All my content and ptohos
Pentium 233MHz Tower
With popularization of multimedia computers, with MMX
instructions and CD-ROM drives, system builders started to think about
the form of computer. The gray box sitting under desk, or under monitor,
was not a fashionable thing. So more colors started to be used with
casings. This is an early example of a nice case with sliding cover,
popular until late 1999 in both AT and ATX forms. Unfortunately economic
savings can be seen here - LED display cannot show any number, only "HI"
and "LO" as set of jumpers was too expensive. And it's hard to display
"200" or "233" on 2-digit display.
This computer has one of the best Pentium I processors available -
Pentium MMX 233MHz. It has S3 ViRGE DX video card with a nice 3D
capabilities and Yamaha sound card. 24x CD-ROM drive completes the
machine. These computers were used even until mid-2000s and, if Win98 is
not a problem, are still used.
| Approx. year | 1997 |
|
| Class | AT | |
| CPU | Intel Pentium MMX | |
| Speed | 233MHz | |
| RAM | 64MB (4x16MB SIMM72) | |
| ROM | Award 4.51PG | |
| Mainboard | Asus P55T2P4 | |
| Graphics | S3 ViRGE DX | |
| Sound | Yamaha YMF719E (16-bit ISA) |
|
| Ports I/O | Onboard (2x COM 1x LPT, 2x IDE, 1x FDD, PS/2, USB) |
|
| Network | Realtek RTL8139C (PCI) (RJ45-only) |
|
| System expansion bus | 3x 16-bit ISA slot 4x PCI slot 1x Asus extended PCI slot for Asus boards |
|
| Floppy/removable media drives | 1x 3.5" 1.44MB floppy
disk drive |
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| Hard disks/ATA devices: |
Quantum Bigfoot 2550AT (C/H/S: 2492/16/63), 2.5GB Samsung 24x CD-ROM drive |
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Peripherals in collection: |
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| Other boards:
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None | |
| Casing | Standard small AT tower | |
| Non-standard expansions: | None | |
| Operating system(s): | Windows 98SE |
| Contents: | Starting, usage | Drivers | Links |
Starting
It's a typical Award 4.51PG BIOS, so no surprises here, it works well. If the mainboard doesn't detect Your CPU or is stuck at some frequency while higher one is set, it means that BIOS is too old. The last BIOS is still available in Asus website, but PFLASH utility not. Look at drivers for a whole tool pack.
Remember that flashing wrong BIOS is destructive. Remember to unlock BIOS flashing with jumpers as stated in manual, and flash with boot block. DO NOT FLASH IF NOT NEEDED. After flashing replace jumpers - Chernobyl virus is not common today, but may spread with some old software. Too many mainboards have been destroyed by it or by morons who blindly flash wrong BIOSes.
This mainboard has DS1287 RTC soldered in. If it's damaged, it can be unsoldered and reworked or, if you can, revorked without unsoldering but you have to be extreme careful. It will be OK if no full-length ISA card is not used in the lowest slot and usually it isn't.
This is a nice, rigid mainboard, and if you have a good RAM, you can try with overclocking. I found that Pentium 233 works well if bus is set not to 66, but 75MHz giving ca. 266MHz. If you try to increase speeds more, after each modification, extensively test the system: Memtest for testing RAM and e.g. Prime95 to stress-test under Windows (I found that Windows 98 installer stresses the system well too). Do not overclock the bus too much.
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Asus P55T2P4 - utilities package. Includes PFLASH. |
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RTL8139 driver for Win98SE |
https://etmriwi.home.xs4all.nl/kalle.htm - How to squeeze everything from Asus P55T2P4.
https://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/5/4/1/8/ - Official P55T2P4
support