Do you have the tag RAM installed? https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oldie-tuning,216-5.html

More information on COAST modules and tag RAM: http://library.mobrien.com/Manuals/MPRM_Group … p55t2p4.htm#TAG

COAST compatibility issues are commonplace, there were different standards with regards to tag RAM on the module etc. and not all modules will work in all boards. try to get a different module, like the original asus one.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2021-04-17, 21:32:

Do you have the tag RAM installed? https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/oldie-tuning,216-5.html

More information on COAST modules and tag RAM: http://library.mobrien.com/Manuals/MPRM_Group … p55t2p4.htm#TAG

I don't have a separate tag ram chip installed. The coast module I have has two SRAM chips and two other chips. When it is in the board and the board is jumpered for 512KB it shows 0KB. I'll get a picture of it later.

auron wrote on 2021-04-17, 21:32:

COAST compatibility issues are commonplace, there were different standards with regards to tag RAM on the module etc. and not all modules will work in all boards. try to get a different module, like the original asus one.

Yeah they seem a bit scarce. I will get another module to try, but I am thinking I might have bad cache on the board as well. Without the coast module and with onboard cache enabled the system hangs.

If the board's cache is faulty you might have little choice other than getting a K6-2+ or 3+ since it doesn't seem likely to me that you would be able to use a COAST module without enabling the board's cache.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2021-04-18, 02:17:

If the board's cache is faulty you might have little choice other than getting a K6-2+ or 3+ since it doesn't seem likely to me that you would be able to use a COAST module without enabling the board's cache.

Do you think I could get comparable performance out of a K6-2 with no level 2 cache as I would with a pentium with cache? The K6-3 seems a lot more scarce.

I don't know where you are, but K6-2+ 450 CPUs are on Ebay for less than $30.00 with shipping in the US. That would completely solve the L2 cache problem, and give you any speed you like - up to 500 MHz, and down to 486 speeds by lowering the multiplier and disabling the cache. It would also allow you to install up to 512 megabytes of RAM fully cached if you wanted to.
As to comparing a K6-2 at 450 to 500 megahertz with no L2 to a 233 MMX with L2, I really cannot say, but someone has likely made that comparison in this thread: Let's benchmark our systems with caches disabled