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Packard Bell PB450 Cache Issue

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First post, by bpopilek

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Hey all! I have been working on a special Packard Bell build over the past few months. My end goal is to have a PC that looks identical to my first computer setup, including all accessories etc. The twist is that I want it to be fully maxed out internally. Basically a computer that teenage me would have killed for! Unfortunately, I have run into a problem that I have not been able to figure out and I am looking for some help. To get you up to speed, at this time I have the following installed in it:

Packard Bell Legend PC w/PB450 Motherboard
CMOS Battery Replaced (Removed and relocated off of the MB)
Micro Firmware P4HS20 v4.05.10 BIOS
AMD 5x86 133mhz CPU & Fan (w/3.3v Regulator Mod)
64mb RAM
IDE to 4gb CF Card (Replacement for HDD)
IDE DVD/CDRW Drive
3 1/2" Floppy Drive
250mb Tape Drive
Sound Blaster 16 ISA Sound Card
Packard Bell ISA FM Tuner
3Com ISA Ethernet Controller
2mb Video Ram Upgrade
512k Cache Upgrade

Everything had mostly been working up until I did the 512k Cache upgrade. I was getting an annoying message over the past couple of weeks when I would first power it on stating "Invalid System Configuration Data - run configuration utility". Resetting the BIOS to defaults or removing the CMOS battery did nothing to alleviate this message. The weird thing is that it just happened one day for no apparent reason, but luckily did not seem to actually affect anything.

Over the weekend, I FINALLY received the last piece of the puzzle in the mail, which was the 512k cache upgrade. Needless to say I was excited to install it.

The items I installed were all of the following:
(4) W241024AK-20 (NOS)
(1) W24257AK-15 (Used)
(1) CY7C187-15PC (Used)

I moved both J26 jumpers to the on position and then enabled the cache in the BIOS. Unfortunately, the computer will no longer boot with the cache enabled. On the POST screen, I see all of the memory tests pass, including 513k of Cache SRAM. This is the point at which the computer just freezes and has to be power cycled before it will respond again. If I hit F2 quickly enough after power on, I can get back into the BIOS to disable the cache. This will then let the PC boot as before. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this would be happening or possibly what I should be looking for?

One other quick question I have is in reference to a PCI expansion board. I have read that there is a version of this board that shipped with one, but I have been unable to locate it. Does anyone know which one would be compatible with this motherboard or have a part number? None of the ones I have found online match the slot on the motherboard.

Thank you for your help!

Reply 1 of 7, by pentiumspeed

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Is any of these cache chips from china sellers?

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 2 of 7, by bpopilek

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2022-05-16, 20:27:

Is any of these cache chips from china sellers?

Cheers,

Actually I tried to make sure to avoid Chinese products and purchased everything from reputable eBay sellers based in the US. I do realize that this does not mean they are not knock off chips though. I would assume the 2 used chips would be genuine more than the 4 cache chips. Is this how fake chips behave? I can always return them under eBay buyer protection.

Reply 3 of 7, by pentiumspeed

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128k x 8 chips could be fakes.

This one is known tested and should be 15ns which this is does. The motherboard is running at 33MHz or faster always comes with 15ns.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/333652959545?hash=ite … tkAAOSwkJJfC-qd

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 4 of 7, by bpopilek

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This is the listing I purchased my chips through.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124780966045

I only chose these chips based on them being offered by a US seller that was close to my location. I will contact the seller to see if they have any suggestions, or at the very least to request a return/refund.

On a side note, I decided to erase and reflash the BIOS with my Wilem programmer, just to make sure there wasn't a problem with the chip's data causing the issue. While it still locks up after the 513k SRAM test, the previous "Invalid System Configuration Data" error has been resolved.

Reply 5 of 7, by pentiumspeed

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Real cache chips from that era tend to be white inked. The ones that was lasered or dimmer print is much later production (around 2000 and later) and probably fakes.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 6 of 7, by bpopilek

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pentiumspeed wrote on 2022-05-17, 22:08:

Real cache chips from that era tend to be white inked. The ones that was lasered or dimmer print is much later production (around 2000 and later) and probably fakes.

Cheers,

Thanks for the info! I have opened a return request to send these back and then I made an offer on the ones from the link you provided. The seller accepted my offer and I have paid. So now I am back to waiting for them to arrive so I can try again! I'll update after they get here.

Also, if anyone has any info on a PCI slot adapter that is compatible with this motherboard, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Reply 7 of 7, by bpopilek

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I wanted to follow up my post. I received the recommended cache chips from the eBay seller in New Zealand. It took around 3 weeks for them to arrive, but they worked straight away! Now the PC reports 512k of extra cache and boots right up. So, the more expensive stuff that I bought from the US seller was junk. Luckily I had no trouble returning it for a full refund. I finally have my childhood PC again, only this time it's maxed out to something I would have killed for back then! Thanks for the help!

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