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Need help to set up Chaintech motherboard 2A59CC3A

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First post, by Odiseo

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I am the same person who opened this topic and this one.

The original RTC and the one I bought from someone in China had a flat battery. I don't know how to solder, so I bought another RTC. Again on eBay, but from someone in the UK instead of China. The auction had a picture of an RTC labeled "DS12887+" (the one I thought I needed), but the one I received is labeled "DS12887A". Is there a difference between the two?

I put the RTC into the socket and the error message "CMOS Battery low" was no longer displayed after POSTing. The system does display the following error message: "CMOS Battery failed / defaults loaded". I updated the date and time in the BIOS and both are still correct after rebooting or shutdown.

In contrast to what was the case when the previous RTC was still on the motherboard, the system can boot from a floppy disk now. That allowed me to run the installation program for Windows 2000 from CD. The installation finished and appeared to have been successful, but after rebooting and passing the POST (which detected the hard drive), the system (or Windows?) said it couldn't find a hard drive. How can this happen, bearing in mind that the system just installed an operating system to that same hard drive?

I figured that maybe I had to put a jumper on the hard drive's Master pins. After I had done so, the POST still detected the hard drive, but the following error was displayed: "Hard Disk Fail (80)". I also put the jumper on the Slave pins and, later, on the Cable Select pins, but in both instances the POST didn't even detect the hard drive.

I wanted to update the BIOS but I can't find any suitable BIOS images. When the system POSTs the following model number is displayed: "2A59CC3AC". This number is also displayed when I start up the Award flash utility from DOS. The chipset is Intel 430FX.

Below is a recap of my questions.

  • Is there a difference between DS12887A and DS12887+?
  • How can I fix the CMOS error that reads "CMOS Battery failed / defaults loaded"?
  • How can I get Windows 2000 to detect the hard drive it is installed on?
  • Where can I find newer BIOS images for this motherboard? The archive file that can be downloaded on this page contains an image for model number 2A59CC3B. But I have model number 2A59CC3A.

Reply 1 of 5, by Horun

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1 Is there a difference between DS12887A and DS12887+? 2 How can I fix the CMOS error that reads "CMOS Battery failed / defa […]
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1 Is there a difference between DS12887A and DS12887+?
2 How can I fix the CMOS error that reads "CMOS Battery failed / defaults loaded"?
3 How can I get Windows 2000 to detect the hard drive it is installed on?
4 Where can I find newer BIOS images for this motherboard? The archive file that can be downloaded on this page contains an image for model number 2A59CC3B. But I have model number 2A59CC3A.

1: Yes. The DS12887A has a "CMOS clear" pin where the DS12887 does not. Otherwise they are identical.....The "+" just means it is low lead content (AKA ROHS spec).
2: Get a Dallas chip with good internal battery, all of mine from Digikey or Quest components have worked great ! Even filed the side of a few to test and were all above 3.2v (the same as new).
OR learn how to fix your own Dallas chips with an external battery. Vogons has a great topic on this.
3: Win2k If it was installed on a different motherboard it will not work. You do not mention what size HD is or make and model or if you just installed it on this motherboard and it cannot find it....
4: Assuming your board is the Chaintech 5IEM M101 from the other topics and previous picture,
Using archive.org at the Chaintech.tw website in August 2000 the newest BIOS was 5IEM0.exe dated 10/20/95-TRITON-2A59CC3AC_5IEM0 as the full BIOS string.
http://web.archive.org/web/20001217223200fw_/ … DEL586.htm#5IEM
5iem1.exe also dated 10/20/95-TRITON-2A59CC3AC-00 as full BIOS string and the other BIOS listed is 03/07/96-i430FX-2A59CC3BC but NOT for your board but for the 5IEM2 ( not 101).
There may not be any newer official BIOS (quote from archive.org: "There are no BIOS updates available for the 5IEM M101 Mainboard !")
Note the Dallas RTC should already be Y2K compliant so no need for a Y2K BIOS update.

Maybe someone else can help with more info, just got off work and am tired....
\

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 2 of 5, by Odiseo

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Horun wrote on 2021-06-06, 00:59:

2: Get a Dallas chip with good internal battery

The RTC I bought on Ebay almost two weeks ago from someone in the UK is, in fact, labeled Dallas. It's charged, as the BIOS stores the date and time after rebooting or shutting down (contrary to the original RTC on the board and the one I bought on eBay in 2016 from a Chinese seller).

However, after POSTing the error "CMOS Battery failed / defaults loaded" is displayed. What could be the cause for this? And how can I fix it?

Horun wrote on 2021-06-06, 00:59:

3: Win2k If it was installed on a different motherboard it will not work. You do not mention what size HD is or make and model or if you just installed it on this motherboard and it cannot find it....

Yes, I installed Windows 2000 on this motherboard, i.e. the Chaintech 5IEM 2A59CC3A.

Reply 3 of 5, by Horun

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about "CMOS Battery failed / defaults loaded" .
Just because it saves the time and date does not mean the battery is good enough to save CMOS settings (a separate ram section in the RTC). The clock can work with battery as low as 2.8v but the cmos is not saved if battery is below about 3.0v IIRC.
Also Pin 21 on the Dallas RTC DS12887A is the CMOS clear, it must not be grounded or will constantly clear the cmos. On the DS12887 that pin is missing.
I suggest pulling the RTC and gently bend pin 21 so it does not get inserted into the socket just in case on your board that pin is grounding. Just as a test.

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 4 of 5, by Odiseo

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I looked at my previous topics again and, apparently, the motherboard was incorrectly identified in the first one.

It's not the 5IEM2.2, but the 5IEM0.1: see this link and this one

When I instructed the flash utility to update the BIOS, the following error was displayed: "erase chip fail".

I later wanted to set the cpu to the maximum frequency supported, which is 150mhz according to this page. The highest frequency the board accepted was 133mhz. I tried 150mhz but it wouldn't boot, producing long continuous beeps.

Apparently, that indicates a RAM problem. I disconnected every cable and device and removed every module (power supply, RTC, RAM, processor, COAST module, hard drive, floppy drive) but the system's state remains unchanged. When I ran the system without RAM modules, it still produced those long continuous beeps.

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