VOGONS


First post, by Amigaz

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After finally getting the cache to work in my ECS UM8810 PAIO motherboard I noticed the turbo function doesn't react when those pins are shorted so I tried the famous CTRL + ALT + NUM PAD MINUS and ran Norton SI just too see if I got a reaction...the CPU performance bar just flickered without decreasing so I thoight...what the hell I held this button combination depressed and got a rwaction..the CPU bar fell down to really low values.
But when I let go of the buttons it all goes back to max....???
What am I doing wrong?

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 1 of 11, by Malik

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Looks like there is something wrong with the shorting of the jumpers/pins. It's registering to the bios as always at Full Speed.

Before you got the cache to work, was the Turbo button working?

Some things to try :

1) Try resetting the BIOS,

2) Remove and Re-insert the Turbo connector pins,

3) Check the wires to this pins. Try turn around the plastic header - wrong polarity? I know that reset pins doesn't require proper polarity but not sure of the Turbo header.

5476332566_7480a12517_t.jpgSB Dos Drivers

Reply 2 of 11, by Amigaz

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Malik wrote:
Looks like there is something wrong with the shorting of the jumpers/pins. It's registering to the bios as always at Full Speed. […]
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Looks like there is something wrong with the shorting of the jumpers/pins. It's registering to the bios as always at Full Speed.

Before you got the cache to work, was the Turbo button working?

Some things to try :

1) Try resetting the BIOS,

2) Remove and Re-insert the Turbo connector pins,

3) Check the wires to this pins. Try turn around the plastic header - wrong polarity? I know that reset pins doesn't require proper polarity but not sure of the Turbo header.

Turbo button didn't work before I got the cache working or with the old BIOS
Have turned the connector around, tried with just put a jumper on the two pins to short it..nothing happens

Have reset the BIOS, doesn't help...must be some key kombination I need to know?

My EISA 486 motherboard behaves the same but CTRL + ALT + MINUS and then the non turbo + turbo modes stay

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 3 of 11, by Malik

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Hmmm....this is quite difficult. Try using another motherboard with turbo pins with your casing...see if it works.
Or else, there might be some problems in the AT clocks configuration. Try disabling shadow ram.

And hopefully someone who knows about this problem well, will join in and enlighten us. 😁

5476332566_7480a12517_t.jpgSB Dos Drivers

Reply 4 of 11, by Amigaz

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Malik wrote:

Hmmm....this is quite difficult. Try using another motherboard with turbo pins with your casing...see if it works.
Or else, there might be some problems in the AT clocks configuration. Try disabling shadow ram.

And hopefully someone who knows about this problem well, will join in and enlighten us. 😁

I actually tried a jumper on the the pins...made no difference either

Gonna try that shadow ram thing and see what happens...

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 5 of 11, by retro games 100

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Amigaz, did you solve the "turbo speed problem" with your ECS UM8810 PAIO mobo? I'm testing this board ATM, with an Intel 486 SX 33, and I am wondering why it's booting up so slowly. I'm not running this board inside a case, and so I tried putting a jumper cap over the "turbo sw." jumper pins - Doesn't appear to make any difference to the overall speed.

I've never tried the famous CTRL + ALT + NUM PAD MINUS, and Norton SI. Does Norton SI tell you what speed the mobo is running at? I guess this particular version of Norton SI is ancient, and requires hunting about on ebay for it!

Did you try Malik's suggestion of disabling shadow ram?

Thanks for any info. 😀

Reply 6 of 11, by Amigaz

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retro games 100 wrote:
Amigaz, did you solve the "turbo speed problem" with your ECS UM8810 PAIO mobo? I'm testing this board ATM, with an Intel 486 S […]
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Amigaz, did you solve the "turbo speed problem" with your ECS UM8810 PAIO mobo? I'm testing this board ATM, with an Intel 486 SX 33, and I am wondering why it's booting up so slowly. I'm not running this board inside a case, and so I tried putting a jumper cap over the "turbo sw." jumper pins - Doesn't appear to make any difference to the overall speed.

I've never tried the famous CTRL + ALT + NUM PAD MINUS, and Norton SI. Does Norton SI tell you what speed the mobo is running at? I guess this particular version of Norton SI is ancient, and requires hunting about on ebay for it!

Did you try Malik's suggestion of disabling shadow ram?

Thanks for any info. 😀

Never got it working with the Am5x86 CPU on this mobo 😜
Have the same problem with my Asus PV/I 486SP3 and Cyrix Cx5x86 120mhz CPU.
Seems like these stereoid 486 cpu's don't like being slowed down

A 486SX 33 isn't the fastest CPU around 😉...it's like having a 386DX 25mhz almost 😜 double checked the jumper settings? correct BIOS settings?

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 7 of 11, by 5u3

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Amigaz wrote:

Have the same problem with my Asus PV/I 486SP3 and Cyrix Cx5x86 120mhz CPU.

Do you have BIOS rev.0307? Because on my PVI-486SP3 this revision breaks the turbo button slowdown function and causes the board to hang when doing a warm reboot from protected mode.
I reckon rev.0307 is only a quick and nasty Y2K fix that hasn't been tested properly (hence the "beta" status).

I've got no clue about the non-working slowdown functions on the other boards, but if you can rule out a flaky turbo switch, have a thorough look at all the CPU configuration jumpers and BIOS settings.

Reply 8 of 11, by Amigaz

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5u3 wrote:
Do you have BIOS rev.0307? Because on my PVI-486SP3 this revision breaks the turbo button slowdown function and causes the board […]
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Amigaz wrote:

Have the same problem with my Asus PV/I 486SP3 and Cyrix Cx5x86 120mhz CPU.

Do you have BIOS rev.0307? Because on my PVI-486SP3 this revision breaks the turbo button slowdown function and causes the board to hang when doing a warm reboot from protected mode.
I reckon rev.0307 is only a quick and nasty Y2K fix that hasn't been tested properly (hence the "beta" status).

I've got no clue about the non-working slowdown functions on the other boards, but if you can rule out a flaky turbo switch, have a thorough look at all the CPU configuration jumpers and BIOS settings.

Nope, not even the latest official BIOS 😀
I've had too many screwed up BIOS flashes lately which have been saved by the guy at biosflash.de so right now I'm working after the rule "if it works don't touch it" 😀
Jumper settings are 100% correct but it might be the BIOS settings that have to be altered in some way 😕

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

Reply 9 of 11, by retro games 100

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"if it works don't touch it" == "'If it isn't broken, don't fix it" 😉 😀

The mobo seems to have picked up a bit of speed. I ran the Doom demo, and it seemed quite fast. (However, I did swap out the sx/33 cpu for a dx2/66.) It's still painfully slow to boot up however. I expect there's a BIOS setting that needs messing about with. I'm going to try a PCI HDD controller on the board, as I cannot boot up with the onboard IDE. Maybe that'll solve the slow booting up process.

Edit: I've since removed the temporary "jumper cap" on the "turbo sw." pins. Perhaps the BIOS now "remembers" to stay in turbo mode. BTW, there's a slightly strange looking chip on the board which says Dallas real time. Is that a battery? It looks a bit fearsome in terms of swapping it out for a fresh one, if required.

Reply 10 of 11, by retro games 100

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I'm beginning to like this board [ECS UM8810 PAIO]. I bought a pile of RAM from ebay, going really cheap, not knowing a thing about what capacity the sticks were, or whether they would work in this board or not. I tried some of the sticks, which are 16mb each, some with EDO written on them, and they all work! I can only get 2 x 16mb = 32mb to work. 4 x 16mb = 64mb seems to cause problems. But I only want this board for DOS 6.22, and so I reckon 32mb will be just fine.

Reply 11 of 11, by 5u3

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retro games 100 wrote:

Edit: I've since removed the temporary "jumper cap" on the "turbo sw." pins. Perhaps the BIOS now "remembers" to stay in turbo mode.

Hmmm, on most boards I encountered the pair of turbo switch pins has to be connected with a jumper (or a switch in "on"-position) for the system to work in fast mode. However, it could be just the other way round on your board. 😦

retro games 100 wrote:

BTW, there's a slightly strange looking chip on the board which says Dallas real time. Is that a battery? It looks a bit fearsome in terms of swapping it out for a fresh one, if required.

Correct. Depending on the model it could be the real time clock + CMOS RAM + battery. These are a real pain in the ass when the included battery goes flat.