VOGONS


My first retro PC

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First post, by 987computer

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The hardware specs are as follows:

  • Motherboard: Biostar M7VIW (Socket 462)
  • CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2100+ (1.73 GHz)
  • RAM: Kingston (512 MB, DDR 266, PC2100)
  • GPU: ATI Rage128 Pro (16 MB VRAM)
  • PSU: Maxpower PX-300W

Upon putting together only the critical components listed above, it wouldn't even pass the POST.

5 months after ordering the parts off of eBay, I bought myself a POST card off of Amazon, it said "C100" (the first half being what many sources say is the memory being the issue).

So I ordered another set of the same amount of memory (the brand being Samsung, with virtually no other hardware differences) for that reason, hoping it was the first set.
No dice. Nada.

I've even been messing with jumpers and stuff like that, still the same result.

Before I even bought the diagnostic card, I recorded the PC speaker's tones (attached here) in hopes that someone would even know what that meant.

I've already spent over $100 (including the shipping costs) and I'm not willing to spend even more on hardware from a different era.

Lastly, before I even ordered the other parts, I've looked over and over on the motherboard's documentation some of the core parts that were technically compatible with it just to verify that they would work.

Reply 1 of 14, by kolderman

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Does it display anything on the screen at all?

Reply 2 of 14, by 987computer

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kolderman wrote on 2021-06-21, 06:31:

Does it display anything on the screen at all?

Nope, not even once (no outputs whatsoever).

Reply 3 of 14, by kolderman

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Do you have any way to try a different graphics card of any kind? Or CPU? Generally following the process of elimination is the best approach in this kind of situation.

Are the caps OK? This generation of board is notorious for bad caps from the great capacitor plague. Did you reset the bios? (usually by shorting jumper pins, the manual should say how).

Reply 4 of 14, by 987computer

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I don't have any other GPU (AGP or PCI) at the moment (though I may also consider getting a PCI video card one day, just in case).
Same goes for the CPU (I'll probably look further in the mobo's documentation later just in either case).

The caps on the other hand, they seem to be okay, haven't noticed any of what The 8-Bit Guy calls "cap juice", nor were there any noticeable bulges
(as far as I can tell, but then again, I've yet to notice it in person).
I may attach a picture of the motherboard later whenever I get a chance to take it on my phone.

As for the CMOS jumper...I've changed jumpers multiple times (including the one you mentioned) already before even posting the issue
(as well as going so far as to replace the CR2032 battery with a new one), and you could easily guess the result (no diff).

Reply 5 of 14, by BitWrangler

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An early BIOS for that board could conceivably not like anything faster than a palomino 1800 AFAICR 2100s were fresh out when KT333 was fresh out. If it's a TbredA or B then probably needs new BIOS even if a late board. Via boards I had never seemed that picky about it though, they'd just display CPU wrong but still boot, and maybe it would be running too hot if voltage wasn't set manually.

What cooler are we using? Hoping it's not one of the notorious core crushers.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 6 of 14, by 987computer

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-06-22, 01:46:

An early BIOS for that board could conceivably not like anything faster than a palomino 1800 AFAICR 2100s were fresh out when KT333 was fresh out. If it's a TbredA or B then probably needs new BIOS even if a late board. Via boards I had never seemed that picky about it though, they'd just display CPU wrong but still boot, and maybe it would be running too hot if voltage wasn't set manually.

What cooler are we using? Hoping it's not one of the notorious core crushers.

This right here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274250433073

I didn't want to put it on there unless it passed the POST (the Adaptec fan was simply used to indicate some things before I ordered that POST card),
mainly because I didn't want to waste thermal paste only to get the same issues I already mentioned before.

Also, I never leave the motherboard on for more than a minute for that reason (most of the time it's less than 15 seconds before powering it back off).

Reply 7 of 14, by bZbZbZ

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Okay, you've tried different two sticks of RAM, so it's probably not the memory.

If you plug the CPU fan into the motherboard, does the CPU fan spin up?

Do you have your motherboard connected to a PC Speaker? Sometimes if you get beeps during POST errors, you can deduce what the problem is...

Reply 8 of 14, by BitWrangler

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987computer wrote on 2021-06-22, 02:15:
This right here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274250433073 […]
Show full quote

This right here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274250433073

I didn't want to put it on there unless it passed the POST (the Adaptec fan was simply used to indicate some things before I ordered that POST card),
mainly because I didn't want to waste thermal paste only to get the same issues I already mentioned before.

Also, I never leave the motherboard on for more than a minute for that reason (most of the time it's less than 15 seconds before powering it back off).

Unfortunately, socket A chips can fry in less time than that, if you want them to live, always fit heatsink before powering.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 9 of 14, by Joseph_Joestar

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Your PSU might not have enough amps to power that CPU.

See here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efK7mw8eYiE

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Athlon64 3400+ / Asus K8V-MX / 5900XT / Audigy2
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 970 / X-Fi

Reply 10 of 14, by 987computer

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bZbZbZ wrote on 2021-06-22, 02:47:

Okay, you've tried different two sticks of RAM, so it's probably not the memory.

If you plug the CPU fan into the motherboard, does the CPU fan spin up?

Do you have your motherboard connected to a PC Speaker? Sometimes if you get beeps during POST errors, you can deduce what the problem is...

The CPU fan does spin up, until the PC speaker beeps play (which I've already attached a recording of).

I couldn't really understand what the beeps actually meant, despite the documentation you provided.

As for the PC speaker itself, it's been connected all the time to the motherboard since I ordered a pack of them off Amazon.

Reply 11 of 14, by 987computer

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BitWrangler wrote on 2021-06-22, 02:53:
987computer wrote on 2021-06-22, 02:15:
This right here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274250433073 […]
Show full quote

This right here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/274250433073

I didn't want to put it on there unless it passed the POST (the Adaptec fan was simply used to indicate some things before I ordered that POST card),
mainly because I didn't want to waste thermal paste only to get the same issues I already mentioned before.

Also, I never leave the motherboard on for more than a minute for that reason (most of the time it's less than 15 seconds before powering it back off).

Unfortunately, socket A chips can fry in less time than that, if you want them to live, always fit heatsink before powering.

I'll keep that in mind regardless of such.

Reply 12 of 14, by bZbZbZ

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My apologies, I missed the recording you attached to your original post... I think it was removed by one of my browser extensions. I listened to your recording... since your Biostar M7VIW has an AWARD BIOS... the closest description in the table might be "Repeated beeps alternating high & low frequency" which suggests a CPU error. 🙁

Reply 13 of 14, by 987computer

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bZbZbZ wrote on 2021-06-22, 03:12:

My apologies, I missed the recording you attached to your original post... I think it was removed by one of my browser extensions. I listened to your recording... since your Biostar M7VIW has an AWARD BIOS... the closest description in the table might be "Repeated beeps alternating high & low frequency" which suggests a CPU error. 🙁

I don't blame ya, we all have that issue.

Also, I hope you're right on the CPU part...I'll probably do some more research on what CPUs are actually compatible in this case.

I think I might keep the CPU I still have just in case I get a different mobo that has compatibility with that particular one.