HP Vectra QS/16s not POSTing \ VOGONS

HP Vectra QS/16s not POSTing

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First post, by geiger9

Posted on 2026-03-09, 23:59

geiger9 Offline

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Rank: Newbie
Posts: 80
Joined: 2020-07-22, 02:48
Location: Canada

Hi all. Hoping you can help me with another 386 machine I have, the HP Vectra QS/16s. Anyone know what I could try next?

I took out the PSU and tested it under a load (broken HDD) and checked my voltages with a DMM.

I get no beeps, nothing on screen. I have installed a fresh CMOS battery.

POST card shows the motherboard does have a clock and it's not stuck in reset but no POST codes are ever shown. When I dumped the BIOS chips, it did say Phoenix in there so I should be seeing POST codes right?

I've tried several sticks of RAM now but nothing improves. I have two 1MB sticks of RAM in here currently. The part number on the RAM chip is HY514400J. I checked the datasheet and it's FPM.

There is no math coprocessor installed so I made sure the correct dipswitch is turned off.

I tried installing the Landmark Supersoft Diagnostic Rom (the AT version) and I get no beeps, no nothing, even after waiting 30 seconds. I installed a CGA card to see any video output.

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Reply 1 of 2, by nuno14272

Posted on 2026-03-10, 14:07

nuno14272 Offline

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Rank: Member
Posts: 255
Joined: 2017-09-26, 08:27
Location: Portugal

I have the same system. Q16/S. The system utilities and system bios.
But the same problem.. no post.

Because its such a peculiar system, never get it to work.

1| 386DX40
2| P200mmx, Voodoo 1
3| PIII-450, Voodoo 3 3000

Reply 2 of 2, by geiger9

Posted on 2026-03-16, 21:41

geiger9 Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 80
Joined: 2020-07-22, 02:48
Location: Canada

I'm not properly trained in using an oscilloscope so bear with me.

I probed OE and CE on one of the BIOS ROM chips (I have high and low in my system). When power was applied they started around 5v but never did go down to 0v.

As a sanity check, I probed the reset signal on the ISA slot. I saw it go high then low which I think confirms the CPU is out of reset.

I can't see a way of probing the CPU directly when I have the PSU connected due to the way the system is laid out. The PSU sits right next to the expansion card with the CPU/RAM on it. The cable that connects to the motherboard is not long enough to move the PSU far away enough so that I could probe the pins on the CPU. There are some pins sticking out the back of this proprietary CPU/RAM card but I don't know how they correspond to the pins on the front. The number of pins exposed on the back of the card do not equal the pins on the 386SX.

The BIOS ROM chips are Intel D27C256 chips. If the OE and CE aren't going low, does that mean that the CPU is not executing the code on those chips?

What should I check next?

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