First unplug hdd, fdd, nic. Keep pugged in:
cpu 😀
one RAM stick
videocard
keyboard.
check for correct settings of fsb/ratio/cpu voltage jumpers
then reset cmos
then try to run it, with plugging video and ram stick in various slots

Maybe try another video card too if that doesn't work.

Thanks for the starting point guys! I'll have a chance to try this stuff on sunday, so any other pointers are more than welcome, thanks!
- Doug

spartaneye wrote:

Unfortunately, its not displaying anything, the keyboard flashes its lights, the fans turn on, the harddrive doesn't seem to spin up...

The keyboard LED flashing is a good sign, it means the mainboard is not completely dead.
The symptoms you described often occur when the IDE cable is not plugged in correctly at either the mainboard or the harddisk.

c.imp wrote:

one RAM stick

Better make that two sticks, it won't work with one in this case. 😉
EDO RAM (72-pin SIMM) is 32 bit wide, but Pentiums have a 64 bit memory bus, so you have to install SIMMs in pairs.

5u3, for 30pin SIMMS - yes. Pairs is required. Newer 72pin SIMMS works as one stick in most cases.

What is the PC speaker doing? The beeps from it should tell you what is going on.

aleksej wrote:

5u3, for 30pin SIMMS - yes. Pairs is required. Newer 72pin SIMMS works as one stick in most cases.

Sorry, but I have to disagree... 😈
Installing only one 72pin module on a Pentium board would only fill half of the memory bank.

I've made up a table:

1 Number of modules needed to fill a memory bank:
2
3                    | 30pin SIMM | 72pin SIMM | 168pin DIMM
4                    |  (8 bit)   |  (32 bit)  |  (64 bit)     
5--------------------+------------+------------+------------
6286, 386SX (16 bit) |     2      |    N/A     |     N/A
7386DX, 486 (32 bit) |     4      |     1      |     N/A
8Pentium+   (64 bit) |    N/A     |     2      |      1

See also: Wikipedia

5u3, hmmm, maybe i really see it as one stick on 486 mobo? Thanks for correction, man 😉

You can think of those SIMM-based memory setups as "dual channel". 😀 The useful Everest utility actually refers to it as such. Each SIMM is 32-bit and you need 2 to fill up the 64-bit bank. You only need 1 SIMM per bank on a 486 or 386 because the RAM bus is only 32-bits wide.

the datasheet I have for the new motherboard doesn't mention anything about pc speaker error codes... but since hooking up the new speaker correctly (I had it connected to the wrong pins at first) it is giving me the (seemingly) same error beeps the other machine did, is there any sort of lookup anywhere that would have some of the basic error beeps listed out so I can try and find out what its trying to tell me? Thanks!
- Doug

I have to agree that in Pentium systems installing SIMMs in pairs is generally the rule of thumb, although not always true. For example, I had a K6 system based on an SIS 4471 chipset that allowed me to run the system with only one SIMM installed. Though, naturally there is a performance penalty for doing this since you are only using 32-bit databus for the RAM. I also have a nifty VLB Pentium 60 system that is based on a 32-bit planar and uses bank interleaving to emulate a 64-bit memory bus. Though that board can also operate in single SIMM 32-bit mode.

So basically not many boards work in half bank memory mode, and even if they support the feature it is best avoided due to bandwidth neutering.

is this any help
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/support/faq.php?S_ID=373

Anonymous Coward wrote:

I have to agree that in Pentium systems installing SIMMs in pairs is generally the rule of thumb, although not always true. For example, I had a K6 system based on an SIS 4471 chipset that allowed me to run the system with only one SIMM installed. Though, naturally there is a performance penalty for doing this since you are only using 32-bit databus for the RAM. I also have a nifty VLB Pentium 60 system that is based on a 32-bit planar and uses bank interleaving to emulate a 64-bit memory bus. Though that board can also operate in single SIMM 32-bit mode.

So basically not many boards work in half bank memory mode, and even if they support the feature it is best avoided due to bandwidth neutering.

Nice info!
spartaneye's board is based on a standard Intel Triton chipset though.

@spartaneye
Here is a nice PDF with useful data about the Biostar MB-8500TAC-A. I just had a quick glance at it, this board seems to be rather quirky.
My recommendation: I would not spend much time on getting that one running, there are many better Socket 5/7 boards around.

If you want to try it anyway, forget about the IDE cable issue I wrote about above, boards with a reversed IDE cable usually don't beep at all.

Did you already test with a different graphics card?