I replaced on the QDI A10T, all capacitors from 1000uF 6.3V, in total nine, of which three bulges and six visually fine, actually even if they look good, measuring them with my Peak ESR70, detects out of tolerance values, which can cause low voltages, and stability problems, or even can prevent the PC from starting.

Of course I didn't do a boot test, first at least the swollen ones had to be replaced, then instead I preferred 😻 to change them all (the 1000uF ones), I left the bigger ones with 1500uF, let's see if everything goes well 😌, the board will start and on the screen we will have the opportunity to find out which Intel CPU is there is, for me a Pentium 3 1200 or 1333 would be fine, those with 256 KB cache, but there could be a Celeron from 1100 or more (?), I hope 🤞 only that it has not been replaced with a Coppermine CPU, which if I'm not mistaken should work in this Motherboard.

Tomorrow I start checking three other motherboards, two 478 and one 939, let's start with one of the 478:

Biostar P4M80-M4 Version: 7.0

An S.478 in uATX format, with two DDR RAM slots and Prescott CPU support, VIA chipset, an AGP slot (like all MBs), three PCI (not express), and one I think CNR or something like that. At least a couple of electrolytic capacitors have been removed from the motherboard, maybe 🤔 in an attempt to replace them because they bulge (?)

AZZA P4M2-MVB

In terms of format and in general it is the same as the Biostar, but it seems to be in excellent condition, and nothing seems to be missing.

Gigabyte GA-K8NF9 Ultra Rev 2.0

This S.939 card in ATX format, is equipped with dual BIOS, this means that there are two BIOS chips, and in case of problems with the main one, you can make the secondary one work, in addition to this we have four DDR RAM banks, three PCI-E slots including one 16X and two 1X, and three PCI slots, plus integrated audio and LAN.

This one also seems to be in excellent condition, I hope 🤞 it works, because it seems to me the ideal board to make a 939 Top PC.

I have the three motherboards between my legs, the two 478 and the 939, from a careful visual examination, I didn't find any particular surprises, let's see how they are:

Biostar P4M80-M4 Version: 7.0

This motherboard had some missing electrolytic capacitors, and in fact I see three that have been removed, here for some reason, they tried to free the holes from the tin, using maybe a thin (not even much) drill bit, the result could be bad, honestly I don't know if it's recoverable, even if there is a certain optimism, the important thing is that the positive pin is ok, the negative one, I can extend it up to some capacitor nearby, so if it's okay, I could 90% (here I'm not optimistic) recover it.

From what I remember it only supports Prescott and NW, no Willy so, and having an integrated VGA, you can only try it with RAM and CPU.

AZZA P4M2-MVB

This is one of the first boards with DDR RAM and VIA chipset, it means that it only supports CPUs with FSB 400, honestly it does not excite me, but it could be very interesting if compared with other similar boards with Intel chipset, currently of this type FSB 400 + DDR, I have the ASUS in repair, and that you remember nothing else, it is not a comparison that I will do shortly, both require the replacement of electrolytic capacitors (gorges), maybe in this AZZA I will do the work by the end of the year, there are more or less a dozen small swollen electrolytic capacitors, plus one of the big 3300uF 6.3V in VRM area, but easily the others also need to be changed, and for these I have exhausted the stock, so it will be on hold for a while.

Gigabyte GA-K8NF9 Ultra Rev 2.0

This seems to be in excellent condition, there is a group of four swollen electrolytic capacitors to be replaced, they are thin 1500uF 6.3V, of these I have some spare, I think I'll do the job by this week, let's say it's the most interesting board on socket 939 that I have, although I have other equally interesting boards on the same socket, if it works after changing capacitors, I'll have to look for an Athlon 64 X2 939 to put in, I only have one (3800+) on the old Internet PC, unfortunately the cost is too high for the fastest ones, but also those Lenses cost!

Finally a surprise

I found opening the box, a box inside a MB DFI, very beautiful red, for a moment I thought there might be a fourth free card, actually not!

I always have some alternative motherboard, in the sense that I have some aside, to review or try, among these I have one, of a Lenovo PC, initialed L-I946F, with a Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.0GHz/1M/800, in the past I had an identical CPU on the Linux PC, an ECS P4M890T-M2 with now a C2D E4700, I preferred to change it, to have a little additional power, and currently I would say that with the E4700 it goes quite well.

Going back to the MB L-I946F, as long as I can remember, maybe there is the CMOS reset jumper in the wrong position (?), or something HW, but it could very well be simpler than that, to start you need to close the contacts of the PWR-ON, and finding indications about it is not easy, on the MB it is not indicated which are the PINs, I will have to look for them online and check that there is the correct voltage of the +5VSB, apart from that, the card seems perfect to me, and I think that by solving the startup problem, it will work.

I took a look at the Gigabyte S.478, to identify the +12V capacitors, I have three from 1500uF 16V, they seem fine, but having the spare parts, I think the best thing is to change them, and after trying the card again, if it starts, I would have solved it, otherwise I will have to look for the reason for the low VCORE elsewhere.

In the end I decided to ruin the surprise, I removed the heatsink on the QDI A10T, and surprisingly there is no Tualatin as I hoped, but there is a Coppermine PIII 1100/256/100, a CPU that I will use in another MB, here I will put a PIII-S 1266 or 1133, the 1100 I see it better on a BX or similar, it is still a nice discovery in my opinion, but I prefer any P3 Tualatin, not so much for the slightly higher speed, but because the 1100 is more suitable for more dated cards, in the past another P3 1100 CPU, I also have it slightly Overclocked, up to 1210 MHz, in addition to standard voltage I couldn't go.

It should therefore be the next motherboard I will try, maybe initially I will try the board as it is, with the 1100, but after some bench and diagnostic, I will switch to the PIII-S, I do not have 1400 available, but I have both the 1266 and the 1133 in my collection, I think I will use the 1266, but I do not expect abysmal differences, only a slight improvement, fortunately there was no Celeron FSB 66, that is in my opinion too penalizing for a similar MB.

These days I searched (without finding them), a couple of AM2 motherboards, an ASUS M3A is a Gigabyte, of the latter I don't remember the model, however looking for those, I found other motherboards, to work on and give me a big headache.

Some don't have much damage, but they have scratched tracks, which need to be repaired, after that there is no absolute certainty that they will work, but there is a good chance.

One that I found is almost identical to that of the E4700 Linux PC that I usually use, an ECS P4M890T-M2, the difference is in the SB, and also in the BIOS accordingly, the card is apparently perfect, unfortunately from what I remember, as soon as you try to start it turns off!

It means that there is a short, and the power supply protection intervenes, turning it off.

In the past I couldn't identify where this problem was, but a little while ago, I checked the lines, in the 24 PIN connector everything is fine, in the 4 PIN one instead the two +12V have a problem, I didn't look at that circuit, but I think it feeds a row of Mosfet, it's probably one or more have gone.!!!

So if I find which ones to be changed, it could also come back to life, after the replacement.

Another card that I would like to fix is an ASUS 462 A7N8 and something, it has some scratches in the tracks and a couple of missing SMDs, plus another chipped, undoubtedly if I could work more easily, on the interrupted tracks, I could fix many other cards more or less similar.

Other motherboards that I don't know anything about, and that I should try as soon as possible, all seem to be in excellent condition, at least at a quick glance, in the 775 the pins all seem correctly aligned, no bulging or missing electrolytic capacitor (at least from what you can see), there is a good chance that the boards are able to start (at least I hope so), each in its own way could be interesting, but let's see in detail, the S.478 and the two 775.

BIOSTAR P4TSP-D2 VER 1.3

A 478 socket with support for Prescott CPU, Intel chipset, two DDR RAM banks, an AGP slot, five PCI, and a CNR.

The only two RAM banks limit the maximum amount that can be installed a little, but if the PC is for DOS Windows use (not very recent), quantities of 1 to 2 GB can be considered beyond what is necessary, indeed with 2 GB even Windows 7 or similar can run not too slowly.

ASUS P5KPL REV. 1.04G

This is very similar to the PC motherboard in signature with E8400, but a little cheaper, honestly I don't know if it can get the same results with some bench, using a fairly equal CPU. In reality the slot equipment is slightly different, here we have: four DDR2 RAM banks, two PCI-E slots, one 16X and one 1X, three normal PCI, integrated audio.

ASUS P5KPL-AM EPU

This motherboard is very interesting, both for the compact format and for the integration, it has only one PCI slot less, so two PCI-E, one 16X and one 1X, two normal PCI, integrated audio and video. But unfortunately even the RAM slots are only two, even if it is possible to use DDR2 RAM from 2 GB each, to have a total of 4 GB, also the socket allows the use of Quad Core CPUs, in addition to the Dual or Single Core ones, I do not recommend the single core ones, but they can be fine if you want to use a low consumption CPU and dated programs, such as Windows 98SE or similar.

I finally found the two cards I was looking for, plus another one that I had taken to replace that of the Phenom X3, which I remember had to be the Internet PC, but for a storage problem never solved, I had to change PC waiting to understand what problem there was or if it was possible to solve it (?).
They are all cards for AMD and Socket AM2 CPUs, of these three maybe it is possible to use AM3 CPUs, but obviously with the limitations due to DDR2 RAM (instead of DDR3), so a little lower performance.

I start with the ASUS M3A, a card that I repaired some time ago, but I never had time to try, I later added the AMD Athlon LE 1600 CPU, which comes from the Phenom X3 (it was there before the upgrade), the card is ATX, with 4 DDR2 banks, three PCI-E of which one 16X and two 1X, three normal PCI, integrated audio, I just have to check the lines, but there are (at least I hope) good chances that it works.

The second motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-M55S-S3, quite interesting in my opinion, classic ATX format, with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600 CPU, included with the MB, four DDR2 RAM banks, five PCI-E slots including one 16X and four 1X, plus two normal PCI, integrated audio, also here you have to check the lines, and do the startup test.

The third card is from an Acer PC, uATX format, probably of different production (not Acer), it included the CPU, which is an AMD Athlon 64 LE 1640, let's just say a little faster than the one I put in the M3A, four banks of DDR2 RAM, two PCI-E slots of which one 16X and one 1X, plus two PCI slots, here in addition to the integrated audio there is also the integrated video, card never tried but according to the seller working.

While I have some free time, I take the opportunity to do a repair, I have several motherboards for AMD CPUs between my legs, among these there is a Gigabyte GA-K8NF9 Ultra, which has four swollen electrolytic capacitors, they are not the usual 3300uF 6.3V, but the smaller ones with 1500uF 6.3V, of these already having the spare parts, I proceed to remove the removal, but first I remove the hook for the CPU heatsink, use a system very similar to that of the 478, here there are only two stops to lift (instead of four), then with the clamps on the back you have to tighten and press.

After the removal I take the opportunity to give a clean, a quick brushing, and then proceed with the removal of the swollen electrolytic capacitors.

Removing them is not all in all difficult, but fortunately they are quite free, and it is not necessary to remove anything else.

I start to clear the holes, a couple were a little too close to another capacitor, but by insisting I managed to free them, otherwise I would have had to remove another capacitor, so after further cleaning, I start welding the four spare electrolytic capacitors.

After the welding work, the board would be ready to be tested, but first I want to see a couple of welds, which seem slightly poor in tin, but to see better I think it is necessary to use the microscope.

In the last few days my free time, I dedicated it to repairing other hw, but I have a motherboard to try at the top of the list, it is a Pegatron IPMEL-AE REV: 1.02, it is used on HP PCs, over time I have had several motherboards of HP PCs, but the complete PCs are only one or two, however for me it is better to have only the MBs, because they take up less space 🚀, returning to Pegatron, it is a brand also used by other PC manufacturers, honestly I do not know anything about the Pegatron, whether or not it is of quality, I guess it is if it is used by HP, the thing 😨 for me interesting 🧐, is the combination between 775 CPU and DDR3 RAM, usually the 775 MBs have DDR2 RAM, but some cards only had DDR3, unfortunately 😣 I only have DDR2 motherboards (except this Pegatron one).
As a CPU I would go directly to the Core2 Quad, even if there is the possibility of using single core or dual core CPUs, I don't usually use Celeron, and maybe 🤔 I don't have any Celeron 775, but having to try the card, I would use a CPU that I had in another PC, at least I would be sure it works, even if you have to see the contact pins well, and check that they are all well aligned, so as to guarantee optimal contact.

Today I wanted to try the Pegatron, and I started to gather what was necessary for the start, but from a careful observation of the back, I saw that an SMD is missing, I probably imagine it is a capacitor, in size I think it is the same as the vertical one (same line), that is, an average size, I understand it from the distance of the tracks, I don't think it could be anything else, and a certain symmetry confirms it to me, unfortunately I don't have other identical motherboards.

But I have other motherboards with the same problem (missing SMDs), in a batch relatively recent boards, some with sockets after the 775, others AM2.

In particular, I have two other MB between my legs that I would like to make working again, an ASUS M2N-VM/S REV: 2.01G, uATX format, and another very compact card, of an Acer brand PC, signed on the DA061L-3D PCB, which corresponds to the somewhat more compact version of the Boxer61 (visible on the retroweb).

On the Acer it seems that there is a scratch on the PCB, in addition to one or two tiny SMDs missing, I don't know given the tiny dimensions, if finding the spare parts, it would be possible to re-weld them, certainly those who have a microscope available, would be greatly facilitated to do this job.

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-12-13, 23:00:

Thank you ☺️ very much friend. Yes I knew this thing about the registered RAM, however I have to try to free the holes from the […]
Show full quote

Grem Five wrote on 2024-12-13, 22:50:

Since you are going to work on this board I'm going to post any thoughts here. […]
Show full quote

Since you are going to work on this board I'm going to post any thoughts here.

Might not hurt to look into see if its worth adding the two other memory slots as the manual says this:

KG7/KG7-RAID Only: […]
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KG7/KG7-RAID Only:

• Four 184-pin DIMM slots support PC1600/PC2100 DDR SDRAM modules
• Supports two DIMMs of unbuffered DDR SDRAM for a maximum of 2 GB (64, 128, 256,512 and 1024 MB DDR SDRAM modules)
• Supports four DIMMs of registered DDR SDRAM for a maximum of 3.5 GB (64, 128, 256,512 and 1024 MB DDR SDRAM modules)

I'm guessing thats why other boards like this one only has two memory slots is because of the memory gets unstable using more than two slots unless they use registered memory.

I have an Asus A7M266 which is the same north and south bridge as the Abit KG7 but Asus choose to go with only two memory slots and back in the day it retailed for more than the KG7. At that same site https://www.retrohardware-reviews.de/review-asus-a7m266/ he pointed out that when the Asus board was announced the previous year it had a pic of the board with four memory slots but between that announcement and when they released the board they dropped the four slots down to two slots. My thoughts is they might have done that for stability and thinking not every one is going to notice to run more slots would require registered memory over unregistered memory.

I might need to test that when I get the KG7-raid in my hands and recapped but that might not be a problem. https://www.anandtech.com/show/845/2

According to ABIT, one of the reasons for their late appearance in the 760 market was their decision to make a board capable of running stably with more than two DIMMs. In fact, ABIT went a step further with a total of four DDR DIMM slots on the KG7-RAID, supporting up to 4GB of memory. Most other AMD 760 boards only have 2 DIMM slots. The KG7-RAID comes with 4 DDR DIMM slots, ensuring that it stands out in this group. Now it's one thing to include 4 DIMM slots on a motherboard, but it's an entirely different thing to ensure that they all work properly, without sacrificing stability or performance. We had no problem populating all four slots at the same time on the KG7-RAID. This is quite remarkable, considering the tight timing required for DDR SDRAM.

From that same article it seems Gigabyte might not been as lucky.

The 7DXR features three DIMM slots, rather than the two found on most 760 boards. In fact, it's one of only two boards to offer more than two DIMM slots, the other being the ABIT KG7-RAID. Unfortunately, with all the three DIMM slots populated, we had to back off the CAS latency to 2.5 to maintain sufficient stability.

Thank you ☺️ very much friend.
Yes I knew this thing about the registered RAM, however I have to try to free the holes from the pond, if I can easily, that is, without the need for particular or professional equipment, well I continue with the marathon, I should clear more than 350 holes!
Regarding the other links, thank you in advance, I will need some time to read them and understand the interesting points, regarding the MB 462, I have several of both ABIT and ASUS, I also have a Gigabyte that I wrote about recently, also under repair, I will try to finalize this one as soon as possible.

Well I got the board working with two sticks of unbuffered @ 2 GB and all four slots working with four sticks of registered ECC @ 4 GB. (3.5 GB reported and recognized)

Not sure if the registered ecc is worth it as with only one stick only it boots fast but at two, three or four sticks it takes 1 minute and 45 secs for anything to even come up on screen.

At 1st I was being impatience and thinking it was not working but I walked away to get more coffee and came back to it booting. After that I had to time it to figure out how long it took, 1 min 45 secs before anything comes up on screen and then it recognizes the cpu and starts counting the ram.

Grem Five wrote on 2024-12-27, 22:12:

Well I got the board working with two sticks of unbuffered @ 2 GB and all four slots working with four sticks of registered ECC […]
Show full quote

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-12-13, 23:00:

Thank you ☺️ very much friend. Yes I knew this thing about the registered RAM, however I have to try to free the holes from the […]
Show full quote

Grem Five wrote on 2024-12-13, 22:50:

Since you are going to work on this board I'm going to post any thoughts here. […]
Show full quote

Since you are going to work on this board I'm going to post any thoughts here.

Might not hurt to look into see if its worth adding the two other memory slots as the manual says this:

I'm guessing thats why other boards like this one only has two memory slots is because of the memory gets unstable using more than two slots unless they use registered memory.

I have an Asus A7M266 which is the same north and south bridge as the Abit KG7 but Asus choose to go with only two memory slots and back in the day it retailed for more than the KG7. At that same site https://www.retrohardware-reviews.de/review-asus-a7m266/ he pointed out that when the Asus board was announced the previous year it had a pic of the board with four memory slots but between that announcement and when they released the board they dropped the four slots down to two slots. My thoughts is they might have done that for stability and thinking not every one is going to notice to run more slots would require registered memory over unregistered memory.

I might need to test that when I get the KG7-raid in my hands and recapped but that might not be a problem. https://www.anandtech.com/show/845/2

From that same article it seems Gigabyte might not been as lucky.

Thank you ☺️ very much friend.
Yes I knew this thing about the registered RAM, however I have to try to free the holes from the pond, if I can easily, that is, without the need for particular or professional equipment, well I continue with the marathon, I should clear more than 350 holes!
Regarding the other links, thank you in advance, I will need some time to read them and understand the interesting points, regarding the MB 462, I have several of both ABIT and ASUS, I also have a Gigabyte that I wrote about recently, also under repair, I will try to finalize this one as soon as possible.

Well I got the board working with two sticks of unbuffered @ 2 GB and all four slots working with four sticks of registered ECC @ 4 GB. (3.5 GB reported and recognized)

Not sure if the registered ecc is worth it as with only one stick only it boots fast but at two, three or four sticks it takes 1 minute and 45 secs for anything to even come up on screen.

At 1st I was being impatience and thinking it was not working but I walked away to get more coffee and came back to it booting. After that I had to time it to figure out how long it took, 1 min 45 secs before anything comes up on screen and then it recognizes the cpu and starts counting the ram.

Ok Thanks ☺️ again for sharing, probably or at least at the beginning, I won't use much RAM, but currently I don't have 1 GB registered modules, and maybe 🤔 they will be hard to find, or even expensive.
It's probably normal, that it takes almost two minutes, with a lot of RAM on board, I remember that in a Slot1 MB, with 512 MB (which was not the maximum), it seemed to count slowly, in reality it took quite a while, honestly I don't remember how long, but later I preferred to lower it to about 300 MB, in order to speed up the startup a little.
These days, I think I'm working on Pegatron, the time is really short, sometimes a few minutes, unfortunately lately I haven't been able to do any search for failed components, and some MBs are still waiting for quite a while.

Between today and tomorrow I should be able to do the repair on the Pegatron, the most complicated job should be welding it, but first you have to look for a replacement SMD, which might not be simple, but for the size it has, I think I can find a similar one, in scrap boards.

I don't know if I should start doing some boot tests, immediately after the repair, I have accumulated some cards on the waiting list, including the latest arrival, an ASUS M3A78, AM2 socket and support for 140W CPU !!!

AMD770 chipset, and top CPU Phenom 64, both FX and X4, but I think you can go further, maybe even to the Phenom X6, it probably came out later, I don't know maybe this card is AM2+, it's definitely not AM3 because it has DDR2 RAM.

In the meantime, since 2024 ends soon, I wanted to wish everyone a happy 2025, Best wishes 🎂 🎁 😽

The first motherboard that I will fix in 2025 will be a 775, to be precise an ASROCK 775V88+ REV. 1.01, with Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz/1M/800 SL7PU CPU, the BIOS should be AMI, and the installed version a P1.40-5A (or later), it is one of the first 775, the VIA chipset maybe 🤔 will not be the best, but overall it can be an excellent starting point, if you want more power, you can switch to a faster CPU, the limits of course 🙄 are already visible, the RAM is DDR 400 and the FSB 800, there is the AGP 8X for the video card, and the 5.1CH audio is integrated, if you need anything else you can add up to five PCI cards, since The format is ATX.

Visibly, it is in excellent condition, there are a couple of things in the back to look at under the microscope 🔬, but I don't think there is anything scratched or missing, the only problem is the bulging electrolytic capacitors, there are six from 3300uF 6.3V, all around the CPU, these are absolutely to be changed, there are four other 1200uF 16V, which instead look perfect 🤩, and even if I want to I can't help it, because I don't have spare capacitors with the same capacity and voltage.

Of course, I don't miss 😿 a motherboard like that, but I'd like to fix it to make some benches, later if everything goes well 😌, I could do some upgrades, and maybe 🤔 who knows who could be an interesting alternative 🧐 to AMD equivalents, I don't know whether to make a PC for Windows 9X, or higher, a lot will depend on what I see from the bench, I think I'll compare it with similar PCs, I imagine that the results are average or below 👇.

Finished fixing the ASROCK 775V88+ REV motherboard. 1.01, with CPU Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz/1M/800 SL7PU, BIOS AMI probably Ver. P1.40-5A (or later), VIA VT880 chipset at the N.B. and VIA VT8237R at the S.B., even if on some motherboards there is a VIA VT8237R Plus at the S.B., here there is the simple one (without Plus), I don't know exactly what the difference is, but from previous experiences, I know that it can be a problem when updating the BIOS, I think that even though it is the same motherboard, with the same Rev, you can't use the same BIOS with two different S.B., except that the additional features of the Plus, are not used, and so it would be like having the same S.B..

Going back to the board, I replaced the six swollen electrolytic capacitors, I remember that they are from 3300uF 6.3V, the original ones are KZG, in replacement I put Nichicon HM(M), now the board would only be to be tested, and from the measurements made on the old ones, I think it will work again, let's hope well.

The next card that I will put between my paws, is the ECS 775 (same as the E4700 Linux PC) in everything very similar to this one, but with a probable short to the four-PIN ATX auxiliary connector (+12V), usually a failure in this area, does not cause damage to the CPU and the rest of the hardware, and if you can locate it, the chances of returning to work are high.

Now I have between my legs a Biostar P4M80-M4 VER: 7.0, a uATX chipset VIA and the same S.B. of ASROCK (VIA VT8237R), but socket 478, there is only one problem, three probably swollen electrolytic capacitors are missing, and an SMD capacitor in the back of the S.B., theoretically nothing so complicated, at least for me, but the difficulty becomes high, because the previous owner, tried without being able to free the holes, and it is possible that he damaged the part where the pond is attached, probably using non-professional equipment, or even a mini drill bit, but maybe it is possible Do a job to remedy the possible damage, it depends a lot on what you can do, first you have to remove all the tin residues from the holes, then you have to check that you have not shorted between the two PINs (+ and -), or that you have not exaggerated to make space, isolating the two PINs (or one of the two).

For the position of the missing ones, and looking at the circuit, the three that are missing all seem to be 3300uF 6.3V, because the two remaining have that value, and are connected to the same track, this can be a big advantage if you want, because I could connect them differently if necessary, the - for example with a ground wire, and the + with a wire to the inductors.

Of course if I could connect them as originally, for me it would be better, as for the missing SMD capacitor, I should find one quite similar to the one next to it, in a scrap MB.

Today unfortunately I won't be able to do any repairs, I wanted to start work on an ASUS P4B266, but it's not possible, I find myself doing something else, for today no welding or similar, even if I would like it!

Browsing the notes 🗒, I arrived at the Compaq Camaro = MITAC 5114VU page, a uATX Socket 7, VIA MVP4 chipset and AMD K6-2 475 MHz CPU, the board at startup crashes on the 2F 2E codes, the BIOS is Compaq-Award, in the past I looked for info on what 2F means, but I hadn't found anything that could help me understand, if there was a hardware or software failure, unfortunately the BIOS chip is soldered, and it's a problem to rewrite it, however today I saw exactly what it means:

2F Write to diagnostic byte

But what would you like to indicate?

And above all because it freezes?

I can't answer these questions at the moment, I hope to make some progress as soon as possible

Here I am, in recent days I have reorganized the motherboards (not all though), following a certain order, under those to be repaired for sure, in the middle those whose repair is urgent, above those repaired and those that need to be tested, this makes it easier to search 🔍, maybe 🤔 but it would be even easier ⚓️, if I put adhesive labels 🏷.
I made no distinctions between the various sockets, because basically it is not important for repair purposes, if I change the capacitors I have to do the same work, whether it is a 370 or a 462, whether it is a 478 or a 754 etc...
For some time I've been starting to discard some motherboards, because they require equipment that I don't have (which makes my work easier), and also because they are basically not of my interest, already having others that work the same, except for special cases of course 🙄.
Some have damage such that they cannot be repaired, or they have missing pieces that it is impossible for me to identify, for example in the back of the chipset, to understand if it is a resistor or an SMD capacitor, it is impossible except that there is an image somewhere, or a very similar board (not necessarily the same model) to observe.
The aspect that I'm starting to have difficulty managing 🤌, is at the end of the tests on the bench, when I finish the tests and diagnostics, the complete card remains unused for a long time, because I use my free time for other cards in repair, so I only occasionally put them back on, or if I need something, I borrow it 💵 or change it.
Going back to the motherboards to try, I have the ASRock 775V88+ with P4 775 Prescott 3.0GHz/1M/800, the first thing 😨 to do is a line check, then if it's okay 👍, add everything you need, and proceed to the first boot, of course you hope to have luck 🍀, and get a video BIOS screen, and no strange code on the PCI post card, to have to interpret and relative problem of who knows what hardware?