My 486 motherboard hangs on posts.
This is the point where the bios displays the cache.
So i think it maybe a cache problem.
What do you think ?
Motherboard is a gigabyte ga-486vs
Could be.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-01-11, 16:20:My 486 motherboard hangs on posts. This is the point where the bios displays the cache. So i think it maybe a cache problem. […]
My 486 motherboard hangs on posts.
This is the point where the bios displays the cache.
So i think it maybe a cache problem.What do you think ?
Motherboard is a gigabyte ga-486vs
Is the behaviour the same, when you remove all cards (except VGA), floppy and ide cable?
EDIT: I see Floppy and harddisk are connected via an external card, so removing all cards is enough of course.
CoffeeOne wrote on 2020-01-11, 17:33:Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-01-11, 16:20:My 486 motherboard hangs on posts. This is the point where the bios displays the cache. So i think it maybe a cache problem. […]
My 486 motherboard hangs on posts.
This is the point where the bios displays the cache.
So i think it maybe a cache problem.What do you think ?
Motherboard is a gigabyte ga-486vs
Is the behaviour the same, when you remove all cards (except VGA), floppy and ide cable?
EDIT: I see Floppy and harddisk are connected via an external card, so removing all cards is enough of course.
Yes, I removed all cards but Video and same symptoms.
It hangs right after the image above and the keyboard stops working too.
Bad CMOS battery?
CMOS does not behave that way. Very unstable L2 cache or memory usually will hang at this stage. With command prompt in the wrong place, like on the photo above.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
What happens when you turn off L2 in BIOS?
Disruptor wrote on 2020-01-11, 22:24:What happens when you turn off L2 in BIOS?
I guess, it does not get so far. I would try removing all the cache sram chips (assuming that power supply, cpu and ram are all good, of course).
Disruptor wrote on 2020-01-11, 22:24:What happens when you turn off L2 in BIOS?
Yes, removed all cards but video.
I disabled external cache in bios and now it boots from floppy drive okay but slow.
Now what?
What is wrong if disabling L1 cache fixes the boot problem?
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-01-12, 15:36:What is wrong if disabling L1 cache fixes the boot problem?
I guess you mean L2. There is no need to disable L1 too.
Try to check cache ram and tag ram type in mainboard manual.
This weekend a friend of mine and me were working on a BIOSTAR MD-8433UUD-A VER:3.1 having a similar problem. He investigated all data and address lines on the cache and tag SRAM modules by using the beeper of a multimeter. One address line to the tag socket was broken.
My 486 UMC8886/8881 Project (Version 2.0) (picture of the fixed backside will be added soon)
Yeah, I assumed it was the cache. So I am going to start by replacing the cache with a new set.
If it won't help, then it's time for water torture.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-12, 18:33:If it won't help, then it's time for water torture.
What is that ?
So I replaced the cache chips and now it boots but at posts the screen reads that NO cache is installed.
I used 9 new chips from “alliance” -15ns , 8 chips for the cache and 1 for the tag.
All the same type of chips.
Is that okay?
Or do I need a special tag chip ?
Also, I booted of a DOS boot disk and tried to fdisk the harddrive but fdisk program hangs when I try to create a partition.
Does this program require external cache to be installed ?
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-01-12, 22:05:So I replaced the cache chips and now it boots but at posts the screen reads that NO cache is installed. I used 9 new chips from […]
So I replaced the cache chips and now it boots but at posts the screen reads that NO cache is installed.
I used 9 new chips from “alliance” -15ns , 8 chips for the cache and 1 for the tag.
All the same type of chips.
Is that okay?
Or do I need a special tag chip ?Also, I booted of a DOS boot disk and tried to fdisk the harddrive but fdisk program hangs when I try to create a partition.
Does this program require external cache to be installed ?
Enable L2 cache in bios again 😁
I did.
I am going to try adding an external battery.
I checked the CMOS battery with a Multimeter and it tested okay at 3.5 volts.
Which should be enough. But it’s old and there maybe a problem.
I can't imagine, that an empty cmos battery causes l2 cache not being recognized.
But it's weird, before 256kb were shown, and now not. Could be indeed the tag ram. What was the tag ram, that you did take out?
Unability of performing fdisk seems totally unrelated to L2 cache though.
Are there traces coming from the cache ram area.?
There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉
CoffeeOne wrote on 2020-01-12, 23:07:I can't imagine, that an empty cmos battery causes l2 cache not being recognized.
But it's weird, before 256kb were shown, and now not. Could be indeed the tag ram. What was the tag ram, that you did take out?
Unability of performing fdisk seems totally unrelated to L2 cache though.
Yes, This motherboard is acting weird. I added an external battery just to make sure it is NOT a battery problem.
Sometimes a low battery makes the bios act strange.
So, I want to start fresh with a NEW bios now.
Every time I boot this motherboard it acts strange.
I was able to fdisk the drive but now when I try to format it I get “allocation errors”
I read that this could be because of a bad cable or bios.
I replaced the cable so it must be the bios.
When I disable external cache the motherboard works better but still acting weird.
Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-01-12, 19:50:The Serpent Rider wrote on 2020-01-12, 18:33:If it won't help, then it's time for water torture.
What is that ?
What he posted is what those of us that haven't been in the trade call a joke.
There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉
