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Zida 4DPS Tomatoboard doesn't work with internal cache enabled

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First post, by Osmodia

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Hi guys,
I just got my hands on the 4DPS Tomatoboard, Rev2.11. I have a issue with my DX4-100 (SK051). Its recognized correctly as DX4-S, but when booting from HDD, I get an error "Himem.sys has detected unreliable xms memory at address xxxxxxxxx". If I press Enter so the system can boot, it mostly hangs at some point or it displays Read Errors. I never get to the prompt.
All the jumpers are correct, for DX4 WT. I even tried almost every BIOS which I could find. Originally 1.7 was flashed, then I tried 4.00, 5.00 and now I am at 1.72f, which seems to be the most reliable as I read somewhere here.
Also I tried to jumper the CPU for DX4-WB but boots and has the same issues as above. The L2 Cache Tag Bits were adjusted in both ways, no difference.

If I disable the internal Cache, the system boots up fine and no erros or anything else appear. The CPU is still working flawlessly in my UM8810PAIO Board, so the CPU can't be dead or faulty, also the HDD comes from this system. With Cache enabled, I also cannot boot from FDD, I always get an error "replace system disk". Although it is a genuine MS-DOS Disk, which works in other systems.

With a DX-2 66, I can activate the internal Cache and it boots up with no errors.
Strange is, when powered up cold, it needs to bee rebooted once so it can post. It turned on, the screen stays blank and the system doesn't boot up.

Also, the external Cache (512k) only gets recognized as 256KB, no matter how I jumper the external Cache.

Can someone help me? Thanks.

Reply 1 of 8, by kanecvr

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make sure you set up the jumpers correctly. Sounds like the cache Write trough / Write back selection jumper is not correctly configured. Re-check your jumpers.

Reply 2 of 8, by Imperious

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I wonder if that cpu won't work properly on 3.3v. All sources, cpu world, and wiki says 3.45v for that cpu. You could try 3.6v jumpers, and that's if the setting for the version 3.1 motherboard works
on a 2.11. The 2.11 manual is easy to find so I won't upload that.

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Reply 4 of 8, by BitWrangler

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Well, until they don't... maybe it's drooping, try bus at 25Mhz and see if it works. If it does, you've probably got a voltage droop problem.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 5 of 8, by kanecvr

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Imperious wrote:

I wonder if that cpu won't work properly on 3.3v. All sources, cpu world, and wiki says 3.45v for that cpu. You could try 3.6v jumpers, and that's if the setting for the version 3.1 motherboard works
on a 2.11. The 2.11 manual is easy to find so I won't upload that.

All 3.45v cpus work fine @ 3.3v. I have the exact same motherboard and I was able to run the 586 @ 160MHz @ 3.3v stable.

Reply 6 of 8, by amadeus777999

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At 3.3V it should at least run good enough to be able to see if it is working correctly. I second the mis-configuration but there is also the chance that one of the srams could be damaged or not properly placed into its socket. Motherboards seem to react differently to errors at different cache sizes. At 256KB I got no cache detected when something was off where at 512KB for example I got 512 detected but later in "cachechk" it was clear that the cache had been disabled.

Reply 7 of 8, by Osmodia

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Thanks guys, I managed to solve the CPU problem by myself. It was a faulty Voltage Jumper, JP 27 to be precise. It seems that the pre-owner destroyed it somehow.It looks normal, but was open-circuited. I didn't touch the voltage jumper because it seemed to be correct - I should have done that at the beginning 😊

I am still wondering why the DX2-66 worked flawlessly 😕

Reply 8 of 8, by bloodem

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Imperious wrote on 2017-11-05, 14:00:

I wonder if that cpu won't work properly on 3.3v. All sources, cpu world, and wiki says 3.45v for that cpu. You could try 3.6v jumpers, and that's if the setting for the version 3.1 motherboard works
on a 2.11. The 2.11 manual is easy to find so I won't upload that.

Sorry for the necropost, but it's for a good reason (just in case it will help someone in the future): NO, Zida 4DPS ver 2.1 does NOT work at 3.6V.
If you set the jumpers as indicated in the ver 3.10 manual (JP27: Open / JP28: Open / JP30: Closed), you will end up with 5V instead of 3.6.
I actually ran one of my poor 5x86 CPUs at 5V for an hour or so, until I realized that something was funky (the heatsink was abnormally hot) and manually checked the voltage on the VCC pins.
Interestingly, I also tested another 5x86 CPU and that one didn't even start at this ultra-high voltage, it only worked at 3.3V.

On the bright side, my CPU (the one that ran for an hour @ 5V) seems to be fine, I'm actually surprised that it wasn't damaged.

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