My Quantex SM1

[Chandler]

This is my Quantex SM1 purchased in May 2000 in the UK.  Originally it had a 650MHz Pentium III, 128MB RAM and nVidia Vanta graphics card.  These have been upgraded to 1GHz Pentium III, 384MB RAM and nVidia GeForce FX.

The Quantex sat in it's desk with the unreliable Sharp hi-fi next to it.


The more observant of you may notice that the optical drives have changed in this picture.  The tray on the Toshiba SD-M1402 has got so bad that I've replaced it with the LG DVD writer and put the LG CD-RW back in.


Inside the Quantex.  There is actually a fan in the front of the case but isn't in this picture since I had taken it out for cleaning.  Any recommendations to tidy up the cabling?  The cards are:

• GeForce FX5200 128MB in the AGP slot
• Empty (useless) AMR slot
• Empty PCI slot
• Aureal SQ2500 sound card
• Lucent WinModem
• Empty PCI slot - soon to have USB 2.0 card in it
• 3Com 3C905TX network card
• ISA slot

The back of the system


My dog Charas in front of the Quantex.  I'll fix the demon eyes ;)


And below is our oldest computer, a Fujitsu Myrica P133FM.  It originally had a Pentium 133, 16MB RAM, 1MB Graphics Card and 1.2GB hard drive and now has Cyrix MII PR300, 128MB RAM, 32MB graphics card and 20GB hard drive.  It is still fast enough to use for surfing the internet and office work.

[query]

Looks like Quantex in the UK stayed true to Fountain form - the case looks internally just like the one in my Cybermax Athlon system (different faceplate, still Fong Kai) and the monitor is an Amtran - pretty much the same.

[JimS]

I have the same system, Chandler, except mine's an 800 mHz PIII, purchased 07/2000, about a month before Quantex closed shop.  I've added a second 30 gB drive and more memory.  My kids appropriated this system from me; not a big deal, since I have an IBM T40 notebook which is now MY computer (no sharing with the kids...).  However, the Q isn't working very well these days; it locks up frequently.  I have everything backed up, but I ran into problems trying to restore the factory configuration.  I don't remember the details, and haven't had time to look into it, but I'll give everyone here a yell if I get stuck.

[Chandler]

I had some issues with the Drive Image, it began to complain that the disk start/end had changed (they hadn't).  I installed Drive Image 5 and used that to restore the old images.

I don't use the original Quantex setup anymore since quite a few things have changed, but I have to admit that it was a better setup than what I do (for Windows 98SE).

I really like this computer, it's still my main one most of the time, even though I have a newer laptop.  I can't see myself upgrading it much though, due to the strange configuration of the case which limits the size of heatsink/fans.

The original power supply had vents on the CPU side of it, but this new one doesn't.  I don't know how much of a difference this makes, it doesn't seem to have affected the temperatures at all.  It does appear to be a well designed case since for ages I ran with just the PSU fan and temperatures were very low.  Only when the extra hard drive is in do I stick the front fan in (to keep the drives cool)

[JimS]

I use Drive Image v4, and if I recall, it told me it couldn't find the image file.  It seemed to default to a specific file extension or location, and I wasn't able to change one or the other.  Like I said, I haven't had time to fool with it, but hope to get it back up soon.  I've also replace the power supply, thinking that it was the cause of some children's games locking up, but I didn't notice a difference.  Maybe it's time to upgrade this one to XP.

Chandler, I was going to get back to you on some help you gave me back in, I guess, July 2003.  You told me the IP settings to connect the Quantex to my IBM T40 notebook using a crossover cable.  If I remember correctly, the IBM saw the Quantex, but the Quantex didn't see the IBM.  I haven't tried it recently, especially since the Q is down, but once it's up again, I'll give you a buzz with some more details.

[Chandler]

Sure, just give a buzz when the Q is running again and I'll try to help.

[bill macdonald]

Chandler,
I noticed in the Q1 you have a 60 g HDD.  How did you over come the old BIOS capacity limits?
Obviously there is a way...
Bill

[Chandler]

The motherboard in mine (Biostar M6VCG) doesn't have any problems until 137GB.

[bill macdonald]

Thanks. So my Biostar M6TBA ver 1.3 should be OK with one smaller than 137?

This is  a QP6 SM 1x P111 450 mhz with a 6.46 HDD.

Bill

[Mark H]

Chandler,
I noticed in the Q1 you have a 60 g HDD.  How did you over come the old BIOS capacity limits?
Obviously there is a way...
Bill

You can do it with a PCI controller card, which has its own BIOS for larger drives. I am not sure about booting from it in your system, but I know that most systems can boot from them by setting it in BIOS. I think BIOS usually sees them as SCSI controllers even though they are IDE controllers.

Mark H

[bill macdonald]

Mark,
Thanks, that would mean spending more money on a system I'm going to retire.  I've spec.ed a new one but the budget isn't there yet.  I thought I might put the new HD in the old system to get started.  
Guess I'll wait.
Bill-

[Mark H]

A controller card is less than $20, but if you are building/buying a new replacement system, I would do the same thing you are doing.

Mark H

[Chandler]

I've done a search and discovered that the M6TBA does unfortunately have the 32GB BIOS bug which means that it will hang at drive detection with a hard drive bigger than 32GB.  There is a fix for versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 of the board but not 1.3.

[bill macdonald]

Chandler,
Thanks for your effort.

Mark,  Thanks for your thoughts.

Bill

[trav]

Nice machine(s), Chandler!
Your quantex is nice 'n' tidy, unlike my computer/harddive/room ;D ;)

[trav]

Oh, and nice looking mini-system!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

[Chandler]

Nice machine(s), Chandler!
Your quantex is nice 'n' tidy, unlike my computer/harddive/room ;D ;)

Thanks, it was a lot neater when it came from Quantex though.  I've got buy some of those small cable ties to fasten everything back up again, but I can only ever find the large ones.  :(  THAT room is tidy, unlike my room here at university.

[trav]

THAT room is tidy, unlike my room here at university.

Oh, belive me, you dint see the rest of my room hehe, its really messy!