@brad1982_5
Good find with the picture... was that from the internet or did you scan it
from an original - if the latter, can you see what markings are on the chips
on the pictured 'pipeline burst SRAM module'...
(well, call me a sucker, but that pic makes me think that the PB module
perhaps wasn't just vapourware from PCChips - maybe they built/tested
pre-production modules but they didn't work out, or they never bothered
to take it to the the manufacturing stage...)

buyerninety, thank you for your response. The next time I have this board out on the test bed, I will ensure that Vcc is reaching the B-13 pin of the CPU. I don't understand how the Cyrix 5x86 can be set to WB while the Am5x86 is not.

I mean I removed the EEPROM from a working M919 board, put it in the non-working board, and cleared CMOS. I also programmed an unused EEPROM chip with an external programmer with 3 different revisions of the M919 BIOS and still did not get functioning WB L1 cache with the Am5x86 chip. I cleared the CMOS each time.

When I say that the Adaptec 2940U2W will not work in W2K, I mean the computer will hang on boot if your W2K boot drive is connected to the 2940U2W. The system hangs at the Windows 2000 startup logo and the system cycles between HDD LED illumination and CD-ROM LED illumination. The system appears to be in an infinite loop of uncertainty. This is not a problem on the MB-8433UUD.

I finally booted the motherboard up for the first time today. It seems to work, although I have a weird issue where if I try to reboot, the screen will just go black (white if I'm restarting from BIOS setup) and stay like that until I power cycle the machine. Then it boots fine again. Any ideas of the cause? I disabled external cache in the BIOS setup.

PCI ATI RageII have worked for me, they're common and cheap with 3.1 high res/color support. I never compared the speed to an S3 but the image quality on mine is better than the S3 boards I've tried.

buyerninety wrote:

@brad1982_5 Good find with the picture... was that from the internet or did you scan it from an original - if the latter, can yo […]
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@brad1982_5
Good find with the picture... was that from the internet or did you scan it
from an original - if the latter, can you see what markings are on the chips
on the pictured 'pipeline burst SRAM module'...
(well, call me a sucker, but that pic makes me think that the PB module
perhaps wasn't just vapourware from PCChips - maybe they built/tested
pre-production modules but they didn't work out, or they never bothered
to take it to the the manufacturing stage...)

Yep I've scanned it from the original manual I have. Unfortunately it is not possible to make out any markings what so ever. The scan I've uploaded that you see is really as good as gets.

But then again it could be that they have used a library photo of that Pipeline burst module that is really used on Pentium boards!
So therefore a suitable pipeline module for the M919 could have never existed! (After all it states (FUTURE WILL AVAILABLE) 🤣
I'm pretty sure the Cache module Pentium motherboards were already around when this manual was printed.

Still haven't figured out the video problem. I picked up an 8MB PCI ATI Rage XL on Amazon, but I couldn't get any video at all with that card. I'm sending it back for a refund. The S3ViRGE card I got still won't work after a reboot (need a complete power cycle) and Windows 3.11 hangs at the startup screen. I have a VLB video card coming in from eBay sometime this week. I'll see if I have better luck with it.

brad1982_5, it could be that.
@feipoa
I looked at the 5x86 pdf further, and it seems to me that that B13 during
operation of the motherboard, would have a continuously varying level on
it (of high/undefined), so a Digital multimeter would sample and get a bit
less than Vcc I guess.
Checking the level during POST and during idle operation might be more
useful. Also, comparitively, the level with the Cyrix in instead of the AMD.
I'm wondering (on that particular M919) if the WB level is recognizable as
high (just high enough) by the Cyrix, but its not quite high enough
for the AMD to see it as a valid high level. Great also that you can use your
other M919 (with functioning WB) to test levels for valid operation of the WB
(with an AMD).
Incidently, I'm thinking that its very probably a driver problem on that SCSI
thing - {unsure if (AMI) bios M919 -v- (AWARD) bios Biostar is a factor}.
Not old driver, but AHA-2940U2W{?yes} trying to load a just wrong! driver,
I'll expand further on this when I return.

Despite my last sentence, I better enquire if you have the (last) driver
and 2940U2W card bios from here;
http://www.adaptec.com/en-us/support/scsi/ult … a2/aha-2940u2w/
There seems to be a 2000 circa W2K driver, with a circa 2001 driver
& management utility? bundle above it (I assume the same or a later
W2K driver is inside that bundle).
EDIT; I figure your setup was the 2940U2W w SCSI HD (U320?) hanging off
the Int or Ext Ultra2 connector, and CDROM off the Int Fast/Wide Ultra or
Int Fast/Ultra Narrow connector, all terminated correctly according to the
document 'Install Guide for the AHA-2940U2W (PDF 3 MB)' from above URL.
Question; was the SCSI HD attached via a different SCSI controller in the
previous computer?

I'm also thinking the OP must be getting pretty annoyed!
AllUrBaseRBelong2Us, perhaps after I grab much needed sleep
I'll figure out something about that whiteout...

Good news: my video problems are gone. I still have no idea why I had bad luck with pci video cards, but the vesa local bus card I got today works perfectly. I can now reboot my system without a power cycle, and also Windows 3.11 loads up instead of freezing like it used to. Very happy with this card.

buyerninety,

I will use a scope to probe B13 when I am working on this motherboard again.

Concerning the SCSI issue with W2K, the same problem occurs with the HOT-433 early rev (1-3) and late rev (4). I may remember incorrectly, but I beleive I tried the AWARD HOT-433 BIOS, which had the same problem. The issue is unlikely to be entirely driver-related as I have never had this issue with any Biostar MB-8433UUD motherboard. The HDD was either U160 or U320. The CD-ROM was connected to the 50-pin narrow connector, while the HDD was connected to the 68-pin Ultra2 connector. Everything was terminated correctly.

feipoa
I was thinking that occaisionally seen in AWARD bios updates, is
wordings like 'Fix non-booting of ('some model of ') SCSI controller'.
Maybe in the boards with Award bios is code that e.g. tells the SCSI
controller, or sets something in the chipset registers, such that the
SCSI controller is able to overcome whatever the problem is during
its W2K loading process. Maybe the AMI bios doesn't have such code.

Anyway, two avenues of exploration. Ensure the M919 motherboard
bios's 'NCR bios' setting is set to whatever PCI slot (number) the
2940U2W card controller is not in. I acknowledge you've likely
checked that already, so other avenue of exploration is thusly;
You've said boot "hangs at the Windows 2000 startup logo" - I hope
you mean the Windows 2000 logo which displays the advancing
segmented bars underneath it to show progress, looking like this;
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oEG8YkMnhnM/T0DzNQl … ows2000logo.gif
(Seems to me kind of analogous to when a late OS on a PATA HD
goes looking for its 32 bit drivers, if it were in compatability mode.)
So read this, especially the section about 'Ntbootdd.sys' ;
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc977184.aspx
As you had a successful W2K (Pro?) boot process in another mobo
(Biostar MB-8433UUD), you ought to be able to check the contents
of 'Ntbootdd.sys' to ensure it has the correct driver in it (something
like AIC78U2.sys, if you have a AHA-2940U2W card, I believe).
If you were using the SCSI hard drive connected to a different SCSI
controller (as in using a different driver) in the other mobo, then the
W2K (Pro?) 'Ntbootdd.sys' file may have the incorrect (different) driver
file in it.

If that file does have the correct driver in it, perhaps then test if you
can get W2K (Pro?) to finish booting, by substituting (using) one of the
other 'Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) pathnames Syntaxes' listed in
the Microsoft URL above.

This reference may explain how to find and check various relevant files;
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=kYT7gKnw … .ini%22&f=false

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us(OK,noSturges 😀 )
Good to hear Video is OK - I believe I saw some other thread where you
also had a 2940U2W, so I hope our hijack of your thread might contain
info useful to you also someday...

buyerninety wrote:

@AllUrBaseRBelong2Us(OK,noSturges :happy: ) Good to hear Video is OK - I believe I saw some other thread where you also had a 2 […]
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@AllUrBaseRBelong2Us(OK,noSturges 😀 )
Good to hear Video is OK - I believe I saw some other thread where you
also had a 2940U2W, so I hope our hijack of your thread might contain
info useful to you also someday...

Yeah, I have a 2940U2W, although I never tried to install it in my 486. Instead I put it in my Pentium Pro (which is running Windows 98), and then I took the 2940UW out of the Pentium Pro and used that in my 486. I figured it was better to just pair the older card with the older machine. On that note, the 2940UW works great in my m919. DOS 6.22 installed without a problem or any need for extra driver. Also, the 2940UW BIOS is wonderful as it will allow CD boot, whereas the m919 BIOS has no such option. I always wanted to use SCSI back in my 486 days, but it was so much more expensive. At least I can enjoy it now in these vintage builds 😀

buyerninety, I will entertain these ideas whenever I work on this motherboard again (which may be never), however I do not have high hopes. Windows 2000 is not exactly a desirable operating system for the socket 3 platform.

Yes, my eyebrow raised when I saw W2K there, figured you were engaged in
some kind of testing regime.
I notice there are also instances, mainly in later than socket 7 bioses, of fixes
for (worded like) 'support Windows 2000 ACPI mode' or 'system can't install
Windows 2000 ACPI when a bus master device is inserted into PCI slot x'.
So besides having the most current SCSI controller card bios, for completeness
I'd lastly mention trying some action amongst the choices on this webpage, if
you come up against this W2K problem again;
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170950-window … -3#entry1085697
Cheers

Wasn't sure were to post this but I have a 12ns cache module for the M919. At first the only difference seems to be the 12ns chips but this module is watermarked "M919-02S5" and all the 15ns modules seem to al be watermarked "M919-01S3" the circuitry is also different on these modules. I purchased this module in a lot of memory and cpus from Costa Rica labeled as scrap.

I have three M919 cache modules, all are 15 ns. Does seem odd that PCChips would use more expensive 12 ns SRAM on your module. Aside from the fact that perhaps PCChips just had these modules laying around, or got a hot deal on them, I wonder if there is any other reason they would have used 12 ns SRAM.