VOGONS


First post, by CSmeds1999

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Earlier this month I bought a PCChips M601 motherboard from eBay and replaced the drum battery with a 4-pin external battery. The machine powers on and the Cirrus 5428 VLB card works, the NIC lights up. I tried having jumpers on the keylock pins and not having jumpers on the pins to no avail. I have tried 2 different PS/2 to AT connectors with a PS/2 keyboard as well as a USB to PS/2 connector with my newer Microsoft Natural USB keyboard and I get a "Keyboard is locked unlock message after the CMOS settings not set message and cannot enter the BIOS setup when I press the F1 key. Today I get the same message with a 101 AT keyboard that I bought off of eBay and I still get the same message, the F1 key still won't go into the BIOS setup. But the caps and scroll lock keys light up the display above the Numpad. What do I need to do to resolve this issue?

Reply 2 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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JP10 didn't have any jumpers on it when I got the motherboard. I tried jumpers on the pins to no avail, and today I tested a keylock today that I bought off of eBay, connected to the pins on JP10 to no avail.

Reply 3 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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Regarding the revision of the motherboard, I haven't checked that yet.

Reply 4 of 15, by Namrok

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Oh man, I have a variant of that motherboard, and I remember that too. I forget how I got past it. I think it was something super routine like clearing the cmos.

Win95/DOS 7.1 - P233 MMX (@2.5 x 100 FSB), Diamond Viper V330 AGP, SB16 CT2800
Win98 - K6-2+ 500, GF2 MX, SB AWE 64 CT4500, SBLive CT4780
Win98 - Pentium III 1000, GF2 GTS, SBLive CT4760
WinXP - Athlon 64 3200+, GF 7800 GS, Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 6 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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Keyboard error
Keyboard is locked unlock it

Reply 7 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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Here's the screen shot of the POST.

Reply 8 of 15, by douglar

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Does it continue if you hit F1 ?

Looks like that BIOS is used on most of the variants of your board. Your board version is likely printed near the power connectors and the keyboard connector.

If you have a rom burner, you could try this ROM:
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/pcchip … 1-ver.-1.2#bios

Reply 9 of 15, by Namrok

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I'm trying to remember how I got past this error on my board, which was a rebranded version called Amptron DX-6600. I already mentioned clearing the CMOS. But as I wrack my brain I remember how it went, the keyboard error wasn't consistent on my machine. I ended up changing the PS/2 to AT adapter. I had one that looked like this which I think either had a broken wire inside the cable or a poor connection on the PS/2 end of it. Jiggling the cable just right and rebooting could usually get past that error. I replaced it with one like this chonky looking barrel adapter and the problems went away.

Win95/DOS 7.1 - P233 MMX (@2.5 x 100 FSB), Diamond Viper V330 AGP, SB16 CT2800
Win98 - K6-2+ 500, GF2 MX, SB AWE 64 CT4500, SBLive CT4780
Win98 - Pentium III 1000, GF2 GTS, SBLive CT4760
WinXP - Athlon 64 3200+, GF 7800 GS, Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 10 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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I tried those 2 exacr adapters with a PS/2 keyboard to no avail. Hitting F1 does not allow the machine to go into the BIOS setup. What ROM burner to you recommend to flash the BIOS chip?

Reply 11 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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CSmeds1999 wrote on 2025-03-07, 01:04:

I tried those 2 exact adapters with a PS/2 keyboard to no avail. Hitting F1 does not allow the machine to go into the BIOS setup. What ROM burner to you recommend to flash the BIOS chip?

Reply 12 of 15, by douglar

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Maybe there is a short or a lifted contact on the keyboard connector. Can you check if the pins in the Din5 are connected to the board using a multi meter?

Reply 13 of 15, by jakethompson1

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With nothing to lose, another thing to try is booting with no keyboard at all, just to see if the error is different

Reply 14 of 15, by CSmeds1999

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With an AT keyboard the scroll lock, and caps lock work and light up when the machine is powered on through a cold boot, but the numlock seems to be a problem with the AT keyboard. The other keys do nothing, including F1. On the PS/2 keyboard the caps, scroll, and num locks light up on a cold boot. Unlike the AT keyboard, they do not work after. The other keys on the PS/2 keyboard, including F1 does not work as well.

Reply 15 of 15, by douglar

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Sounds to me like the keyboard controller might be bad or the DIN-5 mount is damaged. Can you use a multimeter to see if the keyboard signals are getting through from the board to the DIN5 pins?