I recommend you use a diagnostic board to detect the problem

I have a board that's all "It won't matter how you set the switches for PIII because they're all multi locked" in the manual and then it proceeds to do nothing unless you set the right multiplier switches.

What if you tried the lowest amount of ram of the correct type speed and clock? You may want to look at manuals for your motherboard to determine this. Also, try not adding any extra parts except just what is necessary to make the screen work and the system speaker. Don't connect any drives. Also, try removing the system battery and if you can find it, put the jumper into the bios reset setting. If you are lucky, the system will turn on and you'll get a complaint about CMOS settings.

I have many Gigabyte GA-6BXC rev 1.9 and 2.0 boards. They are not at all picky, they work with any RAM I throw at them.
The rev 1.9 boards that I have do not support Coppermine CPUs by default (but can be modded to do so), while the rev 2.0 boards support them out of the box.
Also, setting the correct multiplier is not needed, the CPU will just force its multiplier anyway and the boards will boot without issues.
As others have recommended, a POST card could give more clues as to what’s happening.

I have put an order in for a diagnostic board that should get here tomorrow and, just in case, a multimeter should that end up being necessary.

mike_canada wrote on 2021-09-09, 04:52:

What if you tried the lowest amount of ram of the correct type speed and clock? You may want to look at manuals for your motherboard to determine this. Also, try not adding any extra parts except just what is necessary to make the screen work and the system speaker. Don't connect any drives. Also, try removing the system battery and if you can find it, put the jumper into the bios reset setting. If you are lucky, the system will turn on and you'll get a complaint about CMOS settings.

I've actually done all of that; didn't really even know I had PC100 SDRAM lying around either, not that the board cared as to whether or not RAM was inserted. Only thing I had hooked up in the end was PSU, CPU, optionally RAM, and a S3 Virge

Do you mean boot with the jumper in the reset position? I got it in my mind that was a bad idea (for some reason) at the time and swapped it back before plugging it all in, but I would be happy (that the board works) and a bit upset (at now purchasing more things but at least they're useful items to have) if it ends up working after that and is something I can try tonight.

I'd follow advice and set the jumpers correctly for your board avoiding auto detect (if it's your case), no underclock either.

Once you turn on the board let it stay on for a couple of minutes, than reset or turn off many times and see if it makes any difference.
In my short and noob-like experience caps could be faulty and under specs to actually allow it to post.

Have you visually checked for any broken trace/s or components?

Nexxen wrote on 2021-09-09, 14:28:

I'd follow advice and set the jumpers correctly for your board avoiding auto detect (if it's your case), no underclock either. […]
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I'd follow advice and set the jumpers correctly for your board avoiding auto detect (if it's your case), no underclock either.

Once you turn on the board let it stay on for a couple of minutes, than reset or turn off many times and see if it makes any difference.
In my short and noob-like experience caps could be faulty and under specs to actually allow it to post.

Have you visually checked for any broken trace/s or components?

I'll give it a closer look for traces, but otherwise the components seem fine. I shall also add that second bit to my list of things to do tonight if the CMOS clearing doesn't solve anything.

Went looking at the back for anything shifty as the front looked fine; seems like something at some point spilled on the board but it wipes away with a bit of work and some iso alcohol. Except for one pin on the top PCI slot that looks a bit suspect as it looks like something ate into the PCB a bit but as far as I'm able to tell the traces there are still connected. IDK, I'll see what someone with more experience on that thinks about it. The brown gunk in the image is, well, gunk that wipes off but I don't have anything that fine other than my real thin tweezers with some paper towel shards to clean it with

I'm going to see if clearing out the cmos will work and the power cycling thing Nexxen suggested before settling in and waiting for my stuff to come in tomorrow

EDIT: using a Celeron 400/66 (and DIPs set for such), neither CMOS clearing nor cycling has worked so I'll have to see what the multimeter and POST card say unless someone tells me the thing in the image is the problem (in which case I shall be very, very sad)

TehGuy wrote on 2021-09-09, 22:56:

as I'm able to tell the traces there are still connected

Hi there can you actually use a cotton swab with some alcohol to remove the dirt and then test the traces continuity?

Still waiting on the multimeter to test continuity with, but here's the rather disappointing readout on the diagnostic card I got

The lights are, from left to right

-12v -- CLK
+12v -- IRDY
+5v -- FRAME
+3.3v -- RESET

LED display shows nothing but dashes

also I think I might've had it plugged in the slot that has that scuffing behind it, if that becomes pertinent.

Is the reset led lit? Always?
I had that and it was caps. Do you have an ESR tester?

Could you please post a high res pic of your mobo, thanks.

If you have an ISA slot try it there too, remember that the arrow point to "rear" rear is the rear of the case, same direction as the keyb/com/lpt connectors.

TehGuy wrote on 2021-09-10, 19:43:

Still waiting on the multimeter to test continuity with, but here's the rather disappointing readout on the diagnostic card I go […]
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Still waiting on the multimeter to test continuity with, but here's the rather disappointing readout on the diagnostic card I got

The lights are, from left to right

-12v -- CLK
+12v -- IRDY
+5v -- FRAME
+3.3v -- RESET

LED display shows nothing but dashes

also I think I might've had it plugged in the slot that has that scuffing behind it, if that becomes pertinent.

This tester is not very efficient, I suggest you get one with LCD display like this

But anyway, replace all the capacitors you can, even if they are undamaged, they don't have a very long lifespan, I've already caught problems where the capacitor was visually perfect, but it had a very high latency and capacitance. Also, it's not too much work, once you've changed 2 or 3, you'll have practice, and you'll get the job done quickly.

After that, you can buy an eeprom programmer, and try to record the bios, as it was reasonably common for bios from that era to corrupt at all.

Some tips:

Remove the cmos battery, wait a few hours, then wash the motherboard thoroughly using mild detergent and a toothbrush or brush, let it dry well for about 3 days, I've saved many boards this way, and don't worry, wash it's totally safe as long as it doesn't have energy and it dries well.

Use a dryer to heat the chipset, although this is unusual in the pentium 2 era, some motherboards may have lost ball contact due to improper handling or storage.

Use a contact cleaner spray (not wd40, contact cleaner is that spray that freezes things), you can also use a lighter fluid spray, on the DIP switches, sometimes I had boards that didn't work because they weren't making contact through the inside the DIP, turning them on and off several times each can also help.

With a multimeter, look for voltages of 3.3v, 5v, and 12v on the motherboard, 3V can be found for example in the cmos battery socket, 5v can be found on some coils, and 12v can be found next to the atx connector. If you don't find these voltages, you may be having an electrical problem with the board's power distribution.

Disassemble the processor (removing the heatsink), turn on the board and place your hand on the core of the processor, see if it is heating up, if it is, it is a good sign, if not, it means that the board is not providing power to the processor (probably because one of the voltages mentioned in the paragraph above is missing).

If the processor gets hot, turn on the motherboard without memory, but with the speaker connected (the one that connects to F_Panel), it should emit beeps alerting the lack of memory, if you do, you probably have a problem in the memory slot, heat can help you. If you don't hear beeps, your motherboard may have corrupted bios, or some voltage is missing.

The RESET stayed kinda half lit like that while in the PCI slot, yes. Only the +12v light is on when the card is in the top ISA slot and I mean the only thing (no LED display, etc).

I do not have an ESR and Amazon just dinged me to say my multimeter wont be here until Saturday/Sunday 😒

Photos are as good as I can get with my phone

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a67Tq … di4?usp=sharing

After that, you can buy an eeprom programmer, and try to record the bios, as it was reasonably common for bios from that era to corrupt at all.

I actually already have a TI866ii; the EEPROM I'm using came from the working REV 1.7 board and it records/flashes/wipes/etc just fine as far as the software's concerned but comparing gigaorig.bin and the original dump I made there appear to be differences pretty much immediately... I'd wonder if the original BIOS it held was a bit whacky or something, but I've overwritten the IC once or twice as I've been testing the Rev 2.0 board.

I'll see about grabbing caps after the multimeter comes in

EDIT: and also doing all that other stuff that I didn't see in the preview as I was writing all this

Those green capacitors, start with them. I always see them stuffed, they might not look bad, but I've never had any luck with them.

TI866ii is great for these older cards.

TehGuy wrote on 2021-09-10, 20:51:

Photos are as good as I can get with my phone

What do you think 95% of ppl here takes pics with? 😀

Yep, all those green caps could be the issue, unless it's something else and would mean buying another mobo.
Even one important cap can lead to a no post, no boot...
I had stability issues on a board and ended up replacing the best looking caps I had ever seen with a capacitance loss of 20 to 60%.
Others looking like crap were doing good.
Look at an angle, sometimes they leak from below.

Let's wait and don't let it stress you.

Nexxen wrote on 2021-09-10, 21:23:

What do you think 95% of ppl here takes pics with? :) […]
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TehGuy wrote on 2021-09-10, 20:51:

Photos are as good as I can get with my phone

What do you think 95% of ppl here takes pics with? 😀

Yep, all those green caps could be the issue, unless it's something else and would mean buying another mobo.
Even one important cap can lead to a no post, no boot...
I had stability issues on a board and ended up replacing the best looking caps I had ever seen with a capacitance loss of 20 to 60%.
Others looking like crap were doing good.
Look at an angle, sometimes they leak from below.

Let's wait and don't let it stress you.

I think he shouldn't give up and just buy another one, as this is all a very important experience to improve knowledge about hardware, which I think is important for people like us who like old things. Learning about bad capacitors today may not be very useful, as we still find a slot 1 card with good value. But 10 or 15 years from now, those boards could be worth a fortune, and knowing how to fix one could mean you'll be one of the few people who can fix it and earn some extra cash.

In the late 2000s, the 128k macintosh classics were pure rubbish, and several of them had faulty memory chips that would cause a screen with a checkerboard pattern, they were simply thrown in the trash, but today, a unit of those could be worth a huge amount. You will hardly find anyone who repairs (or knows how to do) a 128k macintosh...

Also, let's assume that this Gigabyte 6BXC defect is recurring in this model (they all have the same defect), you can buy them for the price of a BigMac, and as you know how to fix it, you do the repair yourself, and sell to earn some extra cash, or keep it somewhere, and wait it becomes a rare and collectible item.

I waited more than 10 years to finally solve some dead-boardness cases.
Sometimes you need to learn enough to do the right repair.

When it comes to other components like a SB or NB it's tricky unless you know and have the replacement and the skills...
Those are challenges! 😀

Fixing it is probably going to be cheaper and more fun anyways, considering the 6bxc rev 2.0s left on ebay are going for waay too much for just the board alone.

I did manage to find another person with a slot 1 gigabyte board that apparently mostly uses the same caps as my board so I've got a digikey cart readied up to replace every one of those suckers once I get some final readings to verify the new stuff wont bork anything. I've got a friend with soldering equipment and skills in this kinda stuff should it come to it so I'm just happy I'm not having to scrounge more equipment for the time being

Not that I couldn't be persuaded into "wishlisting" a couple of good brands/stations (this one maybe??) because maybe I just wont use said friend and do the dirty deed myself, because I have problems I guess >->

...Now I just want to recap every bit of old thing I own.. even the ones I'm boutta sell off

TehGuy wrote on 2021-09-09, 12:00:

Do you mean boot with the jumper in the reset position?

Yes. I've done it with some systems in the past. The screen doesn't do anything and no nothing blows up. I think it is a forced-hard reset. then when I put the jumper back to normal, the system turns on and asks me to enter setup due to cmos settings, then I setup the system then it works again. I haven't worked on motherboards like this in over a few years so I don't know the exact messages that would appear and the messages can vary from system to system.