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Reply 20 of 33, by SSTV2

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Don't lose hope yet. Remove all cache SRAM, KB controller ICs from MB and retest it with a POST card, make sure that BIOS chip makes a good contact in its socket, also, measure RESET pin on CPU socket, while the MB is powered on and has a CPU installed.

Reply 21 of 33, by GigAHerZ

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@Tiido, RDOSUMB on SY-25P2 detects it to be with SiS-486 chipset. As the only difference between the N and P variant is VRM, i assume it's the same with SY-25N.

I think i did test it without any keyboard controller while trying to read out something from debug card. Only way to get any different result from the board was when i took out the BIOS rom. But later i confirmed that the culprit was not the BIOS, as i was able to read it easily and also burned fresh roms for the board and nothing like that helped...

I'll try the keyboard controller from the 25P board to see, what happens...

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!

Reply 23 of 33, by GigAHerZ

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Resurrection... of the thread. 🙁

Unfortunately with other keyboard controller, the behaviour is still same - all leds are lit up.

I also went through all cache chips. I now have TL866II Plus, which can also test SRAMs. All chips are good.
No beeps, debug card doesn't show any numbers/codes (only garbage value right from the beginning, if shutdown and powered on immidiately)
On debug card CLK is on, IRDY is off, FRAME is on, RESET is on at the beginning for brief moment, then off.

The KB fuse is okay, showing 0 ohms with multimeter.

@Tiido, yes, it's Sis471 board. (Y)

So if you have any other ideas to check, let me know! 😀

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!

Reply 25 of 33, by GigAHerZ

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There is a tiny bit greenish thing around as i haven't done a proper cleaning to it yet. But in general it looks healthy with no broken traces.
I did replace the battery when i received it to a brand new NiMH battery.

Current jumper settings are for 486SX2-50 that i have laying around so easily accessible for testing.

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"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!

Reply 26 of 33, by quicknick

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I have two such boards, both needed some repair near the battery. Keyboard LEDs staying on provide an important clue about the location of the problem - the keyboard controller. One or more of the smaller traces could be broken. Follow each of them, make a "map" of all the connections from the KBC, trace each visually, and with the multimeter check if all of them really connect to their endpoints.
There's no guarantee this will fix the board (well, if you find broken traces near the KBC it surely might), as there could be other problems too... Some broken via, bad solder joints, dead chipset or glue logic.

Reply 27 of 33, by Gulzyee

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GigAHerZ wrote on 2020-01-04, 00:21:

There is a tiny bit greenish thing around as i haven't done a proper cleaning to it yet. But in general it looks healthy with no broken traces.
I did replace the battery when i received it to a brand new NiMH battery.

Current jumper settings are for 486SX2-50 that i have laying around so easily accessible for testing.

Hi there. Resurrecting this topic because I had a similar issue. Did you end up fixing your board? I recently purchased a non-working Soyo 025P2 from ebay and was able to fix it easily. The problem was a couple of missing factory-set jumpers. I can see from your provided picture that JP17 and JP27 are set different to mine. Please try setting these jumpers as per my picture below and see if that makes a difference.

Also you mentioned that you have BIOS version J1 (1995) for this board. I am currently on BIOS G2 (1994) and would like to try version J1. Where can I get this please? Thanks.

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Reply 28 of 33, by GigAHerZ

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Hi Gulzyee!

The bios i got from my board is uploaded here: Re: Resurrecting an Socket 3 motherboard (Soyo SY-25N)
Other bios'es are also uploaded into this forum thread here.

I'll check the jumpers when i have a chance and will report back. Thanks!

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!

Reply 30 of 33, by GigAHerZ

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Though, some time has passed, the board has not resurrected.
I've checked all the jumpers, tried different settings and i have 025P2 board side-by-side with it, yet this dead board stays dead - keyboard lights stay on, debug card shows nothing, etc. 🙁

Possibly only worth to salvage parts... 🙁

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - And i intend to get every last bit out of it even after loading every damn driver!

Reply 31 of 33, by moz2186

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GigAHerZ wrote on 2020-12-28, 17:52:

Though, some time has passed, the board has not resurrected.
I've checked all the jumpers, tried different settings and i have 025P2 board side-by-side with it, yet this dead board stays dead - keyboard lights stay on, debug card shows nothing, etc. 🙁

Possibly only worth to salvage parts... 🙁

I recently started trying to resurrect my own. I started by clipping off the battery, then I had no codes on POST card. Reseated BIOS chip, then started getting codes. Stopped at a memory code. I had some 30 pin SIMMS so slapped them in there and got a POST screen. Tried again with 72 pin and nothing. I figured out that the "SIMM jumper configuration" had to be all set to "configuration 2" (2-3 JP35 /JP36/JP37). I believe configuration 2 is for 72 pin SIMM and configuration 1 is 30 pin SIMM.

I'll be honest though and mention that I don't remember if the keyboard light just stayt constant when I first started all this.

Reply 32 of 33, by dataino.it

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When I'm not selling any out of situations like yours and we're talking about 150 boards fixed to date, I usually start over.

remove cache chip !

- with the tester

1 checks the continuity between pin 1 and pin 39 of the kbd controller and the keyboard connector,
2 check the data bus between the kbd chip and the eprom should be in parallel

- with the oscilloscope by turning the board on and off at each check

1 - check the presence of the clock and the frequency on all the quartz
2 - check the various signals on the isa connector

- with your finger
press the two chips of the chipset alternately and turn on the board.
so check the lack of welds which happens quite broken.

Reply 33 of 33, by dataino.it

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your bios on x86Box

dataino.it

Today at 11:09 PM
!bios
Attachment file type: unknown
original_025n2.BIN
64.00 KB
86BotBOT

Today at 11:09 PM

Vendor: Award
Version: v4.50G
String: 09/26/94-SIS-85C471B/E/G-2C4I9S23-00
Sign-on: REV .G2.

86BotBOT

Today at 11:09 PM

Type: Award
Date: September 26 1994 (09/26/94)
Identifier: SIS-85C471B/E/G
Core version: v4.5x (2)
Bus: VLB + ISA (C)
CPU: 486 (4)
Chipset: SiS 85C471B/E/G (4I9)
Manufacturer: Soyo (S2)
Project: 3-00