Yes, the new beeps are video issues. So at least you're past the memory issue now.

It could be that you need to adjust the Mono/Color jumper on the board.. It also could be an incompatible VGA card (I heard 286s can be picky).

Keep the VGA cable connected, sometimes the video error doesn't prevent the signal from showing up on the screen. But in case you don't get any picture, then try addressing any of the above.

If all fails, chances are you have an issue in the ISA slots.. a broken trace, dusty pins, touching pins ... make a visual inspection on all pins of all slots..

If nothing is apparent, you'll need to investigate with a multimeter and a scope.

Thaniks for the reply, the mono/color jumper is set to color. There really arent any other jumpers that should impact boot up options.

I looked over the board carefully and cant see any physical damage so its a mystery.

Will try few more ISA cards but I am running out of options.

Yeah I was afraid it didn't turn out something easy.
A few things that are still considered "easy":

* Try with an 8-bit display card. CGA/EGA (even if you don't connect it to any monitor), or even 8-bit VGA (but more rare). Also some 16-bit VGA cards do not mind running on the 8-bit slot. The point here is to tell whether the problem is in the 8-bit part of ISA or the 16-bit part. If you get display on the 8-bit slot then you know your problem is on one of the pins in the higher portion of the 16-bit slots.

* If you have one of those POST code analyzer cards, plug it in and see if it shows good lights or some missing ones (or if the reset signal is stuck on the ISA bus).

Outside of these two easy steps, I would have to continue with a multimeter and an oscilloscope. Measure clocks, look for activity on address and data pins, memory read/write pins... etc.

You can get a video fault on older, mostly pre 486 boards, when the VGA card doesn't presence detect the monitor, and throws a signal to the motherboard for that, which then faults for display and refuses to continue, jerk. This can happen on monitors too new to be aware of the old presence detect protocols, and that probably use digital presence detect.

thanks for that I can try with a CRT, I normally just use an older LCD with VGA and havent had a single machine, including XTs that didnt show display on the LCD screen but definitely can try. This board though seems quite modern 286, not an early gen.

quick update, pluggin in a diagnostics card, the LCD screen on it shows FF, see photo:

https://i.postimg.cc/fTBHCgcW/IMG-1598.jpg

Also, I tried few more VERY old 16bit an done 8 bit VGA/EGA cards and still get the beeps. Then I tried an old monochrome card and there were no beeps at all but obviously I dont have a monochrome monitor to see if anything is displayed but there were no post beeps or anything like that either.

I think the fact I get two long beeps before the 8 short beeps is pointing to some other problem and not the video card ... its probably causing the video issue as a secondary problem.

what could the two long beeps mean ?

I think those beeps are particular to the init of a vga card, means display memory rw error if I remember right. Monochrome cards don’t have their own bios, their bios code is in the system rom - different init code runs when vga bios is not present.

If it gets to beeping like that it’s getting quite far, probably already passed the first 64k system memory test.

My guess is a signal integrity issue somewhere on the bus - touching pins, dodgy connections, etc.

I will spend more time on the board this weekend and do a more thorough visual inspection to see if I can identify anything broken, touching parts etc.

Omarkoman wrote on 2026-01-13, 00:16:

quick update, pluggin in a diagnostics card, the LCD screen on it shows FF, see photo:
https://i.postimg.cc/fTBHCgcW/IMG-1598.jpg

Hi.
Grab a scope and check the ISA D0–D7 lines.
They’re usually pulled up to +5 V with ~10 k resistors.
Seeing FFh (11111111) might mean that nothing is driving them / hardly pulling them up ?

unfortunately I dont have a scope you refer and am fairly inexperienced when it comes to actual electronics hardware repair. I'll start with visual inspection first and see what I find.

Don't forget your fingertips, anything suspiciously hot or suspiciously cold.

good point thanks ! I have a thermal camera so will run it over the board!

My suspicion if the VGA bios manages to run and generate beeps, is that at least D0-D7 are probably fine. I suspect an address line.

Omarkoman wrote on 2026-01-14, 01:38:

unfortunately I dont have a scope you refer and am fairly inexperienced when it comes to actual electronics hardware repair. I'll start with visual inspection first and see what I find.

If the visual inspection does not reveal any relevant issues, measure the resistance of the ISA data and address lines to GND and +5 V

I spent good 5 mins looking under bright light with magnifying glass and cant see any physical damage on this board, its in excellent condition.

regarding this: measure the resistance of the ISA data and address lines to GND and +5 V

where exactly am I measuring, which ISA data and address lines ... sorry can you pls be more specific or show in a picture what parts am I touching using a multimeter?

Thank you.

Easiest way would be from a power or ground pin on the P8/P9 AT power connection to the copper contacts in an ISA slot. If you image search for ISA slot pinout there might pop something up that is easy to compare to when measuring.

Thanks all but I think the measuring part is beyond my capability for now, I will have ot put this board away until I have time to educate myself further on this type of testing. Im not giving up on this board yet.