VOGONS


First post, by ayandon

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Friends,

I am trying to revive my childhood Pentium 60 MHz + Batman's Revenge Motherboard + EDO RAMs.

Issue: [00] POST CODE in both PCI and ISA Debug Cards.

Steps already done:

  • There was two tiny scratches on the back PCB. There was continuity BUT still jumper wire added for support (by Laptop repair engineer)
  • Bought 2x Dallas Clock ICs. (Socket installed by Laptop repair engineer)
  • 2 different EDO RAMs sets used to test. YELLOW and GREEN set in the pics (both are mine, belongs to this system)
  • Jumper are all correct and never changed. Re-checked.
  • Processor Socket voltage correct.

Pls suggest future steps....

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I want to restore my late father's 1st ever computer IBM ET&T PC-XT that he gifted me.
Hope you will be kind enough to guide and support me to restore his loving memory.

Reply 1 of 11, by Thermalwrong

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Read this thread! Troubles between a PCI/ISA POST card and my Asus P55T2P4-C motherboard

That POST code tester card design does *not* work for ISA and could cause damage to the computer if connected to the ISA slot. Probably fine in PCI though, but it's not a good POST code reader. "0000" might mean no code, the reader I use has "--" as the no code read indicator.
Get a good one like this:

post-card-good.jpg
Filename
post-card-good.jpg
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132.49 KiB
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285 views
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CC-BY-4.0

or this, this is the one I use most of the time:

post-card-good-2.jpg
Filename
post-card-good-2.jpg
File size
133.33 KiB
Views
285 views
File license
CC-BY-4.0

You can do some testing without the card though - do you have the PC speaker hooked up? Is it beeping?

Also, the motherboard may not support EDO memory, you should try to find 2 matching sticks of FPM memory to see if that makes a difference.

Edit: Hmm, make sure that there are no signs of corrosion on each of those big chips on the motherboard, particularly make sure that no pins are bridged. Cleaning with Isopropyl alcohol and a fine brush usually helps.
Additionally, check for any pins that are touching from one side to another in the ISA / PCI slots. Or pins in the slots that are pushed down, or debris in the slots. Pins touching inside a PCI or ISA slot can stop the whole system from operating.

Try removing and re-seating the jumpers a couple of times too, that board looks like it's got some corrosion and a bad connection in a jumper can also break things. Make sure that the jumper fits onto the pins with some resistance and replace the jumper if it's loose.
Try re-inserting the Dallas RTC since it looks like it's sitting high in one corner, make sure that none of the pins are crushed down instead of going into the socket pins.

Reply 3 of 11, by ayandon

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@Thermalwrong and @TheMobRules

I was not aware of difference between EDO vs FPM RAMs, but these RAMs (which I refer as EDO RAMs) are actually used with this motherboard/system.

See the Green pair, it came with the complete PC set.
The Yellow pair was bought as upgrade.

These are not eBay products.

I want to restore my late father's 1st ever computer IBM ET&T PC-XT that he gifted me.
Hope you will be kind enough to guide and support me to restore his loving memory.

Reply 4 of 11, by CoffeeOne

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ayandon wrote on 2024-04-22, 17:33:
@Thermalwrong and @TheMobRules […]
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@Thermalwrong and @TheMobRules

I was not aware of difference between EDO vs FPM RAMs, but these RAMs (which I refer as EDO RAMs) are actually used with this motherboard/system.

See the Green pair, it came with the complete PC set.
The Yellow pair was bought as upgrade.

These are not eBay products.

The writings on those modules are not readable at all. So we cannot be sure if it is EDO RAM or FPM.

Edit:
About " ... it came with the complete PC set. ..."
That is a funny statement. What does that tell us, when the "complete PC set" is not working?

Reply 5 of 11, by ayandon

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I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

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I want to restore my late father's 1st ever computer IBM ET&T PC-XT that he gifted me.
Hope you will be kind enough to guide and support me to restore his loving memory.

Reply 6 of 11, by weedeewee

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ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:16:

I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

That's a bad post code card. the ISA part isn't even connected.
Re: Troubles between a PCI/ISA POST card and my Asus P55T2P4-C motherboard

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

Reply 7 of 11, by ayandon

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weedeewee wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:33:
ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:16:

I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

That's a bad post code card. the ISA part isn't even connected.
Re: Troubles between a PCI/ISA POST card and my Asus P55T2P4-C motherboard

Yes, I noticed that....

I want to restore my late father's 1st ever computer IBM ET&T PC-XT that he gifted me.
Hope you will be kind enough to guide and support me to restore his loving memory.

Reply 8 of 11, by CoffeeOne

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ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:16:

I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

I disagree. I would first make a sure that I have a working pair of FPM SIMMs.

Reply 9 of 11, by ayandon

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CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-04-23, 17:07:
ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:16:

I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

I disagree. I would first make a sure that I have a working pair of FPM SIMMs.

Is RAM error, won't it give some BEEP CODE?!
Can you suggest any eBay listing?

I want to restore my late father's 1st ever computer IBM ET&T PC-XT that he gifted me.
Hope you will be kind enough to guide and support me to restore his loving memory.

Reply 10 of 11, by weedeewee

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ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 17:26:
CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-04-23, 17:07:
ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:16:

I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

I disagree. I would first make a sure that I have a working pair of FPM SIMMs.

Is RAM error, won't it give some BEEP CODE?!
Can you suggest any eBay listing?

Yes, no RAM or RAM error should give post code and/or beep codes.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

Reply 11 of 11, by CoffeeOne

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ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 17:26:
CoffeeOne wrote on 2024-04-23, 17:07:
ayandon wrote on 2024-04-23, 16:16:

I need to change my Debug Card before proceeding!

I disagree. I would first make a sure that I have a working pair of FPM SIMMs.

Is RAM error, won't it give some BEEP CODE?!
Can you suggest any eBay listing?

As far as I know the mainboard needs at least the first 64 kiloByte to do something.
So when these are not available, possibly nothing will be executed, similar (not exactly the same but still) to have no Bios.
EDIT: It seems that this info is not correct, the very first code is executed directly from the Bios and yes it should beep.