IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 10:55:

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2024-09-13, 10:09:

Take a photo of the motherboard and PC Cards so we can help you identify it and help fix problems by referencing the motherboard manual.

I got you!
Also, i have a second controller ISA card (not pictured) which was also with the pc! (Not in it though, just came with) which is near identical to the other one in the PC.

Unless I'm very mistaken, you seem to have a floppy drive cable connected to the VESA feature connector on your video card. That's not where it belongs. No idea what expected behaviour of system should be with it hooked up like that, but at best your floppy won't work, at worst it will prevent it from booting...

You need to connect your floppy drive to a floppy disk controller (FDC) or a multi I/O card, like th second controller card.

Maybe an idea to also photograph all the ISA cards. I see a video card in front, an Intel 8/16 NIC in the back, but can't make out the middle card in the system.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-09-13, 13:29:

For a 486 with 30 pin SIMMs, it's got the wrong number of memory modules installed at the moment. You either need 4 or 8, seeing 6 in that picture, leaving a bank only half populated, this may be causing hangups. So try removing the two next to the already empty slots.... but since that is labelled bank 0, we might have to move the set of four over from bank 1, some boards are fussier than others.

Does this look right?

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2024-09-13, 12:04:

Motherboard manual link: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/J/J … 86-G486SLC.html And https://theretroweb.com/motherboard […]
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Motherboard manual link:
https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/J/J … 86-G486SLC.html
And
https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/30341.pdf

That's not the right motherboard. OP's motherboard is a G486SLD-I and has a different layout, the rightmost slot is 8-bit ISA and has the RTC chip where the 16-bit extension would be, keyboard controller is next to the keyboard port, and the BIOS chip is next to the leftmost slot. Unfortunately searching for that model doesn't bring up any hits.

The chipset is a Symphony SL82C461 but none of the boards on RetroWeb match the layout of this motherboard. Probably not too important at this stage since we're still looking for signs of life (follow the other suggestions and get a working speaker).

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 06:20:

there are two VGA cards, both will not display. And no capslock input on the keyboard. 🙁

I am using a relatively modern Vga/hdmi samsung lcd monitor, and it seems to be a little picky sometimes, but the vga on it is compatible with both ports. Should i get a era-appropriate vga crt? (which i kinda want to do)

2 VGA cards on a 486 is unusual and one the pictures does show a card to the left of the one the monitor is plugged into with a DE-15 VGA port. Another picture shows "P/N: ET4-IMDB-Z" but again nothing comes up in a search. The card to the right has an edge connector with a ribbon cable going somewhere (also obscuring the main IC) and 2 jumpers below the serial number sticker that appear to be shorted.

As you have cards out anyway, please identify the 2 cards with DE-15 VGA connectors. If you can't identify them, post clear pictures (such that the writing on the ICs can be read).

What's the provenance of the system? Was it known to be working before you cleaned it out? The shorted pins on one of the cards and the odd 6 SIMM configuration (good spot by @BitWrangler) seems to indicate that the system may have just been thrown together with whatever parts were available before it was put into storage.

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 22:52:

Does this look right?

Yes, you also need to ensure that all 4 SIMMs are identical.

jtchip wrote on 2024-09-13, 22:59:

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 22:52:

Does this look right?

Yes, you also need to ensure that all 4 SIMMs are identical.

Yes, all of them are a Goldstar simm chip

jtchip wrote on 2024-09-13, 22:55:

That's not the right motherboard. OP's motherboard is a G486SLD-I and has a different layout, the rightmost slot is 8-bit ISA an […]
Show full quote

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2024-09-13, 12:04:

Motherboard manual link: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/J/J … 86-G486SLC.html And https://theretroweb.com/motherboard […]
Show full quote

Motherboard manual link:
https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/J/J … 86-G486SLC.html
And
https://theretroweb.com/motherboard/manual/30341.pdf

That's not the right motherboard. OP's motherboard is a G486SLD-I and has a different layout, the rightmost slot is 8-bit ISA and has the RTC chip where the 16-bit extension would be, keyboard controller is next to the keyboard port, and the BIOS chip is next to the leftmost slot. Unfortunately searching for that model doesn't bring up any hits.

The chipset is a Symphony SL82C461 but none of the boards on RetroWeb match the layout of this motherboard. Probably not too important at this stage since we're still looking for signs of life (follow the other suggestions and get a working speaker).

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 06:20:

there are two VGA cards, both will not display. And no capslock input on the keyboard. 🙁

I am using a relatively modern Vga/hdmi samsung lcd monitor, and it seems to be a little picky sometimes, but the vga on it is compatible with both ports. Should i get a era-appropriate vga crt? (which i kinda want to do)

2 VGA cards on a 486 is unusual and one the pictures does show a card to the left of the one the monitor is plugged into with a DE-15 VGA port. Another picture shows "P/N: ET4-IMDB-Z" but again nothing comes up in a search. The card to the right has an edge connector with a ribbon cable going somewhere (also obscuring the main IC) and 2 jumpers below the serial number sticker that appear to be shorted.

As you have cards out anyway, please identify the 2 cards with DE-15 VGA connectors. If you can't identify them, post clear pictures (such that the writing on the ICs can be read).

What's the provenance of the system? Was it known to be working before you cleaned it out? The shorted pins on one of the cards and the odd 6 SIMM configuration (good spot by @BitWrangler) seems to indicate that the system may have just been thrown together with whatever parts were available before it was put into storage.

Hm, i got it from a teacher whrn he was cleaning out an old wardrobe in the school (just passing by when i saw it, i believe its a local generic brand 486 from australia.

Although i do feel like they’ve also chucked in some stuff that was lying around into it before it went into storage.

The metal casing is also gone

Only the computer though, although the mouse had come from one of the computer labs at the school (pictured)

I dunno the history of it. But i do believe that there is a photo of it in the 1999 school yearbook
(The keyboard i got at the canberra vintage computer expo 2024)

dionb wrote on 2024-09-13, 22:51:

Unless I'm very mistaken, you seem to have a floppy drive cable connected to the VESA feature connector on your video card. That […]
Show full quote

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 10:55:

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2024-09-13, 10:09:

Take a photo of the motherboard and PC Cards so we can help you identify it and help fix problems by referencing the motherboard manual.

I got you!
Also, i have a second controller ISA card (not pictured) which was also with the pc! (Not in it though, just came with) which is near identical to the other one in the PC.

Unless I'm very mistaken, you seem to have a floppy drive cable connected to the VESA feature connector on your video card. That's not where it belongs. No idea what expected behaviour of system should be with it hooked up like that, but at best your floppy won't work, at worst it will prevent it from booting...

You need to connect your floppy drive to a floppy disk controller (FDC) or a multi I/O card, like th second controller card.

Maybe an idea to also photograph all the ISA cards. I see a video card in front, an Intel 8/16 NIC in the back, but can't make out the middle card in the system.

Sorry for the wait!

Here are the cards!

Ill send the rest in a follow up message

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 23:20:

Sorry for the wait! […]
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dionb wrote on 2024-09-13, 22:51:

Unless I'm very mistaken, you seem to have a floppy drive cable connected to the VESA feature connector on your video card. That […]
Show full quote

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-13, 10:55:

I got you!
Also, i have a second controller ISA card (not pictured) which was also with the pc! (Not in it though, just came with) which is near identical to the other one in the PC.

Unless I'm very mistaken, you seem to have a floppy drive cable connected to the VESA feature connector on your video card. That's not where it belongs. No idea what expected behaviour of system should be with it hooked up like that, but at best your floppy won't work, at worst it will prevent it from booting...

You need to connect your floppy drive to a floppy disk controller (FDC) or a multi I/O card, like th second controller card.

Maybe an idea to also photograph all the ISA cards. I see a video card in front, an Intel 8/16 NIC in the back, but can't make out the middle card in the system.

Sorry for the wait!

Here are the cards!

Ill send the rest in a follow up message

Other photo

OK, so this indeed has 2 VGA cards, a Trident 8900C and a Tseng ET4000AX. This is not allowed in an ISA system, both cards will be trying to populate memory address C0000h for the video BIOS and decoding the VGA port IO range. I suggest sticking to the Trident for initial tests, the ET4000 is much faster but you can switch to that once the rest of the system is confirmed to work.

You can try powering it up again with just the Trident VGA card (and don't plug anything into the edge connector). If it still doesn't work, you'll have to get a speaker. The network card is probably pointless unless you have thinnet cable or an AUI.

(and there's no need to apologise for the wait, this isn't a live chat)

Hmm… it appears that since moved (and removed) sthe SIMMs memory cards, and powered it on, the 486’s HDD doesn’t seem to want to spin 😠
Could the previous setup be the correct way?

At this point we're testing to see if the motherboard even works so only install the bare minimum, CPU, RAM, and video card, nothing else (no IO controller). @keenmaster486 did suggest taking everything out (apart from the CPU), which is the real barebones test, but I assume you still don't have a speaker.

jtchip wrote on 2024-09-14, 00:45:

At this point we're testing to see if the motherboard even works so only install the bare minimum, CPU, RAM, and video card, nothing else (no IO controller). @keenmaster486 did suggest taking everything out (apart from the CPU), which is the real barebones test, but I assume you still don't have a speaker.

No speaker unfortunately:(
But… i am going to try that config in a sec!
Is there anything wrong with this pic that i have to tweak?

IBMPCATFAN1984 wrote on 2024-09-14, 03:46:

No speaker unfortunately:( But… i am going to try that config in a sec! Is there anything wrong with this pic that i have to tw […]
Show full quote

jtchip wrote on 2024-09-14, 00:45:

At this point we're testing to see if the motherboard even works so only install the bare minimum, CPU, RAM, and video card, nothing else (no IO controller). @keenmaster486 did suggest taking everything out (apart from the CPU), which is the real barebones test, but I assume you still don't have a speaker.

No speaker unfortunately:(
But… i am going to try that config in a sec!
Is there anything wrong with this pic that i have to tweak?

Didnt display 🙁

Accidentally sent the same message twice

Keyboard still only blinking once and no reaction to numlock? that means BIOS is not running = CPU not running.
Might be power, might be jumpers, might be motherboard/cpu defect.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-09-14, 04:52:

Keyboard still only blinking once and no reaction to numlock? that means BIOS is not running = CPU not running.
Might be power, might be jumpers, might be motherboard/cpu defect.

Ive got a clear photo of just the motherboard right here! Enjoy!

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-09-14, 04:52:

Keyboard still only blinking once and no reaction to numlock? that means BIOS is not running = CPU not running.
Might be power, might be jumpers, might be motherboard/cpu defect.

Ooh, may this also have something to do with it-
Inside the PSU, one of the really huge capacitors has leaked electrolytes onto the board of the PSU, not much, but enough to be quite noticeable. Is r
This the reason why?

Lol
Yeah... Don't use that.

Odds are if you get a multimeter, one or more of the voltage is missing or way out of spec

Something looks sus about the CPU.
Are you able to take a closer pic of it and the socket?

On your pic the chip's orientation dot is (relative to the board) top front.
But it kinda looks like the socket orientation cut-out is top rear.

Never mind. Was looking at thumbs, not full.

myne wrote on 2024-09-14, 06:16:

Lol
Yeah... Don't use that.

Odds are if you get a multimeter, one or more of the voltage is missing or way out of spec

So, the reason why it wont boot is that the PSU has suffered 10-20 years of dust, leaky caps and disuse in a college wardrobe?

NO! It couldn’t be!
(Jk)

I had a feeling something was off when i saw that board, just needed someone to comfirm 😀
Sooo… new PSU? New internal speaker?
Sounds like a solid-ish plan