Hi!
I also have Northgate Elegance based on Python chipset - the same as tge one @WJG6260 have but... mine is equipped with socket 4.
It seems that both even use exactly the same bios. And I have two issues with it:
1. CPU is not recognized well (it's pentium 133 overdrive for socket 4)
2. Can't run vlb graphics card that I really want - issue that it boots but no screen. It was mentioned also on previous page by @WJG6260
That being said, the PCI problems did affect my Northgate board as well. I cannot get the board to boot with a PCI video card and display an output. It will boot, but there is no video displayed on the screen. The board does work fine with VLB and ISA cards, and that's fine. I figure that it's something related to the IRQ configurations and the Edge/Level interrupt trigger settings in the BIOS. I have yet to confirm that theory, but it appears the SuperMicro can handle resource allocation on PCI cards much better; again, that's possibly attributable to that Phoenix BIOS, but I am not sure.
Here is detailed description:
The build is:
-Socket 4 VLB motherboard Northgate Elegance
-Black S3Trio64V+ VLB graphic card
-Pentium Overdrive 133 (socket4)
-Black RAM 50ns (4x16MB) FPM
-1024kB 12ns cashe
Additional info:
- Black RAM is newly made by my friend (PCB design from scratch based on Micron datasheet)
- Black S3Trio VLB is also newly made (but project is not ours)
The problem:
When runs Black S3Tio64V+ VLB with Black RAM 50ns - PC tries to boot (one short beep and hdd LED blinks) but there is no display on monitor.
We tried as follows:
- Change cache to normal 256kB 15ns / didn't help
- Change ram chips on black pcb to 60ns / didn't help
- Change CPU to normal Pentium60 / didn't help
We have tried other graphic cards:
- When using ISA TVGA8900D graphic card with black RAM - works fine
- When using other PCI or VLB graphic card with black RAM - doesn't work (boots, no display on monitor)
- When using other RAM modules with black S3Trio64 VLB - works fine
- When using other RAM modules with other graphics - some doesnt' work (boots, no display) ie S3Trio64V+ PCI, S3Virge, some other works fine (S3Trio32, MAtrox Millenium II)
We also tried black S3Trio and black RAM modules in another mobo (FIC 486-VIP-IO2 with PODP5V83) - works fine
So black ram have some affect on this mobo that it can only run ISA graphics card?!?!?
Possible solutions:
- Different RAM pcb layout
- Different Mobo BIOS
Info on bios:
This motherboard comes both with socket 4 and 5. 1:1 identical motherboard but different socket. As far as I know, but I'm not 1000% sure, the bios is exactly the same as the one from socket 5 version. But maybe I'm wrong and there is other bios somewhere than the one from socket 5 version from theretroweb… (I've checked and the one I'm using is 100% the same as the one from socket 5 version)
So I'm looking for:
1. Solution for both of my issues
2. Some other bios than V0.2 weight 128KB
3. Some other layout for our 72pin 16MB FPM module - cant find similar one on github or anywhere else so far.
