>Just by looking how do I tell EDO Ram from other's?
Usually its hard to tell jsut by looking if the chips on the SIMM are very
thin its usually an indicator of EDO. If there are two chips on the SIMM
whose longest dimension runs parallel to the SIMM itself its a sign, but not
always.
>ram. Now when I boot I can hear the HD working and so on. But the video
>does not work. I've tried three different cards and three different
>montors. Any ideas?
Did you change a jumper somewhere ? Never change jumpers without the manual
without writing down all the jumper settings or taking a photograph of the
board first.
First try turning it on with the INS key held down to restore the BIOS. If
that fails, try it holding down the DEL key.
Or try running the board with just one 72 pin SIMM, try either slot. Try a
2 or 8 meg 72 pin SIMM. Just removing the 4 30 pin SIMMs and reinstalling
them might fix it. Does the board beep when it is powered up ?
If those dont work, I would say to try to erase the CMOS. Hopefully there
is a marked jumper somewhere. If there is a removable battery, note the
position of the red wire and remove it for two or five minutes then
reinstall it. If there is a socketed Dallas or Motorola real time clock
chip, note pin 1 remove it and set it pins down for a while on a metal
surface like the power supply, then reinstall. Put a small weight (say 5
floppy disks) on top of it to ensure that the pins are all grounded.
>BTW, about manuals, yes one sure would help. Without seeing the boot
>screen I don't know the number. But looking at the board I see an award
>bio chip with two numbers on it "4542205" is printed on the chip and
"AD.11-1"
>is on a sticker on the chip. Does this mean anything?
>Also on the board is two chips with "PerComp" printed on them. The larger
has
>"HT83C191A" and the smaller has "HT83C193A" on it.
That is not enough information to know the manufacturer or board model
number. Look for an FCC ID number or manufacturer name / model number
silkscreened somewhere on the board. Sometimes the sneaky manufacturer will
hide it under the BIOS or CPU chip. If you get an FCC ID number, go to
http://www.fcc.gov/oet/fccid/ and enter the first three letters / digits to
get the manufacturer's name.
There's always the hard way, too. Search the net www.dogpile.com and
www.yahoo.com and FTP http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/?form=medium for the file
awardbio.htm. This lists all 386 / 486 / Pentium motherboards by chipset
and BIOS ID (the number I asked you for earlier). Or ask me and I'll send
it to you. The BIOSes are listed by chipset, so if you have an OPTI chipset
for example, there are a limited number of possibilities, since all 486
boards with that particular OPTI chipset should be in the list. Of course,
there may be a large number of possibilities, and you have to check each
manufacturer's website support area, sometimes downloading all 8 or 10 486
motherboard manuals lsited there without finding the right one. It CAN be a
pain in the butt, but 8 or 9 times out of 10 it pays off. The other times,
the lamer manufacturer has gone out of business, doesn't have a web page, or
simply refuses to support a legacy board (the latter ones never see me buy a
new motherboard that bears their name...). Once you have the manufacturer's
name, www.driverguide.com can be an invaluable resource for quickly tracking
down support links.
It could be you didn't take adequadte anti-static protection measures like
touching the power supply case first, and fried your board. Hopefully not.
If all else fails, I'll sell you a replacement 496 board cheap. Good luck,
let me know what happens.
