With a different CF adapter I was able to boot into DOS and load Wolf3D but it froze at the menu. I guess I'll have to try different memory chips after all.

There is a ghost in the machine or something 😀

I replaced all memory chips with known good ones but still couldn't get it to wake up, if onboard IDE controller was used. Was able to boot off an ISA controller and play some Wolf3D. Things were looking good until I tried that stunt again. Now it's back to freezing for no apparent reason.

I'll try disabling both the onboard IDE and floppy controllers, see if it helps.

Any more ideas?

Hi

some time ago I had similar issue when installed additional ISA card. the issue caused IDE controller. I had to replace the card. Maybe disabling onboard IDE will work for you.

Hi,

I already tried disabling the onboard IDE controller and it didn't help.

hmm... what about power supply? any possibility to test with other one? usually this strange behavior might indicate power supply issue.

Not the power supply either, just tested with two other AT power supplies and it's freezing up all the same.

Half-Saint wrote:

Not the power supply either, just tested with two other AT power supplies and it's freezing up all the same.

After reading all I suspect either a bad Bios or a minor connection break somewhere on the board.
If you have time inspect every leg you can find on the chips if they are okay. Reseating the Bios sometimes fix such issues also.

Tricky boards those old 286 things but it rarely happens that they can't be brought back alive. 🤣
Usually it's just being patient to find the cause.

Maybe dried-out capacitors.. Electrolyte capacitors dont live for ever.. If they worn out the board will getting unstable.

Tthere aren't any elcos on the board that I can see... maybe it has something to do with parity chips? I'll try taking them out and see what happens.

I'm thinking about buying NOS memory from eBay. Would this work with my board?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-8pc-lot-256k-x-4- … =item280564e181

I had a 486 Everex that had an integrated MOBO that got worse in just weeks. I ended up scrapping it.

Probably will have to scrap it. Reseating the chips didn't help and replacing the keyboard connector didn't help either. At least I can save the RAM and coprocessor.

Half-Saint wrote:

Yeah, for testing I removed EVERYTHING except the video card and the CF card to eliminate all possible errors. I tried two different VGA cards.

Desolder and save the crystals and other useful stuff, I would even desolder and save the CPU as 16 MHz 286 CPUs are starting to become rare. You can use a heat gun to desolder the CPU if you dont care about the board, the CPU will probably survive if you do not heat it to more than 225C - 250C long enough for the solder to melt.

Shame, but at lest you will have saved some of it, not scrapped the entire thing like the person before

I salvaged what I could: CPU, FDD, SIMMs, jumpers, BIOS, riser and they all found new owners. The MOBO and case were recycled. I do not solder.

I also typically offer dead things for free but people are not willing to pay for shipping usually.