Faulty TMC PCI54PV (VER. 1.2A) motherboard

Faulty TMC PCI54PV (VER. 1.2A) motherboard - need help

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First post, by Half-Saint

Posted on 2023-03-15, 10:03

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I have a very interesting motherboard TMC PCI54PV (VER. 1.2A) that has ISA, PCI and VESA Local Bus slots. The problem is, it won't boot and I don't know what's wrong. The previous owner sold it as working but hasn't provided any pictures as proof. I tried VLB, PCI and ISA video cards, different RAM sticks, a different CPU and a different PSU. Nothing worked. Note that nothing looks burned or damaged on the board itself. The board produces no beeps whatsoever.

My last hope is that the BIOS is perhaps bricked. Can I use a BIOS from a random socket 7 board and hope it works? Can I physically damage anything by doing that?

Reply 1 of 8, by Doornkaat

Posted on 2023-03-15, 13:35

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There's a BIOS image on The Retro Web.
Why not try that. Hotflash a compatible EEPROM and give it a try.
Fingers crossed!

Reply 2 of 8, by Half-Saint

Posted on 2023-03-15, 13:40

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Doornkaat wrote on 2023-03-15, 13:35:

There's a BIOS image on The Retro Web.
Why not try that. Hotflash a compatible EEPROM and give it a try.
Fingers crossed!

I have an EEPROM programmer so maybe I'll use that to overwrite the original BIOS chip. I don't know why I haven't thought of that. Thanks for the idea 😀

Reply 3 of 8, by Doornkaat

Posted on 2023-03-15, 14:16

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Even better. Fingers crossed!

Reply 4 of 8, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2023-03-15, 14:39

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Hope that fixes it for you. I have had suspicions of BIOS getting corrupted by Xray scanning when boards have crossed borders in the past. (Or maybe high altitude radiation if they went on a plane)

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 5 of 8, by Chkcpu

Posted on 2023-03-15, 15:09

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Half-Saint wrote on 2023-03-15, 13:40:

I have an EEPROM programmer so maybe I'll use that to overwrite the original BIOS chip. I don't know why I haven't thought of that. Thanks for the idea 😀

If you read the original BIOS from the EEPROM first and post it here, I can check it for you so you know if it was corrupted.

Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 6 of 8, by Half-Saint

Posted on 2023-03-15, 21:09

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Chkcpu wrote on 2023-03-15, 15:09:

Half-Saint wrote on 2023-03-15, 13:40:

I have an EEPROM programmer so maybe I'll use that to overwrite the original BIOS chip. I don't know why I haven't thought of that. Thanks for the idea 😀

If you read the original BIOS from the EEPROM first and post it here, I can check it for you so you know if it was corrupted.

Jan

Alright, will try that.

Reply 7 of 8, by ThisOldTech

Posted on 2023-10-18, 09:10

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Half-Saint wrote on 2023-03-15, 13:40:

I have an EEPROM programmer so maybe I'll use that to overwrite the original BIOS chip. I don't know why I haven't thought of that. Thanks for the idea 😀

Hey... real long shot, but I picked up one of these boards from a scrapper - purposely rescued it because it was such a cool/rare board... but they stole all the chips off of it. I can easily replace the BIOS, keyboard controller and cache... but...

If you still have this board. .. (and I'm praying you do) and you already own an EEPROM programmer... could you do me a huge favor and dump that GAL sitting in-between the VLB slots? If I have a copy of what's on that chip, I can rebuild this board.

I rescue old PCs and keep them from being recycled... and preserve Dos/Win 3.11 Software on https://www.ThisOldTech.ca.
Current Machine: AST Advantage! Adventure 6066d Cyrix DX50, 32M, 500MB, Vibra16 + CD/Floppy

Reply 8 of 8, by Half-Saint

Posted on 2023-11-09, 11:29

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ThisOldTech wrote on 2023-10-18, 09:10:

Half-Saint wrote on 2023-03-15, 13:40:

I have an EEPROM programmer so maybe I'll use that to overwrite the original BIOS chip. I don't know why I haven't thought of that. Thanks for the idea 😀

Hey... real long shot, but I picked up one of these boards from a scrapper - purposely rescued it because it was such a cool/rare board... but they stole all the chips off of it. I can easily replace the BIOS, keyboard controller and cache... but...

If you still have this board. .. (and I'm praying you do) and you already own an EEPROM programmer... could you do me a huge favor and dump that GAL sitting in-between the VLB slots? If I have a copy of what's on that chip, I can rebuild this board.

Hey, sorry for the late reply. Unfortunately due to time constraints I was unable to debug the board so decided to sell it as is. I simply have too much hardware on my hands and not enough time.

Cheers

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