Sorry for the necro-posing, but I am a Necromancer. 😀 Sad there are no more post how it went with this particular board. I can confirm the problem might have been in loose pins on the QFP chips. I had dead board of the same type and one chip (SIS 503) had almost left the board. The other one had some bad pins as well.
However I ma still struggling a bit. The board runs only if the L2 cache is set to WT mode. If I set WB in bios, it always get stuck on post screen right before booting.
Pretty weird issue...

Solved - I have flashed older bios from 1995 (the last one is 1998) and the cache and all the other functions are working OK now and the board behaves as it should.
The bioses all available here;
https://theretroweb.com/

Bump.
Found this thing in my 'need to fix one day' box and found it to still be behaving as described before. Still don't have an oscilloscope, but I have a few other things - ISA and PCI clock measuring cards and Necroware's guide to de-lidding an in-place DS128(8)7 RTC to replace batteries.

That's the good news. Bad news is: didn't help:
- PCI clock is 25MHz (correct for jumper settings running CPU at 75MHz)
- ISA clock is 6.25MHz
- new battery is happily over 3V.
- still zero life in the board :'(

So I ruled out clock generation and RTC being the issue.

H.W.Necromancer wrote on 2024-02-03, 13:45:

Sorry for the necro-posing, but I am a Necromancer. 😀 Sad there are no more post how it went with this particular board. I can confirm the problem might have been in loose pins on the QFP chips. I had dead board of the same type and one chip (SIS 503) had almost left the board. The other one had some bad pins as well.

At first glance I couldn't see any issues, but one side of the 85C501 looked like it was a tiny bit short. Unfortunately I decided to put some flux on and quickly run over it with my soldering iron to be sure. Bad idea. I created two bridges while doing that and while trying to fix the second one I managed to break the leg entirely. It was pin 115, REQ 3 - pretty necessary for the PCI bus to work.

Given this I've decided to give up this board.

dionb wrote on 2024-12-28, 21:26:

At first glance I couldn't see any issues, but one side of the 85C501 looked like it was a tiny bit short. Unfortunately I decided to put some flux on and quickly run over it with my soldering iron to be sure. Bad idea. I created two bridges while doing that and while trying to fix the second one I managed to break the leg entirely. It was pin 115, REQ 3 - pretty necessary for the PCI bus to work.

Given this I've decided to give up this board.

You can dremel pretty far in to solder some enameled wire.
Kinda of good news.
Corners are easier.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-12-28, 21:28:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

You can dremel pretty far in to solder some enameled wire.
Kinda of good news.
Corners are easier.

Theoretically possible, but beyond my current skills+equipment, I'm afraid.

dionb wrote on 2024-12-28, 22:01:

Nexxen wrote on 2024-12-28, 21:28:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

You can dremel pretty far in to solder some enameled wire.
Kinda of good news.
Corners are easier.

Theoretically possible, but beyond my current skills+equipment, I'm afraid.

Take this back and make us proud!
You were born a Vogoner!

dionb wrote on 2024-12-28, 21:26:

Bump. Found this thing in my 'need to fix one day' box and found it to still be behaving as described before. Still don't have a […]
Show full quote

Bump.
Found this thing in my 'need to fix one day' box and found it to still be behaving as described before. Still don't have an oscilloscope, but I have a few other things - ISA and PCI clock measuring cards and Necroware's guide to de-lidding an in-place DS128(8)7 RTC to replace batteries.

That's the good news. Bad news is: didn't help:
- PCI clock is 25MHz (correct for jumper settings running CPU at 75MHz)
- ISA clock is 6.25MHz
- new battery is happily over 3V.
- still zero life in the board :'(

So I ruled out clock generation and RTC being the issue.

H.W.Necromancer wrote on 2024-02-03, 13:45:

Sorry for the necro-posing, but I am a Necromancer. 😀 Sad there are no more post how it went with this particular board. I can confirm the problem might have been in loose pins on the QFP chips. I had dead board of the same type and one chip (SIS 503) had almost left the board. The other one had some bad pins as well.

At first glance I couldn't see any issues, but one side of the 85C501 looked like it was a tiny bit short. Unfortunately I decided to put some flux on and quickly run over it with my soldering iron to be sure. Bad idea. I created two bridges while doing that and while trying to fix the second one I managed to break the leg entirely. It was pin 115, REQ 3 - pretty necessary for the PCI bus to work.

Given this I've decided to give up this board.

--
Been there done that when I tried to fix such a thing some years ago. 1) always test all the pins with a thin medical needle (or something like that) if they wobble at the pad. 2) do not add solder - it is already there. (or only a super super tiny bit - just make your solder tip silver as it should be 3) yes - use flux but touch only the bad pins - I am not using "drag method" 4) if there is a short - bridge, add flux, DO NOT panic and use solder wick (copper braids) and suck all the solder in to it.
--
I am happy to help another Vogoneer - I might have a donnor board - usless OEM from some compaq and I think the chipset is there.
--
But do not panic. Train your drilling / grinding capabilities on some usless junk and than try to fix it. You can even do it manualy, it just takes time. The actual chip die is in the middle - you can expose the bonding metal and solder on to it.
--
where are you from? PM me if you wish.
Good luck!