Weird hanging issue Soyo SY-4SAW2 and ES1868F \ VOGONS

Weird hanging issue Soyo SY-4SAW2 and ES1868F

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First post, by Hippo486

Posted on 2022-11-12, 11:44

Hippo486 Offline

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My first post and I'd like some help please.

Been getting into vintage computing recently (Im old enough that I used similar hardware back in the day) and I have a weird issue I cant solve.

Motherboard: Soyo SY-4SAW2 with Am5x86-P75
Soundcard: Labway ES1868F Ess Audiodrive

Whenever I install this soundcard into this motherboard the first boot is fine, soundcard works perfectly. However the problems come on the second boot, where the computer hangs on the updating ESCD screen. Doesnt display the updating message, hangs right before there.

I've tried PnP on or off in the BIOS, disabled all onboard devices etc. Running latest BIOS. Soundcard works perfectly in another motherboard with no such hanging (GA-586ATM/P).

I've come to a tentative conclusion that either the motherboard is faulty, or has a particular issue with the PnP BIOS and this card. Motherboard works fine without the soundcard and works well on first boot with soundcard.

Anyone got any ideas or info? Thanks in advance.

Reply 1 of 4, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2022-11-13, 06:33

rasz_pl Offline

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Hippo486 wrote on 2022-11-12, 11:44:

hangs on the updating ESCD screen

its either stored in RTC cmos sram or in bios flash chip. First one is no problem ,second one can wear out. What chip is your bios stored in? is it flash? try replacing it with another freshly programmed chip.

Open Source AT&T Globalyst/NCR/FIC 486-GAC-2 proprietary Cache Module reproduction

Reply 2 of 4, by Riikcakirds

Posted on 2022-11-14, 00:23

Riikcakirds Offline

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I have had this problem and it is generally either caused by a duplicate pnp entry using the same resource - irq etc, or as rasz_pl said a eeprom that has memory errors when writing and updating escd.
For the duplicate entry/ resource conflict I fixed by re-flashing the bios and using the option to clear PnP (ESCD) data after programming. Do not reprogram the boot block while doing this.
To fix the second cause you need a new or working 1mbit 32dip eeprom and flash the bios to it.

Reply 3 of 4, by Hippo486

Posted on 2022-11-14, 11:42

Hippo486 Offline

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Joined: 2022-11-09, 19:23

Riikcakirds wrote on 2022-11-14, 00:23:

I have had this problem and it is generally either caused by a duplicate pnp entry using the same resource - irq etc, or as rasz_pl said a eeprom that has memory errors when writing and updating escd.
For the duplicate entry/ resource conflict I fixed by re-flashing the bios and using the option to clear PnP (ESCD) data after programming. Do not reprogram the boot block while doing this.
To fix the second cause you need a new or working 1mbit 32dip eeprom and flash the bios to it.

Thank you, just the information I needed 😀

Reply 4 of 4, by Hippo486

Posted on 2022-12-02, 20:28

Hippo486 Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 18
Joined: 2022-11-09, 19:23

Thought I would reply to my original question with a fix I found this evening, in-case anyone hits this thread.

Looked again at this issue tonight, but I didn't have the equipment available to reprogram the BIOS.

So I tried plugging in another card into the ISA bus, in particular a Network card. Low an behold this resolved the issue. There must have been some conflicting resources in use, since the card is PnP.

Plugged in the Network card and it boots correctly every time. Cant beat a good bit of computer wierdness 😀

Havent tried unplugging the network card yet, I dont feel that brave 🤣

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