I figured, you guys might know a bit about the peripherals.
So, I've got a HP PS/2 Keyboard (Literally just bought it for this purpose), That is plugged into the PS/2 => AT (5-Pin DIN).. I plug it into the machine and nothing..
No inputs register (I'm at the BIOS POST screen, and it's asking me to "Press <F1> to RESUME," but nothing is happening. So the machine is basically unusable as I don't have an AT keyboard to go with it..

I was wondering if it's something with the Keyboard, or the Connector itself? Should I just get an AT keyboard, or is there seeming to be a problem stemming deeper here?
Here is a picture of the adapter:

And here is the Keyboard I have purchased:
(HP Part number: 434820-002)

The BIOS screen also gives me "Keyboard Error," So I'm not sure where to go from here.

Do you get the brief flashing of the num/caps/scroll lock LEDs when you turn on the computer? If not, the keyboard fuse on the motherboard could be blown, otherwise you might've missed a severed trace in your repair attempt.

133MHz wrote:

Do you get the brief flashing of the num/caps/scroll lock LEDs when you turn on the computer? If not, the keyboard fuse on the motherboard could be blown, otherwise you might've missed a severed trace in your repair attempt.

Thanks for the response!
Would this be the right fuse? Or is this for something else (since the AT connector is so close?).
http://i.imgur.com/r3MEa7u.jpg

**Edit, It appears to be not blow.. Plus for being 125V I'd be curious what someone tried to plug in there... Maybe Static... Well, I'll run a jumper and get back.

******* OH HEY!!! Yeah, It just made all the LED's jump High. Not sure if that is going to do anything for us, but yeah, they all came on for a second.

asaggynoodle wrote:

Would this be the right fuse?

Yea that looks like it. 😀

Hey!

Welcome to Vogons.

This is awesome... it's nice seeing another DLC3 out there and in a different 3rd party setup. I don't know how many 3rd party's got a hold of the DLC3 to incorporate into their systems but there were only a few, Alaris being another: -

A tale of 3 Blue Lightnings... tale 1

Once you are happy and have the system is restored... it would be interesting too see some Speedsys results, if you are able. The above link is from the results I got with the DLC3 on the Alaris board, this having the Opti chipset (known for reliability but not fantastic performance). Your board has a chipset i've never seen before... an EFAR? In any case, it would be interesting to see how well everything runs together.

Thanks for the thread.

This works fine for me. I have a PS/2 keyboard that I connect to my 386 and 486. I even use a PS/2 switch and it is all fine. I am guessing something is wrong wither either the computer (very likely), adapter (unlikely) or the keyboard (unlikely).

The adapter I used initially, before starting to use the KVM switch, was not a cable base one but rather solid state with an AT male plug at one end and a PS/2 female plug at the other end.

Something I never checked before: are PS/2 keyboards always compatible with AT, or is it like USB and PS/2 where the keyboard/mouse have to actively support both protocols?

386_junkie wrote:

Hey! […]
Show full quote

Hey!

Welcome to Vogons.

This is awesome... it's nice seeing another DLC3 out there and in a different 3rd party setup. I don't know how many 3rd party's got a hold of the DLC3 to incorporate into their systems but there were only a few, Alaris being another: -

A tale of 3 Blue Lightnings... tale 1

Once you are happy and have the system is restored... it would be interesting too see some Speedsys results, if you are able. The above link is from the results I got with the DLC3 on the Alaris board, this having the Opti chipset (known for reliability but not fantastic performance). Your board has a chipset i've never seen before... an EFAR? In any case, it would be interesting to see how well everything runs together.

Thanks for the thread.

Thanks for the Warm Welcome! I had just read your thread, I would LOVE to give some performance results once I get this thing going. It's really quite annoying that everything has survived this long, only to be basically barred by a simple keyboard connector. The strangest thing to me is that the only Chip that is Surface mount is the DLC3, I've NEVER seen anything like that before. It's very strange to say the least.. I thought the same thing when I seen that EFAR chipset too, I was like... Right...

I'm going to tear this thing down a THIRD time tonight (Hopefully), and just completely do without the DIN connector on the board. I'm going to instead run insulate jumpers to each of the Traces Directly, then Anchor them in the Thru Holes. Then I'm going to pull them through the Case where the original keyboard socket was, and mount them on the outside. So I can physically have access to each of the signals. Then, I'm going to see if I can reuse the old DIN connector and be 100% all of the signals are present. This way, If it still fails I KNOW for SURE that it's the keyboard.

There are about ~20 Jumpers on the board, both for the Empty 486, and ones referencing the DLC3. So with some of the equipment I have, I'll be able to not only Overclock the Shit out of that thing once we're rolling, but probably get to play with some Vcc stuff. So I'm really just excited to get to that point right now.

dr_st wrote:

Something I never checked before: are PS/2 keyboards always compatible with AT, or is it like USB and PS/2 where the keyboard/mouse have to actively support both protocols?

I'm fairly confident they do, but don't hold me to that. I've seen people do some crazy things like this:

Leads me to believe that all of the Signals (5v, CLK, GRND, DATA) are all pretty universal.

asaggynoodle wrote:

I'm fairly confident they do, but don't hold me to that. I've seen people do some crazy things like this: http://apt.bitcore.org […]
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I'm fairly confident they do, but don't hold me to that. I've seen people do some crazy things like this:

That is pretty funny.

Regards to your Keyboard prob...

You could try the keyboard in another system to rule in or out the keyboard itself?

If the Keyboard is ok... you could change the Keyboard controller? (the IC that is longer than the bios).

Another thing is possibly to check the bios for keyboard options & to enable/disable the a20 line.

All the best... I look forward to seeing some results soon.

386_junkie wrote:

That is pretty funny. […]
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asaggynoodle wrote:

I'm fairly confident they do, but don't hold me to that. I've seen people do some crazy things like this:

That is pretty funny.

Regards to your Keyboard prob...

You could try the keyboard in another system to rule in or out the keyboard itself?

If the Keyboard is ok... you could change the Keyboard controller? (the IC that is longer than the bios).

Another thing is possibly to check the bios for keyboard options & to enable/disable the a20 line.

All the best... I look forward to seeing some results soon.

Just like some of my other machines (This is the only AT/XT one I've currently got :L) they all have the keyboard options that tend to fix everything deep INSIDE the BIOS, so... I need a keyboard to get in there haha.
I'm probably pretty confident there is an option in there that will magically fix these problems. I wish I could just use an Add on card and run the keyboard through that (I'm not too familiar with anything pre-MMX/PCI), So if I could just use one of the Serial/Parrallel interfaces that would open a whole new door of options... instead of doing all of this reworking, but oh well!
I just tested the Keyboard - PS/2 AT adapter on three other machines, works perfectly. I should say, the The red fox jumped over the white fence just fine! So indefinably something with the motherboard.

If you have a DMM I would test continuity between the DIN connector on the motherboard and the keyboard controller (the IC longer than the bios) if there is continuity in all the lines there should be... then you may need to change the keyboard controller IC.

With there being a battery leak... my guess is that there could be a weak trace somewhere you've maybe overlooked, and if not... the IC got it in the face!

386_junkie wrote:

If you have a DMM I would test continuity between the DIN connector on the motherboard and the keyboard controller (the IC longer than the bios) if there is continuity in all the lines there should be... then you may need to change the keyboard controller IC.

With there being a battery leak... my guess is that there could be a weak trace somewhere you've maybe overlooked, and if not... the IC got it in the face!

That's a fantastic idea, I just found it.. It's Megatrends mega-kb-h-wp. I cannot find a datasheet on that, maybe someone else can help me figure out the pinout? I feel like I'm going to bend a lot of pins on such a large DIP if I try to pull it out. A DMM is literally the only thing I don't have on me at the moment, which is amazing as I usually always have my BK Precision, and Fluke 87v on me.

asaggynoodle wrote:

386_junkie wrote:

If you have a DMM I would test continuity between the DIN connector on the motherboard and the keyboard controller (the IC longer than the bios) if there is continuity in all the lines there should be... then you may need to change the keyboard controller IC.

With there being a battery leak... my guess is that there could be a weak trace somewhere you've maybe overlooked, and if not... the IC got it in the face!

That's a fantastic idea, I just found it.. It's Megatrends mega-kb-h-wp. I cannot find a datasheet on that, maybe someone else can help me figure out the pinout? I feel like I'm going to bend a lot of pins on such a large DIP if I try to pull it out. A DMM is literally the only thing I don't have on me at the moment, which is amazing as I usually always have my BK Precision, and Fluke 87v on me.

I often use a flat-head screwdriver to remove keyboard controller chips, just push it under the chip and lift, if possible first from one side then the other.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTT!!!!!
IT IS COMPLETE!!!!!! I soldered jumpers to every pad, directly to the next/last IC in line to avoid the traces altogether. Then I pulled the Jumpers out from the case, So I can mount them directly.
It WORKS!!!! I am so damn happy right now, you guys have no idea.
http://imgur.com/a/bxgrs

Well, the last edited file was on December 7th 1997 (18 years, two months ago!!!!), So it's been a while since the last time anyone decided to use this puppy.
It apparently has Windows 95 installed, but fails to launch into a GUI due to Norton freaking out and causing me to abort the startup.
I'll be busy making a new CD-Diskette Floppy, and reinstall 95 on there.. Luckily, I'm able to see a UVGA folder which looks to have a few driver files on it. I will be copying those over and archiving the drive for further study. It also has Lotus, and a bunch of CAD386 software.. Pretty neat!

What's the insulation you used for that splice to the pins?

gdjacobs wrote:

What's the insulation you used for that splice to the pins?

The same Wiring as the photo above, except I had cut off the Leads on the end to get the bare copper. Then wrapped it around each of the pins and soldered over it. I don't really have anything that's smaller Diameter. But it helps my Solder is 0.015" Which is pretty damn tiny (The smallest I could find).

asaggynoodle wrote:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTT!!!!!
IT IS COMPLETE!!!!!! I soldered jumpers to every pad, directly to the next/last IC in line to avoid the traces altogether.

Good... glad to hear you got it working.

Once you get the chance... could post on my thread your Speedsys results with your memory timings set to their stable fastest? I'm keen to see how the EFAR chipset differs from Opti. CPU, RAM and Cache are more or less the same.

Thanks

386_junkie wrote:

Good... glad to hear you got it working. […]
Show full quote

asaggynoodle wrote:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTT!!!!!
IT IS COMPLETE!!!!!! I soldered jumpers to every pad, directly to the next/last IC in line to avoid the traces altogether.

Good... glad to hear you got it working.

Once you get the chance... could post on my thread your Speedsys results with your memory timings set to their stable fastest? I'm keen to see how the EFAR chipset differs from Opti. CPU, RAM and Cache are more or less the same.

Thanks

Will do!

The next hurdle is going to find a way to get windows 98/95 installed. For whatever reason all the boot disks i've tried cannot find the NEC CDR-1800A CD-ROM drive in the system.. So there is no way to get Windows installed. I guess I'll just take out the Hard Disk, format it in another machine, then extract the contents of my Windows 98se CD to the root directory of the drive.. Then boot back into the Boot Floppy, and execute the CD installation from the Hard drive.

asaggynoodle wrote:

386_junkie wrote:

Good... glad to hear you got it working. […]
Show full quote

asaggynoodle wrote:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTT!!!!!
IT IS COMPLETE!!!!!! I soldered jumpers to every pad, directly to the next/last IC in line to avoid the traces altogether.

Good... glad to hear you got it working.

Once you get the chance... could post on my thread your Speedsys results with your memory timings set to their stable fastest? I'm keen to see how the EFAR chipset differs from Opti. CPU, RAM and Cache are more or less the same.

Thanks

Will do!

The next hurdle is going to find a way to get windows 98/95 installed. For whatever reason all the boot disks i've tried cannot find the NEC CDR-1800A CD-ROM drive in the system.. So there is no way to get Windows installed. I guess I'll just take out the Hard Disk, format it in another machine, then extract the contents of my Windows 98se CD to the root directory of the drive.. Then boot back into the Boot Floppy, and execute the CD installation from the Hard drive.

Try using Compaq's IDE CD-ROM driver instead of OAK CD-ROM on your WIN98 bootdisk. Copy CPQIDECD.SYS to the WIN98 floppy and in the [CD] section of the CONFIG.SYS on the WIN98 floppy replace "DEVICE=OAKCDROM.SYS /D:OEMCD001" with "DEVICE=CPQIDE.SYS /D:OEMCD001"

The Compaq driver works with a lot of IDE controllers that OAK driver won't even works on Sound Blasters and most other ISA sound cards with controllers excluding OLP3-SAX. I decided to upload the driver since I'm not sure how easy it is to find the HP/Compaq website