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Fixing a PCChips m729 v1.2 mobo?

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First post, by Steapa

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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.

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Reply 1 of 10, by Eep386

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No beeps at all is usually a pretty poor sign. Could be anything, from broken/scratched traces, to a dead/corrupt BIOS chip, to a bad main crystal/clock generator, to broken reset logic, to a bad chip somewhere, etc. Simple things first, before you go much farther down the PC CHIPS rabbit hole: Did you try cleaning the CPU slot with some contact cleaner? Also did you try cleaning the Celeron's card edge connector as well?

For reference though, the "BXcel" chipset is just an ALI Aladdin of some variety.

Life isn't long enough to re-enable every hidden option in every BIOS on every board... 🙁

Reply 2 of 10, by debs3759

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ISA 512KB Realtek video card on a slot 1 motherboard? I wouldn't expect much from that, even if you do get it working 😀

Just looked on eBay. I'm surprised that the cheapest Realtek graphics cards are £30, considering that they were the budget cards of the day, and real entry level only.

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 3 of 10, by zyga64

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I had this board (well not exactly "this" one) when it was new (1998).
It was a constant struggle to find stable configuration:
- not to many cards in PCI slots (I had to use ISA SCSI controller for CD burner), I think it is better to avoid PCI cards at all
- anything above Riva 128 or Intel 740 results in freeze (forget about Riva TNT and above)

Not to mention about performance. For example memory throughput was about 1/2 of Intel BX.
PC Chips M726 was better in terms of stability, but performance still suffers. ALI M1621 wasn't good chipset. Sorry to say that...

Ahh. I forgot. I was using AT Power supply those times.

1) VLSI SCAMP /286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
2) i420EX /486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
3) i430FX /K6-2@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
4) i440BX /P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /SBLive!
5) iB75 /3470s /4G /HD7750 /HDA

Reply 4 of 10, by Steapa

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Eep386 wrote on 2021-03-18, 06:25:

No beeps at all is usually a pretty poor sign. Could be anything, from broken/scratched traces, to a dead/corrupt BIOS chip, to a bad main crystal/clock generator, to broken reset logic, to a bad chip somewhere, etc. Simple things first, before you go much farther down the PC CHIPS rabbit hole: Did you try cleaning the CPU slot with some contact cleaner? Also did you try cleaning the Celeron's card edge connector as well?

For reference though, the "BXcel" chipset is just an ALI Aladdin of some variety.

No. I'm going to try this, thank you.
Today I also noticed some debris below the chipset, I'm going to clean that too.

debs3759 wrote on 2021-03-18, 07:16:

ISA 512KB Realtek video card on a slot 1 motherboard? I wouldn't expect much from that, even if you do get it working 😀

Just looked on eBay. I'm surprised that the cheapest Realtek graphics cards are £30, considering that they were the budget cards of the day, and real entry level only.

I'm only using it for testing. It was inside an old 486.
There's a warranty sticker in the back of it saying it was bought in 98.

oLOFaH6.jpg

zyga64 wrote on 2021-03-18, 07:22:
I had this board (well not exactly "this" one) when it was new (1998). It was a constant struggle to find stable configuration: […]
Show full quote

I had this board (well not exactly "this" one) when it was new (1998).
It was a constant struggle to find stable configuration:
- not to many cards in PCI slots (I had to use ISA SCSI controller for CD burner), I think it is better to avoid PCI cards at all
- anything above Riva 128 or Intel 740 results in freeze (forget about Riva TNT and above)

Not to mention about performance. For example memory throughput was about 1/2 of Intel BX.
PC Chips M726 was better in terms of stability, but performance still suffers. ALI M1621 wasn't good chipset. Sorry to say that...

Ahh. I forgot. I was using AT Power supply those times.

I'm planning to use the infamous SiS 6326 8MB.
PCChips mobo + Celeron Convigton 266 + SiS 6326 + 32MB ram = The worst setup for the late 90s? 😁

One thing I also noticed Is that this board is too thin. I'm afraid of bending the PCB too much.

Reply 5 of 10, by zyga64

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Steapa wrote on 2021-03-18, 13:50:

PCChips mobo + Celeron Convigton 266 + SiS 6326 + 32MB ram = The worst setup for the late 90s? 😁

Well... That was almost identical to mine except for the graphics card 😉 I had S3 Trio 3D 4MB.

1) VLSI SCAMP /286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
2) i420EX /486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
3) i430FX /K6-2@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
4) i440BX /P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /SBLive!
5) iB75 /3470s /4G /HD7750 /HDA

Reply 6 of 10, by Steapa

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Cleaned all contacts and connectors. No joy.
Today I baked the board in my oven. Still the same thing.

Giving up for now... I'm going back to it when I got an EEPROM programmer.

thank you for the help everyone.

Reply 7 of 10, by weedeewee

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Have all the electrolytic capacitors been replaced yet ? especially those around the cpu.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

Reply 8 of 10, by Steapa

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weedeewee wrote on 2021-03-19, 14:13:

Have all the electrolytic capacitors been replaced yet ? especially those around the cpu.

No. I could do that.
But I don't have an ESR meter to check which capacitor is bad, so I would prob need to recap everything.
Would it be worth the trouble? Can some bad capacitors cause the board to not post like that?

Reply 9 of 10, by weedeewee

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Sorry I shouldn't have suggested that. I'm getting flashbacks from 20yrs ago. Even started reading about the motherboards. I have to stop this torture ! Find yourself another board. Use this for possible components like bios eeprom, pin headers...
or leave it next to your bed for when an intruder comes in the house, so you can slap and grate them with it.

Right to repair is fundamental. You own it, you're allowed to fix it.
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Do not ask Why !
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Serial_port

Reply 10 of 10, by Steapa

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weedeewee wrote on 2021-03-19, 17:33:

Sorry I shouldn't have suggested that. I'm getting flashbacks from 20yrs ago. Even started reading about the motherboards. I have to stop this torture ! Find yourself another board. Use this for possible components like bios eeprom, pin headers...
or leave it next to your bed for when an intruder comes in the house, so you can slap and grate them with it.

Yeah... I guess I'm going to do that. 😁
Or maybe I will use it later to train my soldering skills.

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