The Spam Thread!

[cpd2009]

I got some extended playtime with the V90 today, and I will say Sega Genesis/MD emulation is one of the device's best features. Picodrive emulates ROMs extremely well. No slowdown, no emulation glitches or errors I have noticed yet, and the sound is nearly spot on. I don't have a real Genesis to compare to, but the music/fx sounds similar to my various Genesis clone systems in quality, excluding the crappy AtGames ones. The screen is also amazing. The resolution of the V90 is 320 x 240 IPS, and Genesis/MD outputs natively to that format. That means games are 1:1 pixel ratio, making the graphics very crisp and colorful. The games tested were Gain Ground and Frogger. More to come in the weeks ahead.

Another bright spot is NeoGeo, as long as you use CFW and the GnGeo emulator. I tested a bit of Metal Slug, and as with Genesis/MD, emulation is very good with no noticeable slowdown or errors. FBA can also run some NeoGeo games too, but the audio seems to be downsampled making the music/fx muffled.

[huckleberrypie]

I got some extended playtime with the V90 today, and I will say Sega Genesis/MD emulation is one of the device's best features. Picodrive emulates ROMs extremely well. No slowdown, no emulation glitches or errors I have noticed yet, and the sound is nearly spot on. I don't have a real Genesis to compare to, but the music/fx sounds similar to my various Genesis clone systems in quality, excluding the crappy AtGames ones. The screen is also amazing. The resolution of the V90 is 320 x 240 IPS, and Genesis/MD outputs natively to that format. That means games are 1:1 pixel ratio, making the graphics very crisp and colorful. The games tested were Gain Ground and Frogger. More to come in the weeks ahead.

Another bright spot is NeoGeo, as long as you use CFW and the GnGeo emulator. I tested a bit of Metal Slug, and as with Genesis/MD, emulation is very good with no noticeable slowdown or errors. FBA can also run some NeoGeo games too, but the audio seems to be downsampled making the music/fx muffled.

IIRC Frogger was the last commercially released licenced game for the Genesis in North America, and was a close convention save for the AI on higher levels, though he did study the original game ROMs and tested them using MAME. Funny enough, he may have illegally downloaded the arcade ROM for research purposes.

[cpd2009]

Finally got my Dell rig back up and running, and going to use it as that Media Center PC I've been meaning to build. Though it's hitting some roadblocks...

I want to get Windows 11 running on it, but it's going to involve some hoop jumping to bypass the compatibility checks. Windows 10 is supported only until 2025 and I plan on using the PC well beyond that. I'm still shaking my head as to why MS intentionally locked out perfectly working PCs from the new OS.

If Windows 11 doesn't work out, then I will have to resort to just running Windows 10, or going with Linux. Last time I tried Linux on the Dell was over two years ago, and maybe the Radeon drivers aren't buggy anymore. But then there will be another roadblock... BluRay support. BD-R data discs are fine, but retail titles will be a nightmare to play. Either you have to track down the AACS keys yourself and set up the required libraries, or use the MakeMKV method to rip the discs. I'd rather not do the ripping part for the sole reason of preserving hard disk space. But then again, I'm not much into BluRay collecting either, and the few discs I do have are indie titles or the Disney pack-in with a DVD release.

[huckleberrypie]

Finally got my Dell rig back up and running, and going to use it as that Media Center PC I've been meaning to build. Though it's hitting some roadblocks...

I want to get Windows 11 running on it, but it's going to involve some hoop jumping to bypass the compatibility checks. Windows 10 is supported only until 2025 and I plan on using the PC well beyond that. I'm still shaking my head as to why MS intentionally locked out perfectly working PCs from the new OS.

If Windows 11 doesn't work out, then I will have to resort to just running Windows 10, or going with Linux. Last time I tried Linux on the Dell was over two years ago, and maybe the Radeon drivers aren't buggy anymore. But then there will be another roadblock... BluRay support. BD-R data discs are fine, but retail titles will be a nightmare to play. Either you have to track down the AACS keys yourself and set up the required libraries, or use the MakeMKV method to rip the discs. I'd rather not do the ripping part for the sole reason of preserving hard disk space. But then again, I'm not much into BluRay collecting either, and the few discs I do have are indie titles or the Disney pack-in with a DVD release.

And idk if the Dell's BIOS would take in a newer-gen Ryzen processor either, assuming you'd go with buying a new chip just to keep Microsoft happy. I did however get Windows 11 to run on a 2018 HP laptop I am using even though the Ryzen 3 2200U that came with it isn't officially supported.

[cpd2009]

And it appears my Dell does support Windows 11 after all.

I found out the Dell was in Legacy mode and switched it back to Secure Boot, and enabled TPM. I ran the Windows 11 setup, and it passed the compatibility check. Windows 11 is now running on the Dell, and I'm in the middle of getting updates and all that.

But now there is another issue. I have a fancy Sony X80J 4K TV I bought at tax refund time in February. The Dell was working fine with the Sony until I turned Secure Boot back on. Now, the Dell logo and BIOS screens no longer show up on the TV at all, and it complains of "No signal" even after the system finishes booting. I had to connect the Dell to one of my HDMI capture dongles just to see the output.

Based on a very quick Bing search (because I'm using a spare Windows 8.1 Gateway laptop and Vivaldi browser for drivers and research) apparently some modern TVs require the latest possible name-brand HDMI cables in order to pass a proper 4K signal from a PC to an HDTV. DRM might be involved too. And all of my HDMI cables on hand are el-cheapo cables packed in with the various plug-and-play games and cheap DVD players I have used over the years.

I will try to lower the resolution to 1080p or 720p before trying it with the TV again. If it still fails, then I may indeed have to get a 4K HDMI cable from a name-brand like GE.

[cpd2009]

To summarize...

My Sony TV still refuses to recognize the Dell when Secure Boot is on. Windows 11 locks you out of your user account if it's shut down too many times or too many log-in attempts. Windows 11 requires Secure Boot to function properly.

So I think I will try the Linux route, and resort to MakeMKV for ripping any BluRays I acquire. I can use that in conjunction with MediaEspresso to compress them down to a more compressed file.

As for the RX 580 under Linux, it appears the current Ubuntu Live USB still freezes up with screen artifacts, just like it did two years ago. I remember then, I confirmed it wasn't a bad GPU since Windows 10 never froze or had artifacting. Windows 11 was also good. Here is a forum thread detailing the exact same issue to another user:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1265799/...-artifacts

I could try installing Ubuntu and seeing if it can fetch updated GPU drivers. If not, then it's time to do some distro hopping. At times, the system freezes even before you are able to check for updates or drivers.

[huckleberrypie]

And it appears my Dell does support Windows 11 after all.

I found out the Dell was in Legacy mode and switched it back to Secure Boot, and enabled TPM. I ran the Windows 11 setup, and it passed the compatibility check. Windows 11 is now running on the Dell, and I'm in the middle of getting updates and all that.

But now there is another issue. I have a fancy Sony X80J 4K TV I bought at tax refund time in February. The Dell was working fine with the Sony until I turned Secure Boot back on. Now, the Dell logo and BIOS screens no longer show up on the TV at all, and it complains of "No signal" even after the system finishes booting. I had to connect the Dell to one of my HDMI capture dongles just to see the output.

Based on a very quick Bing search (because I'm using a spare Windows 8.1 Gateway laptop and Vivaldi browser for drivers and research) apparently some modern TVs require the latest possible name-brand HDMI cables in order to pass a proper 4K signal from a PC to an HDTV. DRM might be involved too. And all of my HDMI cables on hand are el-cheapo cables packed in with the various plug-and-play games and cheap DVD players I have used over the years.

I will try to lower the resolution to 1080p or 720p before trying it with the TV again. If it still fails, then I may indeed have to get a 4K HDMI cable from a name-brand like GE.

That's reassuring. Glad you got most of the issues ironed out.

[cpd2009]

Progress report...

After using Ubuntu last night without graphical issues, I decided to reset the CMOS, and now, I'm getting artifacting and freezing again.

Going to try Debian, since after reading that support thread, I found out one user didn't have the freezing issue with Debian. Once the rig is all finalized, I will go ahead and make a big thread about it.

[cpd2009]

That Dell rig has got to be one of the most puzzling computers I've ever tried to fix.

Most Linux distros I try suffer from that same artifacting+freeze except for Debian, which was the most stable Linux I've tried yet. The roadblock? The Debian stable repositories don't have all of the RetroArch cores I need to set up the emulation side of things. It's missing the Genesis/MD cores.

I doubt the RX 580 GPU is going bad since when Windows is running, I get no freezes or crashes, and when it was my daily driver PC, games and other GPU heavy programs worked flawlessly. It's only under Linux where the freezes occur.

On top of that, I'm still trying to figure out why my Sony TV refuses to display any sort of display output when I turn Secure Boot on. This only happens on the Sony, as I can see the display output from the Dell on my MacBook via an HDMI capture dongle. I also have my old Huion display tablet that I haven't really tried out yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that also works fine.

Secure Boot isn't needed for Linux and maybe Windows 10, but Windows 11 may not like it being off. When Secure Boot is off, the Sony TV can display output from the Dell PC just fine.

I have no idea why this is happening. The Sony TV is a very recent model, a 43'' X80-J running Google TV. The HDMI ports are working since one of the troubleshooting things I tried was connecting the Dell to the HDMI switcher that also has my Wii U. The Wii U displays fine, but when I change to the Dell HDMI on the switcher, I get the same No Signal message. The TV appears to recognize the HDMI being active as the tile turns bright green in the Input menu while the Dell is powered on, yet still doesn't display a signal. I purchased a GE-brand HDMI cable that indicates support for 4K HDR, ARC and the other fancy HDMI stuff. I still get the same No Signal result. I've also tried using different HDMI ports on the TV, and still get the same issue. My only guess is that when Secure Boot is on, the HDMI signal is displaying at a resolution that the Sony doesn't recognize, or it's having handshake issues?

There are still a few things I want to try, such as running the HDMI through a splitter. Some of the forum posts I've read indicate that may help fix the display issue, but it may potentially cap the output at 1080p. I will also dig out my small Huion display tablet and seeing if the signal still displays on that with Secure Boot on.

Not helping things is the lack of a concrete solution for either the Linux crashes or the No Signal issue. Solutions for the latter have ranged from resetting the CMOS settings, re-seating the GPU or RAM, and using a different HDMI cable supporting 4K. I don't think I need to re-seat the RAM or GPU since again, they work flawlessly with a vanilla Win10/11 install. I could run MemTest86 out of caution, but I doubt bad RAM would have anything to do with Secure Boot sending an unusable signal to my Sony TV. I've also tried resetting the CMOS settings and resetting the BIOS to factory defaults.

If any of those other fixes fail, I may have to get a new GPU for the Dell after all. But it would have to wait since I don't have enough money at the moment to purchase a graphics card. And I'd want a very nice one since the Dell has a beefy PSU, and I'd rather avoid an entry-level card.

EDIT: I am now getting display output on the Sony TV when using an HDMI splitter. Secure Boot is on. I will go ahead and try Windows 11 installation again. I think the reason why it had so much trouble booting last time was a stray EFI boot partition from it's previous Windows 10 setup was still on one of the spare HDDs I installed. I will use GParted to wipe all partitions before going forward. I will see if the HDMI splitter will allow 4K output, or be capped at 1080p.

[huckleberrypie]

On top of stuff like Dell's previous history of using proprietary pinouts on power supplies and such, this is why I avoided that brand like the plague.