Re: Decpc LPX 466d2 AT Power Supply Replacement

Posted on 2021-03-04, 19:18

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd fix the old one, if you do not have soldering equipment or knowledge of SMPS operation then you could bring it to a qualified service technician for repair, those old AT PSUs do not lie around unfortunately.

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Re: HP Vectra 486/33VL not booting up

Posted on 2021-03-04, 19:06

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Check if it beeps w/o BIOS chip, maybe it emits some random noise?

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Re: 486 Won't boot, not a Beeb

Posted on 2021-03-04, 19:02

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

BIOS halts at initializing keyboard controller, you'd get exact error W/O KB controller, check traces around battery.

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Re: HP Vectra 486/33VL not booting up

Posted on 2021-03-02, 14:59

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

If it actually beeped, then your CPU and chipset should be OK, skip test using a diag ROM for now, perhaps a bad connection/short or cold solder joint somewhere causes MB to return momentarily. Wash board using natural bristle brush and soap, reseat every removable component, dry well and test again …

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Re: HP Vectra 486/33VL not booting up

Posted on 2021-03-02, 01:57

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I wouldn't trust POST card readings, its functionality relies solely on BIOS, if BIOS chip is bad or image inside of it is corrupted, POST card will be of little use. When a motherboard shows no signs of life, I use a "Supersoft" diagnostic ROM to quickly pinpoint the problem. This diagnostic …

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Re: Dude, you're getting a Dell

Posted on 2021-03-01, 20:58

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Once upon a time there was a DELL, the DELL was powered on with a standard ATX power supply, the DELL was no more, the end.

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Re: Compaq Armada 1592DT cooling fan not spinning

Posted on 2021-02-27, 22:13

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I had same concern once too, CPU fan on my Armada 1550T (133MHz P54C, 2.9V core) turns on when CPU reaches around 65*C, that's normal for those armadas apparently.

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Re: Abit AB-PB4 twin paradox

Posted on 2021-02-23, 04:23

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

8MB Matrox produced the same tesult in 3D bench as S3 card (its oddly fast noname card) and could not go above 103.6FPS, forgot to mention that ISA clock was set to 1/3 of PCI in BIOS.

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Re: Abit AB-PB4 twin paradox

Posted on 2021-02-20, 06:00

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Tested my AB-PB4 also, seems it's on a faster side, in 3D bench 1.0C with exact BIOS settings and 5x86 @ 160MHz + 2MB S3 Trio64 I get 103.6FPS. Noticed one oddity about that MB though, ISA bus clock affects PCI bus performance slightly.

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Re: Gigabyte GA-486AM/S motherboard

Posted on 2021-02-20, 05:45

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Interesting, it uses a UMC 888x chipset, which definitely can work with a single SIMM72 stick, I wonder if such two-sticks-per-bank configuration significantly increases memory throughput on that chipset.

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Re: Gigabyte GA-486AM/S motherboard

Posted on 2021-02-20, 05:27

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

486 CPUs are using 32bit external data bus, thus only one 32bit SIMM72 stick is needed for such system to successfully POST, wherereas socket 4/5/7+ CPUs are using 64bit external data bus and thus require at least two simm72 sticks ;) There exists at least one S7 chipset that can interface a 64bit …

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Re: Nvidia Riva 128 - disable synchronization?

Posted on 2021-01-02, 17:22

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Don't do that, disabling vsync on riva 128 or TNT is not allowed by default for a reason 😀

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Re: No POST on FIC 486-VC-HD

Posted on 2021-01-02, 17:16

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

This board won't emit any error beeps (with AMI BIOS) if there is going to be faulty RAM in BANK0. Test MB first with known good/compatible SIMM modules and if it'll still fail to POST, make a thorough visual inspection in the SIMM slots area.

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Re: Broken Socket 3 ZIF - repairable?

Posted on 2020-12-28, 03:19

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'd follow quicknick's advice, because socket's base is still in good shape, but if you care just about functionality and not looks, then replacing a whole socket would be your second option, though finding a replacement is going to be hard. I've dealt with this problem also, but in my case, …

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Re: No POST on FIC 486-VC-HD

Posted on 2020-12-28, 02:28

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Hello! Can you provide a BIOS dump of this mainboard? My BIOS EPROM stopped working and now board is dead. There were few versions of this FIC board, some had VLB slots, some didn't, but they all used the same VIA chipset, check this BIOS image, it should fit your board just fine. I have a slightly …

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Re: Diamond Viper V330 lost half its memory

Posted on 2020-12-16, 21:36

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Had exact problem with a 8MB version of Elsa Erazor II card (TNT), the culprit was a damaged SMD resistor near one of the RAM ICs. RAM amount and RAM bus width were halved at that point, but card worked flawlessly, though slower. If you can't find missing or damaged resistors on PCB, check RAM ICs …

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Re: Fixing BIOS error on a socket 3 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-02, 18:54

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Deksor wrote on 2020-12-02, 18:45: SSTV2 wrote on 2020-12-02, 18:21: Only PR revision of that SIS chipset support EDO RAM, older revisions will cause that "checksum" error at boot, though with some fast EDO ram sticks it might POST, but don't expect anything more. Where did you get that info ? I'm …

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Re: Fixing BIOS error on a socket 3 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-02, 18:21

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Only PR revision of that SIS chipset support EDO RAM, older revisions will cause that "checksum" error at boot, though with some fast EDO ram sticks it might POST, but don't expect anything more.

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Re: Fixing BIOS error on a socket 3 motherboard

Posted on 2020-12-02, 18:02

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You must use FPM RAM, this board does not accept EDO.

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Re: Looking for identification of a 486 CPU slot card.

Posted on 2020-12-02, 14:43

by

by SSTV2

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Judging by the markings and overall board design, it might have once belonged to an Acer system, probably was used in one of those "Acer Altos" 486 server boards.

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