers. But since she is supportive of me in regards to getting older computer hardware, I will keep looking for that Packard Bell monitor speaker stand. Thank you for showing me all of the speakers Stone. If everything falls through, maybe I can convince her to let me get that prosonic speaker set up. I appreciate the time you took to give me the information and show me what speakers you had available for purchase.

Kind Regards,

Fallemarg
 
Okay strange issue has popped up. I received the Cache RAM and the Video RAM chip today and installed them and I am having some weird issues. The cache ram is detected and identified but when it is enabled it drops the memory speed. I will attach the cachechk program with all cache enabled and then cache disabled and have you all look at the results. Maybe I've set something up wrong, but I don't see what it is. On to the video ram. Now that I've upgraded to 1MB of RAM the pixel corruption all over the screen has disappeared but Vesa Mode is giving me all sorts of trouble. I don't know if this means that the RAM is bad or I got the wrong kind, which is D424170V-70 Are there any programs out there that I can run to verify that the video ram and the cache aren't bad in any way? I appreciate any assistance that can be provided.

Kind Regards,

Fallemarg

-Edit- Here is as close as I can get to showcasing with and without the cache enabled. Memory speed drops by 2MB/sec on transfer rate. I checked the spec sheet for the cache ram I purchased and it is the speed listed, so I'm at a loss as to why it seems to slow the system down. cache disabled.jpgcache enabled.jpg

-Edit 2- So the monitor I purchased came in today. And surprise surprise when a box is labeled fragile Fed Ex lives up to their title here as an awful shipping company and absolutely destroyed this monitor. They damaged it so bad that they damaged the actual Glass on the CRT. Crazy. Here are some pictures. -IMG_20150721_175433067.jpgIMG_20150721_175535428.jpgIMG_20150721_175506842.jpg
 
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Re: the memory speed with and without the L2 cache - try re-running the tests multiple times to get an average of speeds, since speeds might vary (hopefully not much) from run to run. Or it could be that having the L2 cache enable makes a little difference in speed of accessing main memory due to memory design. The drop off in main memory speed doesn't look like much, I'd think having the faster L2 cache in there would more than make up for it.
 
-Edit 2- So the monitor I purchased came in today. And surprise surprise when a box is labeled fragile Fed Ex lives up to their title here as an awful shipping company and absolutely destroyed this monitor. They damaged it so bad that they damaged the actual Glass on the CRT. Crazy. Here are some pictures. -View attachment 25424View attachment 25425View attachment 25426

That's so frustrating.
You guys seem to have some crazy damage over there. I'm not sure how they even stay in business sometimes.
 
Re: the memory speed with and without the L2 cache - try re-running the tests multiple times to get an average of speeds, since speeds might vary (hopefully not much) from run to run. Or it could be that having the L2 cache enable makes a little difference in speed of accessing main memory due to memory design. The drop off in main memory speed doesn't look like much, I'd think having the faster L2 cache in there would more than make up for it.

Amazingly, re-running the cache tests multiple times nets very similar results with a variance of just 0.1-0.2MB/sec difference. If I go into the bios and disable all caches, including the 8KB in the processor the RAM tests at 19.1MB/sec consistently. Very strange. Running PCBench I only get a score of 5.6 whereas I got a score of 6.0 before. Is it possible that because I got 12ns Cache RAM which is faster than the speeds listed that it is having problems? I would think that faster than required would be better.

@SpidersWeb - I hear you. Everything I have ever shipped to Europe has arrived safely, and yet shipping a package south by 200 miles has been completely destroyed. It's like they see the words fragile and handle with care and feel that means they need to kick it harder.
 
Okay strange issue has popped up. I received the Cache RAM and the Video RAM chip today and installed them and I am having some weird issues. The cache ram is detected and identified but when it is enabled it drops the memory speed.

Did you put a regular SRAM cache chip in the tagram socket? Because tagram is not the same as regular SRAM. TAG SRAM chips have additional circuitry that helps the CPU match entries in the cache, and if the chip is not present it's going to slow the machine way down.

-Edit 2- So the monitor I purchased came in today. And surprise surprise when a box is labeled fragile Fed Ex lives up to their title here as an awful shipping company and absolutely destroyed this monitor. They damaged it so bad that they damaged the actual Glass on the CRT. Crazy. Here are some pictures. -View attachment 25424View attachment 25425View attachment 25426

The glass isn't damaged, the CRT itself imploded. All of that black stuff is debris from the neck or shadow mask blown onto the inside of the screen, most likely from a broken neck. If you pull the back of the monitor off, you'll probably see bits of glass everywhere with the neck not attached anymore.

Though I wouldn't mess with the unit until you file a claim with both Fedex and Ebay if you bought it from there.
 
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