Building a 1996 Dual Pentium Pro NT Workstation PC!
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Date: 2024-06-14
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Comments and reviews: 20
lazygamereviews
The issue you're experiencing with Windows NT 4. 0 freezing on boot with the OS load in progress message could be due to several potential causes. I have some steps and checks you can perform to diagnose and possibly fix the issue:
Check for Corrupted Files or Registry Entries:
Boot into the Recovery Console using your setup disks.
Run the chkdsk command to check for any disk errors.
Use chkdsk /f to fix any errors found.
Verify Boot Configuration:
Ensure that your boot. ini file is correctly configured and not corrupted. You can edit this file from the Recovery Console if needed.
Inspect Hardware:
Check all hardware connections, including your hard drive and any peripheral devices.
Make sure that your BIOS settings are correctly configured, especially the boot order.
Driver Issues:
It’s possible that a faulty driver is causing the issue. If you can boot into Safe Mode (press F8 during startup, you might be able to identify and disable problematic drivers.
Update drivers if possible.
System Updates and Service Packs:
Ensure that you have the latest service packs and updates installed for Windows NT 4. 0. These updates often contain important fixes that could resolve your issue.
Check for Conflicts:
Ensure that there are no IRQ or resource conflicts. This can sometimes cause boot issues.
Check Event Logs:
If you can boot into Safe Mode or get the system running, check the Event Viewer for any logs that might give clues about the issue.
If you have any more specific details or error messages and los, feel free to share them, and I can provide more targeted advice.
reply
The issue you're experiencing with Windows NT 4. 0 freezing on boot with the OS load in progress message could be due to several potential causes. I have some steps and checks you can perform to diagnose and possibly fix the issue:
Check for Corrupted Files or Registry Entries:
Boot into the Recovery Console using your setup disks.
Run the chkdsk command to check for any disk errors.
Use chkdsk /f to fix any errors found.
Verify Boot Configuration:
Ensure that your boot. ini file is correctly configured and not corrupted. You can edit this file from the Recovery Console if needed.
Inspect Hardware:
Check all hardware connections, including your hard drive and any peripheral devices.
Make sure that your BIOS settings are correctly configured, especially the boot order.
Driver Issues:
It’s possible that a faulty driver is causing the issue. If you can boot into Safe Mode (press F8 during startup, you might be able to identify and disable problematic drivers.
Update drivers if possible.
System Updates and Service Packs:
Ensure that you have the latest service packs and updates installed for Windows NT 4. 0. These updates often contain important fixes that could resolve your issue.
Check for Conflicts:
Ensure that there are no IRQ or resource conflicts. This can sometimes cause boot issues.
Check Event Logs:
If you can boot into Safe Mode or get the system running, check the Event Viewer for any logs that might give clues about the issue.
If you have any more specific details or error messages and los, feel free to share them, and I can provide more targeted advice.
reply
ericwood3709
I've been toying around with NT since sometime in the late 90s or early 00s. I know I got to study NT as part of a networking program I completed fresh out of high school, and I even tried setting it up for one of my uncles in lieu of the usual 9x garbage, though I think it ended up being some kind of evaluation copy or license that expired on him. Whoops. It was harder to get a good illegit copy back then, what with the high seas ranging from far more restricted to nonexistent and all. But I remember I even installed it onto this behemoth of a 486 tower system that I got for free from a family-owned company and eventually tore apart and more or less disposed of since. I went so far as install a CD burner in it, and yeah, I kind of got it to burn CDs. This was through an ISA IDE controller card, too. I remember I had to create an audio session on the CD before or after the data session just for it to work, and I still have a CD-R or two around from that. Ah, good times, good times.
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I've been toying around with NT since sometime in the late 90s or early 00s. I know I got to study NT as part of a networking program I completed fresh out of high school, and I even tried setting it up for one of my uncles in lieu of the usual 9x garbage, though I think it ended up being some kind of evaluation copy or license that expired on him. Whoops. It was harder to get a good illegit copy back then, what with the high seas ranging from far more restricted to nonexistent and all. But I remember I even installed it onto this behemoth of a 486 tower system that I got for free from a family-owned company and eventually tore apart and more or less disposed of since. I went so far as install a CD burner in it, and yeah, I kind of got it to burn CDs. This was through an ISA IDE controller card, too. I remember I had to create an audio session on the CD before or after the data session just for it to work, and I still have a CD-R or two around from that. Ah, good times, good times.
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hburke7799
tip for old hot glue. use a hairdryer or heat-gun, makes it much softer and start to let go from wherever it's stuck to
also yes, SCO Openserver was incredibly common in retail for backend POS systems, and appliance systems in general. at least before Linux/red-hat came along. it was the cheapest way to run a Unix server once the cost of PC hardware plummeted so far in the late 90s
for the casters you should use some collars to extend it, which will be substantially more even then washers for that application.
SLR is tanberg's brand of Tape drives (before LTO things were not standard between vendors. they do indeed use the QIC cartridges though it's rare to see a good one intact these days (they are held together with a rubber band. which will perish, it's also a very good idea to clean the tape drive heads with an isopropanol soaked qtip, because of the above issue.
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tip for old hot glue. use a hairdryer or heat-gun, makes it much softer and start to let go from wherever it's stuck to
also yes, SCO Openserver was incredibly common in retail for backend POS systems, and appliance systems in general. at least before Linux/red-hat came along. it was the cheapest way to run a Unix server once the cost of PC hardware plummeted so far in the late 90s
for the casters you should use some collars to extend it, which will be substantially more even then washers for that application.
SLR is tanberg's brand of Tape drives (before LTO things were not standard between vendors. they do indeed use the QIC cartridges though it's rare to see a good one intact these days (they are held together with a rubber band. which will perish, it's also a very good idea to clean the tape drive heads with an isopropanol soaked qtip, because of the above issue.
reply
Fizzacles
About the talking POST, if I remember correctly some of the more premium ASUSTek's P4 motherboards had this feature, I think they called it Ai Series, although the heavy accent on the digitized voice on some of the error messages made it hard to decipher what the problem is, especially to a non-english speaker, the old PC speaker beeps would have been preferable to an owner in that particular case.
There was a particular message about the installed CPU that was a headscratcher to understand, even though the message repeats until the motherboard is powered off.
I do have to give them kudos for trying to innovate and add something new, even though most of their unique marketed features on the motherboards felt like gimmicks.
Source: Owned an ASUSTek P4P-800-E Deluxe.
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About the talking POST, if I remember correctly some of the more premium ASUSTek's P4 motherboards had this feature, I think they called it Ai Series, although the heavy accent on the digitized voice on some of the error messages made it hard to decipher what the problem is, especially to a non-english speaker, the old PC speaker beeps would have been preferable to an owner in that particular case.
There was a particular message about the installed CPU that was a headscratcher to understand, even though the message repeats until the motherboard is powered off.
I do have to give them kudos for trying to innovate and add something new, even though most of their unique marketed features on the motherboards felt like gimmicks.
Source: Owned an ASUSTek P4P-800-E Deluxe.
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JohnKelly2
That case made me laugh out loud at work. I used to work for Teleflora, I worked at the Oklahoma City office, not Paragould, but I did work with them. I actually have one of those workstations at home. I got one after they were decommissioned. T1 built them for their higher end customers. The hot glue and tape was standard as it was T1's version of military grade. Basically they were supposed to withstand a drop of a certain height (6 feet, I believe, so hot glue was their solution.
The case was made by Lian-Li, the same company that built the Megaluminum Monster. The one I have at home is the same aluminum case as the said Monster. I've intended to message you to see if you wanted the Tandberg drive and controller card from mine, but I see you have one now.
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That case made me laugh out loud at work. I used to work for Teleflora, I worked at the Oklahoma City office, not Paragould, but I did work with them. I actually have one of those workstations at home. I got one after they were decommissioned. T1 built them for their higher end customers. The hot glue and tape was standard as it was T1's version of military grade. Basically they were supposed to withstand a drop of a certain height (6 feet, I believe, so hot glue was their solution.
The case was made by Lian-Li, the same company that built the Megaluminum Monster. The one I have at home is the same aluminum case as the said Monster. I've intended to message you to see if you wanted the Tandberg drive and controller card from mine, but I see you have one now.
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DonKomarechka
The PR440FX is compatible with one of the most bizarre and cool RAM modules ever made, using technology originally designed for mission-critical memory on the mars rover. You can still get these sticks, effectively allowing for full hardware chip to fail on the module without losing any data. The IBM FRU is 28L4549 for those curious. Also! The 256K cache chips you are using are not the best for a dual-processor system when 512K and 1M cache options are available, albeit with the great cooling you've got, you can more easily overclock the chips to 233mhz and be stable.
Next up, try to get yourself some Pentium II OverDrive chips, the last OD chip Intel ever released in 1998.
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The PR440FX is compatible with one of the most bizarre and cool RAM modules ever made, using technology originally designed for mission-critical memory on the mars rover. You can still get these sticks, effectively allowing for full hardware chip to fail on the module without losing any data. The IBM FRU is 28L4549 for those curious. Also! The 256K cache chips you are using are not the best for a dual-processor system when 512K and 1M cache options are available, albeit with the great cooling you've got, you can more easily overclock the chips to 233mhz and be stable.
Next up, try to get yourself some Pentium II OverDrive chips, the last OD chip Intel ever released in 1998.
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bentboybbz
I wonder how much help a system like this would contribute to something like folding at home I always setup any systems that will not be used for awhile to run folding at home until they crash for some reason or get used again, I'm not sure how much these lower power systems really contribute through. I'd like to think between all of them I've setup and run hopefully helped somewhat. If anyone can help with any information about how it works and how effective a system like this would be would be greatly appreciated! I would be your best friend forever! Thank You For Your Time And Effort! I hope you are having a great day or night!
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I wonder how much help a system like this would contribute to something like folding at home I always setup any systems that will not be used for awhile to run folding at home until they crash for some reason or get used again, I'm not sure how much these lower power systems really contribute through. I'd like to think between all of them I've setup and run hopefully helped somewhat. If anyone can help with any information about how it works and how effective a system like this would be would be greatly appreciated! I would be your best friend forever! Thank You For Your Time And Effort! I hope you are having a great day or night!
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DarKnightKilla13
18: 50 I used to be the Lead Easy Tech Manager at the local Staples about 9ish years ago. worst job ever. I remember it was starting to go downhill. Kept trying to buyout/merge with OfficeMax/Depot but would've created a monopoly. That Staples here is still going, no other physical competition around. I think all that keeps them afloat now is ink sales (was 95% of tech's sales monthly) and the Copy & Print Center services. They did get bought recently and change some practices. Wonder if they still care about numbers so much. Eh, who knows.
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18: 50 I used to be the Lead Easy Tech Manager at the local Staples about 9ish years ago. worst job ever. I remember it was starting to go downhill. Kept trying to buyout/merge with OfficeMax/Depot but would've created a monopoly. That Staples here is still going, no other physical competition around. I think all that keeps them afloat now is ink sales (was 95% of tech's sales monthly) and the Copy & Print Center services. They did get bought recently and change some practices. Wonder if they still care about numbers so much. Eh, who knows.
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chashopkins6667
I used to build similar servers. As for your power off/power on issue, could be motherboard drivers, NT4 was a bit sensitive tbh. Also could be the IDE disk(s, personally I'd dump the IDE stuff and go SCSI. Lastly get all of the service packs, these were done back in the day when MS actually fixed stuff. I'd really like to see NT 3. 51 on this, you will be seriously down in uncanny valley: -) The tape issue was odd, I sorta seem to remember you had to initialise the tapes before use, can't remember cos it was a long time and many beers ago.
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I used to build similar servers. As for your power off/power on issue, could be motherboard drivers, NT4 was a bit sensitive tbh. Also could be the IDE disk(s, personally I'd dump the IDE stuff and go SCSI. Lastly get all of the service packs, these were done back in the day when MS actually fixed stuff. I'd really like to see NT 3. 51 on this, you will be seriously down in uncanny valley: -) The tape issue was odd, I sorta seem to remember you had to initialise the tapes before use, can't remember cos it was a long time and many beers ago.
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adamdresch
I remember my first job at a local computer store had something like this, a dual Pentium pro, with scsi drives, maybe NT 4. 0 I forget, but was probably Windows 95
Also my first experience with the internet, using Netscape Navigator and 128k Dual ISDN line.
Lol, the talking Bios reminds me of the HP LaserJet 4 Plus series of printers, the software for that would talk whenever there was an issue.
We had at least a hundred of those at the local hospital and all of them spoke Paper jam! Feeeeeed paper! and it was a really corny voice.
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I remember my first job at a local computer store had something like this, a dual Pentium pro, with scsi drives, maybe NT 4. 0 I forget, but was probably Windows 95
Also my first experience with the internet, using Netscape Navigator and 128k Dual ISDN line.
Lol, the talking Bios reminds me of the HP LaserJet 4 Plus series of printers, the software for that would talk whenever there was an issue.
We had at least a hundred of those at the local hospital and all of them spoke Paper jam! Feeeeeed paper! and it was a really corny voice.
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NumptyMcNumptyface
The last time I saw a system with incredibly slow cold starts it was the RAID controller thinking the array needed rebuilding. Restarting Windows however was fine. So my first guess would be one of the controllers (IDE or SCSI) not having a nice time with either the way they're set up, or one of the connected devices (tape drive) being flaky.
The customer had ordered a PC online and the seller had decided on using Western Digital black harddrives instead of something a bit more suitable like WD red.
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The last time I saw a system with incredibly slow cold starts it was the RAID controller thinking the array needed rebuilding. Restarting Windows however was fine. So my first guess would be one of the controllers (IDE or SCSI) not having a nice time with either the way they're set up, or one of the connected devices (tape drive) being flaky.
The customer had ordered a PC online and the seller had decided on using Western Digital black harddrives instead of something a bit more suitable like WD red.
reply
OnionChoppingNinja
Only the P4B mobo's from Asus could talk. Most other Mobo's in Asus P4 line like the P4P800 could not however, probably because those came with an American Megatrends Bios (which has become the standard with all Asus boards since) rather then Award. I know because I used to own a P4P800 back in the day and worked in a computer store where a customer once brought in a Computer with a P4B mobo that also talked. We first thought the customer was going crazy when they said the computer talked to them.
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Only the P4B mobo's from Asus could talk. Most other Mobo's in Asus P4 line like the P4P800 could not however, probably because those came with an American Megatrends Bios (which has become the standard with all Asus boards since) rather then Award. I know because I used to own a P4P800 back in the day and worked in a computer store where a customer once brought in a Computer with a P4B mobo that also talked. We first thought the customer was going crazy when they said the computer talked to them.
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HandFromCoffin
My first IT job out of the military was supporting NT4. Ahh. the good old day. I got a lol when you tried that 6GB drive. I don't remember running into that install drive limit because I think most drives we used where not even that large yet.
I remember configuring dual CPU workstations and being amazed how smooth they felt vs. a single core cpu we where used to back in the day. As great as it was I could never afford or justify the price back then.
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My first IT job out of the military was supporting NT4. Ahh. the good old day. I got a lol when you tried that 6GB drive. I don't remember running into that install drive limit because I think most drives we used where not even that large yet.
I remember configuring dual CPU workstations and being amazed how smooth they felt vs. a single core cpu we where used to back in the day. As great as it was I could never afford or justify the price back then.
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johis69
Oh god. This immediately induces PTSD in me. Back in 1997 I decided to - for the heck of it - install NT 4. 0 on my Pentium Pro (single processor) PC that was mainly used for gaming. After multiple floppy disks plus a CD, getting the drivers right etc. imagine my utter and complete disappointment of finding out NT did not A, have a Dos mode as Win95 did, and it was utterly incapable of playing any game I had. So many wasted hours. Now I shall watch the vid. ->
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Oh god. This immediately induces PTSD in me. Back in 1997 I decided to - for the heck of it - install NT 4. 0 on my Pentium Pro (single processor) PC that was mainly used for gaming. After multiple floppy disks plus a CD, getting the drivers right etc. imagine my utter and complete disappointment of finding out NT did not A, have a Dos mode as Win95 did, and it was utterly incapable of playing any game I had. So many wasted hours. Now I shall watch the vid. ->
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Galvatar100
NT3 and up came with NTVDM (NT Virtual Dos Machine, mostly meant to run old applications it does have limited CGA/EGA/VGA and Soundblaster support (think it also has SVGA and VESA support. But if the goal is to play games dosbox is a better choice.
That said, NT5 / Windows 2000 was sorta popular as a gaming OS with DX7 instead of Win98/ME. Driver support could be an issue IIRC, not sure how well it worked on workstation/server 'class' hardware.
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NT3 and up came with NTVDM (NT Virtual Dos Machine, mostly meant to run old applications it does have limited CGA/EGA/VGA and Soundblaster support (think it also has SVGA and VESA support. But if the goal is to play games dosbox is a better choice.
That said, NT5 / Windows 2000 was sorta popular as a gaming OS with DX7 instead of Win98/ME. Driver support could be an issue IIRC, not sure how well it worked on workstation/server 'class' hardware.
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lazygamereviews
I used to build specs for a firm like this one in the vid in the UK back in the 90's. I was 24 and the 1st one I built we had to buy in the case from the US. I built it all and it cost a fortune. It was for a ISP back in 1997. Of course with it being US the voltage was switched for US. I plugged in the kettle lead powered in and BANG. every component blown! good times. exciting times. a frontier time! hahaha
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I used to build specs for a firm like this one in the vid in the UK back in the 90's. I was 24 and the 1st one I built we had to buy in the case from the US. I built it all and it cost a fortune. It was for a ISP back in 1997. Of course with it being US the voltage was switched for US. I plugged in the kettle lead powered in and BANG. every component blown! good times. exciting times. a frontier time! hahaha
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djcmike
Nice machine. But NEVER use the bigfood drives >. < And you should probably clean the tape drive heads. That'll fix most of the issues.
WinNT4 new install should just have the small partition and then install the SP4 and I think SP6 came out too. Then resize the NTFS partition to take up all your space.
Personally I'd put in a SCSI UW/U160 HDD on.
But nice one as always: D
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Nice machine. But NEVER use the bigfood drives >. < And you should probably clean the tape drive heads. That'll fix most of the issues.
WinNT4 new install should just have the small partition and then install the SP4 and I think SP6 came out too. Then resize the NTFS partition to take up all your space.
Personally I'd put in a SCSI UW/U160 HDD on.
But nice one as always: D
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5kogur
I had a computer in the mid 2000s with the exact same talking bios, man does it bring back memories!
EDIT: Those Matrox cards are upgradable up to 8MB I believe, they came in 2, 4 and 6MB variants. If you have a 2MB card you need a 6MB expansion daughter board etc. The other card you showed has MOD6 written on the expansion board which I think is the 6MB expansion.
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I had a computer in the mid 2000s with the exact same talking bios, man does it bring back memories!
EDIT: Those Matrox cards are upgradable up to 8MB I believe, they came in 2, 4 and 6MB variants. If you have a 2MB card you need a 6MB expansion daughter board etc. The other card you showed has MOD6 written on the expansion board which I think is the 6MB expansion.
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sellelk2380
29: 00
The reason you’re getting that error is because technically, it’s not formatting as NTFS, it first formats as FAT32 then converts to NTFS.
If you preformat it as NTFS using something like PartitionMagic then you won’t have this problem.
Windows 2000 solved this problem.
EDIT
I just saw that you managed to find out why, sorry.
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29: 00
The reason you’re getting that error is because technically, it’s not formatting as NTFS, it first formats as FAT32 then converts to NTFS.
If you preformat it as NTFS using something like PartitionMagic then you won’t have this problem.
Windows 2000 solved this problem.
EDIT
I just saw that you managed to find out why, sorry.
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KalioJay
The problem with booting up consistently seems like a hardware problem. Maybe the hard drive isn't reliable
As far as Device Manager as we know it today, that wasn't introduced into the NT line until Windows 2000. Installing drivers on NT4 is like how it was with 3. 1, just run the driver setup software and hope it works properly.
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The problem with booting up consistently seems like a hardware problem. Maybe the hard drive isn't reliable
As far as Device Manager as we know it today, that wasn't introduced into the NT line until Windows 2000. Installing drivers on NT4 is like how it was with 3. 1, just run the driver setup software and hope it works properly.
reply
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