DOS Games Discussion

I built a "new" computer: Pentium-MMX 200 MHz, 256 MB DIMM SDRAM, 4 GB (1st HD), 6 GB (2nd HD), CD-ROM 52x, Motherboard Soltek REV-MVP3, video card Nvidia RIVA TNT2, audio Ess1868. What do you think about this computer, for dos games? But I have to use an USB-mouse because there isn't the PS/2 port and the com 1 and 2 don't work! I tried also by using the bios, but the serial-mouse doesn't work! The mouse works very wel on another PC.

IRQ/DMA conflict, no driver, Widows doesn't support COM ?

DOS machine: Forget it.

fabiobol wrote:I built a "new" computer: Pentium-MMX 200 MHz, 256 MB DIMM SDRAM, 4 GB (1st HD), 6 GB (2nd HD), CD-ROM 52x, Motherboard Soltek REV-MVP3, video card Nvidia RIVA TNT2, audio Ess1868.

My personal , and i mean personal opinion: complete overkill , even quake don't ask for such sys specs.
And your cdrom is to fast , dosgames who needs the cd in the drive are better with a slower (4-8x), lesser spin up/down time.
If you want the use for the 256MB mem you will need freedos or msdos7.

That all said , if you reconsider you may always throw that pc to me....

486 player wrote:IRQ/DMA conflict, no driver, Widows doesn't support COM ?

DOS machine: Forget it.

Yeah, Windows supports com ports: If I go to the system properties, and peripherals setup, the COM 1 and 2 are correctly installed. But the serial-mouse doesn't work. I have 2 types of COM- ports, one of them "normal" and another bigger, that was used with the older mice. I tried also to connect the same port to the "com1" and the "com2" connectors on the motherboard, but the result was always the same.

Perhaps the serial port ribbons might be faulty. Try replacing them if you can.

Or if you're sort of a stuntman, clear your CMOS with a program like CMOSPWD, and allow the BIOS to reset to factory defaults, that might do it.

Bios could also need updating... But as Identity Crisis was saying its risky

I tried also to change the external port, but it doesn't work at all. I'm sure that the electric-energy arrives at the external-port (where i connect the mouse, of course) and I don't know why the device is not found! If I run cmoswpd, could I risk to damage my motherboard? Isn't more simple to use the "Clear CMOS" jumper on the MB?

With CMOSPWD, you don't need to go through the trouble of opening the computer case. It's just a matter of typing a DOS command, reboot, and presto! Your computer is reset to factory defaults. No damage at all!

Of course, in the 0.00000000001% chance that CMOSPWD damages your motherboard, no liability is assumed at all.

I didn't use CMOSWPD, but i opened the case and I set "Clear Cmos" at least 10 times... but the result, unfortunately, was ALWAYS the same: the com ports are correctly installed also on Windows XP, but the serial-mouse isn't detected at all! Next September I will buy some new serial ports and I will see if and how the serial mouse will work... At home I have 5 external serial-ports, but no one of them works... I had this problem also with another MB, for Pentium II!