Well, Socket 8 motherboards are becoming harder and harder to find, so I’ve decided not to scrap it without a fight…
For now, I’ve patched up the damaged traces near the processor. If the board can be saved, I’ll redo the repair using a better technique.

With the traces patched up, the board is showing signs of life.

https://youtu.be/uU8zmEGsPWw

It looks like I’ll be trying to repair the broken section…

Usually no signal traces in internal layers, just power/ground or dual ground. 12V -12V -5V are on the bottom making it even less likely for anything in inner layes.
Judging by that repair you already know what to do 😀 Desolder U1/Com1 header, take very good pictures of both sides, then maybe even dremel a gap in ripped pcb so there is no short between inner layers and outside copper, align it, epoxy the gap, use thin wires to fix tracks and finally put back U1 if you need serial
edit: I would also check this row of caps near the tear, they like to go short due to mechanical damage/cracks.

by the way https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/chaintech-ct-6idm is missing a back picture, you could upload one 😀

EDIT: Iv been browsing your YT (lovely clips) and "Unknown 386SX NEAT - POST error." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBo9oL4HEHg looked familiar, might be compatible with https://github.com/raszpl/386RC-16

Hi.
Thanks for your replay.
I’ve desoldered elements close to the crack and glued it with epoxy.
It looks promising, there are [edit] NO shorts between power lines.

You will not see anything more peculiar today, maybe even tomorrow 🙃

If it fails you could do like they do with video cards:
https://youtu.be/0RO5rhrELFs?list=TLPQMjYwMjI … d5H_yDvEhQ&t=64

just to give you ideas.

May the Si god be with you 😀

Locutus wrote on 2026-02-26, 01:43:

Well, Socket 8 motherboards are becoming harder and harder to find, so I’ve decided not to scrap it without a fight… For now, I’ […]
Show full quote

Well, Socket 8 motherboards are becoming harder and harder to find, so I’ve decided not to scrap it without a fight…
For now, I’ve patched up the damaged traces near the processor. If the board can be saved, I’ll redo the repair using a better technique.

The attachment Druciarstwo_S8.jpg is no longer available

With the traces patched up, the board is showing signs of life.

https://youtu.be/uU8zmEGsPWw

It looks like I’ll be trying to repair the broken section…

Such a tidy repair, super nice

I've done a similar repair around the keyboard port on a 486 board - Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today
In my case there weren't really any traces there except for on the outer layers, it was mostly used for that soldermask table. In my case I ground & sanded back the pcb a bit at the break to make sure no edges of copper were touching, then put some clear nail varnish on top to be able to see clearly that they weren't.

Locutus wrote on 2026-02-26, 23:52:

Hi. Thanks for your replay. I’ve desoldered elements close to the crack and glued it with epoxy. It looks promising, there are […]
Show full quote

Hi.
Thanks for your replay.
I’ve desoldered elements close to the crack and glued it with epoxy.
It looks promising, there are [edit] NO shorts between power lines.

You will not see anything more peculiar today, maybe even tomorrow 🙃

The attachment IMG_3482.jpeg is no longer available

Ah good that you updated, I was very confused when it said there were shorts 🙃. No shorts on the rails should mean you're safe, but there's enough stuff around it that you'll probably have issues with the serial ports or the keyboard. You might still need to grind it back, look for traces on inner layers and repair those then fill in the break. Northwestrepair does this for video cards with damaged PCIe quite often if you want some inspiration.

Locutus wrote on 2026-02-26, 01:43:

For now, I’ve patched up the damaged traces near the processor. If the board can be saved, I’ll redo the repair using a better technique.

The attachment Druciarstwo_S8.jpg is no longer available

Hi, @Locutus,
Very good repair job on these tiny broken traces! What do you mean with "a better technique"?

Thermalwrong wrote on 2026-02-27, 14:29:

Ah good that you updated, I was very confused when it said there were shorts 🙃.

Oh yea (embarrassed), I was posting after midnight, from a phone with (dumb) autocorrection... – what could possibly go wrong?" 😉

aVd wrote on 2026-02-27, 14:40:

Locutus wrote on 2026-02-26, 01:43:

For now, I’ve patched up the damaged traces near the processor. If the board can be saved, I’ll redo the repair using a better technique.

Hi, @Locutus,
Very good repair job on these tiny broken traces! What do you mean with "a better technique"?

Hi.
If all goes well, I'll use flat ribbon cable instead of a wire.

Locutus wrote on 2026-02-27, 14:52:

Hi.
If all goes well, I'll use flat ribbon cable instead of a wire.

Never seen such a repair using flat ribbon cable. It will be very interesting to see what kind of flat ribbon cable will fit over these traces. Wish you luck with the repair!

I’m not entirely satisfied with the results of the repair, but I don’t plan to make any corrections.
In the middle section of the crack, the edges are not perfectly aligned.
Using standard epoxy and then trying to align it was a mistake. It should have been dry-fitted first and then flooded with a very thin resin… oh well, we learn from experience.

From a rough analysis of the traces, it appears that most of the damage affects the lines to the keyboard, RS232, and USB.
Therefore, I repaired only the critical power lines and the PG signal.
This time, I didn’t use wire — I used a flat ribbon to repair the traces.

Houston, we have a problem... and an image !!!
https://youtube.com/shorts/F21Kl7iX3Lg

This is very strange behavior. After powering on, when POST reaches code 31, the system resets — but on the second attempt, POST stops at that step.
Very strange. I would rather expect an infinite reset loop…
I have to check BIOS chip.

I couldn’t resist and checked the BIOS.
The programmer reports an issue with pin 1 (VPP), but the contents can be read without any problem.
Since I had a 128K×8 EEPROM on hand, I downloaded an available BIOS image from retroweb.

xD

Locutus wrote on 2026-02-28, 00:32:

I’m not entirely satisfied with the results of the repair, but I don’t plan to make any corrections. In the middle section of th […]
Show full quote

I’m not entirely satisfied with the results of the repair, but I don’t plan to make any corrections.
In the middle section of the crack, the edges are not perfectly aligned.
Using standard epoxy and then trying to align it was a mistake. It should have been dry-fitted first and then flooded with a very thin resin… oh well, we learn from experience.

From a rough analysis of the traces, it appears that most of the damage affects the lines to the keyboard, RS232, and USB.
Therefore, I repaired only the critical power lines and the PG signal.
This time, I didn’t use wire — I used a flat ribbon to repair the traces.

It doesn't look too bad. Hope that there's no shorts with power distribution planes in the PCB crack. Can you post a picture with the flat ribbon cable repair?

There may be a translation issue - it looks like what is being used is flat wire, not ribbon cable

OH COOL!

When I saw the broken pcb, i wouldnt have even tried to save the board, I would have just used it for parts. great job!

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-28, 03:46:

There may be a translation issue - it looks like what is being used is flat wire, not ribbon cable

looks like copper foil
thumbs up on repair

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-28, 03:46:

There may be a translation issue - it looks like what is being used is flat wire, not ribbon cable

Yep, I think so. That's why I want to see a picture after the repair is done. The usual "flat ribbon cable" is made of round wires with insulation, but there are other types like those in form of "flat strips".