Alton V694D = PCCHIP M790 ?

[emagdoc]

I have a problem with my Alton V694D mobo. Everything's connected right, but with several known good video cards plugged into AGP or PCI I get 8 beeps (i.e. bad video memory) at boot-up.

I tried a bunch of benign stuff (disconnecting everything non-critical like the CD & hard drive, reseating the memory and video card(s), using different slots for the memory and video cards) that didn't work and figured I'd reset CMOS. After resetting CMOS I figured I'd try installing a floppy (for the first time) and started getting the two beep error (memory parity) instead of the eight beep error. I tested my memory on another PC and it's good.

I discovered that resetting CMOS for an Alton is a bad idea as now I'm in BIOS Bootblock and I can't find the .ROM file for the BIOS on my installation CD. Also, Alton doesn't provide the BIOS for the V694D on their website (www.altonpc.com).

Since Alton is just a re-seller of PCCHIP boards, I checked the PCCHIP web (www.pcchips.nl) site looking for something identical.

It looks like the V694D might be the same board as PCCHIP board M790. I downloaded the BIOS for it (0109145.ROM) as I'm in bootblock, but I can't get the mobo to read it because of the parity (two beep) error. When there's no floppy disk in the drive, I don't get any errors, the floppy just runs forever. With the floppy in the drive the disk still runs forever, but I get the two beep (parity) error. I put the AMI flasher on the board, but I assume the BIOS only looks for the .ROM file when in Bootblock, right? I don't need to put anything else on the board, right?

I used a can of air to blast the mobo and then gave it the squint-eye test, but I couldn't see any shorts or opens on the board. Of course, I couldn't verify the circuit traces on the inner-layer.

Now to my questions:

1. Can anyone verify that the Alton V694D is the same as a PCCHIP M790?

2. Is it possible the Bootblock region of my BIOS is fried so that it's confused about how to load the .ROM file?

3. To me, the most likely scenario seems to be that one of the address or data bus lines is shorted/open circuited on my mobo. Which means it's time to break out the DVOM, oscope and probe board. Ugh. Anyone else agree?

Thanks for any input!

Chris:x

[MR COMPUTER]

Alton V694D = PC Chips M790 = ECS D6VAA.
Is there a part number sticker between the pci slots?
The rebranded PC Chips versions have a sticker covering the ECS part number and revision...;)

What processor are you using?

[emagdoc]

Thanks. I'm using a single 1 GHz Intel Pentium III (plugged into the proper plug for a single Pentium III.)

I'll be darned, it does say D6VAA, Revision 3 under the sticker between PCI slots.

Thanks for the ECS tip. Any ideas on what to try to fix it?

Chris

[MR COMPUTER]

Yup.
Take a close look at your PIII chip. It must be the 1.75 volt chip to work on this board. If its the 1.45 volt chip = No Go.

Check jumpers jp3 and jp4 near the bottom right of the board.
A change to these jumpers could damage the bios chip.

I'm still trying to figure out the different variations of this board.
I have an ECS D6VAA rev 1 with an Award bios chip and 2 PC Chips M790mr (D6VAA rev 3) with Ami bios chips.
Have not found a listing for a rev 3 board....;)

[emagdoc]

I pulled off the heatsink and the PIII is marked 1.7 V (phew!)

I haven't touched the BIOS set-up jumpers which are set to 2 MB (correct from reading the review) and 3.3 V. I haven't tried pulling the sticker off the BIOS to verify it's a 3.3 V part, but I assume/hope it didn't get changed by anyone at the factory.

It seems to me that the PIII is talking with the BIOS IC and doing something. If I understand correctly, there are a few operations performed by BIOS (via the processor) before BIOS gets to the point of testing for video memory or (in bootblock) reading the floppy. The fact I've been getting beep codes also seems to indicate that the address, data and control busses of the PIII to the BIOS chip are intact and not shorted to any other signal or ground.

I dug around for ECS D6VAA information/ideas and it seems others have had trouble with 512 MB RAM sticks. I too have a 512 MB RAM stick (PC133MHz, SDRAM DIMM, 168 pin, 64x64, non-ECC, Directron generic brand). I've heard the way to verify that problem is to use a much slower processor (I have a 1.13 GHz PIII), but I have no slower processor on hand. Anyone ever heard of that test?

A couple ideas I tried (from searching for info on the D6VAA) resulted in new symptoms. I pulled the mobo out of the chassis and removed the heatsink from the PIII. Sounds dangerous to do that, but I electrically isolated the mobo and continuously monitored the PIII to verify it did not overheat.

According to AMI, for their BIOS, you hold down Ctrl and Home keys while turning power on and then release after the first beep to get BIOS (in bootblock) to load the new .ROM file into the BIOS chip. I did that and the floppy with the .ROM file ran for several seconds and then stopped. I left the computer to run for about 15 minute to be sure I didn't cause a load problem. The AMI instructions said the computer would beep more and then automatically reboot. That never happened. Pretty much nothing happened. The PIII never heated up much making me think it was halted or waiting for something to happen. Usually when the processor is chewing on code it gets hot.

I rebooted and it seems like I'm still in bootblock (floppy turns on right away and stays on), but I no longer get parity (i.e. two beep) errors. I just get one beep at start up whether I have a disk in the floppy or not.

I seem to recall reading something about how the bootlock BIOS may be looking for a particular filename and not <anything>.ROM. Does this sound right?

Maybe I need to rename my .ROM file?

Anyone know whether 512 MB in one stick is really a problem on the V694D/M790/D6VAA?

Thanks again for the advice.

Chris

[emagdoc]

By the way, could you tell me the specs of your (presumably working) D6VAA rev. 3 system are? Anything similar to running PIII's at 1.13 GHz with 133 MHz front side bus and 512 MB SDRAM memory stick?

Also, if you wouldn't mind sharing the BIOS ID code (displayed on screen at boot up) I would greatly appreciate it. I could go download that (known working) version for sure if I knew the BIOS ID code.

Thanks again

Chris

[MR COMPUTER]

Running 1gig Celerons. The M790mr (rev 3) boards have the latest bios posted at PC Chips. The rev 1 ECS board has the latest posted at ECS USA.

Processor not heating up without the heatsink on?
Possibly a damaged mainboard.
Check the tops of the capacitors above cpu socket #1
They should have an indented "X". If the tops are pushed up, one or more may be blown. An older PPGA Celeron would be helpful to test this board...;)

Running 256 meg sticks of Crucial PC 133 sdram in mine.

[emagdoc]

Check out the email response I received from Seung-Il Choi. He had the same problem as me and had posted to the ECS BBS last year. I wrote to see if he had ever resolved the problem.

I bought non-ECC memory because no where in the manual does it say anything about ECC being required.

Much thanks to Seung-Il Choi!

Chris
edoctor@yahoo.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
My problem was a difference in ram spec. It has to be
'Registered' and 'ECC' for 512MB module. Please check
if your ram meets the same spec. Anything below 512
seems to work fine even if they are un-registered.

I bought two new 512MB modules at Crucial.
Part# CT64M72S4R75
Their memory selector wouldn't point this part. You
can use the following link.
http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT64M72S4R75

Perhaps you already know this site. But www.2cpu.com
was very helpful for me. Hope everything goes well for
you.

Best,
Sng

:D

[Peter M]

That was last year ... today's 512-MByte DIMMs are made from 256-MBit chips, meaning that you can make one from 16 chips (32x8 geometry) just fine. Prior to these, the only way to make a 512-MByte DIMM was to pile up 32 pcs of 128-MBit chips (32x4 geometry) - something you cannot do if you don't use register chiplets to keep the load off the chipset's bus.

The VIA 694X chip is capable of using 256-MBit chips 32x8 (maybe even the 64x4 and 64x8 ones), so there's no inherent problem to using _today's_ (!) unbuffered 512-MByte DIMMs, be they ECC or not.

What you need to do is check whether your DIMMs really are OK - www.memtest86.com will open your eyes.

regards, Peter

[Lycia]

As to the floppy running, sounds like you got the floppy cable reversed, or backward, or upside on the floppy itself...if the red stripe is facing one way, say away from the power connecter, try putting it so the red strip is next to the power connector..

[emagdoc]

Whew, I'm back! While preparing the BIOS floppy on my Presario, I accidently double-clicked the flasher (autoexec) and loaded M790 BIOS over my Presario BIOS!! Fortunately, leaving the battery out overnight on the Presario fixed that problem. I wish it were that easy with the V694D!

Latest news:

1. Tried flipping the floppy cable. Was pretty sure it was plugged in right as the red wire matched rectangular pad on back of mobo and floppy cable orientation was the same as on my other PC's. The floppy became angry with me for the flip (or at least made sounds like an angry floppy), so I swapped it back. Sounds much happier now.

2. Re-named the .ROM file to AMIBOOT.ROM (per the advice in the BIOS FAQ at www.wimsbios.com), but that didn't work. Even though I supposedly don't need a boot floppy or autoexec, I made one anyway. The autoexec worked fine on my Presario, but it wouldn't take on the V694D. I left the old 0109145.ROM on the floppy in case the V694D decided to look for it. Tried the floppy with ctrl-home until the first beep (technique from www.AMI.com) and then without touching anything. Didn't change the symptoms.

3. Bought some 128 MB PNY brand SDRAM (made using good German Infineon chips ;-) ) to see if it was a 512 MB stick problem. repeated step#2. No change in symptoms (i.e. one beep, floppy runs). Tested new 128 MB and it was good. Can't test 512MB on any other machine due to compatibility issues.

4. The PIII warms up, it just doesn't get hot. To me that says it's on and running, but it's not running at 1 GHz and isn't hitting cache memory much. When processors start chomping on code, the temperature increases dramatically. I happen to have seen the results of a thermocouple test on a processor at work a month or so ago. If you can get all your code into cache you could fry an egg on one of these PIII's! I assume it's waiting to see a good .ROM file.

Next steps: Test with slow Celeron? Try different floppy? Hope Alton provides BIOS for V694D so I don't have to keep trying the PCCHIPS M790?

Anyone have pull or know someone who might have enough pull with Alton to get them to provide the BIOS .ROM for the V694D via email or on their web site? They haven't even responded to my query from last week yet.

Thanks for all the advice so far. Appreciate any more help!

Sincerely,
Chris

[emagdoc]

I've tried for weeks to get Alton or ECS to provide me with the .ROM file for the V694D or D6VAA revision 3, but, shocking as it may seem, they won't do it!

I give up and am returning the board for a refund.

I will never buy an Alton or ECS board ever again. I recommend avoiding their products like the plague unless you like banging your head against a wall.

Thanks again for all the help.

Chris

:x