VOGONS


First post, by jcarvalho

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hello! I have an pcchips M912 but I think that has fake cache chips, dont have pin headers in JP5 only soldering points. Anyone with success installing real cache and using it?
http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Oldman. … hips/layout.gif
Do I need to reflash bios to have cache settings really doing something?
Thanks!

Last edited by jcarvalho on 2017-08-11, 23:12. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 85, by matze79

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the fake cache has no connection to chipset/cpu so you can solder in what you want, it just don't work 😁

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Reply 3 of 85, by PTherapist

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To clarify what matze79 said - most boards with fake cache have chips that are not physically connected to anything! They're just placed on the board to make them look pretty, with traces that go nowhere. So you could solder in anything you like, it just won't do anything.

Reply 4 of 85, by jcarvalho

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PTherapist wrote:

To clarify what matze79 said - most boards with fake cache have chips that are not physically connected to anything! They're just placed on the board to make them look pretty, with traces that go nowhere. So you could solder in anything you like, it just won't do anything.

I see 😀 . Gonna check those traces with multimeter to check It before risking that hard task

Reply 5 of 85, by Deksor

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Uh, I have this motherboad with real cache, and the traces DO go somewhere. I also have the M915i which had fake cache and once I installed some real chips, it worked !

The only board that had traces getting nowhere I can think of is the M919. No revisions of that board ever had cache while some M912 and some M915i had real cache at some point.

If you really want to make sure that it's connected to somewhere, look at the datasheet of some SRAM chip that went in these sockets to see where is the GND pin and where is the VCC pin. Next, take your motherboard, a multimeter, power on your board and check if there is a voltage between the VCC pin and the GND pin of the fake cache chip. If there is, then it's connected.

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Reply 7 of 85, by jcarvalho

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Hi guys! Good news for PCChips M912 owners!!!
I removed the FAKE FAKE cache IC's, they are only plastic with legs, installed sockets and after 288 soldered pins... It works!!!! I have real cache L2... tested with speedsys!!
I bought this: http://www.ebay.es/itm/f%C3%BCr-386-486-Mainb … 353.m2749.l2649
installed them and now all is working 😀

Reply 8 of 85, by jcarvalho

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I saw some posts about bios update for this mobo but can someone point me the newest one for version 1.7 green pcb black isa or the mobo version doesn't matter?
I just want to put the mobo the best I can.. Bios update would be nice... mine has graphical environment. dated by 1994
Many thanks to all that can help me in this quest of bios 😀

Reply 9 of 85, by cj_reha

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jcarvalho wrote:

I saw some posts about bios update for this mobo but can someone point me the newest one for version 1.7 green pcb black isa or the mobo version doesn't matter?
I just want to put the mobo the best I can.. Bios update would be nice... mine has graphical environment. dated by 1994
Many thanks to all that can help me in this quest of bios 😀

Strange, yours has the AMI WinBIOS?

My white ISA slot model has Award.

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Reply 10 of 85, by jcarvalho

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So... where can I find an updated bios? 😀
After all this work, this mobo will be top notch 🤣
Here is some photos

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My dog wondering what to do next???

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Reply 11 of 85, by moturimi1

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jcarvalho wrote:
hello! I have an pcchips M912 but I think that has fake cache chips, dont have pin headers in JP5 only soldering points. Anyone […]
Show full quote

hello! I have an pcchips M912 but I think that has fake cache chips, dont have pin headers in JP5 only soldering points. Anyone with success installing real cache and using it?
http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Oldman. … hips/layout.gif
Do I need to reflash bios to have cache settings really doing something?
Thanks!

Really, the M912 had fake cache? What was written on the soldered chips?
Like this: http://www.rainbow-software.org/images/hardwa … cheetah_v61.jpg ?

I always thought that only the M918 was meant to have fake Cache ("Write Back" written on the cache modules)
So for the future: I have to watch out more closely!

Last edited by moturimi1 on 2017-08-13, 09:52. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 12 of 85, by Deksor

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I had an M915i that also had fake cache and like I said earlier, I did replace it and it worked ^^

Seems like that as long as the traces do go to the chipset, puting real cache in there will work

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 13 of 85, by jcarvalho

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moturimi1 wrote:
Really, the M912 had fake cache? What was written on the soldered chips? Like this: http://www.rainbow-software.org/images/hardw […]
Show full quote
jcarvalho wrote:
hello! I have an pcchips M912 but I think that has fake cache chips, dont have pin headers in JP5 only soldering points. Anyone […]
Show full quote

hello! I have an pcchips M912 but I think that has fake cache chips, dont have pin headers in JP5 only soldering points. Anyone with success installing real cache and using it?
http://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/Archive/Oldman. … hips/layout.gif
Do I need to reflash bios to have cache settings really doing something?
Thanks!

Really, the M912 had fake cache? What was written on the soldered chips?
Like this: http://www.rainbow-software.org/images/hardwa … cheetah_v61.jpg ?

I always though only the M918 was meant to have fake Cache ("Write Back" written on the cache modules)
Good to know that I have to watch out more closely!

Yes... ultra fake!!! but my layout is different, could be the revision 1.7 and green pcb and black isa
mine is like this
http://www.motherboards.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=88302

It said writeback on cache chips... now they are melted 😀

Reply 14 of 85, by Stiletto

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jcarvalho wrote:

My dog wondering what to do next???

IMG_20161231_134800_BURST1.jpg

So pretty/handsome! 😀

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man, Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you
do the Fandango!" - Queen

Stiletto

Reply 15 of 85, by jcarvalho

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Stiletto wrote:
jcarvalho wrote:

My dog wondering what to do next???

IMG_20161231_134800_BURST1.jpg

So pretty/handsome! 😀

I love her... was abandoned in a dog shelter 11 years ago for some poor excuse of human being... She has more or less 13 years old... She's tired, old and bone problems but she's my baby... I will continue to take care of her

Reply 17 of 85, by fernandes55

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I have a mch12 mch12 v1.7 card. It is causing a keyboard error when you turn it on. It turns on, hence the "k / b error or keyboard error" error and emits strange beeps. I removed the connector for the purpose of replacing it, but when connecting the board again without it the same thing happens, it still gives a keyboard error. I know it's a super old board but I love hardware. Could someone help me with this? Anyone have any idea what this is? I'm from Brazil

Reply 18 of 85, by bjwil1991

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Hate to bring a thread back to life. I found one that has fake L2 cache on eBay and a broken battery holder. Fortunately, I have new battery holders that never been used yet and my plan is to install 9x 32-pin sockets, and the jumpers next to the fake chips, including JP5. Does anyone know what JP5 was used for on that board? I had one that used real L2 cache, the Award BIOS (Y2K bugs and made my 80GB hard drive shoot itself in the platters), and a 120MHz DX4 AMD processor. It was a pretty good board for the time period.

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Reply 19 of 85, by Nexxen

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Reviving this,

had any luck replacing the fake chips?

Edit: btw, do you know the model of these cache chips? I'd like to buy some but I don't know which ones.
There are smd capacitors to solder between banks, I haven't identified them yet, if you know V and µF I'd be glad to have the info.

PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K