Coincidentally I saw some YouTube videos of Tony359, one in particular was of my interest, because it concerns an MB S.7 with broken L2 cache, it can be found here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QNHfQ6Ecc2c

Why is it interesting?

Apart from the work of searching and troubleshooting the fault, which suggests a possible remedy, for similar problems, at the end it shows the MB with a working L2 cache, and makes a comparison with various bench programs, measuring the difference in percentage, between when it is active and when it is deactivated (0KB), of course each program shows different values, some even no difference or a minimal difference, let's say that some software could make the same scores, while others show improvements of about 20% (approximately).

With this I'm not saying that having or not, a working L2 cache, is the same thing, there is no comparison between Windows with cache and without, here the difference could be relevant, either in the boot time ⏱, or in other situations, speaking of course with the same RAM installed, because maybe a PC with 32 MB and 512 KB, could be slower than a PC with 64 MB and 256 KB (L2 cache)?

I open a parenthesis, always watching Tony359's videos, I saw that he made a 16-bit VGA ISA work in an 8-bit slot, here's the important point is precisely this:

I have an MB XT and I don't have a video with a 9 PIN port, this makes it impossible to view any screen, I had bought an adapter cable, but I actually found that it won't work, the video card is a Hercules 8 bit ISA similar, theoretically it would take a monocratic monitor or EGA CGA etc...

But by chance I have a pair of 16-bit ISA VGAs, with CL5401 chips, I think they are 1 MB, more than enough quantity for old PCs, maybe a little exaggerated for an XT, however just try it in a PC like a 486, and see if it works in the 8-bit slot, from what I understand, the chances that it works are high, and in that case it can be used on the MB XT.

I think the same thing should be done for the 16-bit controller, but here I have no idea if it works in an 8-bit slot, but if it works, then I could try the MB XT, very soon.

Changing for a moment, today I took a small batch of motherboards, because I was offered a discount, honestly I had stopped a while ago ⏱, since I have enough motherboards to be in place for quite a while, but this batch includes some interesting pieces (for me), a MB 775 ASUS with heatsink and CPU, and two Slot1 Slot1 Olidata and Matsonic, the Olidata is the equivalent of the ASUS, OLI-BX corresponds to P2-B or something like that, of the Matsonic I don't know the model, but I'll do a search, it's probably a BX, they don't look like Bad, but on the Olidata the BIOS chip is missing, if you can suggest which chip it is (i.e. 1 or 2 Mbit), I'll try to see if I have one compatible (from MB scrap), and I'll try to reprogram it.

The ASUS 775, I think it can be easily put back into operation, I hope there are no unsolvable problems, and above all all the boards do not have scratches or missing SMD.

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-09-20, 16:10:

Changing for a moment, today I took a small batch of motherboards, because I was offered a discount, honestly I had stopped a while ago ⏱, since I have enough motherboards to be in place for quite a while, but this batch includes some interesting pieces (for me), a MB 775 ASUS with heatsink and CPU, and two Slot1 Slot1 Olidata and Matsonic, the Olidata is the equivalent of the ASUS, OLI-BX corresponds to P2-B or something like that, of the Matsonic I don't know the model, but I'll do a search, it's probably a BX, they don't look like Bad, but on the Olidata the BIOS chip is missing, if you can suggest which chip it is (i.e. 1 or 2 Mbit), I'll try to see if I have one compatible (from MB scrap), and I'll try to reprogram it.

The ASUS 775, I think it can be easily put back into operation, I hope there are no unsolvable problems, and above all all the boards do not have scratches or missing SMD.

According to the link below, it should be 2Mbit.
http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1861&menustate=0

PcBytes wrote on 2024-09-20, 18:19:

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-09-20, 16:10:

Changing for a moment, today I took a small batch of motherboards, because I was offered a discount, honestly I had stopped a while ago ⏱, since I have enough motherboards to be in place for quite a while, but this batch includes some interesting pieces (for me), a MB 775 ASUS with heatsink and CPU, and two Slot1 Slot1 Olidata and Matsonic, the Olidata is the equivalent of the ASUS, OLI-BX corresponds to P2-B or something like that, of the Matsonic I don't know the model, but I'll do a search, it's probably a BX, they don't look like Bad, but on the Olidata the BIOS chip is missing, if you can suggest which chip it is (i.e. 1 or 2 Mbit), I'll try to see if I have one compatible (from MB scrap), and I'll try to reprogram it.

The ASUS 775, I think it can be easily put back into operation, I hope there are no unsolvable problems, and above all all the boards do not have scratches or missing SMD.

According to the link below, it should be 2Mbit.
http://vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fileid=1861&menustate=0

Thank you very much my friend.
I'll look among the scrap MBs, I think I can easily find one to reprogram, I hope it has been removed, and that putting it back on will make the card work.
I already have a P3B-F and an Olidata OLI-BX3, which are the next version of the OLI-BX, and they are both two nice cards, this one should be just as good, we'll see in a few days, as soon as I have it in my hands, I like them a lot of Slot1 cards, even though I didn't have one in the past, I went straight to the S.370, but years ago among some PCs I found a Commate Slot1, it was the beginning of a series of MB Slot1s.

So regarding the Olidata OLI-BX motherboard, I found the correspondence with ASUS, the equivalent (identical) model seems to be P2B, but there are also boards marked P2B-F, I don't know exactly how 😨 they differ, it's probably the same board with different equipment, for example there could be a fourth memory slot, while this one has three.

It therefore seems that it is correct to use the P2B BIOS, also because I don't think you can find the original Olidata BIOS, which in reality I imagine is the same, except for one line in which it will read OLI-BX instead of P2B, about ten years ago the Olidata site was still ⚓️ online, I downloaded the BIOS for my Olidata PC with Monaco LPX motherboard, and I've still been using ⚓️ that one ever since.

Regarding the Matsonic, the model should be MS7070S, which corresponds to a MB of another brand, evidently in that period, the same MB was traded with multiple brands, perhaps 🤔 at different prices, unfortunately 😣 I can't see important details from the images, but I'll put some that show some.

Matsonic's MS-7070S should be the same as Chaintech's CT-6BTA2.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-09-21, 11:59:

Matsonic's MS-7070S should be the same as Chaintech's CT-6BTA2.

Yes, thank you very much my friend, it should be that one, I'll be sure when I have it in my hands.
Probably even with this MB, there may be the possibility of using the same BIOS, but this chip has it, and therefore there is no reason to exchange it, unless an update is needed, for example to add support to the Tualatins.
Speaking of this, with the MB Olidata, I had confirmation that the corresponding model was P2B (as you rightly suggested), and on the site I frequent there is info on a modified BIOS with Tualatin support, but for this you need a Slot1 370 adapter modified, or a modified CPU, like the ones on sale in Korea, of those I have a P3 1400S on an ABIT SA6, I did some benching on it some time ago, and it seems to go better than an ASUS TUSL2-C also with P3S 1400.

Among the motherboards to try I have this one for P4 423 with i850 chipset, from Intel model Garibaldi GB850, aesthetically everything seems ok, no missing SMD and no scratches or swollen capacitor, it seems that it does not need any repair, I think I will try it as soon as possible, hoping it works.
A 1600 MHz Willamette CPU is included (or 1.6 GHz if you prefer), the socket 423 is that of the first P4s, the speed is a middle ground between the slowest and the fastest (1.3-2.0), for higher speeds , you need to use a 423-478 adapter, and I have one of that, using it I could install P4-478 CPUs up to around 3.0 GHz with FSB 400, they would be the first NW478s, of those I would have a 2.4 and a 2.6 available, which could be installed.
It all depends on what you want to do with a PC like this, if it is to be used occasionally, even the 1600 could be left, but if more speed is needed, switching to higher frequencies is advisable.
The RAM used in this MB, is the RDRAM 800, I have various modules, but I will use four banks of 128 MB, which I had before upgrading to 1 GB on the P4 2000/423, going beyond those 512 MB, it would be quite expensive and perhaps there would not be a clear improvement in the execution of programs or in normal functioning.
Ultimately, if everything goes ok, and it works, you just have to choose the components of the period, VGA HD Audio etc..., in practice it will be my second PC with RAMBUS, the first is quite fast compared to those P4s with SDRAM.

In a few days I should get the three MB, a 775 and two Slot1, on the ASUS P5Q Deluxe, there is a CPU already installed, I have no idea what it can be, at best it could be a C2Q, at worst a single core, we'll see if I'll have a nice surprise

As memories I have several modules, I usually use four DDR2 modules of 1 GB each, so a total of 4 GB

I have some VGAs, let's obviously talk about PCI-E, later I'll see to select the ones that I think are the best, but it all depends on whether the motherboard works, I hope so obviously

Regarding the Slot1 cards, assuming I have repaired both, and I think that at least one is very likely to repair it, I would say that I have enough cards to find the most suitable for the period, of course nothing special, quite normal cards (all in all), for the rest we have to see, a starting point is the Slot1 CPU, I have some P3 of about 500 MHz, so the rest must be of the same period (audio video cards etc...).

Finally a little parenthesis, I saw on TV what happens to the electronic waste, most of them end up burned, to collect and separate the metal parts, in short, if for a simple electrolytic capacitor, you throw a board that could be easily repaired, well I understand that not everyone is able to fix it, but I think that no one throws the car away just because it has a flat tire, in short it should become waste, only when it is ascertained that the repair is not possible.

For my part, I have been recovering old HW for years, and repairing it for my collection, maybe in this I am one of the few others who do it, and that I will continue to do so, at least until I succeed, in the future it will be much more complex, both for the size of the SMD components, and for the size of the tracks, already now tiny.

The three motherboards arrived today, all are in excellent condition, the Slot1 look almost new, at least after a quick look, I didn't notice anything, I didn't see any scratches and no missing components, there are maybe very slight dents on the top of some electrolytic capacitors, but I don't think they can compromise the operation, in any case I could do a check on the fly, just to see if there is any problem.

At least seeing the conditions, I would be quite confident that they can work, I don't know when I'll be able to try them, maybe on the weekend, I could start with the Matsonic, which only needs CPU and RAM, plus obviously a VGA, the exact model is written on the NB heatsink, it's written in small MS7070S, and it should therefore be a BX too.

The equipment is quite good, there are three 100-133 PC RAM slots, four PCI slots, two ISA (one shared), one AGP slot, by eye 👁 2X, and there is integrated audio, needless to say but the capacitors are of a G-CAP brand, I don't think they have any quality, I hope they are not bad, even if the values reported are normal for the capacity, and high for the voltage (1000uF 16V), usually there are some 6.3V, here none, the medium size ones are 330uF 16V, and some tiny even 25V!

I notice next to the SB Intel FW82371EB, a Yamaha XG YMF740C-V chip, I don't know if it's somehow connected to the sound card, or do something else, I also see one or two frequency generators, an ICS 9148AM-47 near the AGP slot, it's an ICS 9179AM above the BX, for the rest I don't know any jumper or switch, for frequency selection.

Ultimately, it should be an interesting card, perhaps a little limited expansion, with only four PCI slots, but considering the integrated audio, it is possible to use all four PCI slots and one ISA slot, the same can be done for the RAM, having three and not four slots, in any case a card as it works, allows some interesting upgrades, and with modifications or adapters, you can even go well beyond 1000 MHz, or without doing anything, it goes from about 500 MHz up.

The BIOS should be an AWARD, I don't know what version there is, but for the moment it's enough for it to work.

Thanks to the suggestion of a friend, who told me that the missing BIOS chip is 2 Mbit, I'm obviously talking about the Olidata OLI-BX motherboard, equivalent to the ASUS P2B, it remains to be seen if I can find one, among the scrap MB, I think I have it but I don't know if it's of the same capacity (?), I don't think the brand is important, but I could see what BIOS chip is in the P2B-F that I have for a long time ⏱ in repair, ascertain that the chip is right, all that remains is to reprogram.

On the retroHW website, there are various BIOS stored (all ASUS I think), reprogramming a similar chip, should not be complicated, usually in PCs just create a bootable floppy and do everything from there, but being to write (or rewrite), it is not possible to start the PC with another BIOS, in help and to avoid hot flash, there is the nano-USB programmer that I use, to which the adapter for the DIL 32 PIN chips must be added, the included program is quite simple to use, and also quite useful, because it can make a copy of the existing BIOS and verify that The writing was successful, or maybe if the chip is not defective, however the final result should be the desired one, that is, a BIOS chip perfectly programmed for the MB.

It often happens that an MB fails in the VRM zone, recently I learned that among those that look like Mosfet, in reality there is one that is not, before the Pentium MMX, there was only one linear regulator, and it is also used in switching regulators, so we have a controller and a Mosfet, it is precisely the Mosfet that deals with the switching, and a failure can make the double voltage not work, but the single one does.

In this case the welding ability is useful to remove it and then it must be verified with a special tool, or with a simple tester, the last case is more common and just follow simple steps, take notes, and from the results obtained it will emerge whether it works or not.

Surely if you have a spare part available, you can put the new one directly, and then try the old one, but if it is broken, we have taken a big step forward in the repair of the MB, yes because it may not be the only fault, but we can be lucky and have put our MB back into operation.

I put an image that shows a verification method, there are probably others, even simpler, but it could be very useful, for those like me who don't test Mosfet daily.

Today I gathered some components, for the two Slot1 motherboards, for the Matsonic, a couple of 128 MB Infineon CL2 PC100 RAM, an Intel Pentium CPU!!! 500 MHz, or alternatively I have a P2 400 or a Celeron 333, as a VGA, I have within reach, a 32 MB Gigabyte GFMX, the model should be GV-GF1280-32E, or the usual PCI ATI Rage XL PCI 8 MB, the last resort 🏖 is a 256 KB ISA WD card, which on some occasions has been very useful.

So I go to the Olidata tab, I looked for the 2Mbit BIOS chip, I found one with 1Mbit, and I would say that in this MB it is not good, so after some research, I read that the original one is a Winbond 29C020, and after a short search, I found a couple, for sale at a great price, which I ordered immediately, unfortunately it will take some time ⏱, before they arrive, and that I can use one, the other will be a spare chip, which I think I use on an MSI MB, after doing some work, like replacing the capacitors, I'll have to rummage a bit, to find where I put it.

I often work on several motherboards at the same time, it is the advantage of having a larger bench, even if once full, you have to put away at least a couple of cards, obviously the first ones I remove are those, which I have already tried and tested, and the results have not shown any problem, I am often forced to remove cards, without having connected a definitive HD, or having found the most appropriate set of cards, it is still something that can be done very well later, maybe when you find a case 🏘 right.

Currently I have to put on the bench, two MB, the Matsonic MS7070S Slot1 is an Intel Garibaldi 423 i850, the one to understand us with RDRAM, so in this regard, I have various solutions, a fairly safe and proven one, it would be four RDRAM of 128 MB each, which I had in the P4 423 2.00GHz, before upgrading to 1 GB, I have a second possibility using a 64 MB RDRAM and three terminators, it would be ideal if the PC was only used with DOS and without Windows, the third is to use server RDRAM, I think they are ECC but I'm not sure they are Registered, basically I don't know if you can use RDRAM like that, you should see if the manual indicates what type of RAM you can use.

With the Matsonic I'm almost ready, in a few days or shortly the control tests will start, and if everything is ok, I'll try to start it.

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-10-01, 21:37:

So I go to the Olidata tab, I looked for the 2Mbit BIOS chip, I found one with 1Mbit, and I would say that in this MB it is not good, so after some research, I read that the original one is a Winbond 29C020, and after a short search, I found a couple, for sale at a great price, which I ordered immediately, unfortunately it will take some time ⏱, before they arrive, and that I can use one, the other will be a spare chip, which I think I use on an MSI MB, after doing some work, like replacing the capacitors, I'll have to rummage a bit, to find where I put it.

BTW that winbond is compatible with AE29F2008-12 and PM29F002T.

Yes I know, lately I hadn't written anything about a PCChips M550 motherboard, which I had temporarily put aside, but today rummaging through the boards to be repaired, it popped up.

In the past I had a big problem, I couldn't insert the PC100 RAM, the card flexed a lot, and the slot seemed strangely too tight, later after several attempts, I managed to insert a PC100 222-620 CL2 Micron memory, 128 MB, I hope the capacity is not a problem, if I'm not mistaken they can be put, surely a 32 or 64 MB memory would be read without any problem.

What a memory he had a problem at startup, he was looking for the floppy, maybe he's trying a Recovery???

But today regarding the jumpers, and especially what is written in the manual, for this AMD K6 233 CPU, I noticed that there is a little error, and maybe a little problem (?), on the J8B jumper is positioned on 2-3 instead of 1-2, this reduces the multi to 3X, the resulting frequency would be 200 MHz, I absolutely do not think this can create problems, the problem instead in my opinion is on the J8C jumper, there is no jumper, while on the manual it is indicated in position 1-2, here maybe this can give some problem, I will see to add it, and try to start again, there are two things:

Or nothing changes;

Or there are interesting news

I'm not doing probability calculations, if the card starts, it means that the J8C jumper is essential that there is, most likely in position 2-3, activates the multis higher than 4X (?), but will it be important that it is in one position or the other???

kotel wrote on 2024-10-02, 11:48:

PC@LIVE wrote on 2024-10-01, 21:37:

So I go to the Olidata tab, I looked for the 2Mbit BIOS chip, I found one with 1Mbit, and I would say that in this MB it is not good, so after some research, I read that the original one is a Winbond 29C020, and after a short search, I found a couple, for sale at a great price, which I ordered immediately, unfortunately it will take some time ⏱, before they arrive, and that I can use one, the other will be a spare chip, which I think I use on an MSI MB, after doing some work, like replacing the capacitors, I'll have to rummage a bit, to find where I put it.

BTW that winbond is compatible with AE29F2008-12 and PM29F002T.

Thank you very much friend, I hope in the future your suggestion will be very useful to me, now I have to wait for the Winbond chips to arrive, and then I have to reprogram one, insert it into the motherboard and see if it starts.
Theoretically everything is quite simple, but if no problems are encountered, we'll see in a few weeks, while waiting for them to arrive, I will download the BIOS files of the ASUS P2B, which would be the equivalent of the Olidata OLI-BX.

Well on the PCChips M550, there will be news soon, among the boards I will work on, it would be the first in order, because all in all there is not much to try, you have to download a copy of the BIOS, put it in an empty floppy , and connect a reader to the motherboard, if the problem was recovery, it will do it itself via floppy, I would avoid reprogramming, then maybe there is nothing to rewrite, because it could be that at startup it doesn't find the reader and that's it which causes it to block.
Regarding the third J8 jumper, I have seen some photos, and it is missing in all the photos I have seen, so I exclude that the lack of that jumper could cause the BIOS to block booting.

This morning I repaired the audio cable of the POST CARD, not having one in reserve, I managed and fixed it, I hope it lasts a few years, even if it is not indispensable, sometimes it is useful for the beeps of the MBs on trial.

Staying at the M550, so I didn't remember well, the card starts, but it doesn't display anything, no beep, you can see some POST codes, the last ones displayed are:

D4 d3

What does it mean??? Or what does it mean???

Surely there is a problem, we will see later if it can be solved or not!

Let's start by saying that the BIOS is AMI, so the meaning changes, from BIOS to BIOS, to understand it they are not universal, if for AWARD means one thing, for AMI it can mean another, if we are practical of BIOS or specifically of BIOS AMI, we will also be able to know what problem there may be, unfortunately it is not my case, and I just have to interpret what is written in the POST CARD manual, and translate it, I believe that the first code displayed in all MBs is d0, the following ones I do not know if they follow a numerical order, or a visually causal order (i.e. You move on to other codes by skipping several).

Here the sequence of the new codes, is quite short, one second two, maybe three, however after d4 nothing happens anymore, but I haven't tried to leave it on for a long time ⏱, so I don't think it will go on at some point (waiting).

According to what I read, and understand by translating, the d3 disables the cache before detecting the memory. Performs memory sizing. And if the sizing is not performed, activate a boot lock code. I think this is the important point, but maybe this step is performed, and therefore no problem

For d4, the info is quite little, it starts with, tests the 512 KB base memory, runs something that stores in the first 8MB (cache???), finally sets up the stack. Well, I didn't understand much, apart from the 512 KB memory, I think they are valid concepts, for X86 PCs from XT up, but that most ignore because they run at startup.

The thing that could be interesting, however, is the d5, in which we talk about BIOS that is copied from ROM to RAM, here this could be the problem, if the ROM is not readable, it will not copy anything, for this problem, we have a possible solution, download a BIOS and rewrite the chip, with a programmer, maybe if we have the possibility, we can write to a new BIOS chip, and we can load into the corrupted BIOS chip, a different version, if it can be useful to us.