I've had this behavior, it was caused by a power supply in one case and by an empty cmos battery on certain boards.

I would try a different power supply.

prophase_j wrote:

I would try a different power supply.

Yep, I've given up with the Packard Bell machine, with it's PSU and other bits and pieces. I'm now trying to use a modern ATX PSU, with an ATX to AT power connector, but unfortunately I can't get it to power up at all. (I've posted about this in a new thread.)

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

I've had this behavior, it was caused by a power supply in one case and by an empty cmos battery on certain boards.

I have replaced the Packard Bell PSU, with a 200W Astec PSU. I have also replaced the CMOS button battery. I attempt to power up the FIC mobo by pressing the PSU ON switch on,off,on,off,on and only then do I see the POST message on the screen. If I turn the machine off for 10 minutes, and try again, I usually see the POST message on the screen the first time I attempt to power up the machine. (I only have to turn it on,off,on,off,on if the mobo has been dormant for a while.)

I have ordered a new Nexus 350w PSU, which has a -5V rail. I want to try out an ATX to AT power connector gadget with it. When the Nexus PSU arrives, I will swap out the Astec PSU for the Nexus PSU. (But I have a bad feeling that there may be something wrong with the FIC mobo.)

Also, could it be the Tseng VLB graphics card in the FIC mobo is demanding too much power from the Astec PSU, and this PSU is unable to deliver the power?

Thanks a lot for any thoughts. 😀

Edit: This really is a long shot, but I've decided to change the keyboard. When I switch on the machine with the old keyboard, only the Num Lock light flashes, twice in fact. Now, I have changed the keyboard, when I switch on the machine, all 3 lights flash twice - Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock. I'm sure there's nothing special about this, but it's a little bit curious.

Would bad capacitors be a possibility I wonder?

I know there was a period when there was a particular problem with capacitors in a lot of boards [sort of Socket 370 and early Socket A times], which isn't relevant here.

But older boards may eventually suffer the same problem of decaying caps.

I would try your PSU setup on a different board. If it fires right up then it would seem that the board in question's time has come.

I'm beginning to fear the worst... 🙁 😢 Why can't this stuff last forever?! 🤣 Some of this junk isn't cheap either!

Oh well. 😐

Did you try the graphics card in both VLB slots?

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

Did you try the graphics card in both VLB slots?

I purposefully left this test until the following day, to allow the mobo to kind of "go cold". I pressed the ON button, and I saw the POST message on the screen first time. Of course, this simple test could fail again, at any time in the future I guess, but please bear in mind these minor observations -

The only thing I've done differently is changed the keyboard. No big deal really, but the keyboard I have removed was from that evil leaking battery PC which I was testing earlier. Could it be that the acid had spread to the keyboard port, and "infected" the keyboard plug? It seems strange that when I switched on power to the "evil acid" machine, only one light ever flashed on that keyboard, the Num Lock light. Now that I am using a new keyboard for this FIC mobo, I get all 3 keyboard lights flash.

I'll keep testing this FIC board, and see if this unusual "POST message problem" has magically been solved by a change of keyboard.

Also, what I could do later is try the new keyboard on the "evil acid" machine?!

Thanks a lot for everyone's very interesting and valuable comments. 😀

Edit: No, there is something wrong with the board. I swapped out the graphics card for another one. Then, I had to switch the machine on-off-on several times to get it to POST to the screen.

Edit 2: Also, after about 1 minute of using the machine, the HDD begins to make a louder and louder buzzing sound. (The HDD is plugged in to a local IDE connection, on the mobo. It's a modern HDD, 300gb, but "jumper capped" so that its storage capacity is significantly reduced.)

Edit 3: I have tried the other VLB slot, quite a few times. I'm trying it now in fact, with a different card...

Nope - this FIC board's time is up. 🙁