So I've installed a PCI network card and also I've got loads of Soundblaster 128's, so I've decided to use it in this system. It's actually got amazing dos support, not Adlib but General Midi that supports 8MB wavesets.

Here's Duke Nukem 3D in DOS, with General Midi (Excuse the mess 😀):

A little bit of Doom with General Midi:

Updates in progress.......

So this machine has 4x PCI slots, so far I have used 3. I think the best option for slot 4 is a USB card, but they're tricky with these old chipsets and Windows 98.
So far I've tried a modern VIA VT6212L, but as soon as the drivers start to load it crashes the system.

I picked up a few 20+ years old USB cards:
NEC uPD720101 (£1)
VIA VT6212L (probably won't work but £2)
Hopefully the NEC one will do the trick, but we'll have to wait and see. 🤞

So I found out that a MR BIOS is available for this board, but the bios chip is soldered so it's a little scary! I'm doing it! 😬

Success! MR BIOS posts!

Here's the options I now have, although I have lost the ability to boot from CD, not the end of the world, but we'll see if everything is ok and functional.

The first positive is that it now hasn't got the harddrive size limitation of 8GB. I've resized this install with PM8 and I can now use the whole 80GB.

I tested the games I installed yesterday, although the sound works fine in windows, in MS-DOS mode I've got issues. I've read that Mr. BIOS doesn't properly support PnP, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm doing a fresh install from scratch on a 32GB SD to IDE. We'll see 🤔

The Windows 98 install went well, the system somehow feels faster with the new bios, I've installed the Soundblaster PCI 128 drivers and have the legacy sound all setup in Windows.

8MB Wavetables added, I've configured Duke 3D inside Windows to use Soundblaster for SFX, General Midi for Music, works (didn't before the reinstall).

Now where I'm struggling:
I know the Interrupt is 9 and the Base I/O port of the soundcard is 1200, I cannot for the life of me get the soundcard to work in pure MS-DOS, frustrating:

So I've done a 360, having to change the soundcard for the sake of a funky bios I'm not going to do. I've reverted to the most recent Gateway bios, which is 1.00.10 BROT.
Decided to go with a 4GB SD card, which is large for this system. Reinstalling Win 98 again.

I found this ISA RealMagic EM8010 mpeg decoder card and randomly I stumbled upon the correct cable! 👍👍
I've just got to give it a quick clean and also sort out the bracket.

One of the threads had snapped off inside, and wasn't easy to get out.

Good to go!
REALmagic EM8010 ISA MPEG Audio/Video Accelerator - Net stream 1 (53-000517)

Although this card is a little too old for this system, more suited to a 486 or older, I want to test it out and maybe use it on another older machine (like my favourite 386). Hopefully it works ok.

I've recorded a 12 minute update video, I can't upload it here as it's too big, so here's the link:
>Gateway 2000 Refurb / Rescue Update - Soundblaster 128 PCI in MS-DOS and next steps<
https://youtu.be/Xfpwz9k3cMo?si=h1vbypYcaCSFscLq

Good evening folks, if you haven't wanted my update video, reverting the BIOS did the trick!
I've now got a Soundblaster 128 PCI fully working in MS-DOS.
Here's the Windows 98 startup sound to celebrate 🎊

One of my all-time favourites:
Descent II, can't wait to properly play this, like I did back in the day! 🤘

Heretic sound test in MS-DOS:
SFX: Soundblaster
Music: General Midi

NEC D720101 - Windows 9x compatible USB 2.0 card for, bought for £1! 👍

The USB 2.0 card is working in Windows 98! 👍
Excellent result, oh and the sound is still working in MS-DOS too. W00t

I have a full backup image of the system with everything working, using Ghost....

I've now started stripping the system down, board, drives, PSU is out.

Plastic base and front panel is off.

"Dead things, Mikey, DEAD THINGS!"

Behind the front fans, be rust!

That's it, everything that can be removed (not riveted) is out, ready for a full deep clean.

Rub-a-dub-dub, the Gateway's in the tub 🫧🪥🚿🧼🧽

I've decided to keep the original 6x CD-ROM, it's going to need some TLC inside, grease, laser clean etc. but it works.
It shows it's early, before they kind of standardised the front bezel design, there's a small PCB mounted to the front. It doesn't even have a manual eject hole

Before cleaning shot, a piece of A4 behind, so we can see the original colour:

Another one, with the CD-ROM bezel against A4 paper:

As we're having a heatwave in the UK and this bezel being huge, I'm going to Retrobright using Sunlight, this method is supposed to be longer lasting than using Hydrogen Peroxide and I have days of sun to use, so why not! ☀️ 😎
I've laid out silver foil to maximise coverage.

Decided to test out some rust removal gel on this I/O plate, worth a go first.

The top was after a few coats and about 5 hours, not exactly spectacular results, quite underwhelming, but it did remove a bit.

I'm so glad I never attempted to use the original PSU, the voltages are all over the place:
+12v is 3.5v
-12v is -1.2v
+5v fluctuates between +3v and +9.1v 😬
I have an ATX PSU with the wires cut off, that actually does -5v, so I'll solder in the AT cables, plus the power switch.