SPZ - The Last Dog

Discussion about systems that do not use the K6-x processors.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

I am in agreement King. Checked the board very carefully for any signs of having been used and didn't find any. Particularly the spring thingy mounted on the keyboard port is in pristine condition; and that is one of the first things to get bent to some degree or another; and very difficult to get back into its proper shape. In any case here are some better closeups of the caps on the used board for comparison.

Image

Image

Image

Image

It looks like the two boards have caps from either different manufacturers, or if from the same manufacturer, then from a different timeframe.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

YESSS!!!!!!!!! THANKS URANIUM 235!!!!!! Cost a bunch though! Got to be very careful w/ this sucker.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
User avatar
Uranium235
Senior K6'er
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:59 pm

Post by Uranium235 »

The secret must be out that the Gigabyte GA-6VA7+ is the hottest AT board available. It's good your getting a spare for parts at least. Congrats! :)
Prime
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Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:51 pm
Location: Alberta, Canada

Fastest AT Board

Post by Prime »

A company named Commell made a Socket 478 Pentium 4 AT board. This rare unit may be the ultimate AT board. Here is a link to board specs.
http://www.bwi.com/prod/6255#
:)
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

RE: Fastest AT Board

Post by Jim »

Very interesting. Didn't see a keyboard port in that pic, but presumably thats just because the pic is "representational". How did you come to know about that?
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Prime
Newbie K6'er
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:51 pm
Location: Alberta, Canada

RE: Fastest AT Board

Post by Prime »

On the specs page, it mentions that the keyboard is an internal connector, cable option. I happened to come across a link to this motherboard on a Tech forum while googling for a different AT motherboard. I was suprised to see it, I thought socket 370 was the end of the line for Baby AT's.
Prime
Newbie K6'er
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:51 pm
Location: Alberta, Canada

RE: Fastest AT Board

Post by Prime »

Here is another link to a P4XB Baby AT board.
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... f%26sa%3DG
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

RE: Fastest AT Board

Post by Jim »

That one was a bit difficult to make sense out of. Still, it is interesting. I know absolutely nothing about P4s, cause I have never paid the slightest attention to them. The FSB reported for that board is quite impressive in AT terms. but I don't know how high the "Northwood" goes, nor do I know if "Socket 478" is the one Intel abandoned because of problems. (According to a tech in a local store, they did abandon one for that reason, --- 423??) The 2 PCI slots is a bit limited, though the presence of the AGP slot helps offset that somewhat. Did not see any indication that 4x AGP was supported though you would think that a board like that should. Probably keep my eyes open for 1 of those, though it will be hard to find since E-Bay started suppressing search for listings that don't specify international shipping. (which sucks).

EDIT : Correction, the first link you provided does specify 2x, 4x AGP so it is looking better.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

RE: Fastest AT Board

Post by Jim »

Well for those who haven't figured it out already, I am now the happy owner of not one; but two Gigabyte GA-6VA7+ boards. The bad news is one of them, (obtained free), is supposedly dead. The good news is what killed it was a bios flash gone wrong. That was compounded I believe by attempting to revive the board with a replacement bios chip, which unfortunately was the wrong kind for the board. What all that means to me is that essentially it is a software issue; i.e. there is, (hopefully), no damaged hardware; all that has to be done is to get the proper bios installed and the board responding once again. Apparently the previous owner unsuccessfully tried taking a bios chip out of a good board to see if he could revive the board that way; but he did not go into details of how he went about that.

If it was me, I would stick the good chip in, clear the bios; stick in a PCI video card, some RAM and a processor then try it. Don't know if that will work, cause I haven't tried it yet; but I will; and I am open to any other suggestions as to how best to get the board working again.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
User avatar
Uranium235
Senior K6'er
Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:59 pm

Post by Uranium235 »

That would be great if the bad board was fixable.

The Commell or Commate P4XB looks very interesting. I'm sure it is very hard to find one though. Thanks for the links Prime. :)
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Uranium235
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Posts: 183
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:59 pm

Post by Uranium235 »

Here's another Gigabyte GA-6VA7+ for sale on Ebay. It will be interesting to see how much money this one fetches.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0085327510
Jim
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Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

That one went for $356.01; another one just went for the same price; and there is yet another with the bid sitting at about a dollar, w/ 5 days to run.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

The third Gigabyte GA-6VA7+ arrived Saturday, (in filthy condition; - dust bunnies everywhere). Have not had a chance to test it yet; but assuming it works, that will be 2 good ones plus the bios flash casualty. EDIT : 3rd board tested and found working.

Have not been able to get the second one working yet though. Had assumed since the problem originated with a bad bios flash, that it could be solved by replacing the bios chip. Such has not been the case. Put a good chip in it and it still won't boot. "Q" : What could a bios flash do besides screw the bios chip ?
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
User avatar
theEMP
Senior K6'er
Posts: 121
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:28 am

Post by theEMP »

have you tried wipecmos from UBCD? ( http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ )

Try that on your bad bios chip a couple of times, I've read that it can help.
Jim
K6'er Elite
Posts: 1745
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by Jim »

Thanks; problem is the board won't boot at all. Not w/ the original chip, (that was bad flashed by the original owner), not with the replacement chip that I took out of another GA-6VA7+, and now , having put that chip back in the board it came out of, it doesn't want to boot either!! Worse still, I flashed the third board myself to the latest bios, and though it would boot, shutdown, and reboot last night, it won't now. These are not very easy boards to work with. It took some fooling around with various video cards and processors to get them to work at all. Once working, however, they seemed alright; and I could put other video cards and processors in them and they would work. Next day, different story. Not sure what is going on; but when I hooked up SP5 again just now; it "found new hardware" - my monitor!!
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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