I'd strip it down to the bare essentials, one stick of RAM, and try Memtest86: http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

I have 20+ sticks of SDRAM in various configurations, single or double sided, everytime the same things happens.

bartx wrote on 2020-08-04, 18:50:

I have 20+ sticks of SDRAM in various configurations, single or double sided, everytime the same things happens.

Memtest doesn't just test the memory - if there is any problem with the CPU, memory, motherboard, video card, etc., you'll almost certainly get an error. But if your configuration passes Memtest, that's a solid foundation for continuing your diagnostic efforts. And if it fails, then you'll need to figure out why. Advice is free, and worth twice the price.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2020-08-04, 23:59:

bartx wrote on 2020-08-04, 18:50:

I have 20+ sticks of SDRAM in various configurations, single or double sided, everytime the same things happens.

Memtest doesn't just test the memory - if there is any problem with the CPU, memory, motherboard, video card, etc., you'll almost certainly get an error. But if your configuration passes Memtest, that's a solid foundation for continuing your diagnostic efforts. And if it fails, then you'll need to figure out why. Advice is free, and worth twice the price.

Come on... I have about 13 years of experience in competetive overclocking, including extreme cooling on various platforms. Please don't explain me the basics.

https://hwbot.org/user/bartx/

I have about 50+ boards for various sockets, hundreds of cpus, another hundreds of RAM sticks. I also make a repairs as a hobby and I'm running a company, which makes a custom cooling components for PC.

This board is ultra rare, only 5 submits on hwbot. I was hoping that I might find another owner here with similar issue. I suppose that there might a problem with IDE controller, I've never seen similar behaviour.

Seems these boards may be tricky to get stable

Problematic ASUS TUA266 – Socket 370 board with ALI ALLADIN PRO 5T chipset

As this setup was on a 120GB drive, I assume your 80GB isn't the issue.

There's a 1004.010 Beta BIOS - have you tried that?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock370 … 66/1004-010.zip

Try Windows 98 or Windows 2000.

bartx wrote on 2020-08-05, 08:24:

Come on... I have about 13 years of experience in competetive overclocking, including extreme cooling on various platforms. Plea […]
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Repo Man11 wrote on 2020-08-04, 23:59:

bartx wrote on 2020-08-04, 18:50:

I have 20+ sticks of SDRAM in various configurations, single or double sided, everytime the same things happens.

Memtest doesn't just test the memory - if there is any problem with the CPU, memory, motherboard, video card, etc., you'll almost certainly get an error. But if your configuration passes Memtest, that's a solid foundation for continuing your diagnostic efforts. And if it fails, then you'll need to figure out why. Advice is free, and worth twice the price.

Come on... I have about 13 years of experience in competetive overclocking, including extreme cooling on various platforms. Please don't explain me the basics.

https://hwbot.org/user/bartx/

I have about 50+ boards for various sockets, hundreds of cpus, another hundreds of RAM sticks. I also make a repairs as a hobby and I'm running a company, which makes a custom cooling components for PC.

This board is ultra rare, only 5 submits on hwbot. I was hoping that I might find another owner here with similar issue. I suppose that there might a problem with IDE controller, I've never seen similar behaviour.

With the information I had to work with, I had no reason to assume a high level of expertise, so my advice was sound. I've been messing around with computers for twenty years now, have an A+ cert, and if had the issue you're describing, I would begin by doing exactly what I advised to establish a baseline for troubleshooting.

Thanks you for all your answers. I started a thread, because I've seen many issues with ATA/SATA controllers from those times before. Some of them needed an extra drivers, but the weirdest thing for me was SATA controller in Soltek SL-75FNR2-L, where I had to make a 1 drive RAID array and install the additional SATA driver to get SATA HDD working.

To be honest, I've never used Windows 98 lately, XP seems to be working on all my hardware starting from Slot platforms to modern ones with modified SATA drivers. Maybe it's the way to go. I'll check also with the latest bios and let you know.

Is there any Windows 98 release which you recommend?

bartx wrote on 2020-08-05, 08:24:

Come on... I have about 13 years of experience in competetive overclocking, including extreme cooling on various platforms. Please don't explain me the basics.

I love it ... three posts in, and you're pulling out the "I'm the expert" card ... do you know how to use a forum and get assistance with all your amazing advanced skills?

Byrd wrote on 2020-08-05, 23:22:

bartx wrote on 2020-08-05, 08:24:

Come on... I have about 13 years of experience in competetive overclocking, including extreme cooling on various platforms. Please don't explain me the basics.

I love it ... three posts in, and you're pulling out the "I'm the expert" card ... do you know how to use a forum and get assistance with all your amazing advanced skills?

I know exactly how to use. I searched for the web, forums and reviews and didn't find the answer so I started a new thread and asked very precise question about my problem. Board is very rare, so I was hoping that I can find somebody here with similar board and maybe with a solution. I really want to skip the part about memtest, replacing componenets and other stuff.

I also asked for help here about repair the other board and got the help which I needed, you may look if you don't trust me 😀 It has been also nicely described and photographed, hopefully would be useful for somebody else in the future.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=83192

Is there any Windows 98 release which you recommend?

SE obviously. Although WIn2k would be better for your purposes (SuperPi, 3DMark, etc). It also has fallback mode for IDE devices, like Win9x, so it should install correctly.