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First post, by tegrady

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Hi. I found this Intel E186194 Slot 2 Xeon Motherboard for sale recently.

I don't know much about Slot 2 and had some questions.

It appears that the Slot 2 motherboards had a mounting bracket that held the CPU's to the motherboard. The seller of this particular board says that he does not have the mounting bracket and does not remember the board ever having one. He also says that the CPUs mount very securely to the motherboard without a bracket.

Does anyone know if ALL Slot 2 motherboards used a mounting bracket, or is it possible that this motherboard did not need a mounting bracket?

If it needs a mounting bracket, does anyone know where I can find one? I searched eBay and could not find anything.

Also, does anyone know where I can find the manual for this motherboard? I did a Google search and could not find one.

Thanks.

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Reply 1 of 38, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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Looks like a version of the Intel MS440GX, and yes it normally uses some form of dual retention mechanism (you can see the holes & keep-out zone silkscreened on the board around the slots)

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Reply 3 of 38, by luckybob

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YAY!!! Another dual cpu thread! Welcome to the party!

Slot-2 is just the big daddy of Slot-1. In most cases, what you know of Slot 1, also applies to Slot 2, in more or less the same way. The major caveat is comparability. While there are 100's of different manufacturers of slot 1 boards and products, there are only a half-dozen (ish) of companies that ever made slot 2 stuff. There are many many minor pitfalls you can snag on when you venture into the workstation/server world. Worry not, i'll be happy to help however I can.

That is 100% the MS440GX, it is the most common white-box style dual slot-2 board. When I say white-box, It's a server term, and its basic meaning is a server that you build yourself from standard parts. So to answer your other questions in order...

All Slot-2 (and slot-1) boards do require a mounting bracket. DOUBLE so for slot-2. Just look how big those heatsinks are! A lot of the OEM manufacturers designed the chassis to hold the processors upright, so there is not exactly a glut of spare parts like Slot-1. White box solutions are just as bad. As far as I can tell, every manufacturer used their own special brackets, even if they're 99.9% identical. You have three practical options as far as I can see.
#1: Wait on ebay for someone to sell a set of mounting hardware, or more likely a whole 2nd board that includes it. As common as that model of board is, it might not take long.
#2: 3D print a replacement. It should be relatively simple affair. Intel used to be really good about giving out very technical information. I'm willing to bet the drawings exist somewhere.
#3: buy the spare set I have. be warned, I don't know where it is at the moment, and it might not be the correct one, but my brain tells me I own a set of brackets. Somewhere
As a stop-gap measure, I'd check and see if a standard slot-1 holder will fit. It will at least let you play with the board a bit for testing.

Since I'm curious, what processors do you have? Is that image the exact one you have? What are your plans for it? I hope they include Windows 2000 or XP.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 4 of 38, by tegrady

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I don't have the board yet. It is for sale and I was wondering if it was worth buying without the mounting bracket. It comes with dual Xeon 450's. I was planning on installing Windows NT or Windows 2000. And yes, if you have the mounting brackets, please let me know. Thanks.

Reply 5 of 38, by red-ray

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tegrady wrote on 2020-04-08, 10:56:

planning on installing Windows NT or Windows 2000

I have an Intel MS440GX system with 1.50GB of SDRAM + 2 x Intel Pentium III Xeon (Tanner) @ 550MHz with 1MB L2 cache and which happily runs Windows XP SP3 which would be a better choice.

I recall trying 2 x Xeon (Cascades) @ 7000MHz with BIOS 4M4SG0X0.86E.0050.P20 07/02/1999, but these did not work. Does anyone know if it's possible to get these working and/or if there is a later BIOS please?

Reply 8 of 38, by luckybob

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Send me a gs440gx and I'll test it with 900's.

Just in case.

My XG-DLS uses the exact same chipset and features, and has zero issues with 900's. It's 100% a bios thing.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 9 of 38, by Katmai500

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Another good way to get into a dual Slot 2 setup is to look for an OEM system like a Gateway GX 450 XL. It has a Gateway version of the MS440GX. It only supports up to PIII Xeon 550/2M, but if you can find one it’ll have the retention bracket you need for both CPUs. You’ll also need a VRM 8.4 module to support the second CPU.

Reply 10 of 38, by tegrady

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So I went ahead and bought the board without the mounting bracket. The seller gave me a good deal, in my opinion, because it was missing the mounting bracket. So if anyone finds or has a Slot 2 mounting bracket for sale, please let me know. Thanks!

Reply 11 of 38, by ODwilly

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Hey if you have a horizontal sitting case to put it in you should be safe even without the mounting brackets! 😀

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 12 of 38, by luckybob

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ODwilly wrote on 2020-04-11, 07:02:

Hey if you have a horizontal sitting case to put it in you should be safe even without the mounting brackets! 😀

NO.

110% ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NO.

I will look through my boxes of parts this weekend and if I find the brackets, I'll shoot you a PM.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 13 of 38, by ODwilly

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luckybob wrote on 2020-04-11, 08:21:
NO. […]
Show full quote
ODwilly wrote on 2020-04-11, 07:02:

Hey if you have a horizontal sitting case to put it in you should be safe even without the mounting brackets! 😀

NO.

110% ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NO.

I will look through my boxes of parts this weekend and if I find the brackets, I'll shoot you a PM.

Hahaha Thanks Luckybob. Honestly Iv done much worse with newer HW, but ya, I agree 100%. If you HAVE to test things sketchily a Horizontally biassed case/test setup is preferable over a traditional Vertical config. With the current gen market of used and Chinese Reproduction stuff whats the point for parts out of production for so long? Be smart, make sure it works, then stop using it entirely until you have everything setup as it should be 😁

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 14 of 38, by andrea

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Only because I have too much free time on my hands, I'm going to ask this:
If the brackets cannot be found, would a self built contraption like this kind of work? Perhaps with an additional stiffening plate on the back side of the board.

UR1eDKP.jpg
Excuse the crude drawing.

Andrea

Reply 15 of 38, by tegrady

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andrea wrote on 2020-04-11, 16:36:
Only because I have too much free time on my hands, I'm going to ask this: If the brackets cannot be found, would a self built c […]
Show full quote

Only because I have too much free time on my hands, I'm going to ask this:
If the brackets cannot be found, would a self built contraption like this kind of work? Perhaps with an additional stiffening plate on the back side of the board.

UR1eDKP.jpg
Excuse the crude drawing.

Andrea

Seems like it could work if I had access to those parts.

Reply 16 of 38, by luckybob

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Someone has some drafting training!

The major issue with the Slot 2 retention is mostly keeping the CPUs upright. They are relatively very heavy, so as long as they are kept perpendicular to the motherboard, the connector wont get stressed.

I found the boxes last night with all my xeon stuff, so once I get done with this message, i'll start rummaging through them for the bracket.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 17 of 38, by tegrady

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luckybob wrote on 2020-04-13, 22:13:

Someone has some drafting training!

The major issue with the Slot 2 retention is mostly keeping the CPUs upright. They are relatively very heavy, so as long as they are kept perpendicular to the motherboard, the connector wont get stressed.

I found the boxes last night with all my xeon stuff, so once I get done with this message, i'll start rummaging through them for the bracket.

Thanks!

Reply 18 of 38, by tegrady

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OK. I got the board and hooked everything up outside of a case. However, it won't post. I am getting 1 long beep and 2 short beeps, which appears to be a video error according to the internet.

I swapped out two different AGP video cards and also a PCI video card. It would not post with any of them. I am getting no video output whatsoever.

I have replaced the CMOS battery. I also tried moving the RAM sticks around. I first tried all 4 RAM sticks, then tried one at a time, then tried different slots. There was no change. I also tried a different monitor and different power supplies, but no change.

I have never assembled a computer outside of a case before. Is it possibly a grounding issue as nothing is screwed in? Or, is the board dead?

Also, the RAM I am using is Elpida PC133, ECC, Registered, 512mb per stick. Could this be the issue?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Reply 19 of 38, by luckybob

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check the motherboard manual. I know my XG-DLS does NOT like 2/3 of the video cards out there, and only likes <256mb dimms. Go simple.

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.