the_ultra_code wrote:That's why you go on Amazon and pay $20 less. :) […]
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dionb wrote:
Yep, that has -5V and nice beefy 3.3V and 5V lines. If (big question) it's reliable and actually can deliver those specs it should be ideal for retro stuff, albeit at a stiff price for a noname low-end thing. An ATX-to-ATX adapter with -5V converter would be cheaper...
That's why you go on Amazon and pay $20 less. 😀
I'll try out the StarTech solution (I mean, it's not like at least a quarter of the parts I have used in both my Pentium 3 and 4 machines are StarTech 🤣); I prefer new vs. old, and purpose-built over adapted, but that's just me. 😀
But I'll keep that pre-2002 rule in mind for PSUs if I plan to do anymore Pentium-and-before builds in the future. You can find plenty of great deals on ebay for great parts. I think today, though, I'm too lazy to do the ebay search. 😀
Thanks!
So, I finally got that StarTech PSU, and hooked it up, flipped the switch, and... nothing. Same damn behavior.
However, I noticed something new. If I remove the CMOS battery, and turn on the motherboard, and flip the PSU's switch, it does nothing (which is good?). Re-insert the battery, and again nothing happens, just like a normal board. Only when I press the power switch connected to the motherboard to normally turn on the board that the same aforementioned behavior re-appears, and, like before, I can only turn off the board by flipping the PSU's switch. See for yourself.
https://youtu.be/4Px8A7YSf2o
It makes me wonder: Could it be a BIOS problem? At this point, I'm grasping at straws. I'm not as knowledgeable and/or skillful as some of you here, and from what I can tell, the motherboard seems to be in great condition. Not dirty, normal-looking caps, no obviously missing parts, etc.
So, I'll get one of those USB BIOS-chip flashers, and manually flash the chip and see if that magically works. If it doesn't... I'll give up on it, and look for an alternative (unless anyone else here has another suggestion). It would be sad, though, to call this board "dead". It seems to be so rare that it was the only one of its kind on ebay. I found another third-party seller selling a similar if not the same version of this board, but for around $200 - IMO too much that it isn't worth it. The only other board that I can see so far that offers most of what this board offers is the Asus SPAX, a SiS-chipset board with one less PCI and ISA slot, but I think that won't cut it (just a gut feeling). I think I'll finally have to break with my year-old tradition of only buying Asus motherboards. Bummer. 😒