First post, by Steapa
Last month I found this slot-1 motherboard from PCChips. I was excited to build a Windows 98 rig, and I even made plans to add USB and ps/2 support to it. Alas, the mobo won't post. The CPU cooler starts to spin, but there is no display or beeps. I Swapped the memory, video card and checked again the jumper settings, but nothing changed.
Configs:
Celeron Covington 300Mhz, 66 * 4.5.
1x 32MB ram PC-100 (also tried 128MB and different configurations).
ISA 512KB Realtek video card (also tried with an 8MB SiS 6326).
PSU is new, ATX.
- I removed the bios chip and cleaned its socket with 100% isopropyl alcohol.
- The CPU and Chipset are getting warm.
- No capacitor seems to be bulging or leaking.
- Unfortunately, I don't have another CPU, but the guy who sold it told me it was working and he sent some images of it working on another machine.
- I added a new CMOS battery.
- If I try to turn it on without RAM I still don't listen to any beeps.
I bought a PCI diagnostics card, but it did not arrive yet.
The only thing I can think of now is recapping the board or flashing the BIOS. The problem is that I don't have an EEPROM programmer, and importing one to my country would be a bit expensive. With the money for a TL866II Plus, I could buy TWO different slot-1 motherboards on my country's "eBay". So I don't know if it's worth it anymore. Any advice on cheaper alternatives to flash a BIOS? Maybe I could do it using an Arduino nano+breadboard?
It was just now that I started to learn about the bad reputation of these PCChips motherboards. After Weedeewee told me how he disliked them, I searched on Google and found several people complaining about these boards. Now I'm even more afraid of spending money fixing it, but I don't want to give up just yet. Any advice on what else could I do or check? Should I recap it? Bad caps really can make a board fail to post like that? I have soldering equipment and it would be cheaper to recap than buying an EEPROM burner.
Any advice is welcome.
Here's the board's manual and some images:
ps: the last image was taken before I configured the jumpers.