EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: Weistek on November 01, 2015, 12:29:56 am
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Hi, first time post.
I recently acquired a tla704 color mainframe. Everything works fine but I want to upgrade some stuff.
I have a 233MMX overdrive coming and 128mb ram so thats taken care of.
The only other thing I am missing is a hdd drive upgrade I heard of a user rfdes along time ago who had the required files for an 800 x 600 resolution display upgrade and a few other files that are needed.
My problem is I can't seem to find him active or his files anywhere on the internet. So if anyone could help me out that would be great.
Also if anyone can point me in the direction of a suitable lcd replacement that would be great as well.
If there are any other useful modifications please do let me know.
Thanks.
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
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I used to own one of these and did all these hacks...
A few notes:
1) You have to unsolder the Pentium 133 from the multilayer motherboard. This isn't for someone who is unskilled because you need to put a lot of heat into the board and the processor (which has a heatsink). You'll also need to fool the clock oscillator to feed the right frequency into the processor (66MHz FSB). IIRC I had a 200MMX overdrive. I don't know whether the 233MHz overdrive is compatible...
2a) The display upgrade can be done with virtually any TFT screen which has a parallel interface (not LVDS). The NEC displays fit the best. You'll notice the original NEC TFT panel is mounted upside down. The newer displays don't allow to be mounted this way so you'll see a small part of the TFT screen's bezel. The newer mainframes with 800x600 screens look the same so don't be afraid your logic analyser looks ugly.
2b) You'll have to make you own display cable or find a suitable conversion cable.
3) I put a CF card in my TLA704 which is quicker than a hard drive but don't expect stellar performance.
4) With some hacking you can run version 5 of the analyser mainframe software on Windows 2000. The advantage is that you can operate the logic analyser from a PC. Be aware that PCMCIA network cards are not quick.
I've attached the files you need to update the BIOS and how to install version 5.x. The attached BIOS also has a fix for the power management so the mainframe shuts itself down.
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I used to own one of these and did all these hacks...
A few notes:
1) You have to unsolder the Pentium 133 from the multilayer motherboard. This isn't for someone who is unskilled because you need to put a lot of heat into the board and the processor (which has a heatsink). You'll also need to fool the clock oscillator to feed the right frequency into the processor (66MHz FSB). IIRC I had a 200MMX overdrive. I don't know whether the 233MHz overdrive is compatible...
2a) The display upgrade can be done with virtually any TFT screen which has a parallel interface (not LVDS). The NEC displays fit the best. You'll notice the original NEC TFT panel is mounted upside down. The newer displays don't allow to be mounted this way so you'll see a small part of the TFT screen's bezel. The newer mainframes with 800x600 screens look the same so don't be afraid your logic analyser looks ugly.
2b) You'll have to make you own display cable or find a suitable conversion cable.
3) I put a CF card in my TLA704 which is quicker than a hard drive but don't expect stellar performance.
4) With some hacking you can run version 5 of the analyser mainframe software on Windows 2000. The advantage is that you can operate the logic analyser from a PC. Be aware that PCMCIA network cards are not quick.
I've attached the files you need to update the BIOS and how to install version 5.x. The attached BIOS also has a fix for the power management so the mainframe shuts itself down.
Thank you very much.
On the cpu I just realized that a 233 probably won't work but it's the same socket 5 err socket 7 without the extra pin. So I ordered a 200mmx.
I work with rework on a daily bases as I'm a hardware design engineer, so melting that proc off the board should not be too hard. What pin on the clock do I need to lift?
Does that bios have the 800 x 600 resolution fix? Also what's the largest hard drive these will accept? 4gb should be plenty for a dedicated logic analyzer.
I also have some upgraded modules coming for it the 7l4,7n3,7n2 all with almost maxed out options. Got those for a steal I think.
I'll keep an eye out for a display. Ebay seems to be filled with screens that don't match what I'm searching for.
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
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Oh also, if I flash the bios and still have the old display in, will it still work? As it's only rated at a res of 640 x 480?
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
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It helps to read readme's, so not it wont work with the original display. Thank you for your help. If its ok I am going to do a tear down/upgrade buildlog on this thing and host the files so if anyone is still interested in these machines they wont have such a hard time finding them.
thanks again.
I used to own one of these and did all these hacks...
A few notes:
1) You have to unsolder the Pentium 133 from the multilayer motherboard. This isn't for someone who is unskilled because you need to put a lot of heat into the board and the processor (which has a heatsink). You'll also need to fool the clock oscillator to feed the right frequency into the processor (66MHz FSB). IIRC I had a 200MMX overdrive. I don't know whether the 233MHz overdrive is compatible...
2a) The display upgrade can be done with virtually any TFT screen which has a parallel interface (not LVDS). The NEC displays fit the best. You'll notice the original NEC TFT panel is mounted upside down. The newer displays don't allow to be mounted this way so you'll see a small part of the TFT screen's bezel. The newer mainframes with 800x600 screens look the same so don't be afraid your logic analyser looks ugly.
2b) You'll have to make you own display cable or find a suitable conversion cable.
3) I put a CF card in my TLA704 which is quicker than a hard drive but don't expect stellar performance.
4) With some hacking you can run version 5 of the analyser mainframe software on Windows 2000. The advantage is that you can operate the logic analyser from a PC. Be aware that PCMCIA network cards are not quick.
I've attached the files you need to update the BIOS and how to install version 5.x. The attached BIOS also has a fix for the power management so the mainframe shuts itself down.
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What pin on the clock do I need to lift?
I don't know exactly. IIRC there is a maxim PLL chip close to the CPU and the datasheets are easy to find. It will recognise the 200MMX as a P180. For me the quickest way was to add a wire to set the PLL to 66MHz. Another option could be to place some wires on the CPU pins so the CPU is identified as a P200 (if that ever existed).
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What pin on the clock do I need to lift?
I don't know exactly. IIRC there is a maxim PLL chip close to the CPU and the datasheets are easy to find. It will recognise the 200MMX as a P180. For me the quickest way was to add a wire to set the PLL to 66MHz. Another option could be to place some wires on the CPU pins so the CPU is identified as a P200 (if that ever existed).
I don't know if the 704 ever needed to know what 200mmx was so it will probably always read as a 180.
I think I'm going to try to unlock the rest of the options as well on the modules I have coming.
Damn 10" nec that's are expensive now. And I can't seem to settle on one. The screen actually measures 10.4" am I correct in thinking that's what I'm looking for? The best candidate I think I have found is from an old pill dispenser machine.
Thanks again.
Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
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First time poster here and sorry for the necrobump, but I figured that this is directly relevant to this thread.
I have a TLA704 here and am trying to do the steps here to get v5.1 of the TLA software installed on W2000. I got to the end (extracting and replacing Setup.inx), but after that it refuses to run on W2000 -- I click on Setup.exe and absolutely nothing happens. The same file on the same disk runs under W98 and W11 (refusing to install of course). Am I missing a step somewhere?
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What error do you get? Maybe start the installer from the command line and see what output you get. It could be that the files didn't got copied properly.