Have you tried new batteries for the motherboard(s)?

yep brand new cr2032 cmos battery. I finally dug up a speaker and the mvp4bs7 is giving a single beep and then a pause and then a single beep, it keep repeating this. the tekram board, cpu fan comes on but i get nothing else.

ok tried to change the processor for a 233 mmx, changed the jumpers according to the manual and I get the same thing, a continuous beep about a second apart. also tried three different sdram sticks, I know these work as I put them in another motherboard and it sees them fine.

The manual says the P5T30-B4E has an AWARD BIOS; is this the case? If so, the continuous beeps probably mean RAM problems. Do you have other EDO/SDRAM DIMMs to test? Or any EDO SIMMs?

If the beeps are alternating in high/low frequencies, then it means CPU problems.

I have tried all the memory I have. the mvp4bs7-947 is the one that is beeping. i will have to get some more memory to try for this, any suggestions, i am only looking for about 64mb as i want to run dos on this.

It would help to know exactly which 128MB DIMMs you are using, more specifically which chips are on them. It's also relevant to know which board they did work on - possibly a quite different memory controller.

That said, the MVP4 chipset on the second board is typical Via - not the fastest but will eat any kind of RAM even remotely close to JEDEC specs.

Speaking of MVP4 - that's a chipset with integrated graphics. Have you only looked with your PCI VGA card, or also checked the integrated VGA on the board? Maybe it's set to init AGP (=integrated) first so outputs there and not to PCI.

scottie4442 wrote on 2022-02-17, 23:30:

I have tried all the memory I have. the mvp4bs7-947 is the one that is beeping. i will have to get some more memory to try for this, any suggestions, i am only looking for about 64mb as i want to run dos on this.

It looks like the mvp4bs7-947 has an AWARD BIOS, also, so the same probably applies.

I bought this RAM for my 430VX board (this particular board couldn't do better than EDO in DIMM or SIMM configuration): https://www.ebay.com/itm/144209462061, but you'll probably not like the lesser performance when your boards are more capable than mine.

I don't have a lot of pre-pentium II experiences, so I am not sure what other RAM I can recommend as I don't know if either of your boards are known to be "finicky." In general, I stick to Infineon, Hynix, Nanya, Samsung, and Crucial/Micron, but I've never had any problems with no-name brands of RAM. I just like to make sure I get CL2 in any event.

scottie4442 wrote on 2022-02-17, 23:30:

i am only looking for about 64mb as i want to run dos on this.

🤕 did you mean 16MB by any chance? 😀

> I get the lights on the keyboard

afaik blinking keyboard means keyboard controller initialized = cpu is running

I checked the sdram and it is all 100mhz so ordered some 66mhz, will see if that works.

scottie4442 wrote on 2022-02-18, 06:35:

I checked the sdram and it is all 100mhz so ordered some 66mhz, will see if that works.

Why?

Rated speed is like a speed limit on a road: it indicates a safe maximum you can run it at, nothing more. All PC100 RAM can run fine at 66MHz. If you have RAM compatibility issues, a different speed on it's own won't help, and in the case of the MVP4 board with support for asynch speeds and an integrated VGA core will actively hinder.

I asked a load of questions on this topic that you didn't answer. Figuring out what is going on would be a better idea than randomly buying stuff without knowing what the problem is...

rasz_pl wrote on 2022-02-18, 03:40:

> I get the lights on the keyboard

afaik blinking keyboard means keyboard controller initialized = cpu is running

Just on this, the keyboard will flash it's own lights when power is first applied (possibly when it's plugged in if the keyboard port is powered from 5VSB when using an ATX supply) and it does an internal self test. They should then flash again as part of POST when the KBC sets and unsets them. So just a single flash might mean it never gets as far as setting up the KBC.

Links to what I think are the two boards on UltimateRetro:
Tekram P5T30-B4E: https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/4885#downloads
PCPartner MVP4BS7-947: https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/6680#downloads

Unfortunately it looks like the MVP4 only has an undocumented VGA header CN20, so might take a bit of working out to connect that to a monitor. Pin 1 is marked, and if they follow the pin numbering for other headers in the manual then pin 16 is missing. So it might just be a direct pin to pin mapping between the header and the 15 pin VGA connector. There's also an undocumented jumper J10, that in both the photos is open.

Scottie4442, I'd second Dionb's questions about exactly which RAM you've tried and which boards it worked in. If you have photos of the problem boards and the RAM that might also help. It might matter which slot the RAM is in, so if you haven't already, try swapping slots.

just for information, I have been working with computers for about 40 years, late 70's. I checked the memory and it is either 100mhz or 133 mhz, I have ordered some 66mhz to try. the tekram p5t30-b4e does have simm slots but it still does not seem to work with ram in these slots either

Well, as Dionb said, the speed rating is a maximum, not a fixed requirement. So if the replacement works it's not because it's 66MHz, but something else (chip density, banking, ...). If we know more about what RAM you're trying to use, and which boards you've tested the RAM in, then we might be able to say if it should already work or not. If you have photos of the RAM and the two motherboards you're trying to make work that might help.

When I mentioned about the slots, I was more thinking of which SDRAM slot you had tried. Different boards can want the slots (in both of these, 2 SDRAM slots) filled up nearest first or furthest first, so make sure you've tried the single SDRAM stick in both slots. That said, if you've tried some 72pin SIMMs instead (in pairs, with no SDRAM fitted) and it still doesn't work then I'd start thinking the problem is somewhere else.