VOGONS


First post, by themajortechie

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Alrighty. It's been a hot second since I've posted much here on Vogons, but I know that there's a handful of other folks here with prototype Timna boards and CPUs. I've been trying to install Windows 98SE onto an SD card using an SD to IDE adapter with my Timna set, but for whatever reason, the moment setup reaches the graphical portion, the keyboard and mouse will become disabled. If I spam enter quick enough, I can get it past the initial screen to start copying files, but despite the progress bar moving and the installer progressing, I'm unable to input anything with the keyboard or mouse after that initial split-second.

Has anyone else run into an issue like this with their Timna boards? I'm running it using stock BIOS settings, and this seems to happen even with USB keyboards. I've never seen this happen on any other system I own.

Last edited by themajortechie on 2024-11-08, 22:45. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 11, by Nexxen

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IIRC you can create an auto install file to the installation and don't have to enter anything at all.
The issue has to be addresses nonetheless for future installations.

Do W2K or XP have the same problem?

PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K

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Reply 2 of 11, by themajortechie

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Nexxen wrote on 2024-11-04, 07:14:

IIRC you can create an auto install file to the installation and don't have to enter anything at all.
The issue has to be addresses nonetheless for future installations.

Do W2K or XP have the same problem?

Nope. Just tried Windows XP, and it has no issues at all with the keyboard and mouse once it reaches the graphical setup. That's... very strange.

Reply 3 of 11, by themajortechie

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Just installed Windows 98 using an automated installation file. It seems that it does the same thing within Windows as well, where the system is fully functional, but the mouse and keyboard fail to work regardless of if they're using PS/2 or USB. The BIOS for the Timna board is set to default settings, so I don't quite understand what's going on here.

EDIT: turns out the Timna board just hates my Logitech PS/2 mouse. I unplugged it and the keyboard started working on the next bootup. 💀

Reply 4 of 11, by themajortechie

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Another update: It appears that it is indeed an IRQ conflict. Windows 98 sees TWO PS/2 mice installed whenever you plug a mouse in, and that disables the ports as a result! This even happens during setup, and is not just a Logitech issue like I first thought.

The workaround is to only use a keyboard until you're done with setup, and then go through the device manager and remove the "ghost" mouse that gets autodetected.

Reply 5 of 11, by Horun

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Interesting ! Have only seen posts from a few others with working Timna's over the decades. Can you post some pictures of your board and cpu ?
Here are some from the CPU-World forums: https://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=82287 for those interested...

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 11, by themajortechie

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Horun wrote on 2024-11-06, 04:26:

Interesting ! Have only seen posts from a few others with working Timna's over the decades. Can you post some pictures of your board and cpu ?
Here are some from the CPU-World forums: https://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=82287 for those interested...

Will do when I've got some time! I've got a terrible cough right now and barely enough energy and focus to even get Windows 98 installed.

Reply 7 of 11, by Horun

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Ohhh not so good. Hope nothing serious. They are testing for covid and rsv at some of the medical clinics again in last few weeks...

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 8 of 11, by themajortechie

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Horun wrote on 2024-11-06, 05:37:

Ohhh not so good. Hope nothing serious. They are testing for covid and rsv at some of the medical clinics again in last few weeks...

Maybe I should get tested.

Reply 9 of 11, by themajortechie

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Alright, good news: I don't have covid.

Bad news: before I could get anything tested and was only installing software, I rebooted the system following installation and it never booted up again.

The system was using all good known-working parts. The PSU is one that I've used for about a decade at this point as my go-to ATX power supply for older boards that don't need a 4-pin CPU power connector. The cooler was one that was frankly overkill for Timna given how little heat it was giving off to begin with, given that it didn't even get warm to the touch while my Timna set was still working.

In BIOS, everything was set to their defaults, and voltage was set to the absolute minimum possible value.

Maybe I should've underclocked the Timna from the stock 667MHz down to 466MHz. The option was available in BIOS alongside the voltage settings, but I figured that leaving it at stock frequency and voltage for the chip would've been fine.

Reply 10 of 11, by PcBytes

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You got a POST card to check the codes? I have a D815EEA here that POST'd once and never again, and gets stuck somwhere on 3E or so.

"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB

Reply 11 of 11, by themajortechie

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PcBytes wrote on 2024-11-09, 00:19:

You got a POST card to check the codes? I have a D815EEA here that POST'd once and never again, and gets stuck somwhere on 3E or so.

No POST whatsoever. I have a video of the power-on that I recorded.
https://youtube.com/shorts/oZ3aWhinyFE

The PSU is a known-good one that I've been using for years without issue on older motherboards. I'm not entirely sure what the best way to test for ripple is, but when probing the 5v and 12v lines with my oscilloscope using a DVD drive as a load, I found that it turned out to have ~240mVpp of ripple on the 12v rail and ~120mVpp of ripply on the 5v rail. I'd never had any issues running systems with this PSU in the past, so I hadn't thought to check its ripple until now at the recommendation of someone on Discord.