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HP Vectra 486/33VL not booting up

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First post, by Bernkastel7734

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Hello everybody,
so I wanted to start my adventure with something older than Pentium II PC I'm using. So I bought HP Vectra 486/33VL in a condition ' boots up, no further testing' ( seller actually gave images of that PC booting). Well, when I got it delivered it turned out it boots up but didn't give image. I've checked PSU voltages, both 5V and 12V are correct. Tried to reseat CPU, RAM and BIOS eeprom. Replaced the battery. The system does not give any beeps. After turning on power LED shines and HDD usage LED blinks for about 2-3 seconds. All LEDs on PS/2 keyboard blink once. Components do heat up. Sadly I do not have ISA Graphics Card to put into that PC. Any Ideas on what else I can try to ressurect that puppy ? Thanks for any help in advance. Also sorry for any mistakes since English in not my mother tongue.

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Reply 1 of 88, by Deksor

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Oh it's the first time I meet someone online with the same HP vectra I have 😁

I know it's very picky with RAM and it expects FPM ram. Have you tried to turn it on with no RAM to check if it beeps ?

You don't need any ISA video card, there's a Cirrus Logic chip interated on the motherboard. There is a VGA connector on the back.

One annoying thing with it is that it has a pin blocked so if you have a cable with every pins you'll need to yank the extra pin out ...

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 2 of 88, by Horun

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Deksor wrote on 2021-02-20, 21:25:

Oh it's the first time I meet someone online with the same HP vectra I have 😁

I know it's very picky with RAM and it expects FPM ram. Have you tried to turn it on with no RAM to check if it beeps ?

Does it work with non-parity ? One older VLSI based will not boot using 8chip FPM SIMM but does with 9chip FPM w/Parity and no jumper to set for non-parity 🙁

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 3 of 88, by Deksor

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I have no idea. You may be right. I messed with its ram a really long time ago and I remember it was really picky.

By the way if you get it to POST, you could buy 4 cache chips to improve the performance and also some ZIP ram to upgrade the GPU's memory to 1MB

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 4 of 88, by Bernkastel7734

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Deksor wrote on 2021-02-20, 21:25:

Have you tried to turn it on with no RAM to check if it beeps ?

You don't need any ISA video card, there's a Cirrus Logic chip interated on the motherboard. There is a VGA connector on the back.

No RAM- still not a single beep, and yeah I am aware of that, just wanted to test, maybe the onboard graphics got damaged or something. Sadly.

Reply 5 of 88, by Bernkastel7734

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And when it comes to RAM, I got it equiped with such two stick of RAM. Also I ordered an ISA diagnostic card, so maybe that will give me a hint of what's going on.

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Reply 6 of 88, by Doornkaat

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You changed the battery and put what looks like a CR2032 into what looks like a CR/BR2325 socket. This may be a crap shot but could it be the battery isn't making good contact in the socket?
I wouldn't bet any money on it but it may be worth it to reinsert the old battery and see wether the system at least boots without graphics again.
Edit: Or did I misread the post and it behaves the same after reseating components and replacing the battery?

Reply 7 of 88, by Intel486dx33

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I see allot of rust here.
Is this where the video port is ?

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Reply 9 of 88, by Bernkastel7734

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-02-22, 09:56:

I see allot of rust here.
Is this where the video port is ?

Yup, that's the video port. Maybe it's due to pic quality, but it's old sticky dust mixed up with cigs smoke rather than rust. Spent several hours cleaning up that, but some spost are impossible to clean in 100%. But after that suggestion I'll look closer into that post. And there is a bit of yellowish plastic film near that port.

Last edited by Bernkastel7734 on 2021-02-22, 10:10. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 11 of 88, by Bernkastel7734

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Doornkaat wrote on 2021-02-22, 10:05:

Too bad! It would have been nice if it had been that easy.

Yeah, I also hoped for the battery just being dead. Also today my quarantine ends so I'll have chance to go electrical shop and buy a proper battery for that.

Reply 12 of 88, by Deksor

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My hp Vectra has been working ok with a cr2032 battery for at least 10 years so I don't think it's the problem.

Does it beep when you have no ram stick ?

Good idea to use a diagnostic card.

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 14 of 88, by Intel486dx33

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How does the video chip solder job look ?
Are the jumpers set correctly ?

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Reply 15 of 88, by Bernkastel7734

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Intel486dx33 wrote on 2021-02-22, 13:19:

How does the video chip solder job look ?
Are the jumpers set correctly ?

It looks fine. Is there any way I can acctually say they're all fine? I mean measuring resistance, or something? As far as I have checked in manual, jumpers are set correctly.

Reply 16 of 88, by Deksor

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You have the manual for this computer ? 😮

I never had it !

By the way my motherboard is in UH19 if you want to compare yours with mine http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/6691 (jumpers look ok compared to my board).

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

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