Humm, did something wrong with the recap. Now it will not post. Will have to retrace my steps.

luckybob wrote:

neat project. Cant say I agree with the choice of mobo... I'm one of those weird people who like server and workstation boards. keep going though!

I would jump on a workstation/server board. But I can never find the right one.

As for the board. I can't make heads or tails on it. I triple checked everything, but still can't get it to post. Even a post card is no help.
I did buy a second one for a spare. I'll keep the dead one for parts.

Check the caos to see if they are installed the right way.

Did that already.
I just don't get it. Not one damage trace, pad or anything. And it posed before. I even checked every trace and ground. They're all good. I pulled every cap too and tested them. Double checked the dips and jumpers too.
The post card I have usually stops at 00 d9 or a5

Spare board should arrive today. So should the rest of the wiring parts I need. I'll make some cables and get the system running on one cpu tonight.

I found some caps that will fit under the cpu heatsink and will recap the spare board. But I'll take my time and do it right. I rushed the first job and probably got the board to hot and kill something between the PCB layers.

Hopefully I'll get it up and running tonight. I'll try to get everything done up to installing windows.

I'm just not having any luck.
I got the second broad yesterday and tested it. Recapped it and tested it. Everything was fine. Then I start the system up today and I'm having the exact same problem the last board gave me. 😠
I just don't get it. Everything was fine then the board just died. I powers on the second I plugged it in, yet there is not on short on the board. Keep gettin code 66 on my post card

66 is the last GOOD operation. 67 would be next and at least for 440BX boards that is INIT multi-cpu APIC. Are you sure BOTH of your cpu's are good?

Yes. They're the same ones I used before I re capped the board.

I'd try single cpu and see if that works out. Do you have a terminator?

I tried both single and dual CPU. I don't have a terminator. Did not know they make them for sk370.

Just finished up a reflow and the board is working!

Oh man I was going to recap my board, but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm glad you managed re-flow it back to life, this project is too awesome to leave standing.
I'm curious, how did you remove the caps, with a desolder braid, or a vacuum desoldering station or something?

phosgene wrote:

Oh man I was going to recap my board, but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm glad you managed re-flow it back to life, this project is too awesome to leave standing.
I'm curious, how did you remove the caps, with a desolder braid, or a vacuum desoldering station or something?

I removed them with just a iron. I heated up the solder then pulled the caps.I found that a few caps did not have enough solder on them or coming in contact with the board. Hence the reflow of the caps fixed the problem. Now to get the 5 scsi drives to work with only 3 deceive ID's jumper settings 😵

EDIT:
My problem was that I use a butane iron that gets way too hot even on the lowest setting for this kind of work. I tend to work with much bigger stuff like old CRT's and amps so I don't own a smaller iron or station, maybe now is the time to buy one. 😐

UpDate.
The board is installed, all add in cards are installed, dust filers installed and most of the wiring is done.
Right now I working with getting all the hdds working together.
If I get the last of the wiring stuff done today I'll probably have windows installed by tonight.

luckybob wrote:

neat project. Cant say I agree with the choice of mobo... I'm one of those weird people who like server and workstation boards. keep going though!

I'm with luckybob on this. If it is really no dollar unspent, try this on for size.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/100-test-supermicro-P3 … cEAAMXQfvlSnJkr

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/TYAN-S2567-MOTHERBOARD … 00AAOSwjDZYZvs3
(I beleive this requires tualatin modded CPUs or a tualatin interposer)

I have the first board listed, but the damn thing stopped working. I haven't patience to troubleshoot it in detail, although it has been recapped. If I recall correctly, it has dual channel memory, AGP 4X/Pro, PCI-X, and multiple PCI buses.

I currently have setup dual Tualatin's in: SuperMicro P3TDDE (VIA APollo Pro 266T)
one on ebay right now for only $160!
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-SuperMicro-P3TDDE- … utorefresh=true

MSI MS-9105 (VIA Apollo Pro 266T)
one on eBay now for http://www.ebay.ca/itm/MSI-PRO266TD-MS-9105-w … iUAAOSwYIxX~zuX
There is one on eBay for only $500 USD. This board is a lot more stable that the P3TDDE and works with more graphic cards. Overclocks to 1.5 GHz at stock voltage. The MSI is novel in that it uses DDR memory instead of PC133, although there it offers no speed benefit in this platform.

Intel SAI2 (ServerWorks ServerSet III LE)
This is the cost reduced version of the ServerWorks ServerSet III HE-SL chipset and does not support dual channel PC133 memory. It also lacks the AGP bus, but does have two PCI-X slots, which, unfortunately, a Matrox PCI-X Parhelia graphics card does not work properly in. A Quadro FX600 PCI works fine though.
These boards go for about $90 these days, http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Intel-Server-Board-SAI … kMAAOSw~bFWJ9-3

Personally, I would go for the boards in the first 2 links and also grab the MS-9105. The MS-9105 used to be my daily driver and recall its stubborn stability, which is amazing for a board with a VIA chipset!

Out off those boards only the TYAN S2567 would work for me. The idea for this system is to make an all in one retro/days driver system and that requires isa.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but arnt TYAN boards buggy with newer agp cards?

Its the serverworks chipset, not the board maker iirc.

luckybob wrote:

Its the serverworks chipset, not the board maker iirc.

Something like that.

That TYAN S2567 board only has AGP 2x from the looks. So no go here. That and I have two working gig boards with pin modded 1.4ghz for it so it anything happens I can jut straight up swap them. No point in buying a different board at this point in time as nice as that one looks.

Personally. I'm waiting on getting 3x PCI voodoo 5's. I want to see if I can build a triple headed, hex gpu, dual cpu beast.

Then play quake 3, maybe some stvoy:ef, then never use it again. 😜

Wasn't the performance benefit of AGP 4x marginal compared to 2x? Or is your intention to run AGP 8x cards, in which case you need at least an AGP 4x connector?

Why do you want the ISA connector? Can a Tualatin 1.4 GHz be slowed down to early 386 levels?