CyberSpaceCowboy
04-04-1999, 01:56 AM
When my Pentium board went south (that's another story) I decided to do a full upgrade. When I added up the cost, I decided to forgo the BH6 and 3D sound card (stupid, stupid, stupid). I went with a FIC KA-6100 that would fit in my AT box, a Celeron 400a, and 128Mb of DRAM.
I've had problems from the beginning. First it wouldn't read my CD unless I loaded both real mode drivers, and then it wouldn't read long file names, so I couldn't install drivers from the CD. The retailer's tech support claimed it was because I am running 95a (the upgrade, not OEM, CD) and Windows couldn't handle the UDMA IDE interface. He also said that the 98 upgrade disk wouldn't help (it didn't have the same drivers) and I would have to FDISK my boot drive and install the OEM version (I thought that was laying it on a bit thick).
Anyway, I installed PCI Bridge and Bus Mastering drivers from VIA (the drivers on KIA's support page were no help) and the CD came up with long file names. Still, when I run the AutoRun utility, I get the message "The motherboard is not support by Integrated Utility". Trying the "Desktop Management Utility" under DOS produces a similar message.
The next evening I started experimenting. I bumped the mobo clock from 66 to 75Mhz, to see if the change in frequency would reduce RF interference on one channel on the TV in the next room (I've always had this problem).
The system seemed stable for a couple hours at this speed. Then I tried a DOS game that has to be run in DOS mode. After running the game and rebooting, the BIOS failed to recognize my primary master drive (a Quantum Bigfoot 6.4Gb), but it did find the primary slave. Since this occurs before booting, the OS can't be a factor.
I of course doublechecked all ribbon and power conections. I set the clock back to 66 and swapped a hard drive from another system, which was recognized and booted. My Quantum was recognized by the other system, but wouldn't boot. When I put it back in the system with the FIC it came up fine! I do have an occasional blue screen drive erro that troubles me.
Will a Windows 98 upgrade or waiting for updated VIA Apollo drivers fix this system or should I chuck the board?
BTW- I have always used headphones and never bought powered speakers. I didn't know until I read the manual that the onboard sound REQUIRED an external amplifier. Can I assume that if I buy cheap powered speakers my headphones will work if I plug them into the headphone jack?
I've had problems from the beginning. First it wouldn't read my CD unless I loaded both real mode drivers, and then it wouldn't read long file names, so I couldn't install drivers from the CD. The retailer's tech support claimed it was because I am running 95a (the upgrade, not OEM, CD) and Windows couldn't handle the UDMA IDE interface. He also said that the 98 upgrade disk wouldn't help (it didn't have the same drivers) and I would have to FDISK my boot drive and install the OEM version (I thought that was laying it on a bit thick).
Anyway, I installed PCI Bridge and Bus Mastering drivers from VIA (the drivers on KIA's support page were no help) and the CD came up with long file names. Still, when I run the AutoRun utility, I get the message "The motherboard is not support by Integrated Utility". Trying the "Desktop Management Utility" under DOS produces a similar message.
The next evening I started experimenting. I bumped the mobo clock from 66 to 75Mhz, to see if the change in frequency would reduce RF interference on one channel on the TV in the next room (I've always had this problem).
The system seemed stable for a couple hours at this speed. Then I tried a DOS game that has to be run in DOS mode. After running the game and rebooting, the BIOS failed to recognize my primary master drive (a Quantum Bigfoot 6.4Gb), but it did find the primary slave. Since this occurs before booting, the OS can't be a factor.
I of course doublechecked all ribbon and power conections. I set the clock back to 66 and swapped a hard drive from another system, which was recognized and booted. My Quantum was recognized by the other system, but wouldn't boot. When I put it back in the system with the FIC it came up fine! I do have an occasional blue screen drive erro that troubles me.
Will a Windows 98 upgrade or waiting for updated VIA Apollo drivers fix this system or should I chuck the board?
BTW- I have always used headphones and never bought powered speakers. I didn't know until I read the manual that the onboard sound REQUIRED an external amplifier. Can I assume that if I buy cheap powered speakers my headphones will work if I plug them into the headphone jack?