Welcome aboard! 😁

Alas my experience with an PVI-486SP3 was very very brief (something to do with some cap exploding 🤣!), but as you were switching parts around, perhaps you might have damaged something (ESD?). Have you tried basic troubleshooting?

There are plenty Vogoners who are knowledgeable about stuff like IRQs and such but I'm not one of them 😊

At first my thought was also ESD damage, but at first everything worked OK. The problems arised when I installed CTCM and the software tried to initialize the hardware.

I have also tried the keyboard on another pc with an AT>PS/2 adapter, and it works fine, so it's not the keyboard.

Now I regret selling my pile of old defective motherboards some years ago. I could've scavenged a keyboard controller from one of those boards.... 😵

CTRL + Alt + Delete or other soft reset methods won't work with my Asus PVI-486SP3 either, lets see that as a "feature".

Replacing the keyboard controller and also looking for shorted/damaged components and or burnt traces close to the keyboard controller would seem logical.

I already did a continuity test of the traces going from the AMIKEY chip to the AT and PS/2 mouse ports, no problems there.
I've started looking at ebay ads for motherboards containing the amikey chip.

I think the rest of the system is okay, as I change autoexec from my other pc to boot up Win3.11 or other software works fine. There is just no response from either keyboard or mouse.

if AMIKEY-2 is too hot to touch it is definitely dead.

Did you hotplug your keyboard or PS/2 mouse at any point? I have heard some cases of the keyboard controller being killed by plugging in a keyboard/mouse while the computer is on...

TheMobRules wrote:

Did you hotplug your keyboard or PS/2 mouse at any point? I have heard some cases of the keyboard controller being killed by plugging in a keyboard/mouse while the computer is on...

I might have in the past, I'm not sure. At least now I didn't hotplug it, it has been connected for months. I only removed the keyboard after the problem started. I noticed the AMIKEY is still partly functional, because it still detects whether the keyboard is present or missing in the BIOS (The BIOS halts when keyboard is missing during POST).

I'm still looking for the amikey chip, meanwhile I have already desoldered the defective one. Does anyone know if there are pin compatible alternatives available?

Today I have also tested the AWE32 CT1920 in another PC (IBM 330 - P75) and it detected via PnP and loaded the drivers without issues. I haven't tested audio output yet, I have to crimp some female header pins on an RCA cable because this card doesn't have a jack output.

Just a quick update, I fixed it by replacing the AMIKEY-2 chip. Everything is working fine now, keyboard and mouse. 😁
Out of curiousity I tested the bad chip out of circuit by applying 5V and it's pulling 370mA!

Glad you got it working.
PS: There is a bug in BIOS revision 0307 beta in the sense that CTRL+ALT+DEL warm boot doesn't work.
The only thing that this BIOS revision addresses is the Y2K bug, but since were past 2000 already, just reflash with BIOS revision 0306.

jesolo wrote:

Glad you got it working.
PS: There is a bug in BIOS revision 0307 beta in the sense that CTRL+ALT+DEL warm boot doesn't work.
The only thing that this BIOS revision addresses is the Y2K bug, but since were past 2000 already, just reflash with BIOS revision 0306.

My board would not accept ctrl + alt + delete with the 2.05 BIOS either but it was only with an AMD DX4 (write back version) while it worked fine with an Intel DX4 (also write back version).

Now when I have updated to the the 0307 BIOS ctrl + alt + delete is indeed not working with neither the Intel DX4 nor with the AMD 5x86 I have replaced it with but the issue only appears when memory managers are loaded it seems. Good tip about the 3.06 BIOS not having this issue. 3.06 was actually the BIOS I flashed when I hotflashed the new BIOS chip but when I realized there was a newer version I flashed it.

My BIOS is version 0306. Board revision 1.2. CPU is an AMD Am5x86 ADW, clocked at 133Mhz. RAM is 2 16MB FPM 60ns sticks.
Soft reboots still don't work, even when exiting the bios screen.

Hey folks, having similar problems with my PVI SP3. It's been turned off for a long time, probably 12 months or more. On re-assembling everything, I have now replaced the CMOS battery and reset the BIOS. I'm not getting any keyboard input at all.

The POST screen comes up with the "Keyboard error or keyboard not connected" error. Keyboard doesn't light up at all and no keys work - can't enter the BIOS or ctrl-alt-del the machine at all. Tried two keyboards, both known-working and neither work.

AMIKEY-2 chip feels cool and the board doesn't have any damage at all.

Any ideas? Or am I stuck with trying to replace the keyboard controller as my next diagnostic?