does it have a jumper to disable onboard video? you could try making your own DIY VGA dongle to see picture from i810

I don't see a jumper to disable that and at least based on manual, there is a 'Init AGP Display First' setting in the Bios that lets you pick Onboard or PCI, but PCI slot is the default and I've cleared the CMOS, so it should drop back to that. I'm wondering if it might be the RAM. I've got PC133 SDRAM and I wonder if it needs PC100. The board can set the FSB to 133 with a 'CPU Booster' that plugs into the Slot 1, which I don't have, so I'm wondering if it's that. I've ordered some PC100, but will need to wait a few days for that to show before I can test that out.

I just assumed the PC133 RAM could fall back to PC100, but I'm beginning to learn that 'assuming' anything with this older hardware is asking for trouble.

try other gpu cards, i had trouble in the past running tnt2 m64 in several motherboard. and yes try pc100. i have a few board that didnt fall back to pc100 and some board dont like some memory ram brand for no reason.

https://blog.theretroweb.com/2024/01/20/award … ost-codes-list/

Looks like memory.
Try different slots.
Might just be bad memory too. I got a bunch of about 30 sticks a while back and about half were faulty in some way.

If this motherboard has been unused/in storage for some time it could have developed some oxidation in the memory slots. That might be cured as easily as repeatedly removing and inserting a stick of memory in the slots. A visual inspection of the contacts in the memory slots would be in order.

Thanks for all the ideas. Have some additional memory and a GPU on the way. Will also check the slots and see if they need any cleaning.

Does it still beep with no graphic card plugged?

> I get the normal boot 'beep', then a second or two later I'll hear what sounds like the RAM test running through, then about 6-7 seconds later I hear basically a 'Machinegun' beep code

the machinegun beep might be computer crashing after semi successful boot init. I dont remember ever hearing rapid beeping when BIOS ram count test fails.

>CPU booster

the hell ?!?! looking in the manual its just a Bus terminator

making VGA header to see whats on the screen would be the fastest way to diagnose. Hearing ram test means BIOS was able to initialize some (so build in) graphics.

rasz_pl wrote:

the machinegun beep might be computer crashing after semi successful boot init. I dont remember ever hearing rapid beeping when BIOS ram count test fails.

This is my bet what is happening.

It is a while now, but I failed on one BIOS flash in one Socket A board couple of years ago. System started to post normally, but soon stopped and threw in some BIOS checksum and whatnot errors and went to a forced BIOS flash state. When it went to this error state, it beeped rapidly to the point I plugged beeper off while I fiddled with the thing and tried to reflash the BIOS (was unable and had to use programmer).

I’m not saying that the board has a failed BIOS, but symptoms point to a similar situation in a sense where post goes at least partly OK and then encounters something that fails.

So, if I do just CPU, I get a long beep, pause, long beep. Once I put the RAM in, with or without the GPU, I get the first beep, a second or two delay, then a quick run up of what sounds like RAM testing (though it's pretty fast, so maybe that's not actual testing) and then a long delay of 7-8 seconds before the continual beeps.

I did try a VGA header that I had off an old GPU with a breakout VGA port and wasn't able to get any video. I also notice that the default CMOS setting is to init the PCI GPU first and since I've cleared the CMOS, so I _assume_ that's what should be getting initialized first, but can't be sure until I get in. The PCI/RAM slots don't appear to be dirty, but I've also tried cleaning the contacts on the RAM and GPU.

I'll just have wait for the extra RAM and GPU to show up to see if I can get it working and I've also ordered a VGA header/adapter. I did speak to the seller and he says he tested it and it was working (using the VGA header) before he shipped it out and there didn't seem to be any damage in transit, so, it's gotta be something with my parts, but worst case, I can return it if need be.

CPU booster most likely means that the terminator card has so called B21 mod (BSEL pins arranged in a way it sees it as 133 MHz FSB CPU).

In case anyone wants to hear the actual beep codes I'm hearing. 😀 I stopped the recording, but it will keep going if I let it.

Sounds like the keyboard buffer overflowing tbh, but as the link I posted said, endless beeping =memory.

Try washing and drying the board. Doesn't hurt.
I prefer a dishwasher without soap.
But a toothbrush and normal soapy water is good too.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/azza-8 … t-pt-810dt#docs

Another thing. Check all jumpers.
I'd recommend setting fsb to 66 at least initially to see if it boots.

yeah thats not ram test, that sounds like stuck keyboard key 😮

Just a quick check: you're using a Celeron 700 Coppermine CPU, which uses the FC-PGA pinout. The 810DTC definitely supports Coppermine/FC-PGA. Do you know for sure that the 810DTA also does - and that it's not a PPGA-only socket?

If you have a slot 1 CPU or Mendocino Celeron CPU, it might be worth checking what it does with one of those.

Edit: just listened to boot sequence, which doesn't sound like wrong CPU type (you'd not get the first 'happy' beep) - agree that it sounds like a stuck key. Try a different keyboard, or indeed no keyboard (the latter should give a different beep code complaining about keyboard error).

MeatballB wrote on 2024-10-03, 00:12:

[...]

I just assumed the PC133 RAM could fall back to PC100, but I'm beginning to learn that 'assuming' anything with this older hardware is asking for trouble.

This is i810, which is not particularly picky/troublesome in the RAM department. It always helps to focus on specs of the specifc chipset. This one supports chips up to 128Mb, but has a number of artificial limitation imposed on it by Intel to keep it low-end:
- max total RAM 512MB
- max RAM speed 100MHz (even if CPU FSB is 133MHz 😦 )

The only incompatibility is with non-JEDEC compliant DIMMs with 16Mx4/32Mx4 chips on them (sometimes sold as "Via only" memory). Any JEDEC compliant PC100 or PC133 DIMM will work, although if the DIMM uses 256Mb chips, only half the capacity will be used. So whatever your problem is, it's not that the DIMMs are rated to 133MHz. It could still be that they are x4 designs, but that's unlikely as you'd get memory error beeps instead of the one happy beep.

For that matter, DIMMs don't have any kind of clock on board. They are run by the controller at a speed it chooses. The rating is purely the max speed at which stable operation is guaranteed. See it like a speed limit on a road. You can choose to drive slower, which will always be fine, and you can choose to drive faster, which might work, but you risk crashing. The DIMMs do have an SPD EPROM that tells the memory controller their specs. See that as the speed limit sign. In general it's a good idea to obey the signs, but again, it's up to the driver.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-10-03, 06:02:

yeah thats not ram test, that sounds like stuck keyboard key 😮

it doesnt sound like a beep. i vote for keyboard key stuck. Change your keyboard. If you have only one, press all keys several times, try to find a stuck key.
Very strange sound indeed

renejr902 wrote on 2024-10-03, 06:25:

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-10-03, 06:02:

yeah thats not ram test, that sounds like stuck keyboard key 😮

it doesnt sound like a beep. i vote for keyboard key stuck. Change your keyboard. If you have only one, press all keys several times, try to find a stuck key.
Very strange sound indeed

IMO stuck key doesn’t explain the no video issue. I have had keys pressed at post on my different computers probably a dozen millions times during my lifetime, and all it has caused at worst are keyboard errors and halted post process.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on 2024-10-03, 07:17:

renejr902 wrote on 2024-10-03, 06:25:

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-10-03, 06:02:

yeah thats not ram test, that sounds like stuck keyboard key 😮

it doesnt sound like a beep. i vote for keyboard key stuck. Change your keyboard. If you have only one, press all keys several times, try to find a stuck key.
Very strange sound indeed

IMO stuck key doesn’t explain the no video issue. I have had keys pressed at post on my different computers probably a dozen millions times during my lifetime, and all it has caused at worst are keyboard errors and halted post process.

you're right about that. But like i said earlier it should test another card than this tnt2 m64, he just bought others videocards that he wait for delivery. Since 20 years i had several times problem with testing motherboard with tnt 2 m64. i have a lot of them, agp and pci and a lot of motherboard dont boot with them, but mostly on p1 and p2. when you test motherboards very often you need at least 5 videocards of agp and pci of different brand or model. in my other topic with my 486 everex it took 3 pci videocards do get one working with this board, but i know a 486 with pci its not something very compatible. i had several compaq in my life p1 p2 and p3 that dont work with 1/3 of my videocards and all of them were good. It was a long time ago, but when i was young in 80 to 90 my father had a box of 20 isa videocards to test not working pc for repair. sometime it took 2 or 3 cards to get one working correctly, but maybe my father stock was not very good 😀 🤣 Today i'm not working at repairing computer, i'm just a vintage pc and laptop collector and gamer 😀 Note: i loved my father box full of mfm 10mb 20mb 40mb hdd 🥰

Thanks for all the good ideas, have tried a few other things:

Tried a new CPU, Celeron 366/Mendocino, and gotten the same result/beeping.
Tried pressing all the keys to see if there was a stuck key and even pulled the keyboard completely to check if it was a stuck key, same result/beeping.
Changed the toggle switch for the FSB from Auto and tried to force both 66MHz and 100MHz, same result/beeping.