Hmmm can you find the board number, should be a sticker with a number like: 202441-001 or 202377-002 or similar, that would help...(the scsi card has one: 230193-003)
Did the AST ever work proper at any time since you have had it ???
Certain EISA slots can only be used for specific adapters on some motherboards. You should not use the "slave" slots for anything like a Hard drive controller.
So...Sounds like the scsi card is bad or the current Eisa config points the scsi card to IRQ2 (Keyboard) and BIOS memory range of the video card (just a guess).
I see it is a "caching controller" according to the daughter memory card and AST brochure describing it.
Yes you can use an ISA card in a standard EISA slot but you will still need the .CFG and .OVL files for that specific card due to the BIOS config being EISA based and have to run the Eisa Config.
mR.Slug has a huge archive of all the found eisa config files so far : http://66.113.161.23/~mR_Slug/EISA/.

I will look around but without the board part number it might be harder....

The AST website is available on the internet archive here though at a glance I don't see much about this machine. There also appears to be a mirror of ftp.ast.com here: http://filedump.glitchwrks.com/mirrors/AST/ which might contain something useful.

ilmazzo wrote on 2022-03-28, 21:35:

Hi there, […]
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Hi there,

I got this AST PREMIUM SE 4/33 server, a 30kgs monster, that I'm trying to restore, despite being a lot of time in a wet environment (mold).

After some cleaning (lot of) I'm managing to test it out and unfortunately (long story short) whenever I have the ESIA Scsi card inserted the machine does boot but no keyb interrupt and of course video output.

Here it is the card.

There are some leds on the front pcb and when I start it up it flashes red all the time from the first to the last one, back and forth...a ipnotic thing like supercar IA. Can anyone point me to some AST documentations or manuals somewhere? I have found very little about that company...

Anyway when it is unplugged I can get everything else connected and it works...but no hdd since it is a scsi behemoth and needs the scsi controller.....I have only a ISA Scsi card (adaptec) lying around but I'm not sure if it could be compatible with such EISA mobo.

Cheers!

This seems to be a DPT SmartCache Plus (PM2011 / PM2012B) HBA controller from the specs I'm finding online - if you want to try and interpret the blink pattern you're getting, try this link to see if you get a match -

https://web.archive.org/web/19970715050211/ht … ble/tr-leds.htm

For more general troubleshooting support, try here -

https://web.archive.org/web/19970715045449/ht … ble/trouble.htm

Whoa, lot of info there 😁

I’ll try your links and see what I can find… I think I started it the first I got it and it booted fine then I leave it there for some months amd started disassembling it and …here we are.

I’ll check the card number too and report it back!

Many thanks cheers

The scsi card number is 230193-003 as you said and it was paired with the server itself.
The mobo number should be 202377 or 202377-002G

Here is a bit of info: it is based on the AST Cupid-32 system design with a Psudo Planar mainboard and CPU+Memory card.
Can you take some pictures of the main board and the CPU+ram board ? You do not need to pull the CPU card from
Attached the brochure to it (which you may have already found). And this should be the Planar layout and CPU card:
Be sure to click the Downloads and check the MTL pdf. You should have onboard IDE if these are correct...
AST PREMIUM SE 486/33 (MODEL 202377-002) : https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/757

Thanks! Yeah I have some pictures around of the "whole" system but not right now. I'll post them later.

In the mean time I suddenly can't have it to boot again 🙁 yesterday I got a post screen initially that halted after the base and extended memory check, turned it off and turn it back on it managed to get through the RAM check but then got a reboot loop..... then I shut it down again and now when I start it I get no keyb leds and no vga output , just like it was with the scsi controller installed 🙁 I guess there is something wrong and I need to isolate the issue, I would start from the PSU but it is the only one which has P7-P8-P9, visually I can't see any damage to the board.... sad.

Ahh Ohh. I would pull the cpu card out and clean the edge connectors with Iso Alcohol on paper towel, then re-assemble and check the PSU voltages as it tries to boot.

My usual "workflow" during a restoration/deassembly of a pc goes through cleaning the electrical connections with iso alcool and/or electrical wd40 of all mobo slots and expansion cards, fans and so on...

Here are some pictures of my little boy

the first one was "pre-cleaning" phase.

The only part of the backplane that i'm doubtful about is the one with the hot glue

I don't understand if it is something broken or not....

Cheers!!!!