Really nice work and am jealous of the big haul of goodies !

Deksor wrote:

The octek board was super nasty and after the clean, its slots feel quite crusty ... getting the POST card properly connected to that board is quite hard. I sprayed some contact cleaner. It helped but it's not adequate. But at some point I got a POST code, so it may be possible to revive it as well, but I need to treat the corrosion inside every single slots including the socket ....

I have a Protek 286-12 that looked like that, was so dusty and gummy that it took many bottles of 99% ISO alc to get it clean enough to at least beep at me. Good luck and let us know how you cleaned the cpu socket if you do get it to at least beep.

Well I've discovered something that might have flawed some of my testing. It seems that my testing AT PSU has some issues with its connector. This may be a reason why the HOT433 didn't work at first actually and why the hippo15 didn't work either. My POST card displays the voltages on it and I saw that some light didn't turn on at some point. I thought that the hippo 15 was just doing that because it was crusty but the HOT433 (which I got to work) did that too, and some of my other boards too, and by moving the AT connector a little it changes.

I've used this PSU countless times so it's not that surprising. I'll clean its connector and maybe swap it once I'm back next week.

Now in case you missed it, if any of you have a dataexpert 8049, please send me a copy of its bios rom 🙁

DataExpert stuff is a royal pain in the posterior. I was stuck with my DataExpert Opti-495SX-2VL until I tried a generic MRBIOS for that chipset. Worked for me, but unfortunately there's no MRBIOS available (at least here) for your ALi chipset.

What you could do is look for any BIOS for any board with the same ALi chipset and try that. It might work completely, it might work partially. Worst-case you're no worse off than you are now.

That's pretty much what I've tried, but no luck, the board acts the same with and without the BIOS.

Maybe you're missing more than BIOS...

That second socket next to the BIOS needs an 8042 keyboard controller.

As for a BIOS... digging deep I found a 128kB/1Mb BIOS at archive.org for the MSI MS-4134, with the same ALi M1439/1445 chipset. It might be worth a shot:
https://web.archive.org/web/20011119012908/ht … _files/AL57.EXE

Edit:
Scratch that - it's M1429/1435, not M1439/1445 🙁

Edit again:
MSI was a fruitful avenue, the MS-4143 does have M1439/1445. Here are two (!) BIOSes to choose from:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020602233252/ht … p?model=MS-4143

I think I tested that msi bios but I might be wrong. I know it's missing the kbc but it should do something even without it if the bios is correct, right ? Anyways thanks for the help, I'll try that next week ^^

I'd always be careful with assumptions about behaviour with known bad configurations. If everything is right, it should work. If not, not.

I'm not sure what behaviour should be expected with missing keyboard controller, but I've had boards refuse to do anything at all (even start POST) with various bits and pieces that sounds optional missing. Definitely worth trying a 8042 or clone.

You're right, I'll do that, but I expected it to do at least something on the bus with my POST card 😒

that zida board is cute, I love those teeny tiny babyAT boards x3

Hey ! I'm back again 😁

And I have some good news !

So I tested the AWARD bios from MSI on my DataExpert motherboard ... and after fiddling with the RAM, I got a POST !! ... and then it crashed when attempting to boot ... Well let's try the AMI bios instead ? Success !! I can now use that motherboard, thanks dionb !

@imi, you like that zida ? Me too ! Well let me introduce you another small motherboard :

A PCChips M396F ! It may be PCChips, but it's a 386SX platform, so it's tough to scam people with fake chips on a 386SX platform, so this board is ok. However as you can see, the battery has started to leak ... The first time I tried this board, it worked with no issue, after a while I couldn't use the keyboard anymore and now I can't get it to POST at all !!

Well, let's put some vinegar ... There are few traces that are a bit damaged, but nothing is cut ... I hope the problem isn't bigger than I expected ...

Apparently not ! After cleaning it with vinegar, the board is working again and I can use the keyboard again too ! Well this was actually simpler than I expected 🤣.

Deksor wrote:

Hey ! I'm back again 😁

And I have some good news !

So I tested the AWARD bios from MSI on my DataExpert motherboard ... and after fiddling with the RAM, I got a POST !! ... and then it crashed when attempting to boot ... Well let's try the AMI bios instead ? Success !! I can now use that motherboard, thanks dionb !

😀

Did you need to add the 8042 keyboard controller, or would it work without one? Looks like some later 486 boards were so generic they came with silkscreen or even sockets for components required by different chipsets to the one actually implemented. I also have one "lacking" 8042 that works fine as the UMC chipset has integrated keyb controller.

Well I added it anyways, maybe it's not required, but I'll check that later.

I agree, if you take a look at the HOT433 you'll see that it has no KBC, but since it has a UMC chipset it's not required as it's integrated.

Got some new boards working !

This nice 286 (unknown manufacturer but "G2-12HS-16 1.0" is written underneath) with a Headland HT12/A chipset :

This opti 386 (unknown manufacturer too, there's "KMA-300G-25" written on it but I can't find anything with that 😒 ) :

I got this board right at time, the battery leaked quite badly on that one and the populated RAM slots are corroded. Thankfully no traces are cut (but I might still remove these RAM slots just to make sure everything's ok there and to clean them)

This GMB-486SG rev 2.2 motherboard :

(this one had a bad trace preventing the keyboard from working. This is now patched and it works flawlessly 😁)
I also have a rev 1.1 board which has only 2 72pin simms (and 4 30 pin simms) and no VRM, but that one doesn't work (the corrosion on that one is more important. Maybe this can be fixed).

I also have good news concerning the Octek Hippo 15 ! I managed to get some POST codes and beeps 😁
Like I guessed, the CPU socket is really crusty (and the AT connector too actually. I'm going to clean it the best I can and maybe replace it). The motherboard must be crashing though as I can't get past the POST code "C5". I managed to get it in that state by putting the CPU halfway in the socket, locking the socket, and then pushing the CPU all the way down which must have the effect to scrub the connectors in the socket a little. This is still very finnicky and stops working the moment I move the mobo, but this is a good sign 😁

Hopefully this board WILL live !!
If the socket is totally dead, I might just steall the socket from another dead mobo 🤣 (I grabbed a PCChips M919 which doesn't seem to work at all despite being in a great visual condition, and pcchips boards are actually great donnor boards because it's quite easy to desolder stuff from them).

I also gave a shot at this unknown XT board :

but nothing happened. According to my POST card, the reset line is stuck. I think it's missing a chip actually (a NEC D8255AC-2).

To summarize, I have now 7 working motherboards out of 29-ish with 4 486, a ti486, a 386DX and a 286. I also have great hopes for two identical 386SX-16 motherboard, but they have bad tantalum caps that need to be treated first (two already exploded and I don't want to burn my house 🤣). Also, if I manage to fix the GMB-486SG rev 1.1 and the Octek motherboard, every 486 (except the PCChips) motherboards will be saved 😁. I managed to get some socket 5/7 boards to POST as well, but they're not my main goal yet. And finally, I got two slot 1 motherboards to POST.

I'm still disappointed that the Super Socket 7 DFI board doesn't work though 🙁 I hoped the pcchips super socket 7 would work, but it's dead too :'( (but maybe a good cleaning would revive it ?? this board is quite nasty as well, as nasty as the XT motherboard at least)

Deksor wrote:

I also gave a shot at this unknown XT board : http://i.imgur.com/t37rSIVl.jpg […]
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I also gave a shot at this unknown XT board :

but nothing happened. According to my POST card, the reset line is stuck. I think it's missing a chip actually (a NEC D8255AC-2).

Looks an awful lot like a generic DTK motherboard. I've seen a couple people with these on here now - it looks like it's similar to or based on the DTK Turbo 640, though seem to have a different style for the setup switches. It also looks like your DRAM type jumpers are actually hardwired instead. Hell of a cost saving measure.

The two empty large DIP sockets at the top are for an Intel 8087-2 and an NEC 8255AC-2. The DRAM sockets at the bottom are probably for 4164s only, since the board can only handle 640K and the first two banks are 41256s.

Also, what BIOS do you have? I'd love a dump if you can get around to it.

Sure I can dump that, but last time I tried with my other turbo XT, I couldn't find the ROM type at all (it was a generic Phoenix bios chip with no indication of which kind of chip this was ...). Hopefully this one is simpler. Anyways, I'd like to revive this board first if it's still possible.

I believe the NEC8255AC-2 is required. I'll buy one soon if they're still available.

Probably a 2764 EPROM. The sockets only accept 2764 and 27128 types, so it can't be that hard to determine. You've got a 50/50 shot at guessing.

Also, if you can get it to boot, you should be able to use some program to dump it without removing it from it's socket.

The 8255 is an I/O controller, so it's almost certainly required for proper operation.

I have some bad news 🙁

The m396f isn't fixed afterall

But I can't find any bad trace here even though there must be one somewhere ...

Here's a close look of the area :

I've also tried another kbc, but no luck 🙁

I know this board works and it mustn't be that big of a deal because it worked at first, and then it started to not work.

Deksor wrote:

Got some new boards working ! […]
Show full quote

Got some new boards working !

This nice 286 (unknown manufacturer but "G2-12HS-16 1.0" is written underneath) with a Headland HT12/A chipset :

Would you dump BIOS for me?

I have two motherboards like this (I fixed them last weekend) - both work, but they have AMI BIOS, and I prefer Quadtel... I guess it's just some generic HT/12 Quadtel BIOS, but who knows...

It's already available there :p 80286 BIOS image collection
Predator99 also added a phoenix bios for this board, so you could also add your Ami bios to get the full "bios pool" for this board 😀
Anyways, if anybody has an idea of what trace could be bad to cause this kbc issue please let me know ^^