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Repairing a tricky L2 cache issue of a SOYO 4SAW2 486 Motherboard

We are repairing a damaged SY-4SAW2 late 486 motherboard based on the SiS 85C496 chipset, with leaky battery damage, missing/damaged components and broken keyboard connector. The missing components were next to the SC464 PLL. The PC was hanging during the external (L2) cache detection.
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Пікірлер: 67

  • @pvc988
    @pvc9889 ай бұрын

    Good job finding that ACLK issue. It would certainly be one of the more difficult things to figure out.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks! Yes you don't usually check the clock signals when the L2 cache isn't working.

  • @atheatos
    @atheatos9 ай бұрын

    Nice repair / debugging video :) Thank you for the mention! I measured really fast in circuit the C37 with an LCR meter at 50pf. Probably not a very accurate measurement, but I think you are ok there with 100pf.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Awesome, thanks! I will try a 50pF one if I see any stability issues :)

  • @esc2dos

    @esc2dos

    9 ай бұрын

    @@scrap_computing I tried measuring C37 in circuit with my TC1 tester and the stupid thing says it's two diodes. Glad to see Atheatos checked it. Great information in this video btw. Very educational.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    @@esc2dos Thanks for trying to measure the capacitor! I just tried with my TC1 tester and it shows 2 diodes here as well, so I guess I am using a good capacitor value haha :)

  • @esc2dos

    @esc2dos

    9 ай бұрын

    @@scrap_computing Well at least we know the TC1 is consistent :) Glad I could provide some corroborating results. I can't express how much I love that Motherboard, having it now is like going back in time and rewriting history. Back in my 386 days this board would have been mind blowing. Great that you revived it.

  • @BrassicGamer
    @BrassicGamer9 ай бұрын

    Lucky that the datasheet is available for that chipset really. Not often the case with 486-era hardware.

  • @Choralone422
    @Choralone4229 ай бұрын

    I really appreciate your tenacity in repairing hardware like this and I wish I had soldering skills like you do!

  • @frankgrudge8823
    @frankgrudge88232 ай бұрын

    My 486 hangs with the same cache issue, you have inspired me to take another look thanks

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    2 ай бұрын

    I hope you get it working again :)

  • @darthtripedacus1
    @darthtripedacus19 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the amazing videos. Makes me want to get my Pii system up and running again.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Glad you like them. Yeah you should definitely get it up and running, PIIs are really cool!

  • @Megatog615
    @Megatog6159 ай бұрын

    incredible this board has isa, vlb, and pci

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Yeah, they are not very common, which is why I wanted to rescue this one.

  • @HBAVHS

    @HBAVHS

    9 ай бұрын

    @@scrap_computing ...and they are not cheap at all! Good work! Thanks for the video.

  • @izdebo

    @izdebo

    9 ай бұрын

    If you are looking for , i have a few for sale :)

  • @Vile-Flesh
    @Vile-Flesh5 ай бұрын

    Fantastic video. I learned a lot from this repair. Thank you for uploading.

  • @Vanessaira-Retro
    @Vanessaira-Retro9 ай бұрын

    Superb work in getting the board semi up and running. Amazing job as always.

  • @maxtornogood
    @maxtornogood9 ай бұрын

    Nice troubleshooting clip, I do find these interesting!

  • @tomasz89g
    @tomasz89g9 ай бұрын

    Great work on this one; solving issue after issue to get a winning result in the end. Appreciate the explanations, helping improve the electrical knowledge and debug process!

  • @JorgeCarvalho_web_dev
    @JorgeCarvalho_web_dev9 ай бұрын

    Hi Sir! Amazing video! Fantastic repair job!

  • @olivedrabcorp3026
    @olivedrabcorp30269 ай бұрын

    Once again, here is another excellent video, interesting and very well documented. You deserve way more views.

  • @nicushorul2007
    @nicushorul20079 ай бұрын

    Great video, subbed! I have to say I was surprised at your decision to replace the unknown capacitor with a random value - although as others have said, the video would've been less interesting if it weren't for this :). I encountered a very similar situations, with an ATC-1425 board from which someone harvested a few SMDs, mostly in the VRM and PLL areas, and in the case of the PLL since the capacitors weren't decoupling but part of a RC network of some sorts I chose to leave their spots empty after seeing the board worked just fine without them. I just wish I had your diagnosing skills...

  • @adammace935
    @adammace9359 ай бұрын

    Nice work indeed! Great video

  • @ayan.debnath
    @ayan.debnath9 ай бұрын

    AWESOME video!

  • @Aisflou
    @Aisflou9 ай бұрын

    Great repair!

  • @registrazioniduemillaotton6030
    @registrazioniduemillaotton60309 ай бұрын

    Very informative video. Thanks for sharing :)

  • @collectingretrotech
    @collectingretrotech9 ай бұрын

    Excellent video

  • @XtremeKremaTor
    @XtremeKremaTor9 ай бұрын

    Well done. Mighty impressive

  • @charonunderground8596
    @charonunderground85969 ай бұрын

    Very good job !

  • @laudennn
    @laudennn7 ай бұрын

    great vid, thanks

  • @DarkennSlots
    @DarkennSlots9 ай бұрын

    very enjoyaable to watch

  • @Constantin314
    @Constantin3149 ай бұрын

    mega awesome repair. i see you as an Einstein, not kidding :)

  • @enilenis
    @enilenis5 ай бұрын

    I had an interesting issue with Matsonic M601 motherboard. On DX2 -66 it ran with 512KB cache just fine, but when I tried a DX5-133, it gave no signs of life. On some forum they suggested reducing the amount of cache to 256KB. I took half of the dip chips out, and DX5 booted up fine. I was never given an explanation of why that was happening. It was strange that a newer CPU would refuse cache and the old one didn't.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    5 ай бұрын

    Strange indeed. Perhaps it could be a bug in the chipset driving the caches, who knows...

  • @BlackAdder4Ever
    @BlackAdder4Ever4 ай бұрын

    Measured in circuit value of C37 of 80-85pf, using Uni-T UT61E multimeter.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    4 ай бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @ctiborkoza8944
    @ctiborkoza89449 ай бұрын

    Great Joob 👍

  • @pointblank722
    @pointblank7223 ай бұрын

    I have exacly same problem with U-board ST1A and tried everything other than looking for signals etc...

  • @dorinxtg
    @dorinxtg9 ай бұрын

    A M A Z I NG!

  • @shaunclarke94
    @shaunclarke949 ай бұрын

    Are there any metal parts under the AT or PS2 connectors? Just as you didn't insulate the repaired traces. But great video! Loved the tracing of the cache pins.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Good point! I probably should have added some clear coating to insulate the traces. These connectors are mostly plastic, so it should be fine :)

  • @shaunclarke94

    @shaunclarke94

    9 ай бұрын

    @@scrap_computing I'm always more aware when I'm about to cover something permanently that I can't easily access again that I haven't forgotten anything that could come back to bite me lol.

  • @myne00
    @myne009 ай бұрын

    Not sure if you know this, but using a dishwasher with no soap is the lazy way to clean boards. Rinse in isoproply/metho if you're cheap after and it'll look new.

  • @johng.1703
    @johng.17039 ай бұрын

    Some of the boards from SOYO. We’re actually quite good, but those were pentium boards. They even did a half decent pentium 2 board too.

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Yeah SOYO was pretty common in PII boards, but I think they were a well respected board manufacturer.

  • @johng.1703

    @johng.1703

    9 ай бұрын

    @@scrap_computing I used to work at a distributor in the UK, the HX and TX boards were very good Pentium boards, the TX being the later and better board.

  • @rasz

    @rasz

    9 ай бұрын

    and then PCChips bough them ahahhaha, fate worse than death

  • @SachinKumar-wx3up
    @SachinKumar-wx3up8 ай бұрын

    Which Epsom programmer are you using

  • @GigAHerZ64
    @GigAHerZ649 ай бұрын

    ASUS PVI-486SP3 has capacitor C34 right next to the chipset itself. Unfortunately i was unable to measure it in-circuit. :(

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Thanks for trying to measure the capacitor value. @atheatos , who owns this exact board, says it is 50pF :)

  • @Mr_Meowingtons
    @Mr_Meowingtons9 ай бұрын

    i have never had any good luck with 486 and PCI slots..

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    As far as I know PCI in 486 boards is not very well implemented so it is not compatible with all PCI cards. I guess it is similar to AGP slots in socket 7 boards.

  • @JohnSmith-iu8cj
    @JohnSmith-iu8cj9 ай бұрын

    Why solder a ps/2 connector for AT cases that don’t have an opening there? Or have they?

  • @rasz

    @rasz

    9 ай бұрын

    because drills are a thing

  • @SianaGearz

    @SianaGearz

    9 ай бұрын

    You don't have to install an AT board into an AT case! You can just install it into an ATX case, much more abundant too. Then you have two courses of action to make it pretty. The classic one is to take an AT-to-ATX IO shield (standard) and add a hole to it for the PS2 mouse port. The other is to take a universal mesh IOshield and punch out the ports that you need. I'm sure you can think of more ways to go about it.

  • @JohnSmith-iu8cj

    @JohnSmith-iu8cj

    3 ай бұрын

    Makes sense. Though I prefer time correct AT cases when possible. With a ps/2 slot bracket.

  • @friendlywizard6462

    @friendlywizard6462

    2 ай бұрын

    Some of the last made AT cases did have a smaller opening for a PS/2 mouse port next to the bigger 5 pin din keyboard port. I remember having a AT case that had that layout.

  • @johng.1703
    @johng.17039 ай бұрын

    Yeah you would get a PS/2 cable on a back plate in the box with those back in the day.

  • @jozsiolah1435
    @jozsiolah14359 ай бұрын

    The L2 cache seemed to be nothing earlier, a 128 kb or 512 kb had no difference. If there was no cache or was cache, it made a difference. With Win 7 activated windows, Sec Essentials regularly opened the tray, asking for the Win dvd to be inserted. Windows does it yearly, even offline. The use of the cache later appeared to be true, at 50% load, 1 Ghz the windows is as fast, as at 2.1 Ghz full load. My theory is, that the Cpu uses 0-5% during startup, because the chipset uses the cache for everything, instead of asking the cpu to work. My cpu is only loaded when I play, watch video or streaming. The cache is important to keep the fan at minimum rpm, especially when someone takes a laptop into an office, the high speed fan is disturbing. For 486, the cache is able to switch the cpu to passive cooling, and the fan may not be needed. Cache frees up the cpu from loading it, the chipset uses it. Similar to the difference between the pio, and ultra DMA mode, but that’s about the hdd. Inactive, unregistered windows won’t use the cache, and the cpu will heat up. Win 9x has a reg trick, you can no longer register it. Receive any A4 fax successfully.

  • @SianaGearz

    @SianaGearz

    9 ай бұрын

    No.

  • @watchmakerful
    @watchmakerful8 ай бұрын

    [2:36] Duke???

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    5 ай бұрын

    Duke!

  • @aspinx
    @aspinx9 ай бұрын

    Replacing a capacitor with some random value... what could possibly go wrong. That's why it's worth checking if it's at least a filter cap or not, so you won't have to replace cache, desolder/replace 7408, check the board with oscilloscope and going through chipset datasheet. On the other side - the video won't be so interesting then!

  • @scrap_computing

    @scrap_computing

    9 ай бұрын

    Haha yeah, I just assumed it would be a decoupling capacitor, but didn't bother checking :)

  • @cosmefulanito5933
    @cosmefulanito59339 ай бұрын

    If you are removing the solder mask and the joints are good, there is no need to tin coat the traces. What you should do is cover the tracks with mask. What you didn't do. In other words, you did what you shouldn't and you didn't do what you should do. You should NEVER remove the battery charging circuit. Use a compatible battery. Please be a good technician and do things correctly.

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