Sphere478 wrote on 2022-01-01, 02:54:

y2k_survivor wrote on 2022-01-01, 02:26:

Do these products tend to work with more recent motherboards, or are they just completely defective no matter what you install them in?

not sure, but there are compalints about via based pci cards allll over the internet. How they passed qc is beyond me.

Had problems with mine since taking it out of the box.

My experience is similar. The older add-on VIA based USB cards are very quirky unlike some older NEC and Opti based ones (am sure there are some that are also quirky).
The only VIA USB add-ons that work OK for me are ones that in Device Manager (XP) show up as VIA Rev 5 or later USB Host controller but those only seem OK on some Nvidia or some Intel based motherboards (currently in a soc775 NV based and works perfect),
that is just my experience and had issues them in other machines...
My thought is that the add-on USB must be somehow compliant/complimentary with the chipset and BIOS of the board it is installed in or else issues arise 😀
This sticky: Which USB 2.0 cards for old motherboards lists lots of members issues with USB 2 and motherboards....
forget USB 3 on an older board, they can't cope 🤣 ...just rambling 😁

Horun wrote on 2022-01-01, 03:45:

My experience is similar. The older add-on VIA based USB cards are very quirky unlike some older NEC and Opti based ones (am sur […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-01-01, 02:54:

y2k_survivor wrote on 2022-01-01, 02:26:

Do these products tend to work with more recent motherboards, or are they just completely defective no matter what you install them in?

not sure, but there are compalints about via based pci cards allll over the internet. How they passed qc is beyond me.

Had problems with mine since taking it out of the box.

My experience is similar. The older add-on VIA based USB cards are very quirky unlike some older NEC and Opti based ones (am sure there are some that are also quirky).
The only VIA USB add-ons that work OK for me are ones that in Device Manager (XP) show up as VIA Rev 5 or later USB Host controller but those only seem OK on some Nvidia or some Intel based motherboards (currently in a soc775 NV based and works perfect),
that is just my experience and had issues them in other machines...
My thought is that the add-on USB must be somehow compliant/complimentary with the chipset and BIOS of the board it is installed in or else issues arise 😀
This sticky: Which USB 2.0 cards for old motherboards lists lots of members issues with USB 2 and motherboards....
forget USB 3 on an older board, they can't cope 🤣 ...just rambling 😁

Actually, I’m running a startech usb3.0 on my dual pentium 1 and it’s great!

In the post you linked I talk about using a usb hub on the onboard usb. It works so well and is great, I can’t say enough good things about it

Adding More USB Ports to Retro Motherboards

I made a writeup here

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-01-01, 03:53:

Actually, I’m running a startech usb3.0 on my dual pentium 1 and it’s great! […]
Show full quote

Horun wrote on 2022-01-01, 03:45:

forget USB 3 on an older board, they can't cope 🤣 ...just rambling 😁

Actually, I’m running a startech usb3.0 on my dual pentium 1 and it’s great!

In the post you linked I talk about using a usb hub on the onboard usb. It works so well and is great, I can’t say enough good things about it

Adding More USB Ports to Retro Motherboards

I made a writeup here

Thanks ! Somehow I missed that post.

I mentioned that I have a Pentium III that fails to POST. Well, the PCI diagnostic card I ordered finally arrived, and when I installed it I found that the Pentium III does not even emit a POST error code at all; there are just dashes where the codes would appear. So this processor, an SL4BS, is almost certainly trash.

As for the motherboard, the only thing I can think of at this point would be to recap it, on the theory that there are capacitors on the board that have failed in a way that is not visible. This does not sound like an especially promising idea.

I obtained a replacement motherboard, a RioWorks PDVIA. This motherboard is nearly identical to the Tyan motherboard: dual slot 1, same chipset, and so forth. The main difference is that the RioWorks board doesn't have an ISA slot, although I think you could add one with the appropriate soldering equipment.

Anyway, with the same components as before installed into the RioWorks motherboard, the computer runs like a top. All the cards are installed and not a single crash. And for some reason, my frame rate in Deus Ex has mysteriously doubled or tripled. I'm bummed that the Tyan motherboard was defective, but it clearly was.

Edit: By the way, that Pentium III still doesn't POST.